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“Because the Killers Club have shown me their true colours,” she says. Her freckled nose scrunches in determination, leaving no doubt that she means every word. “They betrayed my trust and left me to rot in a cell. I want to make them pay.”
“The Dukes need to talk,” Freddie says, nudging his head to direct me and Callen to leave with him. “Alone.”
“But—” Ivy begins.
“No arguments,” he snaps. “Now, hold out your hands.”
“Are you finally going to take these cuffs off?” she asks hopefully.
He unlocks her left hand, then attaches the cuff to Bram’s wrist instead, binding them together.
Ivy pouts. “Is this necessary?”
“I thought you two were good friends now,” Callen says, making her scowl.
“If you hurt him,” Freddie warns, “we won’t show you the same level of mercy again, Ivy.”
CHAPTER 20
FREDDIE
Seb and Callen file out of the room first. I cast a lingering glance at Ivy over my shoulder before leaving. I don’t trust her, but if she cares enough about Bram to see him over making an escape, I’m confident she won’t saw off his hand to free herself… hopefully.
The three of us go into a grand dining room with floor-to-ceiling oak panelling across the hall, keeping the door open so I can keep an eye on her. A table and eight accompanying chairs are covered in a layer of dust, leaving a musty smell hanging in the air.
“I can’t believe she’s dead,” Seb mumbles. He’s in a state of shock. The Killers Club are out for blood, and they’re making it personal.
“At least you don’t have to worry about being forced to marry her anymore,” Callen jokes, nudging Seb playfully in the ribs. Seb shoves him back three times harder. “What? Too soon?”
I slam my fist down on the table, making a dust cloud. “We need to stop the Killers Club.”
“It won’t be easy to take down a network of assassins we know little about,” Seb says glumly, his shoulders slumped. “They’re not going to stop until they’ve taken all we have. Howlong will it be until they decide to go after the rest of my family, or yours?”
I say nothing. I don’t have any family, so I have nothing left to lose. Seb, Callen, and Bram are all I have.
Callen chuckles. “I’d like to see them go after Torean.”
“So would I,” Seb agrees, only he’s not joking.
“No one else is going to die. We’ll make sure of it,” I say. We’ve worked too hard to make a name for ourselves and protect our clients for it to be taken from us now. “You’re forgetting we have a secret weapon. Someone who knows everything about them.”
As much as it pains me to admit it, Ivy is the best chance we have at defeating them.
“Do we want to wage a war against them, boss?” Seb says, shuffling around on his feet. “We don’t know how many of them there are. There’s only four of us, and Bram’s bed-bound.”
“Wake up, pretty boy. We’re already in a war,” Callen says with the ferocity of a Highlander readying to defend his land. “What’s the alternative? Hide away forever? We need to spill—”
“Maybe we don’t have to fight.” I have a vague idea forming. “We could give them something they want for our immunity.”
Callen’s face falls in disappointment as I extinguish his dreams of a murderous rampage. “You want to make a deal with them?”
“We have to be realistic,” I say. “They have the numbers. If we stand against them, we’ll lose. We need to negotiate.”
The word ‘negotiate’ leaves a bitter taste in my mouth as I swallow my pride, but I’m not stupid. I’ve been assessing all our options since we arrived. I don’t like it, but this is the only way that we can make it out of this. I can’t let my men die on my watch.
“What deal do you want to make?” Seb asks, although the kicked puppy dog look in his eyes tells me he already knows the answer.
“We give them Ivy. It’s the only way,” I say, unsure whether I’m trying to justify my decision more to Seb or myself. “She’s a rogue agent. Her being alive is a liability for them with everything she knows. We give her up, and they let bygones be bygones.”
