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My trial was to erase us from existence. Hers was to uncover the truth,
“Defeat accepted,” I quip with a smarmy grin, lifting my glass in a plasticky toast. “I’m going to get my wife. Neither of us gives a fuck about the seats, but if anyone deserves one—”
“It’s her,” he agrees.
Payne Logan—the Pax Logan seat-holder—nods, adding, “Flawless execution. She uncovered your motives, your seat, your past, and how to call you out.”
If I wasn’t so consumed with reaching her, I’d be swelling with pride. I am actually. Always am. “You’ll man her parents?”
“Done,” O’Reilly says. “Consider your trial a pass too. Welcome to the family.”
Family.Ivy is my family. I don’t give a shit about these fuckers anymore. The only reason I went along with this asinine trial wasfor her, because she’d insisted she wanted that seat. No amount of warning could have prepared her, but as agonizing as it was to watch, I couldn’t rob her of it. Not when I knew she was safe.
When I don’t respond, Jared Austen, The Order’s chair, regards me with a considering glance. “For what it’s worth, both trials were impressive, but the undying loyalty on both sides … not something we see.” He chuckles. “Stealing your money and burning your shit to the ground aside. Tom and Natasha will be monitored. Go get your girl—our O’Reillydame.” That’s the female equivalent of a knight, but Ivy will be the queen of that board, and they all know it.
Ivy may have led us right to her, but she disguised herself well, so the security footage was challenging. Fortunately, few young women check in to upscale Paris hotels alone.
We’re knocking on her door, choosing to let her welcome us instead of barging in. The clanks and rustling from inside suggest she’s coming. So, when the click of the lock dings, I’m flooded with the first showers of relief in months. The door swings open with a swoosh.
“Hello, boys.” Celeste’s haughty smirk leers back, her voice a taunting trill. “C’mon in.”
“Celeste,” I say, brittle and hot.
Her disposition reveals the haunting truth—Ivy isn’t here. And the wind rushes out of me, blood draining from my face. Shouldering past her into the suite, I attempt to regroup as bile swishes in the back of my throat again.
She gives us a scrutinizing once-over, eyes scanning Liam with baffled snark. “Looky here. The dead one was resurrected.” She slams the heavy door with a bang, spinning to face us, Liam still her focus. “Was that part of your mindfuck? Got rejected so you played dead?”
Liam shoots her a glower of daggers, as homicidal as mine on him earlier. “The fuck? You think I faked being shot,princess?” He spits the insult while rolling his shirt up to reveal the fresh scar andquirking one brow. “And it was a loyalty test. Rejectionwasthe goal, so I nailed it.”
Her eyes alight at the sight of his bare chest and abs before she nurses her contempt again, searing him with a malevolent scowl. “Loyalty test.” She releases a laugh thatcan only be classified as a guffaw. “What I think—no, whatI know—is that Ivy’s gut is spot-on. If you were faking that confession, she’d have sensed it. You didn’tnailwhat you were hoping to.”
Fuck, that pisses me off.My fingers cramp with an itch to fist. “With all due respect, Celeste, we don’t have time for a pissing contest. Where the hell is my wife?”
“Haven’t a clue,” she singsongs, sauntering through the suite and elegantly lowering herself into a dining table chair.
I don’t miss the guys gaping. Celeste has voluptuous curves, the kind Liam generally salivates over. Truth be told, he’s drooled over hers on more than one occasion.
But her beauty will not save her from my wrath.
I stalk nearer to her, my breaths puffing out jagged, jaw clenched. “Cut the goddamn shit and tell me where she is. She’s in danger.”
“Yeah,” she hisses. “From you. I don’t know where your wife is,Cabrini, because you erased your marriage. You made your choice.”
That tramples me like a stampede. Ivy knows about my seat. Thinks I chose it over us. Her brief mentioning of it on the phone with Ty, and Payne Logan’s casual comment, finally take root.
As I snarl a slew of expletives through gnashing teeth, Ty breezes past me, squatting before Celeste. “It’s complicated, Celeste. I don’t know how much Ivy told—”
“Everything,” she croons.
“Okay, then you’ll understand,” Ty says, trying to soothe her. “That was her trial. It’s over, and we need to get to her. Quickly. We love Ivy—”
She raises a hasty palm, and Gage bares his teeth with a growl,but I level him with a pointed gaze, hoping Ty can make some progress.
“Save it,” she scoffs. “Love isnotwhat you’ve given her. Ivy is the embodiment of karma. She gives what she gets. And for a long while, she hung on to what you’d once given her, but eventually—”
“I know that about Ivy,” Ty says. He does. He used nearly the same words with Gage after the wedding. His tone is sedate, solemn. “We were right there with her the whole time even though she didn’t know. We willneverleave her, but she wanted the seat, so we protected her while letting her achieve it. And now,youneed to protect her, Celeste, because she passed the trial, and there are people who want to hunt her down before she assumes her position.”
Celeste considers this for a drawn-out minute that has Liam, Gage, and me prepared to pounce and strangle her, but Ty motions to stand down, so we seethe in silence.
