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Samael patted my shoulder as Chief Matthews entered the room. Worried about my bruised state, he came to stand on the opposite side of the bed. This felt like a transaction of information as he looked me over. I knew he was seeing the bruises on my face and wrists as he sat down by the bedside chair, but there was something else. His eyes trailed down my weakened form before settling on Samael. “I told you to protect my son.” His words didn’t hold any emotion, though. It was as if he was just berating Samael for being unable to protect me.
Samael searched for the right words, but this was what I was here for, right? To tell my version of the story. “There’s no way to protect me from the crazy people in the world, right, Dad? That’s why you locked Mom away.” I held my breath, hoping it would steer the conversation in a different direction.
It did, but now Killian’s father was angry and slightly suspicious that there was someone other than Killian sitting in my seat. He wasn’t wrong. “You’re taking my words out of context. You’re being targeted because of the evil you’ve associated with in this town. That’s what the kid said when he was questioned.” He roughly grabbed my arm and inspected the carved letters as I steeled my expression, not wanting to remember the horrific experience.
I had already started digging a grave, and he didn’t know Killian well enough to know something was wrong, so I continued. “I have nothing to do with them. Besides, you’re only here because you need to close a report on that fucker that tried to send a message to The Three Terrors.” I had definitely worded that wrong. I was supposed to be Killian, the tortured victim of three very dangerous men or some guy working them. Instead, I was here, wide-eyed, running on fumes, and mouthing off to the chief of police. I should have a hard time coping.
I wasn’t. And I was sure Killian’s father noticed that, but it was too late to go back now.
“Son…”
“Let’s table that word, okay? We haven’t really been family for a while. This guy, Finn, right? He took me from work, I think. Then I woke up in that warehouse strapped into a chair. He said lots of crazy things, but I was tired, cold, and unconscious for most of it. Mostly, he was boasting about killing that Jenny girl and some other woman, too. I don’t know. Then I woke up to him carving ‘remember’ into my arm and then Sa – Merchant, Detective saving me.”
My father didn’t notice the way I stumbled over Samael’s name. “I already know about the relationship. I can’t say I’m thrilled, but I can’t actually do anything about it.” That wasn’t the reason I had stumbled over it, though. A long pause settled between us. “This has also become a much higher profile case.”
“What do you mean?” I croaked.
Killian’s father frowned. “That kid is dead. Someone came in and killed him just a few hours ago.” He let out a heavy sigh, patting the space beside my hand on the mattress but not touching me. “I’d say it was The Skinner’s work, but he left the words ‘you’re welcome’ on the wall in the kid’s blood. I’m beginning to think it’s all connected.”
Killian had been telling his father that for years, and now that Chief Matthews had finally come to that revelation, I didn’t feel all that great about it.
Samael looked uncomfortable, but I wasn’t entirely sure why. I knew Finn was a rogue player, but I didn’t know all the details. I had caught on that everyone thought the guy that had been taken wasn’t actually Finn, which meant the real guy was out there.
Unfortunately, I was pretty sure I knew who it was.
I hadn’t been conscious for a lot of it, but there was one moment I had hidden from Daemon and Killian. A moment that explained a lot of fucking things. A moment where I had met the real monster behind Finn, and it wasn’t that kid. Honey golden eyes held all types of secrets.
But if I told the two in this room I knew who Finn truly was, everyone would think I was the crazy one. So I just nodded, ending my story. My father scratched down some notes, shoved us out, and told Merchant to work a little harder to catch the man who had done this to me.
I couldn’t agree more.
Too bad they were looking in the wrong direction.
Last night had been a jumble of emotions, zoning out and trying to keep Killian whole. Aeron had taken a shower with us, cleaned us up, and muttered apologies that seemed way too heartfelt for the fact that one of us had slipped off to Bondage Palace alone. Killian had returned but was fractured and terrified of whatever he had found in that void. Pain shot through my side, and my feet ached, my arm throbbing from the carved letters, but I was just happy to be alive at this point.
I had tried my best to act like Killian, to keep my men from worrying about me. I gave them small, timid smiles as they kissed me goodbye and again as Samael and Slash dropped me off at work. I didn’t need them to know that Killian refused to take the reins, but I think they somehow already knew.
Waving goodbye as Killian-like as possible, I sauntered into the building and took my seat. Seconds later, my phone rang, and I popped it to my ear without thinking. “Yeah?”
Samael’s gruff voice filtered through the earpiece. “Do not fucking go anywhere without one of us, Dark. You have a cell phone. Use it. You wanted to go back to work despite what happened yesterday. But at the first sign of trouble, you fucking call me. And stay the fuck away from Nyla. I don’t trust her.” I bit my lip, knowing that Samael was both worried and terrified for me.
“Okay.”
Samael didn’t even wait for the niceties before he ended the call. With a deep sigh, I logged in but noticed the strange shift in the air. I swiveled around in my chair and came face to face with someone other than Gary. Brent.
What the fuck is he doing in here?
I mentally shrugged, staring at Samael’s right hand sitting there, one leg crossed over the other, a tight smile plastered on his face. Samael had mentioned that Brent would be shadowing me but I didn’t think that Brent would be inside the building during my shift. “You’re a hard one to keep out of trouble.” His eyes shimmered with unspoken promises, making me flinch.
“What are you doing here?” Having a bodyguard at work seemed a little pretentious. Then again, my men had connections and Samael worked right below my father.
“Your boss hired me. Thought it would be best if I shadowed you for a bit.”
Alex? That was a little out of character for my boss. He hired young, innocent, bright-eyed kids who didn’t understand what they were getting into. Brent hardly fit that cut and one look at this thick, well-built man and Alex would have immediately dismissed him. Someone had definitely been pulling some strings.
There was also the case of my missing cubby mate. My frown deepened, “But where’s Gary?”
“Who the fu- oh, your cellmate? No idea. Boss told me to sit here, and so I did.”
