Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 100493 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100493 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
“Surely not,” Punk says, shaking her head, while Jord’s eyes swing between his friends, desperate to piece it all together. “If he did,” she continues. “We would know by now, right? Emeric is far too fucking theatrical to not make a scene by now.”
“It’s been thirty-five minutes,” I say, hissing through the burn. “Don’t count him out too soon.”
Luce’s gaze narrows on me. “Now, you’re awfully fucking calm, Asher. May I ask why?”
“You may.” I shrug, emptying the glass down my throat. “But I won’t tell you.”
“Oh, this is a thing he does when he’s trying to stay logical,” Atlas adds, sarcasm riding under it. “I’m sure he’s going to explode sooner or later.”
I won’t. He knows that.
“He won’t,” Leon murmurs, unbuttoning his jacket and lowering himself onto the sofa, eyes on me. “Even as kids he never did.”
Punk taps furiously at her keyboard.
“Okay that’s it!” Jord shouts, shoving off the wall. “What the fuck is going on and why do you all know each other?”
I open my mouth to answer, and someone knocks again.
“Fuck!” Punk screams, slamming her laptop. “I can’t get in anywhere near where he is!”
I head for the front door and let our newest guest in while Punk blabbers about being a failure.
I wave a hand toward her. “I bring you someone who does know how to get in over there.” Everyone turns to the woman beside me. “Meet Amélie Monét.”
Amélie smiles, but I know I’m gonna get an earful later.
“Ivy’s mother,” I add.
“Great,” Luce snaps, turning her back to Amelie. “Just what we need. A fucking deadbeat.”
“That’s it!” Jord yells. “Where the fuck is my friend and why the fuck are you all liars!”
I glare at Leon. “Explain the shit to him before he starts giving me a headache.”
Leon doesn’t move. He studies Jord for a beat, giving the poor bastard one final breath before dropping his entire life into a blender.
“Emeric is Ivy’s father,” Leon says, resting his forearms on his knees. “He trained her as a child, buried commands in her head, and spent years sending us jobs so he could keep her close.”
Jord’s mouth opens.
Punk lifts one finger from her laptop. “And Asher runs the Delacroix house.”
Jord turns toward me, his face going blank. “Runs it how?”
I roll the empty glass between my palms. “Le Parrain.”
“Supreme leader,” Luce adds, aiming the words at Jord while her stare stays fixed on Amélie. “Since nobody in this room seems fond of plain fucking English.”
Amélie walks past her and puts a silver case on the dining table. “Plain English tends to upset people.”
Luce follows, muttering, “Your existence upsets me.”
Amélie flips the latches. Inside sits a slim black terminal, three encrypted drives, and enough illegal hardware to get a normal person buried under federal charges.
Punk drags her chair beside Amélie, flipping her laptop open again, teal hair slipping from beneath her beanie as she leans over the case. “You built a closed relay?”
“I built six,”Amélie answers, connecting a cable to Punk’s laptop. “Emeric knows the first four.”
Luce gives her another hard look. “Gold star for motherhood.”
Amélie’s hand stalls over the keyboard.
Punk clears her throat, sliding a drive into place. “I’m going to act like we’re not one insult away from becoming a crime scene.”
The front door bangs open, blowing snow across the entry tiles.
Khloe storms inside with ice stuck to her lashes, kicking the door shut behind her. “Still no tracks past what we know. The wind’s filling everything.”
My chair hits the floor. “Where did you look?”
“Tree line, springs, ridge, eastern access road.” Khloe digs into her coat, pulling out a phone. “Found this, though.”
She tosses it.
I catch Ivy’s phone against my chest.
Snow packs the cracked corner of the case. Her lock screen stays black when I press the button, and a thin smear of blood marks the volume switch. Mine, hers, anyone’s. Every answer ends with me killing someone.
“Where exactly?” I ask, turning the phone over.
Khloe strips off one glove with her teeth. “Fifty yards into the forest, screen down.”
“So she dropped it while running,” Atlas says from behind me.
Khloe shakes her head. “Her footprints stop after that point. There was some blood...”
Leon rises from the sofa. “We’re on a timer.”
I lift my eyes to him, closing my fist around Ivy’s phone.
Leon looks across the room. “If Emeric has her, we’re all dead if he unleashes her. Ivy won’t hesitate, and no amount of les amants maudits is gonna change that.”
Yeah. I’m beginning to think he’s right.
CHAPTER
THIRTY
ASHER
Glocks decorate my dining room for the second day. Two fucking days and we’ve heard nothing, which tells us everything. She’s with Emeric. Who she is now is anyone’s guess, if we go by what Leon’s been spitting about Emeric triggering her bride-of-death side.
Punk hasn’t eaten. Nobody has, much less showered, and I’m about three side-eyes from Khloe away from ripping this island apart with my bare hands. Fuck my ancestors, duty, and anyone who gets in my way.