My brain tripped in its urgency to understand. There was so much Arthur had been planning—so many carefully laid parts to his overall vengeance. Why had he stolen women from his father’s bed and given them to other presidents? What did he hope to gain?
Rubix shook me. “My son tried to buy the Night Crusader’s loyalty. He made them pledge their allegiance to fight against me when the time came, all for the price of a girl and a few measly dollars.”
Art had paid men?
My mouth fell open.
He’s creating an army.
An army to destroy any enemy who’d supported his father and ruined his life.
No, not just his life.
My life.
Tears swelled behind my eyes. All of this: Art’s thirst for revenge and his obsession with retribution was all for me—for what they’d broken the night I disappeared.
Rubix snapped, “He enlisted other Clubs to fight against us. He went against every code and took the coward’s way out of hiring other people to do his fucking dirty work. But it didn’t go the way he wanted.”
Rubix forced me to stand over the girl, bending me as if I were her judgment and executioner.
Cobra smiled, fisting the blonde girl’s hair and jerking her head back. Her throat strained, exposing translucent skin and blue veins.
She was so close. So terrified.
I wanted to say I was sorry. I wanted to save her so desperately.
“This is what happens to those who defy me.” Rubix thrust his erection against my lower back as Cobra reached behind him and withdrew a hunting blade.
“No!” I fought. “Don’t!”
Slamming my head back, I tried to make contact with Rubix’s nose. But it was no use.
In a horrible heartbeat, Cobra dragged the sharp knife across the girl’s neck, slicing sickeningly deep. Her blood fountained from the wound, red—the color of love and valentines spritzed the air with metallic mist.
She gurgled and twitched as her life force drenched my half-naked body, staining my hair, my eyelashes, my lips. I bathed in her blood. I wore her death like a mortal sin.
Every part of me rebelled. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to hide. I wanted to bite and tear and kill.
But all I could do was be there for her as she faded before my eyes. Every pulse of her heart spewed more hot crimson down her front, slowly pushing her into a deep, dark sleep.
The room remained silent. No one coughed or laughed or spoke.
And that final moment, when the last pitiful beat of her heart sent her from living to dead, a spark, a tingle, an all-knowing sixth sense radiated out like a chime.
Her soul escaped.
She was free.
Closing my eyes, I found I didn’t have to fight tears or nausea. I was numb. Numb and cold and terribly, terribly angry.
You’ll suffer for your sins. You’ll watch as they’re torn from you like you’ve torn them from others.
Rage twisted my insides until I housed a nest of poisonous snakes. “I’ll kill you myself,” I hissed. “I’ll avenge that poor girl and rip out your blackened hearts.”
Rubix laughed as Cobra let go of the girl’s hair, tossing her to the side as if she were trash. Her body was graceful even in death, languishing on the tiles like a heartbroken ballerina after an ill-fated tryst.
“You’re not strong enough to kill me, pretty princess. And neither is anyone else. You’re a walking corpse, just like my son. And it’s time to send him a message he will never forget.”
His hand disappeared down my front, groping me brutally in front of his men.
I gasped.
I fought the urge to vomit.
My lips pursed with revulsion.
But I didn’t give him the satisfaction of crying out. My body was just a tool. It was my soul … my mind … that was the true part of who I was. As long as I remained untouchable inside, he couldn’t hurt me the way he wanted.
His fingers wrenched my nipples.
The pain was hot and consuming but I’d had worse.
Anyone could see I was a survivor of pain by the scars adorning my body.
I’m invincible to them.
Because I’d survived far worse than they ever had.
A laugh bubbled in my belly. I swallowed it down. I might be strong enough to endure whatever came next, but I wasn’t stupid enough to antagonize them by proving I was impenetrable.
“What’s the matter, Cleo? Is my son such a bad lover he’s turned you frigid?”
I couldn’t breathe without inhaling blood. I couldn’t lick my lips without tasting murder.
I stayed silent.
Rubix grunted under his breath as his hand trailed possessively down my stomach. Kicking my ankle with his boot, he forced my legs to spread as his hand cupped my core.
I stiffened—I couldn’t help it.
No matter how removed I was, it was still a direct violation of somewhere only my lover was permitted to touch.
“Ah, so you are alive, after all.” Rubix’s fingers probed further, indenting my nightshirt.
I breathed harder though my nose, doing my utmost to hide my rapidly building repugnance.
His tongue lashed around my earlobe, sucking it into his horribly wet mouth.
I’m not here.
I’m far away from this.
My mind—for once—obeyed me. It skipped backward through time, trading this monstrosity of a Club for the one where I’d grown up happy and carefree. Dagger Rose was once a joyous place—a sanctuary full of love and laughter.
I’d fallen in love here.
I’d been groomed for my destiny here.