Sensing a presence behind me, I spin around. My breath catches in my throat. A hooded figure looms over me. There’s a clicking sound, then a blade glints under the street light.
“Give me your purse. Now,” a male voice demands from within his hood.
Am I seriously being mugged?
My heart beats against my ribcage, my hands tremble.
“I said now. Or I’ll cut you.”
This day has been too insane already, I don’t want to tempt fate and end up dead in a dumpster. So I do as he says and hand over my purse.
“Take off your coat. I want that too.”
“But it’s freezing out here,” I protest.
Menacingly, he steps closer. “Take it off.”
I strip off my heavy winter coat. He snatches it and runs off, leaving me in the cold with nothing. No purse, no phone, no shield against the elements.
As if I pissed off God, the sky decides to open up. Freezing rain pelts my skin, soaking through my dress in a matter of seconds. The deluge plasters strands of hair to my face.
I was going to hail a cab to Gin’s place, but with no money on me, I’ll have to walk. Without my cell phone, I can’t call for help.
Arms folded, head down, I briskly make my way toward her place. Already having been mugged, I assume it won’t happen again before I reach my cousin’s home. Like lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same spot.
Though being stripped of my belongings, I feel more vulnerable than ever, like prey as I walk the city streets.
By the time I find her address, my feet burn with raw, open blisters. I’m so cold my teeth rattle. My skin and face went numb long ago.
With the last bit of my energy, I open Gin’s front door and stumble inside. The party draws to a halt, stunned gazes stare at me, but I can’t find it within myself to care that I’ve caused a scene. Exhausted, and stricken with grief, I barely feel it when someone wraps a warm coat around my shoulders. Voices speak to me, but I don’t quite understand the words.
I think I’m in shock. It took a while to set in, but it makes sense.
Devlin turned out to be the villain. Now he’s dead.
Cian doesn’t trust me. He says he’ll kill me if I go near him.
Finn and Kody… so much blood. Who murdered them?
Some random guy mugged me in the middle of a street, because obviously I wasn’t traumatized enough from tonight’s events.
Overwhelm consumes me. I break down and finally cry.
CHAPTER 55
Ravenna
Of course my cousins were extremely concerned as I told them about what happened yesterday. Gin settled me into a guest room and I slept like the dead, until waking up with a jolt this morning. If I had my phone on me, it would be blowing up with notifications from work.
How do I explain Devlin’s body in his office? Or Finn and Kody in the garage? Or how I’ve seemingly vanished from the face of the earth?
What a mess. A tragic, terrible, mess. All for what?
In the end, what did Devlin gain? He’s put my marriage in more trouble than ever before. He’s gotten under Cian’s skin. But ultimately, he got himself killed. I don’t understand his motive. What did he actually end up accomplishing? And who was he? Cian and him didn’t have a past, as far as I know. I’d never met Devlin until that day at work.
Then I remember how he apologized. He knew Cian would kill him, he accepted his fate, but also felt remorse for what he’d done.
These puzzle pieces don’t fit.
