My chest heaves up and down, my breath deep rasps in my ears.
“You’re so ready to die for my niece,” Abena goads. The smell of my burned flesh taints the air, as does my hate. “Let’s see if she’s willing to do the same.” Without looking away from me, she raises and waves a hand, beckoning someone forward. In seconds, one of the soldiers from outside appears at her side. “Go ahead.” Abena impatiently dips her head toward me, and he lifts a phone, focusing it on me and scanning my entire bloodied body.
The bitch is gonna be pissed when she finds out that shit is useless. Eshe’s cell is under a pile of rock and cement. No way that video is getting through to her.
Sucks for Abena.
After several moments, he hands the phone over to her. She watches the recording, and satisfaction blooms over her face. Her gaze returns to me over the cell.
“What’s the saying? A picture’s worth a thousand words? Looks like I don’t need you to answer my questions after all, Huntsman. Once I send this to my niece, we’ll both find out if you mean anything to her, won’t we? If you’re lucky, you’ll get to see your precious Eshe again before I slice you open from one end to the other in front of her. You might say ‘fuck God,’ but she’s going to meet him screaming your name.”
CHAPTER FIFTEENEshe
I close the door of the apartment behind me and wait to hear the locks engage. Only then do I shift away from it, scanning the hall for any movement. But the entrances to the other two homes on the third floor of the building remain closed, and a perusal of the floor doesn’t betray any shadows beneath the doors.
Striding for the end of the corridor, I continue to visually sweep the area until I bypass the elevator, twist the knob on the exit, and step into the stairwell. It was probably foolish to visit Penn. Selfish even. But I had to lay eyes on her, had to make sure she was safe. And she is. Thank God. At least I can wipe that sin from the slate. Or at the very least cross a line through it. The doctor with her promises a full recovery and the relief at that news removes some of the pressure from my chest. I can breathe just a tiny bit easier.
Now, hopefully, Malachi’s car still affords me an extra layer of protection from the assassin on my ass long enough for me to visit Sienna at her safe house and then make it to Ma’s cottage. If this Poison is as good as Malachi claims, then I can’t avoid her forever. But this will grant me some time to form a solid plan before the three-day deadline Tera instituted.
Tera.
Penn.
Sienna.
The rest of my Seven.
Malachi.
Drawing Poison to the cottage means she will be away from my people. The people I love. My fingers clench around the railing, and I briefly pause on the steps before forcing myself to continue.Malachi.God, I want to be angry. I want to scream, yell, throw the tantrum to end all tantrums just to release this… pain. The pain of rejection, of loss, of grief.
I don’t close my eyes, and I haven’t since leaving his loft. When I did, I too-vividly saw the cold rage in his face, the bright steel in his eyes. Heard the contempt in his voice. Felt the heated disdain that rolled off his golden skin.
The first person I’ve saidI love youto since my mother… The first person I’ve ever fallen in love with… And he wants nothing to do with me or the damaged heart I have to offer. For the first time, I wonder if there’s something defective in me. Something so abnormal that stalking a man and claiming him as mine seems acceptable. Something so flawed that it renders me unlovable and broken beyond repair.
Is that what Malachi sees when he looks at me? I’m good enough to fuck but not to love?
Pain, bright and sharp as a dagger’s blade, stabs me in the chest, and I halt again, nearly stumbling on the step as I suck in a shallow breath that tastes of orange and turpentine.
I open eyes that I didn’t realize had closed and stare at the freshly painted mint walls. How pathetic does it make me that I’d still run for him? Still pin that red-and-white bullseye on my back for him?
Fucking very.
Forcing my feet to move, I descend the rest of the stairs and don’t stop until I push through the bottom door into the apartment building’s spotless lobby. As soon as the door closes behind me, I pull out the burner phone Malachi gave me and turn off the Do Not Disturb. Glancing down at the screen, I notice three missed calls. I frown, not recognizing the number. Before I can decipherwho it could be, it rings again. And it’s the same number. Who the fuck is this? It’s not from one of my Seven. And they are the only ones who would call the cell…
Maybe it’s Malachi.
The thought, with its hopeful tone, jumps in my head before I can quash it. But I slide my thumb across the screen with a bated breath anyway.
“Hello?”
“Eshe?”
“Who’s this?” I demand, jerking to a halt in the middle of the vestibule and frowning down at the black-and-white diamond pattern on the floor.
“Jamari. Remember me?”
My eyebrows lift but not my confusion. And a band tightens around my rib cage, shortening the breath in my lungs.
