Nope. I don’t have a lot of people in my corner these days. Hell, I don’t have anyone in my corner. Maybe my parents—Emma and Barron, not Emma and Demetri, but then, Demetri is at the crux of my corner. Hell, he’s the entire wing.
His boxy mansion sits on top of the hill and I jog on up, giving a polite knock before turning the knob and heading inside of the stone and mahogany mausoleum.
“Hello?” My voice comes back to me with an echo.
Demetri has a grand entry, limestone flooring, marble walls, and doors with wood so thick you’d think it took an entire Amazon forest to furnish this house alone. To the right is the infamous ballroom where my past met my present. Demetri lured Dominique Winters to hack off my head, and things have been a shit show ever since. And to the right of that malfeasance of space is a more intimate living room, and that’s exactly where I find a little surprise.
“Sage?” My heart thumps wildly at the sight of my beautiful daughter.
Her sharp eyes cut to mine, and her tiny lips form a straight line. She’s good and pissed, and I won’t lie, it scares the hell out of me.
I look past her to Demetri, still in a three-piece suit at this ridiculous hour.
“What’s going on?” I nod his way as I head over to pick up Sage, but she staunchly walks over to Demetri’s side as if she were pledging allegiance to him.
Demetri’s chest expands, his eyes dark eyes glint with anger, and his lips curve with wicked intent. I have never been one to underestimate Demetri, simply due to a smile. I know for a fact his smile is more damning than an average man’s scowl. But then, Demetri is no average man. He’s the devil in disguise.
“Son.” Demetri’s demeanor softens a notch, but his disappointment doesn’t waver. “We were just paid a visit.”
Sage steps forward before I can ask the obvious.
“It was Rory.” Her small head tips to the side, the cause of her fury now fully exposed.
Shit.
Demetri grows a few inches with his indignation. “Yes, Gage. Shit,” he repeats, and my muscles tense up. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard Demetri let an expletive fly. Come to think of it, he was just parroting mine.
Sage takes another bold step forward. “How dare you withhold information like this from us. You’ve turned us into a laughingstock in the heavenlies. I won’t easily forget this.”
Demetri shakes his head. “I don’t know what your intentions were. Perhaps you were ashamed. Perhaps you were saving it as a special surprise. Nonetheless, where is Skyla?”
Sage glints a dark grin. “You killed her, Daddy. I’m proud of you. But you mustn’t keep large developments like this from us. Demetri called for me as soon as Rory revealed herself. I’ve searched Ahava. There is no sign of Mother. Do you know where she is?”
She squints over at me, this miniature female version of myself with the long dark hair, same cobalt eyes, and dimples. She looks every bit like the boys, especially now that they’re catching up to her in age. Candace liked the idea of having her about five or six years old right off the bat, and that’s exactly where she’s been since her death.
Demetri ticks his chin up. “Where is she, Gage? We can’t keep secrets from one another any longer. I must be apprised.”
“I thought you knew everything,” I muse.
His features harden. He is very much sayingdon’t dick with me.
A heavy sigh expels from my chest.
“Knew it,” Sage snips. “He still holds an allegiance to Mother. Banish him, Grandfather. His work is done.”
“No.” Demetri comes to my defense with that menacing grin of his. “Certainly we are far from done. Take a seat, son. I have great things to share with you. I’m glad to see you’re ready to hear it.”
“That I am,” I say, plopping on the sofa as he lands in the one across from me. The other day at the Landon house, Demetri assured me he had our latest move in the bag. He asked me to stop by when I was ready to hear it. I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready to hear it, but I need to and that’s exactly why I’m here.
Sage pouts. “Grandfather, how can you forgive him so easily? His wavering could cost us everything.”
Something enlivens in me to hear her adulating him as a grandparent, and oddly, to hear her utter disregard for me while we’re in the same room.
A ripe anger shoots through me.
“Sage,” I bark out her name without meaning to. “I am in control. I will get my people back. The throne is still mine. The crown is firmly planted on my head. Do not doubt me. And do not disparage me. I don’t need you complicating things. I can have you banished to paradise.”
Hell, I probably should. The hairier, scarier situation is the one in which she’s living. Sage is a young kid. She should be in heaven chasing rainbows, playing with a pet, playing with friends and family. I don’t know why I allowed her to get dragged into this mess to begin with. On second thought, I do. It was my selfish brand of love. I wanted her with me because I love her. If I didn’t realize it before, I’m starting to now. My love is toxic to those I choose to pour it upon, nothing more than corrosive acid that eats away at their existence. I should do everyone a favor and hole up in a cave.
