Well,almosteverything.
I needed to meet my men once and for all.
As me.
Runo Matthews.
“Yes, yes. All that stuff. I’m not coming home. Just wanted to let you know that I’m alive and Finn is very neatly tucked up in my head. They’re all safe.We’resafe.” I hung up on him, letting Lucy climb up my shoulder and rest around my neck.Villain mode, excellent.My father would find out the second part of this plan after it happened.
After all, he was my original Samael—the clean-up crew part.
Now, it was time to make the last call. The most important one. I stared at my three contestants, the newest players of a game they didn’t even know they had signed up for. The dial tone barely ended before I heard Aeron’s panicked voice on the other line.
“Finn? Thank fuck. Where have you been?”
I chuckled, shaking my head. Just a few days ago, they were a little terrified of Finn. “Actually, it’s Runo. And I’ve been around.”
“Where the fuck is Finn?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
Slash’s voice filtered through the speaker, a hardened version of the one I was used to. “Cut the shit. Where have you been taking all these goddamn people? Where is Finn?”
I wasn’t taking all of those people. There were just three. Three lovely people who were now bound and gagged in Samael’s basement, ready for their punishment. “You really didn’t pick up all the clues? God, I thought you were smarter than that. Well, then. I’d like to introduce myself. Hello, I’m Runo Matthews. You might have picked out that I was Runo Ipse but Ipse just meansmyself. I thought it was clever.”
A heavy breath fell from Aeron’s lips as everything clicked together.
“Where are you, Runo? What is going on?” Aeron asked. I could almost imagine him clutching the phone in his hand,ready to run to me when I gave him my location. Little did they know that I had been beneath them for the last twelve hours.
“I had to get everything ready or as Finn would say, there was a plan. Come downstairs and I’ll show you.” Lucy purred just then, adding to the dramatic effort. Then I heard their heavy steps as they raced toward the basement door and down the steps.
They paused at the opening, staring from me to my three victims, realization dawning on their faces. I wanted to spend time with them, get to know them, to truly understand how they ticked—just as I understood myself.
So, I prepared them presents. Jade. Niles. Brent. Three people who didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as my men any longer.
Samael stepped forward, moving to stand beside me. “What is this, Runo? Is this for us?”
“I prepared everything,” I pushed out, clapping my hands together. “Isn’t it perfect? We made it perfect. All of us.” For several seconds, they said nothing. I thought that maybe I hadn’t actually dragged anyone into the basement or that they didn’t want my present. “Samael—”
“It is perfect. Absolutely perfect. Maybe next time we could start with dinner.”
I blew a raspberry at him. “That wouldn’t be any fun. This is just as romantic as Italian. Tell me I’m wrong!” Slash and Aeron came to stand on the other side of me as I waited for their approval, my victims whining for release. The recognitionin their eyes made this moment worse for them but I was still waiting for my men to love it.
To accept me.
It took a long fucking time for someone to move.
Slash was the first. “As long as I get to slice up some bitches, I’d say this is a pretty fine date to me.”
“Excellent! Make sure to save the loin for Aeron. Finn said his curry was fucking fantastic.”
EPILOGUE TWO
CHIEF MATTHEWS
"Victor, tell me again,exactlyhow you saw it."
Merchant's temporary partner spouted off an incredible story, a large man packing a truck in the dark of the night. Several men worked around him, money passing hands, eerie laughter echoing in the wind. It was the same kinds of stories that so often walked through my door, the ones that proved The King was real. And yet, we still didn't have a description of the man who was constantly running his operation through Primrose. I had had my suspicions about Merchant but time and time again, he proved them wrong. And now that Victor had seenthis silhouette of a man tonight when I knew that Merchant was home just confused me all over again.
