The emotions inside of me are discordant. Part of me wants to be excited and proud of all of us. All of the work that it took for us to get here, all of the sacrifices that I had to make for it. I should be celebrating, congratulating all the guys. But the part of me that feels nothing but pure panic is overwhelmed. I loathe Sabel for poisoning this one thing that has brought nothing butpeace to my life. It feels like she walked in and stole it right from under me.
The music.
The music was all I ever needed. It was the eye of the storm, the center of destruction. The one good thing that always brought me back to the present. The thought makes me suddenly realize that something else has taken the place of that sanctuary. No, someone.
Sloane.
Sloane is the only thing that Ineed. Except, I am the storm. I am the chaos and destruction orbiting her, and I know that I am dangerously close to losing her for more reasons than one. I won’t allow that, though. She ismine, and not even death itself can separate her from my grasp. I hear Raithe’s voice, and it pulls me from my racing thoughts.
“No shit? That’s what’s up.” Raithe nods his head, a huge grin pulling at his lips. Leave it to Raithe to only see the lights and cameras, blinded by the flashes and fame. Raithe is too enthralled by what’s being dangled in front of him to see through the lens. I wish that we had a sibling telepathy thing like twins do, so that I could tell him to fuckingfocus.
Raithe reaches over and high-fives Kai next to him. Kai is also smiling ear to fucking ear. These two are going to send me to an early grave. Raithe reaches across the table to high-five Cal, and Cal remains seated with his broad arms crossed tightly against his chest.
“Come on, man, this is great news for us!” Raithe says, hand still hanging in the air. Cal doesn’t budge, and Raithe finally drops his stupid hand. I scoff, turning my attention back to the witch at the head of the table.
“So, what’s next, then?” I question. I need to know what Sabel’s next move is so that I can shove it right up her ass.
Sabel flexes her jaw, eyes fixed on mine like she imagines forcing me into submission. I cringe at the thought.
“Okay, then. Straight to business today, I see,” she says, her eyes flicking between Cal and me.
“You are going to put on your biggest show yet, in thirteen days.” Funny. It doesn’t sound like she’s asking. Cal pushes to stand. I reach out my left hand, forcing him to remain seated and shut the fuck up. We have to be smart about this.
“No,” I say plainly. From my periphery, I can see Raithe and Kai exchange confused glances.
“Excuse me?” Sabel asks, her words laced with venom. She arches a brow in silent question of my defiance.
“I said,no. We aren’t doing it.” I hold my ground, ready to take her on if the need surfaces. She’s four against one, and the odds are not currently in her favor. I know she’d have security in here within seconds, but it would give us a decent head start. It would also make me feel a hell of a lot better to watch the life seep out of Sabel’s soul while I strangled her delicate neck in my hands.
“You haven’t even heard the proposition,” Sabel declares, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Humor me,” I bite back.
She takes her seat at the head of the table and leans back, crossing one leg over the other. “We are going to be testing our biggest frequency yet. It will be groundbreaking, reaching an audience far greater than ever before. This will be the ultimate experiment.” That smug smile returns to her lips, and her eyes are ablaze with malevolence. I start to speak, but Callum beats me to it.
“What kind of frequency are you testing this time?” Cal’s tone is sharp and demanding.
Sabel laughs, the sound of it both condescending and sinister. “Oh, Cal.” I hate the way she uses his nickname likeshe has the fucking right. “You know you don’t get to ask those questions, honey.” It takes every ounce of control that I have to restrain myself from removing her head from her shoulders. I can see Cal’s jaw flex, and his breathing deepens. I glance across the table to see that Raithe and Kai are both becoming increasingly restless. I guess they’ve finally shed their rose-colored glasses.
Four bombs sit in this room, waiting to ignite. I wonder which one of us will lose it first. For Sabel’s sake, I hope it isn’t Callum.
“My God, you boys need to relax. I delivered you the best news of your career, and this is how you thank me?” Sabel eyes us all, one by one, daring us to push the issue further. I decide to rein it back before things get out of hand too quickly.
“We all saw what happened at the VIP event, Sabel. That kind of mind-altering bullshit is not what we signed up for. You can’t expect us to keep doing this to innocent people and be okay with it. Where do we draw the line?” I train my voice to remain calm and unassuming. I want her to think that my only intention is for the greater good of the fans. And while I do care about the fans and what Sabel is doing to them, my real reason is Sloane.
It willalwaysbe Sloane.
Sabel studies me, trying to decipher fact from fiction. Is it that far of a reach when she picked me off the streets of Hollowcrest, where I was murdering low-life criminals? Idocare about humanity, at least in some sense.
“When you signed that contract that saved your sorry ass from alifein prison, you signed away your right to protest. You don’t get to ask questions, and you sure as hell don’t get to refuse me. Iownyou, Riven.” She pauses, pinning me with her eyes full of daggers. She drags her gaze over each one of the guys. “I ownallof you. Do not forget that. And just as easily as Imadeyou, I canendyou,” she snarls.
The room falls into an eerie silence. It’s the kind of quiet that makes my skin crawl with anticipation. Sabel is done playing nice, and so am I.
Within seconds, I have Sabel pinned to the wall behind her by her throat. Her feet are dangling from the ground as she claws at my hands with her blood-red painted talon-like nails. Within two more seconds, the room is infiltrated by shouting and the rustling of shoes on the ground. Through the blood rushing in my ears, I faintly hear Callum yell at me to release Sabel.
Only when I feel the barrel of a cold pistol at my temple do I fully become aware and drop Sabel. She falls to the floor, gasping for air. I half turn, looking into the eyes of the man with a gun to my head. He’s shorter than I am and not nearly as strong. I’m reaching for the barrel when I hear a voice from somewhere behind me.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” It’s so familiar to me, yet so foreign. It can’t be, though. No world exists where that would be remotely possible. I drop my hand, fisting it by my side. He speaks again, and this time there’s no mistaking the man who’s now standing behind me.
