They all laughed.
I stood and headed downstairs, closing the door behind me. And soon my phone buzzed in my pocket. Enzo messaged;
The money was ready.
Tonight, the House of Clowns was mine.
Present day
“She’s gone!” Mia came running, gasping for air.
I turned to her. “What the fuck do you mean gone?”
“She ran. She’s not here anymore,” she said, eyes wide.
“Fuck!” I shouted.
Enzo looked at me, already knowing what might come next. What would happen if the voices returned. But when I was with her, they never spoke. Around her, my head went quiet. Maybe that was all I ever needed, to show someone the darkest side ofme and have them stay anyway.
I laughed under my breath. “Doll isn’t going anywhere,” I said.
I ran outside. Mia tried to follow, but Enzo stopped her. I knew exactly where she would go.
I went down the stairs, through the tents, and into the woods. The ground was wet, mud clinging to my shoes. My face tilted down, and I noticed her bare footprints, and beside them, a man’s. Two sets that were larger and heavier.
“Fuck,” I growled.
The Circle got its hands on her. They must have.
I tore through the dirt path, breath sawing in my throat, following the trail toward the tents. My fault. All of it. I had led them straight to her.
A scream split through the trees.Hers.It had to be.
Light spilled from the seams of the tent ahead. I crept closer and peered through a gap in the canvas.
There were two clowns inside with her. The same bastards from earlier. They still didn’t know I owned the circus; most of them thought I was just another performer, a nobody with a director’s uniform.
“If he can have her, why can’t we?” one of them slurred, his painted grin stretching as the other bound her wrists with the red silks the aerialists used to dance through the air.
She screamed again, and her fist cracked against his jaw. But they only grabbed her harder, tearing fabric from her body.
My jaw locked. My fists curled until my nails bit my palms. I will kill them for touching her.
And as I tilted my head, I saw the axe leaning beside the tent ropes.
How convenient?Almost like the gods were watching.
I snatched it up, swung it onto my shoulder, and stepped through the tent’s main entrance.
They didn’t notice. Not at first.
I crept up behind one, tapped his shoulder. “Sir. Sir,” I mimicked in a high-pitched voice. He waved me off.
“Sir.”
But then he turned, just in time for the blade to kiss his face.
“Am I fucking interrupting?”
