Sterling locks eyes with me. “Everyone is dismissed—except Priest.”
The others file out.
I still don’t sit.
“You brought a non-Sovereign to the Safehouse. Fake IDs, Russian ties. You tied her up and then left her unsupervised. The same girl who was there when you were ambushed. You want to tell me that’s a coincidence?”
“She’s a petty thief,” I say. “That’s it.”
“She’s a breach.”
“She’s none of your fucking business.”
I turn to leave.
“You’re not leaving the Vault,” he snaps. “You’ll stay here until we figure out?—”
“I don’t answer to you.” I move to the door, laughing.
Sterling rises. “That’s a fucking order Priest.”
I stop, turn, and smile. “Try and stop me.”
And then I walk out. I don’t need permission to burn his whole fucking world down.
The club is empty.
2 a.m., neon lights flickering overhead, throwing long, sickly shadows across the floor. The silence presses in, broken only by the hum of the refrigerators.
“Sure you’re good to close?” Ivan asks, wiping down the bar, his accent thicker when he’s tired.
“I’m fine,” I mutter, scrubbing dishes harder than necessary. Hot water scalds my cracked hands, the sting grounding me.
Ivan mumbles in Russian, shaking his head before slipping out the back door. Finally.
I shove the last dishes away and dry my hands, mind spinning. It’s not the stitches in my leg that have me ready to crawl out of my skin. It’s everything else—the shooting, the Sovereign,him. The last few days I’ve been planning my next move. Time to pack up and move again.
“Stupid little girl. Thought you could run?”
That voice stops my heart.
His hand clamps around my throat before I can turn. I’m slammed against the counter, the air ripped from my lungs. My nails claw at his forearm as he yanks me off the ground. Legs kicking wildly, I land a few solid hits to his knees—but it doesn’t even phase him.
Priest lifts me higher.
Slams my back into the wall.
The world tilts.
I can’t breathe.
His grip tightens until stars spark at the edges of my vision.
“You just don’t learn,” he murmurs, lips brushing my ear. “Struggle again and I’ll choke you until you piss yourself.”
I bare my teeth, even as the pressure crushes my windpipe. I slam my heel into his shin.
His hand slams my head back against the drywall.
