There would be no exhuming into daylight. No one to disembalm us when Cut had finished his morbid chores.
Cut dragged his hands through his hair, never stopping his pacing. His white shirt stained and jeans dust-smeared. “Answers, Ms. Weaver. I expect them. This very fucking second.”
I bit my tongue, glancing at the earthen walls, wrapping around us with a cold, moist welcome, swallowing us whole like a greedy giant.
This wasn’t a cave. It was the giant’s stomach. Its entrails.
“You have exactly three seconds to tell me what I want to know. Otherwise, I’ll stop treating you as my guest and hurt you as my prisoner instead.”
I snorted. “The past six months was you treating me as your guest? Last night with the coin toss? This morning with the gunfire? That’s typical behaviour for yourguests?” Flames smouldered in my belly, suppressing my injuries and allowing me to focus on staying alive.
Cut spun to face me, stalking quickly to slam his hands on the armrests of the wooden chair he’d tied me to. “Six months in my house and haven’t I kept you fed and content and given you free rein to explore? Last night, didn’t I give you something to make the Third Debt more bearable? I let you dance, smile. You hadfun, Nila. You can’t deny that.” His voice lowered to a hiss. “You had fucking fun and you cannot say otherwise.”
I trembled. “You want to continue thinking of yourself as a gentleman? A maverick making sacrifices for a good cause? Go ahead. Fulfil that fantasy by letting Jethro and me go. Then I’ll answer any question you want. Give me your word we’re free to go and I’ll tell you everything.”
Not everything.
Because the moment he knew about Daniel, there would be no guillotine or Final Debt. He would wring my neck within seconds. He would avenge his youngest because he hadn’t been the one to decree it should be over.
Pushing off from the armrests, he resumed his pacing. “Let’s begin with the elephant in the room, shall we?” He pointed at Jethro. “How the fuck is he alive and here?”
My heart cracked, taking in Jethro’s beaten form. He slouched unconscious in an identical chair. However, the ropes holding him in place were triple mine. Twine snakes licked around his thighs and torso, gluing him to the chair. His wrists hung lifeless, trapped behind him while his ankles were locked against the chair legs with yet more rope.
There would be no escape. Not even if he was a magician with every spell in the world.
My mind raced with ideas on how to get free, but so far...I had nothing. Blank. Zero. Zilch.
“I shot him. He died on the rug at my feet. He’s meant to be dead.” Cut’s face turned red.
I flinched but held his gaze. “Just let us go. No one else has to get hurt.”
His eyes narrowed. “No one else? You say it like someone just got hurt, Nila. Was it Daniel?” He soared forward, his fingers biting into my cheeks. “Where is he?”
Survival kicked in. I’d never been a good liar.
“No idea.” Keeping my chin high, I aimed to be honest but obtuse. Forthcoming but mysterious. “Why would I know where your despicable son is?”
“It seemed you knew where my oldest was, even while living under my roof.” His face etched with fury. “You ate my food, slept in my rooms, and lied to my fucking face.”
“No, I didn’t.”
Cut laughed coldly. “Don’t be a bitch. You knew. All along, you knew.”
“I didn’t!” I swallowed back my shout. “I thought he was dead. Same as you.” Granting him a smidgen of truth, I added, “I only found out a few hours before you put me on the plane.”
Cut glared. “How? How did you find out?”
What could it hurt? Jethro was here. Whatever plans he had, they wouldn’t come to fruition. “He told me himself. He came to get me.”
Cut’s mouth fell open, a surprised cough falling free. “You’re telling me hewillinglycame back to Hawksridge, had you to himself for however long, and then left you again?” His eyes glowed. “Wait,that’swhere you were when Daniel found you outside your quarters.”
I didn’t respond. He already guessed with conviction. “What a fucking idiot.” He shook his head. More shadows darkened his soul.
Shoving aside the new knowledge, he said, “Speaking of Daniel. Let’s get back to what’s important. Jethro is alive. I’ll need more information on that. But for now, Daniel is more pressing.” His eyebrows knitted together. “You were the last one with him. What did you do?”
“Me?” I scoffed. “How could I win against Daniel? I wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“Did he rape you?”
