“I won’t be repeating myself tonight, Evelina.”
I jolt, quickly moving to catch up to him.
Vaughn leads me through the door and down a dark hallway to another door. When he opens it, cool air teases over me before we step out into the night, lit only by the silver moon hanging low in the inky, cloud-dotted sky.
A ripple finger-walks up my spine as I glance around at the gnarled, bare branches of a twisted tree, looming over a collection of statues, gargoyles, crosses, and a few small stone houses.
I go still.
No, not statues and houses.
Graves and mausoleums.
We’re standing in a crumbling, walledgraveyard.
I startle as the door shuts behind me with a heavy thud. My eyes dart up to Vaughn’s masked face as he stands over me, looking down into my very soul.
“I’m going to give you one. Last. Chance.”
I shiver. “I…I thought attendance constituted?—”
“Shut the fuck up and listen, Evelina,” he murmurs. “This is your very last chance. None of this should be taken lightly. Should you survive, admittance to the Syndicate is forlife. This is not a holiday. It’s not a fun social club for when you’re bored.”
He leans down slightly, eyes glinting like wicked blue-tinged diamonds in the shadowy eyeholes of his mask. I shiver as his slight spicy, earthy, masculine scent teases over me.
“Are yousureyou’re willing to sacrifice your own blood to help a shit-stain of a man who’d sell you out for a bottle of cheap vodka.”
My mouth twists. “He… He’s my father.”
“Fathers are highly overrated,” he snaps back.
For the first time, I realize he’s also dressed in comfortable clothes—a black hoodie that fits snugly across his broad shoulders, black track pants, black sneakers.
Why does it feel like we’re about to go for a jog?
“This is your last warning. Don’t do this for someone else. Do it foryou, or don't do it at all.”
The silence hangs heavily between us as I take a shaky breath.
“I’m ready,” I say softly.
“I disagree,” he growls. “Regardless: remember your safe word. Midnight, and this all stops.”
A tremor slips up my spine.
Whatall stops?
“But if it stops, itallstops. You go home, and you aredonewith the Syndicate. Needless to say, we’re done with you, too.”
The implication is clear: if I tap out, I’m done, and I can kiss any chance of the Syndicate helping my father goodbye.
I can also be sure that Diego Torvallés will make good on his threat.
There’s only one way forward.
“I understand,” I whisper hoarsely.
Vaughn doesn’t reply. Another long few seconds tick by, then I jolt sharply at the jarring, angry caw of a crow somewhere in the night.
