“Dagon.”
I hate that another man takes up so much space in her mind. I hate that he’s like a dark shadow, constantly looming over her and threatening to tear her apart from the inside.
What I hate most of all is that, thanks to a bargain with Cain, I have to let Dagon get close to her in order to kill him.
“A memory?” I ask.
It’s a long moment before she nods her head carefully.
“New?”
She shakes her head. “Not quite. Well, some pieces were…” she winces and lifts her free hand up to her head.
“Was it about the injury?” I ask carefully.
She nods again. “Yeah. I already had fragmented pieces of it in my mind, I remembered the pain, and…” the color drains from her face. She stops talking and swallows, taking a full deep breath. “But there were holes. Those holes have been plugged now.”
“I’m sorry,” I say softly.
“That you literally fucked me until I passed out?”
I shake my head. “No. I stand by what I did. I’m sorry that you have such horrific memories swirling around in your mind.”
She winces. “So am I. I wish I could cut them out of my brain, sometimes. Give myself a lobotomy if that’s what it took to just… forget.”
I scan her expression, a sharp twinge of fear curling through me. She’s displayed some poor decision making, but for the most part, Ember has struck me as analytical. Smart. Careful.
Right now, she sounds emotional and impulsive. I’m not sure which version of her I prefer more.
I open my mouth to reply, but my phone releases a shrillshriek. It’s not the ring of a call or the chime of a text—no, this is analarm.
My heart quickens and my focus sharpens as I reach for it. Scan the message that spills across the screen, and abruptly stand. “You’ll have to eat alone,” I say, fear tightening my gut. “Something’s just come up.”
Code blackflashes across my screen in bold, large, lettering. There’s only one cause for a code black, and only leadership knows about it, because it has to dowith us.
A code black has never been called before, and I doubt it ever will be again, because it signals that there’s an emergency in leadership that requires immediate attention.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Max
Imeet with Greyson outside of Cain’s office. The relief I feel at seeing him unharmed is profuse. Greyson and I have had our ups and downs, granted, but he’s my closest friend here. We’ve saved each other's asses more times than I can count—I’ve helped him recover from multiple injuries, and he’s had my back almost constantly. If something happened to him, I’d be devastated. But if it’s not him or me, and Cain’s the one that sent the message…
“Scarlett?”
“Ember?”
We speak the names at the same time. I ask after his woman, he asks after mine.
“She’s fine,” I assure him. “She had a rough morning, but she’s okay. Scar?”
There was a time when Greyson would’ve broken my jaw for inquiring after Scarlett’s wellbeing. There was a time when I wanted to break his kneecaps over how he was handling their relationship and treating her. That time is now in the rearview mirror—perhaps notas far as either of us would like it to be, but behind us nonetheless. I think Ember’s arrival in the compound has given Greyson a lot more confidence in our friendship, because he’s now completely safe in the knowledge that I have no designs on Scarlett. He knew this before, but hetrulyknows it now.
“She’s good. I sent her up to keep Ember company—she got nervous when I left in a hurry. Hope that’s okay.”
“Of course.” Ember might notloveScarlett, but she likes her, and I think she could use a friend right now. She also got a bit nervous when I left in a hurry after my phone alarm went off, though she refused to show it.
“If it’s not us, then…” Greyson trails off as aroarcomes from inside the apartment.
