I needed the burn.
I needed the clarity.
I needed the pain to remind me what I was fighting for.
Kaylor.
Always fucking Kaylor.
It was one thing for me to make a deal with the devil. Quite another thing entirely for the girl I loved to strike a bargain that could haunt her for the rest of her life.
I planned to win this game. My father might have started it, but I would end it.
26
KAYLOR
Iwaited, sitting motionless on my bed. Quietly. Externally calm while my thoughts raced. My body still buzzed from the pleasure he had worshipped on me, and here I was in my room, plotting and scheming.
The impossible happened, and I was still reeling. Kreed fucking Corvo loved me. Me! Some girls would die to be me, and others would think I was the stupidest female in the world getting mixed up with someone like him. All I cared about was how he made me feel, how he protected me, and how he loved me.
The last thing I wanted to do was hurt him, but Rusty had to be dealt with. I was done being suspended in time, wondering when or how he would strike, and since I didn’t fully trust Donovan, I needed to take shit into my own hands.
Okay, sure, it hadn’t worked out all that fantastically the first time I’d done something reckless, but some lessons needed to be drilled in harder.
First, I needed something from Kreed and asking was out of the question.
He had barely pulled the bathroom door closed behind himbefore the shower roared to life, water hitting tiles. Three minutes. That’s how long I told myself to wait. They were the longest three minutes ever.
Antsy, I slipped into the hallway, glancing down at Maddox’s and Mason’s rooms, my pulse tripping clumsily over itself as if it were trying desperately to outrun what I was about to do. The twins were nowhere in sight. I hadn’t seen them since yesterday, and knowing them, I wouldn’t be surprised if they hadn’t come home at all.
Like I was Catwoman, I moved stealthily into his room, a distinctive scent of cedar and bodywash mingling. The smell tried to anchor me in place, tried to make me reconsider.
Tried to stop me.
But I couldn’t stop. Not now. Not when I was this close to having the power to end this nightmare.
Steam curled under the gap at the bottom of the bathroom door. The hot water would help his sore muscles and the fresh stitches pulling at his side. It also masked sound effectively.
Mine specifically.
I went straight for the tall dresser against the far wall. I knew Kreed kept smaller knives in the bottom drawer, tactical blades tucked under folded sweatpants where they wouldn’t be immediately visible but remained accessible. Except sharp edges weren’t what I needed tonight.
I didn’t want something designed for threats or intimidation.
I required something absolutely final.
My heart pounded in my chest as I checked each drawer, pushing aside neatly folded shirts and boxer briefs, socks, and my favorite stash of hoodies. Nothing. Each drawer made my stomach twist tighter.
I had to find what I was looking for before he got out of the shower and caught me going through his things. My eyes tracked across the room to the nightstand positioned beside his bed, within easy reach of where he slept. Convenient. Accessible. Exactly wherea crew prince would keep a loaded weapon if trouble came calling at three in the morning and seconds mattered.
With the shower still running in the background, I crossed the remaining distance, my hand closing around the drawer handle. For a single, suspended heartbeat, I hesitated, all the reasons this was a horrible idea flooding me.
Then I pulled anyway.
There it was.
Cold metal gleaming dully in the low light. Black matte finish. Compact but substantial.
