“Then let him kill me. I won’t be that person. I swear to you, I would rather die than be that type of monster…than be that fucking evil.”
He means it.
Viper and I exchange a look, then turn our attention to Alec.
A muscle in his jaw flexes as Alec clenches his teeth. He doesn’t move.
“Did you hear me?” Ashton pushes. “I will let Dante shoot me between the eyes in broad daylight, in front of all of you. I swear I will. This is too far. And you know it. Youfucking know it, Alec.”
Alec’s jaw clenches and unclenches as he stares at Ashton. “He won’t accept a no on this, Ashton. We have no other options.”
“Then we leave,” Ashton says, like it’s the simplest thing in the world. Like Dante would ever let us. “Then we fucking leave. We should have done it years ago. Enough is enough. Together, we can figure it out. It’s not like he can chase us forever.”
Alec stares him down, seconds ticking by as he realizes Ash isn’t going to bend on this. Finally, his gaze moves away, brows pinched in thought. I can practically see the plan forming behind his eyes. A small, microscopic ray of hope enters my chest.
Ash was right. I am Viper’s moral compass, the only one left in this world capable of stopping him from going too far. He relies on me to tell him where the line is.
But Ashton does the same thing for Alec. Ever since we were kids, he’s been the one to pull Alec back from the brink, to set him on the right course.
And we’ve been going down the wrong course for so long now, pulled there by Dante, this might be our last chance to pull ourselves back.
After an eternity of silence, Alec finally speaks. “I have a plan,” he tells us.
Ashton’s posture instantly relaxes, his breath escaping in one long exhale. “Thank fucking God,” he mutters.
“A plan to get us out of here,” Alec continues. “To be free of him, for good.”
That ray of hope in my chest grows, and I let myself imagine it, for one glorious moment. Freedom. For all of us. A chance to escape this hell Dante has pulled us into.
But he’s forgetting one big complication…
“What about Annika?” I ask.
Alec hesitates. His hand clenches, as though the weight of the ring on his finger has become too heavy.
“We can’t risk it,” he says solemnly. “You know he’ll never give her up, even if she wanted to come with us. And if we take her from him, he’ll never stop chasing us. She’s a target on our back we can’t afford to have.”
Logically, I know he’s right. It’s too big a risk. There’s no way in hell Dante would ever let us leave with her. Even if we managed to get away, Dante would burn this world to ash before he’d let his daughter go free.
It’s the right move. Rationally, I know it’s the right move.
So why does it feel like he just ripped my heart out of my chest and tore it to pieces?
1
THE NIGHT SHE FOUND OUT
SYDNEY
I amdrunk.Like bike-into-the-back-of-a-parked-car drunk.
Which I, in fact, did.
Thankfully, only one person witnessed it. He was just as piss drunk as me and watched as I swerved away from the completely open street toward the only obstacle within a thousand feet.Crash.We locked eyes after I gracelessly pulled myself back up to my feet, my ego more bruised than anything else.
“It’s okay. I’m the only one that saw that,” he reassured me in a stage whisper, emphasizing the words with an inebriated hiccup. How adorably cartoon-mouse of him.
“It’s our secret now,” I answered with a wink before biking away, a little steadier.
