“I’m what?” Sable stands up and rips the paper from Lex’s hands.
“They signed a death certificate already,” Lex informs us. “Father’s signature and all.”
“This is freaky as fuck,” Sable complains.
“As you can see, Detective Fuckface, Sable is not dead. So what’s this whole thing about?”
“Well, you see, you made it clear you would pay?—”
I shake my head and interrupt him. “What are you offering then?” I ask.
He shrugs. “I’ll let things with Miss Briarwick go if some of this money winds up coming my way.”
Orion laughs. “Next time, come with a card machine.”
“I’d be careful if I were you, Mr. Rook. I’m still an officer,” he says, his confidence falsely bolstered by a bunch of dead men who won’t be paying any longer.
“The four families are dead,” Sable says as she thrusts her own death certificate toward his chest. “If you’re going to arrest me, maybe you should start with that one.”
“Sable…” Parker grunts.
She ignores him and keeps her eyes on the cop who’s still too stunned by her words to speak. “So do you really want to do yourjob, Detective? Do you want to arrest the woman who is leaving a trail of blood behind her? Or do you want some money?”
Detective Asshole looks down at her death certificate and back to her. Does he realize we are now the heirs of all that fortune? The five richest families in the country are together and willing to put him on our books. I don’t trust his intelligence, so I wonder if we have to explain it all. Surprising me, he nods and rips the death certificate.
“We’ll leave you be,” he says finally and leaves the room.
My shoulders relax. “Well, so that fixes many things.”
“It’s nice to see you loaded once again.” Orion smiles at Sable, and she chuckles.
“We have to kill him.” She points at the door from where the detective just left. “If I’m going to pay off a crooked cop, I don’t want a dumb one. Find a woman, someone I don’t need to explain every fucking thing to.”
“Look at you, the perfect head of your family.” Parker chuckles.
“I’m not saying kill him now. We have stuff to do, but like, add it to the checklist or something.”
“Sure.” I nod. “Let’s add to the murderous checklist, why not?”
CHAPTER 77
LEX
My cock gets hardwhen she’s bloodthirsty like that, but we have work to do waiting for us in the banquet hall. All those bodies and fucking Cillian locked in the closet wait for us. I crave the moment I can put his body on the pile, but I still have a few questions to ask before I can satisfy that itch.
In silence, we move back up the stairs to the hall as I mentally make a list of everything he has to answer for in the five minutes before I’m done with his ass. As soon as we arrive at the corridor, I know something is wrong. The hairs on my arms stand on end, and I’m not in the slightest surprised when I see that the door is open.
I stop Sable from entering by pushing her behind me, eyes on the others when I show them the door is open. I never cared to lock it since no one has access to this part of the castle.
Quietly, I make the gap a little larger to fit through it, and I push inside. I know Parker is behind me and the others too. I don’t want Sable to be here at all when I’m not sure who is inside, but I also don’t want her waiting outside alone if there are other lurkers around.
The moment my head pokes inside, I see the problem. No one but fucking Arabella Aragona is crouched in front of thelocked door keeping Cillian in, trying her best to free him. I can’t hear what she’s saying, but I know they are talking in murmurs. She’s so focused on jimmying the lock that she doesn’t notice our approach.
“Fuck, Cillian! I don’t know how to do this!”
“Just listen to my instructions!” he urges her. “Try again, we need to hurry.”
“You don’t fucking have to tell me.” Arabella shakes. “I’m not risking another meeting with that fucking psycho.”
