I rise, strength blasting through my veins. Mom was right. The bravery was inside me all along.
“I’m not leaving.”
Admiration shines in Maxwell’s eyes, and a small smile crests Rex’s lips.
“Lana,” Aria whispers, voice shaking. “Ride or die badass.”
“She likes the scary stories too,” Scarlett mutters, blinking through tears. “But I know yours will have a happy ending.”
I chug down the drink she gave me, heat spreading through my chest.
Righteousness replaces fear. Purpose replaces pain.
I slam down the mug. “Now—what are we going to do about this?”
Chapter 54: THE BLACK BOOK GOODBYE
Maxwell’s lips twitch. Hetakes the divorce papers, his gaze contemplative. “Do you know what he’s planning?”
I think back to the last few weeks—snippets I overheard when The Syndicate was in our home. The hushed whispers about the phantom. The stolen evidence. Gabriel Caruso’s visit.
Something’s there. A missing piece—a crucial one.
My scalp prickles. I shove my hand into my pocket for my phone, ready to comb through Elias’s prior texts for clues.
But my fingers bump into something solid and small.
The lighter.
Gasping, I quickly pull it out, the warm café lighting reflecting the delicate engraving on it.
“Why do you have his lighter?” Rex asks, hand reaching out. “Doesn’t he carry that damn thing everywhere? Let me see.”
Something niggles in my chest as I hand it over.
My mind is trying to tell me something—words I don’t understand, a code I haven’t noticed.
What is it?
Rex flicks the lighter on. A flame bursts.
“It’s heavy,” he murmurs, shaking it.
“The craftsmanship is beautiful,” Scarlett whispers. “The flowers, the vines. How it swirls around his name—”
My gaze snaps up. I snatch the lighter back, my heart thundering like the storm outside.
Hand trembling, I lift it toward the light, fingertips grazing the small indentations I noticed before. Like pinpricks. Almost like—
“A key,” I whisper. My thumb drags over the tiny marks. “These are keyholes. They have to be.”
“But where’s the key?” Aria nudges closer. “Do you know?”
My mind swirls through the options. The mansion is a labyrinth, not to mention the catacombs underneath St. Michael’s I haven’t explored.
It could be anywhere.
But why would he give this to me if he doesn’t think I can open it?
