He spits on the floor. “I hope you have your affairs in order because you aren’t getting out of this alive. Unless…” The man smirks. “I heard a rumor. Elias Kent never kneels. How about that? Drop to your knees right now, and we’ll spare you.”
A flash fire hits me in the chest, but I bite my cheek, forcing myself to remain still.
The smell of charred wood and burning cloth overwhelms my senses. Then the sweetness—gasoline and flames, melted chocolates in my pocket. Desperate screams. Pebbles digging into my knees.
Figments of the past.
“I never kneel foranyone.” The words are quiet, but Agron heard them loud and clear. “Ever.”
He narrows his eyes and points his gun at me.
Click.The safety disengages.
“How about I end your life right now?” He aims the steel barrel against my forehead.
A bitter smile hitches my lips. I don’t move, don’t react.
Never let them see your desperation.
Emotions make you a loser before your first move, and I never lose.
With one leg crossed over my other knee, I adjust my cufflinks. I knock my lighter on the table.
Knock.
“What?” he growls.
“Just thinking how someone like you got your position. Daddy must be pissed. Eldest son. Should’ve been the family’s pride and joy.”
I tsk. “But fucking your brother-in-law?Really?Are you a top or a bottom? Never mind. I can check my pictures.”
Knock.
Checkmate.
A roar bellows from his throat, and he’s on top of me in a second. He jams the barrel against my temple, his arm shaking with restraint.
“Say that again.”
“You really should work on that temper.”
“Boys,” Edon’s voice commands from the laptop. “Enough.”
His son shoves me back into my seat. Sweat beads on my back, but I act unbothered.
Instead, I dust off my jacket. The asshole wrinkled it. Damn. A loose seam. Will need to get that fixed later.
“Kent, The Association isn’t happy. A bloodbath. A public spectacle. Your Rite is incomplete, and you kidnapped an Anderson. The Scheduler is livid. What are you going to do about her?”
My thoughts flash to Lana, who was still asleep when I left her room an hour ago for my emergency meeting with the Berishas.
She didn’t want to let go of my hand. She clutched it like a drowning man would a lifeboat, like she needed me to survive.
It took every ounce of willpower to walk away.
“We can’t let her go,” Edon continues.
A sudden urge seizes me—to scoop her into my arms and disappear. To forget everything and turn back time to when Kian and Elise still existed.
