I collapsed over her chest, my ear pressed to skin that was already cooling. My fingers scrambled for her hand, but it was limp, sliding through mine like water.
“Leah,” I whispered again, softer, more desperate.
The fire crackled louder, hungry now. The velvet curtains behind us went up in a rush, and smoke billowed into the alcove like a beast. The heat blistered my back, but I didn’t care. I curled myself tighter around her, covering her body with mine.
Someone shouted my name. Hands yanked at my arms. I thrashed, clinging harder. “No! Don’t touch her!” My nails dug into Leah’s dress, tore the fabric, my knuckles white as I clamped down.
“Arden.” It was Kane, his voice sharp with authority. "Let go."
Thorne’s cut through the chaos next. “She’s gone,Arden—”
“She’s not!” My scream tore my throat raw. “Don’t you fucking say that. She’s right here. I won’t leave her again.”
The curtains collapsed in a shower of flame. Sparks leapt across the floor. The air turned molten, but I only clutched Leah tighter, pressed my face into her hair. “Let me burn with her,” I sobbed, shaking against her stillness. “Don’t you dare take me away. Don’t you fucking dare!”
The smoke clawed my lungs. My chest heaved in desperate gasps, but I refused to move. Thorne tried to grab my arms, Kane hooked his hands under my shoulders, both of them dragging, pulling, shouting. I kicked, screamed. “No! I won’t! I won’t leave her again!”
Then the world jolted. A shadow thundered into the alcove—Rafe. His face was carved with fury, his jaw locked, his eyes ablaze. He seized me.
His arms hooked under my ribs, pried me up with a force I couldn’t fight. I shrieked, but he hauled me off Leah and slung me over his shoulder like I weighed nothing. My fists pounded his back, my nails clawed his skin through his shirt. “Put me down!”
Leah’s body slid out of reach with each of Rafe’s strides, Thorne and Kane on either side of us. I reached for her, my arms outstretched, screaming until the sound broke into a torn sob. Rafe’s grip was steel around the backs of my thighs, his shoulder a brutal wall under my stomach. He stormed through the chaos, unflinching while I begged him to put me down, to let me go back to her. Leah didn’t deserve to burn. She just didn’t. Thorne and Kane averted their gazes from me, their faces grim and gutted.
“Leah!” I wailed one last time, my voice scraping raw, but the fire swallowed her.
“You left the target alive, and now he knows we’re after him,” Halden reprimanded us when we were back at the compound.
I barely heard a word he said. All I could see was Leah lying limp on that sofa. It was so fucking cruel. Why? Why had destiny chosen to put her in my path only tolet her die? What had I fucking done to deserve that? Any of it?
“To make up for the lost contract, all four of you will need to serve another Buyer personally for the next month.” Halden bit out each of the words. He paced, all of us having been shoved to our knees by his guards. “You will finish the jobquickerthan that. Is that understood? A week, at most. I hadn’t planned on letting Creed do overnights for at least three more months.”
Then he stopped in front of me.
“And let me remind you that if this was a ploy to stay out of the compound, to try and escape, I won’t hesitate to detonate the poison we injected. I am theonlyone with the fucking antidote, so you will do as I say, Creed.”
“Yes, sir,” we said in hollow unison, Rafe signing.
“The jet is waiting. Get out of my sight,” he growled and left us, his dress shoes clicking.
We were delivered to a penthouse in Manhattan, each of us with a small bag. Mine held only my lighter, my gun, my pearls, and three dresses hand selected by Halden. I was in the red dress I’d worn when leaving Viktor’s and my leather jacket. The guys were in new suits, having outgrown their old ones. To anyone who saw us coming through the lobby and up the elevator, we likely looked like college kids after a night on the town, the only thing really giving us away being Thorne’s neck tattoo of CREED. Fortunately, no one at that point in time had any idea what Creed was.
To the world, we were invisible, and it was strange watching the elevator climb and having strangers in it with us. The four of us filled the back while a young couple laughed and scrolled on their phones in front of us. They were watching a video of a cat dancing to a silly song on a loop. It was nonsense, and I’d never been more jealous. I glared daggers at their backs as they got off at the eight floor, my eyes and throat still raw from grieving Leah. I hadn’t been able to stop crying once we’d boarded the jet, fending off the guys every time they tried to help. I didn’t want them. I wantedLeah, and I deeply blamed myself for her death. If I’d still beenat Viktor’s, maybe I could’ve kept her from becoming a Doll.
The elevator dinged at the penthouse, doors scraping open and revealing endless luxury in every direction. Floor to ceiling windows revealed the twinkling lights of the city, the open space of a fireplace, elegant sofas, a bar, and a television laid out before massive sliding doors where an infinity pool overlooked the city.
I gripped my bag tighter, waiting for a man in a suit to come and show us to wherever he kept his secrets, but there was no one. Slowly, the four of us stepped out of the elevator, Kane moving to a small entry table where a propped notecard sat. He picked it up, his brows pulling together. Thorne snatched it out of his brother’s grasp and read it, too.
“It says the place is ours. To make ourselves at ‘home’,” Thorne said, lifting a worried gaze to Rafe and me. “There’s nothing else. Not even a signature.”
Frowning, I took the note, finding exactly that. The lettering was in a sweeping scrawl.
“Let’s spread out. Check every room. Look for cameras,” Kane said. He pointed at me. “C’mon, Miss Creed. Let’s find the biggestroom for ya.”
I hesitated but followed him. Thorne and Kane took turns bringing me with them any time we needed to split up, keeping me away from Rafe. It was unspoken, but they all knew I couldn’t be alone with him. Everything was too raw, and especially now with Leah…I didn't know if I’d be able to resist Rafe’s pull and I needed to protect myself.
“Goddamn,” Kane muttered as we opened the door to what had to be the main bedroom. A huge bed dressed in black sat in the center of a room boxed in by glass. Another fireplace was in the corner, fresh roses in a black vase on its mantel. There was a wraparound balcony that, once we pulled open the balcony door, led us to another door for a second bedroom, and then around to the main deck with the pool. Kane and I stood at the edge of the water, looking up when Thorne and Rafe appeared on the other end.
“Two rooms on this end,” Thorne announced. Rafe stood next to him, his hands shoved in his pockets, and his dark eyes burning into me. I refused to meet them.
