“How do you look like him?” She steps closer, the other man protectively moving to her side even though I’m chained up.
“Twins,” I wheeze. “Identical twins.”
“Huh. I didn’t know there were two of you.” She grabs the electronic controls for the chains and lowers me to my feet as the man tenses. But she mutters, “He’s not going anywhere. Calm down.”
“He’s dead.” I try to draw her into conversation. If I can make a connection with her, she’ll help Delilah. “There’s not two of us anymore.”
“Good.” She smiles, lifting her chin higher in the air, revealing a large wolf in front of trees and the moon inkedaround her throat. “I tried to kill him once, then Rowan took him away.”
When the fuck could she have ever met Asher? We went to prep schools, for fuck’s sake. The criminals in our life wore suits and set up charities.
“He died when we were eighteen,” I croak. “I’m sorry for whatever he did to you.”
“He would play in The Dollhouse while I stayed there.”
“It’s you,” I say, wide-eyed. “You’re the one who kept burning things. He’s scared of you.”
Her smile widens as she puffs her chest out, snickering. “Rowan’s scared of me.”
Lennox said she was taught everything after Rowan took an interest in her. She can’t be much older than me, so what the fuck allowed her to live with herself?
“Yeah, he fled as soon as the tracker alerted him to you getting closer.” I’m breathless by the time I finish speaking, but I need to convince them to help Delilah.
All of her focus is on the man glaring at me with unveiled murder. “Turn around. I took mine out but you ruined everything.” She grabs his arm, forcing him to move before she raises her knife to cut into him. He doesn’t wince, he simply stands opposite me, allowing the woman to dig into his back. Without dropping the knife, she peers around his large bicep, holding up a small chip. “See. Idiot.”
I’m past the point of caring about being weak as I beg, “Do you know where Helene is?”
The pride disappears as her brows slam together. Fuck, no one knows the bitch exists. I can’t trade her life for Delilah if she’s a phantom.
The woman grabs the man’s arm, who is easily double her size, and drags him to a corner of the warehouse. I can’t make out what they’re whispering to each other as her hands fly in theair, but he softens with her. He gently pulls her hat down when she knocks it off her ears and she swipes his hand away to glare up at him. She’s tiny compared to him, which doesn’t seem to make her fearful.
“Fine! You’re so annoying.” She stomps over to me with the same childish mannerisms as Sasha, huffing, “Why were you with Rowan?”
Fuck it, she’s going to kill me anyway. “The same reason you were,” I admit.
She tightens her hold on the knife.
The man remains at her back, slowly tapping his middle finger against his thigh as he offers, “I’ll make you a deal.”
“As long as my wife is safe, I’ll do whatever the fuck you want.”
“I’ll allow you to live,” he says. “I’ll give you whatever resources you need, but I will be the one to kill that chuski.”
Definitely Russian.
“Done,” I say without pause. “I just want my wife.”
52
DELILAH
Kane promised I’d be safe if I stayed in the cabin, but I know I’m back on the island as we drive up the steep hill. The hood over my head doesn’t stop me from working it out. Neither does the silence, since I woke up on the jet.
It must be Lennox who’s driving, because he’s careful not to take the turns too sharply. No one else would show me any care, not here. I flex my legs as the gates creak, ready to run as soon as I feel the breeze when the door opens. I’m right, it is Lenny, because the seam of his gloves scrape against my palm as he attempts to guide me out of the car.
Rowan crowds me, his voice closer, his arm brushing mine when I’m pulled out of my seat. I can’t see through the hood to know which direction is safe.
I still try. I manage one step when my father eagerly states, “I’ll teach her how to act correctly.”
