"Yes, Don Azzaro."
As the men began to disperse, I caught Elin's elbow. "Nicely done, but next time let me handle the killing."
She smiled, the expression both beautiful and terrifying. "Sorry, Pretty Boy. Old habits. You know I like my control."
Despite everything, I found myself smiling back. "Come on. Let’s go get Rhea. And then we have an empire to run."
As we headed to the car. I realized that last night had been perfect. A blood-soaked rebirth into our new life together.
We settled into the car, but once I got to the end of the drive, I looked at Elin expectantly.
She furrowed her brow. “What?”
“Where am I going? I still don’t know where my sister is.”
She smiled brightly. “Dad’s.”
I blinked at her, my eyes going wide. “She’s at Joel’s? Where? I know they looked there for her.”
She tipped her head back and laughed. “Just go to the house, Pretty Boy.”
Pulling out into the street, I felt myself getting anxious. Would Rhea really be okay with the fact that we’d killed Dad and I was now Don? My mind raced around those thoughts, and while ata stoplight, I reached over and called my sister. It rang for far too long, so my heart rate picked up and my foot pressed on the accelerator a little faster. As I burned through a light, her voicemail answered.
Holy shit.
Holy shit.
Holy shit.
I called again, and when her voicemail answered again, I floored it. Elin was still staring off into space, but when I took the final turn and slammed on the brakes at her father’s house, she came out of it.
“What’s wrong?”
“Rhea didn’t answer her phone. I called her twice on the way.”
I was out of the car and running toward the front door when laughter peeled behind me. Full-on laughter. “She doesn’t have cell reception in the bunker, Pretty Boy.”
I blinked. “The bunker?” She nodded. “Joel had a fucking bunker?”
“Of course he did. It’s under the house. She would have been good for months without having to come out if she had to. There are also back-up systems and protocols in case it happened to be found or worse, breached.”
Bending over, hands on my knees, I took a few deep breaths to calm down. Elin reached over, unlocked the door, and stepped inside. Once in the empty home, I fell to my knees before her, looking up at the woman I trusted more than anyone.
“Thank you, Goddess.”
She pulled me close and kissed me. “I love Rhea. Of course I’m going to protect her.”
Shaking my head, I tried to explain. “No. You’ve given me so much. More than I could have asked for and more than I dreamed. I knew that someday I would be Don, but I alwaysthought I would have some arranged, loveless marriage. Instead, I get to rule with you.”
I squeezed Elin's hand as we headed for the basement. "Let's get my sister."
The stale air hit me with that familiar chill I remembered from my visits—always too cold, just how Joel liked it. I watched Elin's fingers find the hidden panel without hesitation, muscle memory guiding her through the sequence. "Three taps, slide left, two taps," she muttered, and the wall gave way with a hydraulic hiss that made her smile.
The door looked impossibly heavy, pure Joel Perkins paranoia cast in steel. Inside, I was struck by the bizarre fake outdoor space, LED "sunshine" casting artificial daylight over an actual patch of living grass. Excessive, impractical, but quintessentially Joel.
"Gav! Elin!" Rhea practically tackled us both, her entire body trembling. " Are they really gone? We're safe?"
Elin pulled her close while I stood slightly back, watching the woman I loved comfort my sister with an ease I still struggled to find.
