Page 69 of His Eternal Claim

I grip the sink hard enough that my fingers ache.

Who are you?

My reflection stares back as I jerk violently. I know one thing with horrifying certainty.

This room is not a sanctuary. This is a cage. And whoever I used to be—she was trying desperately to escape.

Phase Two

II

The Dead

Chapter 23

Drowning

THE MAESTRO | Past

Murderer!” Selene shrieks, her voice cracking as she collapses over her Father’s body, her hands staining red as she tries to press down on the wet, gaping ruin of his chest. “You killed him! You killed him!”

I don’t move; I can’t, as a matter of fact. For one brutal second, my eyes stay glued to the dead man on the floor.

I hadn’t aimed for him. The wrong blood is pooling across the marble. But I don’t have the luxury of freezing.

The cathedral is collapsing into war around us. Smoke pours from the upper rafters, blinding everything in a grey haze, and the tactical thunder of my men’s automatic weapons ricochets off stained glass, pinning the remaining Cosa Nostra guards behind the heavy oak pews.

“Mr. Vitale!”

One of my men’s voice roars in my ear, drowning out the gunfire.

“We have the perimeter, but Vane’s men are pushing through the western transept! Get her out now!”

I don’t think.

I react on instinct.

Either it’s pure survival or something else—I can’t tell.

I step over the bleeding debris of the front row, my boots sliding through crimson, and reach for Selene.

She fights me instantly.

A storm of grief and terror.

Her nails rake across my jaw as she tries to anchor herself to her Father’s lifeless body.

“Let me go! You monster! Let me go!”

“We’re leaving,” I growl.

I don’t waste time trying to drag her.

I wrap one arm around her waist and hoist her clean off the floor, slamming her stomach against my shoulder.

She gasps, the air punched from her lungs, and pounds frantic fists into my back.

“Put me down! Mama! Mama is still inside!” she screams against my jacket, kicking wildly. “I hate you! I will always hate you!”