Page 23 of Bound

Older than the last time I saw her. Harder. Blood at the corner of her mouth. Still beautiful in that sharp, cruel way that made men think cutting themselves was worth her attention.

Carlos steps into the frame behind her.

He places one hand on her shoulder.

Marina does not flinch.

Prideful to the end.

Carlos says to the camera. “I have always found secrets tedious. They make people careless.”

My hand goes to my mouth. No one moves. Marina’s eyes lift to the camera.

For one second, I think she sees me. Impossible.

But it feels that way.

Then she says, “He will know.”

Carlos’s smile changes. “I’m counting on it.”

Rafe kills the video before the end.

The room is silent. Marina is dead.

Carlos killed her before he even sent me to Red Shutters. She may have even been held in the same house where I was, preparing for my mission.

The room tilts. I grab the chair too late. My knees go.

Mack catches me before I hit the floor. I want to tell him not to touch me. I don’t.

Because if he lets go, I may fall all the way through myself.

Erin comes closer. Lucian stands behind her, frozen in that terrible way of his.

She looks at me, and I hate that she is the one who sees me instead of him.

“I loved her,” I whisper. “Then, I feared her. She was family.”

Erin’s eyes soften. “Those can all be true.”

Something breaks in me. A choked sob escapes my throat. I put my hand over my mouth and turn my face away because the grief is humiliating.

Rafe’s voice comes from somewhere above me.

“Carlos has Marina’s files.”

Gregory whispers, “The warehouse. The Village. They do connect. Significantly.”

The words move through the room like smoke.

The first fire. The men who died. The gates that opened. The second fire. His men gone. The Village gone.

Carlos was behind it all.

Finally, Lucian looks at me. His voice is cold enough to stop my breath. “You will tell us every secret she kept.”

I nod.