Page 70 of Dark Soul

Alexia sobbed. Snot rolled down her face.

“Untie her, Griffin,” Dark said.

Griffin sighed, then brought out a knife. Alexia tensed as the knife reached her skin, but Griffin’s own hand went between her skin and the ropes. He tugged twice, and then she was free. She touched the side of her head—winced at the lump she felt there.

Dark handed her an ice pack and a kleenex. Alexia took both without thinking, and then it was too late to give it back, even though she didn’t want anything from him.

“Are you okay?” Dark asked.

“We didn’t just bump into each other,” she said, thinking out loud. “You engineered it.”

Dark looked as if she’d slapped him, and a part of her wanted to slap him—wanted him to feel some of the pain she was feeling.

“I wasn’t the one supposed to make contact, but yes, I was tailing you.”

She was on her feet in an instant—wobbly, but she didn’t need to go very far. Her hand came up. She slapped him as hard as she could, hard enough to turn his face sideways—hard enough that she could see the red imprint of her palm on his cheek.

“I didn’t want to hurt you, Alexia,” he said thickly.

And wasn’t that hilarious, but a part of her wanted to comfort him.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Dark turned around and walked out of the room, followed by the other four men. Griffin was the last one to leave, locking the door carefully behind him.

Alexia wavered on her feet, barely made it back to the chair before her legs gave up on her.

And now what.

* * *

Dark

Dark made it all the way down the hallway and into the games room before losing his tenuous thread on reality. He punched the wall, opening up the plaster. His hand throbbed, but it wasn’t enough, so he did it again.

Then he turned to find Griffin, strode up to the man.

“You tied her down,” he said. He was still seeing red. He’d gone upstairs to get some ice for her, and come back down to find Griffin interrogating her.

Griffin shrugged.

“Somebody had to do it.”

Dark’s fist closed as he prepared to strike.

“It wasn’t him, Dark,” Ash said, coming up beside Griffin. “It was all of us. We all knew it had to be done.”

“We need to know what she knows.”

“Maybe she doesn’t know anything,” Dark said.

But even as he said it, Dark understood how unlikely that was.

“So she just ended up in Kvyat’s office at that precise moment in time? Don’t forget, I saw her sneak inside,” Rogue said.

“Dark, please. I know she means something to you, but you can’t let your feelings—“

“Don’t you dare tell me what I can or cannot do.”