Page 27 of Blissful Devotion

Most villains don’t, and despite his very clear attempts to seem human, I know a monster when I see one.

5 Days without Kat

Jade and her guys are due here within the hour, and it’s never felt like longer as we wait.

She hadn’t said much on the phone, worried about who might be listening. Usually, I would say that sounds silly, but the thought of someone taking Kat did too.

I needed her home yesterday, and the worst part is that I can’t do anything but sit here, uselessly.

So I do anything else: I walk the mansion, check my stocks, pick up a book only to put it right back down…

Nothing helps, and I curse aloud when I see that only about fifteen minutes have passed since I last looked at the clock.

Instead, I make my way back down to the kitchen or wherever everyone else is, only to find Jade and her guys sitting at the dining room table with one very upset-looking Ruby.

I don’t know why I expected them to be less secretive now that we’ve sat down and spoken with them. But something about them showing up like this, having gotten past our security with ease, feels fitting.

“We need to talk about your security team after this is all done,” Jade says the second I walk into the room, and I feel like a scolded child, but the smirk tugging at her lips tells another story.

Her guys nod and say hello as I look around the room. I couldn’t give a shit less how they got in here; it only matters that they're here.

Which means we're going to get Kat back.

I pull my phone from my pocket and call the group chat. It’s the fastest way to get everyone here, and honestly, they should be happy I’m even calling.

“They’re here,” I say before I end the call and fall into the nearest chair.

It only takes a second for the others to arrive, looking as if they ran through the house to get here, as they should.

Jade sits at the head of the table, in the chair that is usually mine, as they fall into any open chair around us.

“We looked into the star tattoo—”

“What did you find?” Desmond nearly jumps out of the chair he just sat down in. I understand his eagerness to know more, but still I reach out, gripping his arm and pulling him back into his chair with a glare that he ignores.

“Nothing,” Kratos says, answering so that Jade doesn’t have to, and Desmond drops back into his chair, looking as defeated as I feel.

“But we did find something on the knife tattoo.”

Just like that, my heart is racing with the possibility of answers, of something.

Spencer stands, a stack of papers in his hands that he offers to me as he makes it to the opposite side of the table.

Ruby barks and follows him like he’s the damn devil, and I’ve never seen her hate someone so much for just existing.

“He has that effect on animals,” Zander says with a laugh, earning him a middle finger in response, but otherwise he doesn’t acknowledge him.

“Ambrose.” Spencer says it like it’s supposed to mean something; it doesn’t, at least not at first.

The first few pages are pictures, and by the fourth mug shot I realize the knife tattoo is clear on the side of each of their faces, and I get it.

“The gang?” Vince asks, and I’m not surprised he knows what they're referring to; he knows a lot more about all of this kind of stuff. He is the one who reached out to them in the first place.

“That’s the one,” Jade says, and I hear so much emotion in her voice, but most of all she sounds mad.

“It’s an old gang, been around since the late fifties, but it was quiet for a while; in the last ten or so years they’ve started their ‘comeback,’ as they're calling it.” Trent air-quotes, and I see the annoyance on his face, too.

Something tells me this isn’t going to be easy, not that it matters. I’ll do whatever I can to get Kat back; I don’t care how long it takes or how much money it costs.