Page 153 of Where Sinners Repent

Fuck.

Is she with Kai? Is my brother safe?

Just like me, he’s too smitten to see any sort of betrayal she was concocting right under our noses. For the first time, I let my guard down. For a fucking Wraith.

Beside me, Leon groans but doesn’t wake. He has a few hours, tops, before he dies. I can spot death better than I can spot traitors, it seems.

All of this because of her. Because I trusted her. It’s all my fault.

His eyes find Ash. “All I had to do was threaten that silly little blonde whore, and my sister was putty in my hands.”

I feel Ash’s rage, though I don’t see it. It’s a palpable thing, wafting through the air.

Isaac claps his hands. “Okay, let’s get to it. No time to waste.”

He continues as if he didn’t just tear down the foundation on which my life sits. Her.

Instead of looking at us, he turns away. Lazily pacing the space in front of us and putting his back to four Devils like he’s already sure we’re not a threat.

I track his every step.

All of the surrounding Wraiths watch him too.

Isaac raises his hands. “Take a fucking look.”

Every word echoes in the concrete room. Everybody is silent, latching onto his words and sneering at us.

“For months, we’ve been sitting around waiting for a president who isn’t fucking coming back. Zeke is dead. No fucking rumour will bring him back to life. This man right here,” he points to Ash, hate sparkling in his eyes, “shot our president in the grey zone. For that, he will be executed.”

The Wraiths cheer, eating his words up. Ethan grins beside him.

Isaac gestures to us again. “But we’re not weak. We fight back. We avenge.”

I look at Ash.

His expression hasn’t changed, but his eyes are moving. Assessing every inch of this place, like I have.

“I brought you the present of the Devils,” Isaac roars. “I brought you the men who thought they could take us down!”

He spins on us.

Finding Ash’s smile, Isaac’s face tightens.

“You think this is funny?”

Ash shifts on his knees, somehow managing to look more powerful tied up and bleeding than Isaac does, surrounded by armed men. He stalks up to Ash, looming over him. Ash doesn’t take his eyes off him for a second.

Roxy’s brother leans in, a breath away from Ash. “Let’s see how loud you laugh when we string you up in the freezer and cut your fingers off, one by one, until you tell us every Devil secret.”

Isaac turns, addressing the Wraiths again.

“By sunrise, the Devils will no longer have their president,” he mutters. “And I will earn the spot as your new one!”

Some of the Wraith’s cheer. Some shift where they stand.

“But first, let’s have our fun.” He turns to me, a wicked smile curving on his lips. “You first. My sister’s little boyfriend.”

It’s almost funny. If the words didn’t carve through my chest deeper than any knife could reach.