I hiccup and wipe my arm across my face. “At the penthouse. I don’t know what happened last night. I had a drink with a guy, and I...I don’t know. I can’t remember much after leaving the Looking Glass. I feel like shit.” I know I should tell him about the dead man in my bed, but I’m afraid to say the words out loud. If I say them out loud, they’ll be real. I don’t want to risk him denying me and leaving me to fend for myself. Or worse. What if he turns me in to the police as part of my punishment on behalf of my dad?
“Fuck. I’m on my way,” Talon says.
“Please, don’t tell Daddy. He’s already pissed off.” I sniffle and say a silent prayer, hoping he gives into my pleas.
Talon groans. “We’ll discuss things when I get there. Just hang tight. I’m coming.”
Except I feel as if I’m free falling with nothing to grab onto.
My life crashes around me before my eyes. Fucking Christos. This is his fault.
He should be the one to pay for this. Not me.
If only life could be so easy.
A masked man towers over me, holding a knife. My heart races as I stare into familiar eyes I can’t place. I knew I’d have to pay the consequences for my insubordination, but I was hoping to put it off a little longer.
“You’re an embarrassment to our chapter, Princess. It has been voted that you are no longer worthy.” An indistinguishable voice booms through the dark room. Shadowy figures chant incoherently, and I scramble back.
“Please, I’ll do anything. I’m so sorry. Please.” Tears burn in my eyes, and I slap my hands to the icy floor. “Just give me another chance.”
“There are no second chances, Princess. Now, stand up and face me with dignity or die in shame.” The figure glides forward, seeming not to touch his feet to the floor.
I gasp and push back, feeling around for something, anything, to protect myself. My hand slides across a cool and sticky substance, and I cry out as blood coats my fingers. A bright light flashes on, the spotlight shining next to me. My body freezes. I can’t believe what I see. Bianca sprawls out dead beside me, blood coating her skin. What the fuck?
“Bianca!” I scream, twisting to grab onto the front of her dress. “Bianca, no!”
“This is your fault, Princess. She wouldn’t have had to face the same punishment as you had she made better choices. You’re both disgusting, shameful heirs.” The masked man stands over me, threatening me without actually proceeding. I don’t know what he’s waiting for. Maybe he’s trying to torture me with anticipation.
But I’m no longer scared.
I’m pissed off. I’m enraged. How dare he murder Bianca. All she did was text me. How did they even find out?
“Let me do the honors,” a familiar voice says, striking me to the core. Christos materializes from the shadows, his handsome smile getting to me the same way it had the first time I laid eyes on him. But something wicked lingers in his gaze. He’s not the same man I remember.
He’s worse. Much, much worse.
And it looks like I’m about to die by his hands.
I guess I should’ve known this would always be my fate.
Hands lock into my hair and yank me to my feet. I reach up and grip Christos’s wrist. His golden, light brown eyes sweep across my face and down to my lips. I bite my cheek to stop from reacting. I won’t give him the satisfaction. He’s already ruined my life once before. He will not take pleasure in ending it now.
I spit in his face.
Christos’s eyes glow bright red, startling me. This is impossible.
The room heats up, and I thrash, trying to break free. More red eyes decorate the room, illuminating from within the shadows, and I watch as a wicked smile stretches across the wall without a body, glowing like the Cheshire cat.
A loud banging resonates through the air. It distracts Christos enough that I can swing my leg out. I kick him in the dick hard enough to get him to let me go. I fall from his hold, bracing to hit the floor. But it doesn’t come. The world spins around me, the shadows and light blending, and I scream out. There’s nothing to hold onto. There’s no world around me.
I free-fall through an abyss.
I manage to flip over and stare beneath me. At least I think I’m facing down. Smoke wafts below, and I spot another pair of glowing red eyes.
And then I see a face.
It’s my own.