Page 5

“Helen?” I spoke, my eyes taking in Reginald Humphreys’ first wife before shifting to her right, where her daughter sat. “Sophia?” My eyes slid left, and I gasped. “Tiffany?”

Tiffany rose from her seat and raced to throw her arms around me. “You're safe. I promise, you’re finally safe.”

I pulled back slightly, confusion plain on my face. “What are you talking about? How am I here? What is going on?”

“Tiffany, why don’t you allow Victoria to take a seat so we can discuss everything.” Helen said, raising one brow at my friend.

Tiffany nodded before leading me to an empty high-backed chair and then returning to her place on Helen’s left.

“Victoria,” Helen smiled softly, “I'm glad that we were able to get you out safely, though our physician says you have a mild concussion and some minor bruising from the car accident. Unfortunately, that couldn’t be avoided if we wanted it to be believable.”

“I– Ms. Arnoult, I don’t understand.”

“Please, Victoria, call me Helen. You know I think of Tiffany as my own, and you are as close as she is with her own sister, Sophia, there’s no need for formalities between family.”

“Helen,” I said, testing the feel of her name. “I don’t understand what’s happening. I thought… Wait… Please tell me I am losing my mind and you’re not the leader of the fucking Jackals!” I shrieked.

Helen’s lip curled in disgust. “Absolutely not. I am the head of the Golden Devils, darling. Sophia is my heir, and Tiffany is learning the ropes. Though, I will deny all of that vehemently should you think turning me over to the police is the play here.”

I raised my hands to rub my temples. “This doesn’t make any sense,” I mumbled. “The Jackals are the ones that killed Rich and took me captive.”

“Yes, and no. Candy is one of ours. She’s been working as a double agent for years. When Tiffany brought your situation to my attention, well, it was time to extract Candy and go over her intel so we could clean this city up once and for all.”

My eyes snapped to my best friend. “You? You did this?” Shock and anger warred under my skin. “Do you know what you’ve done?”

“I know you thought you were safe with the Horsemen, Tory, but they were planning to trade you for intel.” She said softly.

“You fucking bitch!” I screamed, bolting out of my seat so fast it fell behind me. “It's your fault he's dead.”

My body seemed to move on its own toward Tiffany. Every ounce of pain and grief within me twisted into an inferno of rage and a desire tokill, no—destroy. In a blink, I was in front of my former best friend, my fist connecting with her face the way my men had taught me. Animalistic sounds ripped from my mouth as I used every bit of training they'd given me. My vision darkened with the destructive need boiling over inside me. I didn't even realize I'd managed to take Tiffany to the floor until I felt arms looping through my own and locking behind me as I was pulled away.

“Victoria,” Helen tsk’d, a look of disappointment on her face. “What has gotten into you? This behavior is not acceptable for someone of your breeding.”

“My… my behavior?” I shouted in outrage. “My behavior seems pretty fucking acceptable when I find out my so-called best friend is the reason one of the men I love is dead.” I let my gaze fall to where Tiffany sat on the floor, being tended to by someone I didn't recognize. “I will never forgive you for this. If I see you again, I will do what I should have been allowed to do here, and fucking kill you. Do you understand?”

Tiffany’s eyes widened in alarm. “You don’t understand, Tory. The Horsemen broke their own creed. They were planning to give you to anyone who could bring them information on the head of the Jackals. They were offering to pimp you out among other horrible shit. I couldn’t let that happen.”

I rolled my eyes and scoffed. “You think I didn’t know about the message board posts?”

Tiffany’s mouth fell open in shock.

“My menloveme, they would have never actually done any of those things to me. I told Craig I didn’t want the specific details, but he talked to me about what he wanted to do to try and flush out information.”

“I couldn’t know that,” Tiffany said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I looked for you after news broke about the manor. I tried every contact I had andnobodycould find you. None of my calls went answered, nothing. And then the posts started on the message board. What else was I supposed to think, Tory? Everything..Everythingpointed to you being in danger with them.”

“You could have trusted that I would have found a way to reach you if I were in danger!” I bellowed.

“This isn’t your world, Victoria.” Tiffany retorted. “You don’t know how this shit works. They never would have given you the opportunity to call for help.”

“That’s rich, coming from some boozed out party girl who—” I started.

“I think that is quite enough, girls.” Helen interjected. “It appears we have acted on a misunderstanding that we must now rectify. Tiffany, find Melissa and let her know to bring Craig here, have yourself tended by the physician when you’re done.”

Helen motioned for me to sit as Tiffany slipped from the room, her shoulders hunched forward. Righting my chair, I let myself collapse into it. Time ticked by slowly as I seethed, myanger toward Tiffany growing with each passing minute. Sophia attempted to make small talk with me while we waited, but I couldn’t be bothered to respond. I felt like I’d aged a decade when I finally heard two sets of footsteps nearing the room. Turning toward the doorway, I caught sight of a woman leading Craig into the room.

I lurched out of my chair and hurried to close the distance between us. My eyes roamed over Craig's body, taking in the sheer number of gauze bandages covering his torso. A number of them were stained with fresh blood as if the wound they covered still bled.

“I’m okay, Bunny.” He whispered, taking my face in his hands and pressing his forehead to mine.