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Ray wasn’t going to let me out of this alive. I knew that for a fact. If he couldn’t control me, manipulate me, he would make sure I didn’t live to celebrate it.

“Ray, you’re too smart for them.” I played to his ego, the one thing that might get me out of this. How long before Lachlan came home? “You got away. They don’t have you.”

“They have everything else!” He whirled on me, gun swinging wildly. “My people are probably singing right now, giving up every detail to save their own asses.”

My phone was still in my pocket. Moving slowly, naturally, I shifted my hand while he destroyed Lachlan’s desk chair. My fingers found the phone, and I glanced down at it, pressing the speed dial for Lachlan then putting it on mute. I stuffed the phone back in my pocket. I didn’t know if the call went through at all or if Lachlan would pick up even if it did.

“Show me where else.” Ray grabbed my arm again, dragging me from the office now that he’d destroyed it. “Show me where you whored yourself to him.”

The word hit like another slap, but I kept my face neutral. Let him think he was in control. Let him think I was the same scared girl who’d never fought back.

Up the stairs, his breathing getting labored. The bedroom door stood open—bed still unmade from this morning, Lachlan’s uniform shirt draped over the chair. The domestic normalcy of it seemed to enrage Ray further.

“Here?” He shoved me toward the bed. “Here’s where you spread your legs for a cop? Just like your mother, always choosing weakness.”

I positioned myself near the bathroom door. Possible escape route if I could get there. Ray was checking windows now, jerking back curtains like SWAT might come crashing through any second.

“They’re coming,” he muttered. “I can hear the sirens.”

There were no sirens. His paranoia was eating him alive, showing the cracks in his control.

“Your mother never understood either.” He wasn’t even looking at me now, gun waving as he talked to ghosts. “Had to teach her lessons. Had to make her see. But she was weak. Always weak.”

The front door opened downstairs.

“Piper? I’m home.”

Lachlan’s voice, normal and casual. He didn’t know. How could he?

Unless… The phone in my pocket. Had the call connected?

Ray moved faster than I’d expected, arm around my throat, gun pressed to my temple. He dragged me to the hallway, positioning us at the top of the stairs.

“The hero returns.” Ray’s voice dripped venom. “Come to save your lying whore?”

I saw Lachlan at the bottom of the stairs, still in tactical gear. His face went carefully blank as he took in the scene. His hand moved slowly to his weapon.

“Don’t!” Ray pressed the gun harder against my head. “You pull that gun, and she’s dead.”

“Okay.” Lachlan raised his hands, showing empty palms. “Let’s talk about this, Ray.”

“Talk?” Ray’s laugh vibrated through his chest into my back. “Now, he wants to talk. After destroying everything I built.”

“Tell him.” The gun shifted to my jaw. “Tell him everything you did. Every lie. Every betrayal. Tell him what kind of woman he’s been fucking. See if he wants to be with you then.”

“She doesn’t have to do that, Ray. I know all of it.” Lachlan shook his head, calm. “That’s why we were able to catch you. Because of Piper’s help. Because of her sacrifice.”

Ray’s arm tightened on my throat. “Shut up.”

“Your men have turned on you.” Lachlan took a slight step closer. “The guys that you left tonight in order to save yourself are now doing the same thing to save their skin. You’re going to jail, Ray. For the rest of your life if I have anything to do with it.”

The gun wavered for just a second. Ray’s shock was palpable.

“You’re lying.”

“Am I?” Another step. “It’s over. You lost.”

I felt it—the slight loosening of Ray’s grip as the reality hit him. His kingdom hadn’t just crumbled. It had been ransacked, pillaged, sold off piece by piece by the very people he’d trusted.