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“Because I can tear you apart without even having to touch you. One little nick to Angélica’s lovely carotid artery, and you’d be watching her bleed out. And that would kill you, wouldn’t it?”

Relief and anguish wage war in my heart at the sight before me. Angélica is tied to a chair at the other end of the table, thickcoils of red rope lashed around her upper body and tied around her legs. Her arms are wrapped around the back of the chair, likely cuffed the same as mine are. Rope runs between her parted teeth, pulling harshly at the edges of her mouth as it gags her. Her lips are bloody, and dark bruises are splattered across her high cheekbones.

Red is seeping through Angélica’s white shirt and dripping onto the floor. It takes my brain a moment to process the cause. A boning knife is protruding from her abdomen, buried all the way to the hilt. It’s not an arbitrary injury—it’s the sort of injury you bleed out from as soon as the knife is removed if you don’t have immediate medical care.

Angélica is alive, but she won’t be for much longer. Reality settles into my veins like a winter frost. Tonight might be the end. For both of us.

Chapter Forty-Four

GREYSON

My pretty little ruin must be in enormous pain, but there aren’t any tears in her eyes. Only fire and determination. A fighter forever and always. And I’ll love her for it until my heart stops beating.

“You okay, angel?” I rasp, my voice jagged with pain. She manages to nod in response, but we both know she isn’t. Her eyes dart behind her, trying to communicate something. It takes me a moment before realization slams into me. Toby is back there. I have more than just Angélica to worry about now. I have a boy depending on me, too. A boy who doesn’t deserve to have any more pain in his life.

I crane my neck up to glare at Aurélie. “Where is Tobias?”

She scoffs. “So much concern for the boy who isn’t yours, Grey?” Suddenly, there’s a noose of rope around my neck, pinning me to the back of the chair as she wraps it around me before tying it off. “You have such an obsession with collecting lost, broken things that you neglect the people of true value standing right in front of you.”

“Where is he?” I demand, the words strained thanks to the tight strangulation of the rope.

Rope twists around my chest, the pressure it puts on my wounded shoulder making me wince. “Tobias is sleeping down the hall,” Aurélie whispers in my ear. “I can assure you he won’t be waking up anytime soon.”

“What did you do to him?” I growl.

“Nothing to worry about. Just a little chloroform to chase away the nightmares. I wouldn’t want him to wake up and see me carving this one’s heart out of her chest.” She points her large chef’s knife in Angélica’s direction. “I’ll just tell him she left like all the others. Kids will believe anything you know.”

“He doesn’t deserve to be involved in this,” I plead, my vision going a little hazy with blood loss.

“You’re right, he doesn’t,” Aurélie agrees with mock sympathy. She ties my legs to the sides of the chair, making sure to press her hands into my wounded thighs as she does. “It’s your fault he’s a part of this now, you know. If you hadn’t insisted on interfering, if you hadn’t taken him to play a silly little game of house with your Colombian whore, he would be home in France waiting for his maman to return.”

“I couldn’t leave him with someone like you.”

“Come now, Grey. As if you’re any better,” she tuts, and the vicious truth of her words riles the doubt and guilt that’s always lingered in my chest.

People like me don’t deserve to have a family. Those close to me always get hurt.

“Now I’ll have to think of a convincing threat to keep him from talking about this little incident with anyone he shouldn’t,” Aurélie sighs. “The boy has such a soft, weak heart that it shouldn’t be too difficult.”

A bright smile lights up her face. “And speaking of hearts, the food is getting cold.” She leans down and presses a venomous kissagainst my cheek. “Be a good boy and wait quietly while I get dinner served.”

Worried that she’ll take any punishment for disobedience out on Angélica, I sit in silence until she’s out of the room. When the click of her heels finally fades, I focus on my girl and try to find a way to save her from this mess.

“How bad is it, angel?” I whisper harshly. “Do you still have feeling in your legs? Your hands?” She nods softly, the pain in her eyes more than obvious.

“Okay, that’s good. I’ll get you out of this fucking mess. I promise.” This time, she shakes her head. “No giving up on me now, little ruin. You’re stronger than that. You’re the most indestructible person I’ve ever met. Just hang in there.”

The sound of stilettos travels down the hall. “I love you,” I tell her quickly before the evil bitch comes back. “I love you so much I could die happily tonight—because I got to keep you for as long as I did.” Heartbreak flickers in Angélica’s brown eyes, but she nods her head in agreement.

“You and me to the end, angel. No take backs.”

Our vow hangs heavy in the air as Aurélie dances back into the room holding two plates. I avert my eyes from what’s on them.

“I hope you’re hungry,” she announces as she places one of the plates in front of me. I turn my face away, trying not to inhale the scent of seared human hearts. “It’s not every day you get to enjoy something this decadent.” She sits down beside me and daintily drapes a napkin across her lap before picking up her fork.

Aurélie turns toward me, pouting when she sees I’ve ignored her dish. “Is my cooking suddenly not up to your standards, Grey? I don’t recall you ever turning it down before.”

“I’m sure your cooking is just as spectacularly mediocre as it’s always been, Aurélie,” I seethe.