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“Deni?”he croaked.“Oh, God, Deni! Are you hurt?”He took two steps toward her before he halted and faced Agnes Vector.“You!”

Satisfaction for a job well done curled inside him when she smoothed down her hair and smiled.“Welcome, Mr. Blane.”

“What’s going on, Councilwoman Vector?”His gaze touched on his two loves, past and present, lingering longer on Deni for effect before he once again addressed the head bitch in charge.“Why are they tied?”

Her beady eyes narrowed as she considered him.

Had he overplayed his role? He could do one of two things: act complacent, as if he would go along with her plans, or become belligerent, which was more believable for his personality.

“Start talking,”he ordered. Lifting his hand, he conjured fire and shaped it into a ball. He added an extra element to paralyze her as the flames ate her black soul: his special fire-of-hell touch to make a villain’s journey to nothingness torturous. If it got to the point where Trev had to step in and take a life, hisvictimdeserved what they got.

“We, the Authority and myself, need assurances, Death Dealer,”she said coolly. Gesturing to Soleil and Deni, she continued.“They’re our guarantee, although we only intend to keep one alive to assure your compliance. The other will act as a warning to you and those who seek to defy their contract.”

His stomach dipped before he remembered Damian wouldn’t let anything happen to Soleil.“What assurances?”

“That you’ll continue to do your job.”

“Haven’t I always?”

“Yes, but not without grumbling anda lot ofstops and starts.”She strode to her daughter on sensible heels and caressed a lock of chestnut hair.“Take Denillia here. If we hadn’t removed her from your life two years ago, you’d have quit the business when we needed you the most.”Vector’s wide, toothy smile put a T-Rex to shame.“But by taking her off the playing field, you became angry and uncaring. You did whatwas requiredwithout argument.”

“Only for those deserving of death,”he corrected.“I don’t kill innocents.”

“But how can you tell who is deservingor not?”she taunted.“Weare the ones who feed you information, Blane. We are the puppet masters.”

“The Authority or you, as my handler?”he asked coldly.

“Does it matter?”

“Tell me you’re going to off that smug-ass hemorrhoid, Trev. Please.”

He did his damnedest not to look at Soleil and laugh, but his mouth twitched. To combat the urge, he compressed his lips.

“So, which one lives, Mr. Blane?”she asked tauntingly.“Or should I make the choice more interesting?”

“I’m not likin’ the sound of that, cher,”Draven said grimly, using the psychic link created by their tanzanite rings.

“Me, either.”

“Bring them in,”she called out.

A door opened on either side of the room. The two men, held at gunpoint, were forcefully shoved forward into the light.

Trevor almost lost his shit. “What’s the meaning of this, Vector?”

“I’ll let you save two, Mr. Blane. But only if you contract with us for the rest of your days.Oh, andthere will be no more balking when we assign you a case. You’ll kill who we want, when we want, regardless of whether they’re‘innocent’or not. Got it?”

Trev swore, then and there, he was going to tear out her cruel, beady eyes and feed them to her on a platter. Across the distance, he locked gazes with Simon. The raw fury on his face spoke to his mindset.“Is Evelyn okay, Si?”

“I don’t know.”Simon’s response was rough.Having lost one wife, his brother wouldn’t be able to handle it if he returned home to discover Evelynwas harmed. He’d go nuclear.

“Fintan?”

“She’s grand.”

“It takes a lot to kill a Thorne witch, bro,”Trev told Simon, hopingthe underlying message would be received. The torment in his brother’s eyes lessened, but his anger remained.

“His rage could come in handy,”Soleil said.