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He wanted what Isobel wanted. He wanted what I wanted. He wanted to right the wrongs that had been done to him, but there were some things you just couldn't fix.

No matter how hard you tried.

Isobel hadn't learned that yet, but I had. It looked like Romero was right there with Isobel in her mindset of an eye for an eye, and if you fuck with me or mine you better get ready for me to return the favor.

I had never really been an eye for an eye kind of girl before all of this.

I had a sick feeling I was slowly turning into one.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Your Humble Servant

The letter came the very next day. Handwritten and addressed to me with no stamp on the damn thing and further, there was no return address. They'd showed up at our house without our knowledge and left the letter in our mailbox.

It put me on edge to know that they could come here at any time, and we wouldn't be able to see them coming. It scared the ever loving shit right out of me.

We had innocents here, or we did when they came over with Rain. We had Rain himself to keep hidden. And now there was Romero, and I feared they might storm the house at any second and rip him away from his son.

Everyone hovered around me, silent but restless, as they watched me rip open the envelope.

I pulled out the thick, expensive cream paper and unfolded it.

It was short, and written in a very pretty cursive that looked decisively feminine. Given the name on the bottom, I knew it had been written by a male.

The letter was from Adrian.

I read it aloud for everyone, making sure my voice didn't tremble and came out loud and clear.

My dearest Ariel,

I would like to apologize for anything I may have said or done that would have offended you so much that you thought to leave us before the party even started. I suspect it might have had something to do with the sex, or perhaps that useless thing Annabell. Either way, I am sorry to have upset you. I should have known better and had a care not to force you to bear witness to any of those things. For all your hardness and bravery, you are still very young and very innocent. Those are characteristics I happen to like about you, and I hope they were not tainted too much.

Therefore, I am willing to give you the time you so obviously need. But, and I'm only going to share this with you once, my patience only goes so far. Do not test me on this.

When you are ready, let me know, and I will send a car for you.

Do not make me wait too long.

Your humble servant,

Adrian

P.S.

We failed to give you a gift when joining us, something else I must apologize for, my dear, but it looks like it's going to work out in my favor, because I've decided to allow you to keep Mr. Flynn as your personal pet. Since you seemed so fond of him you decided to take him with you, I've decided you may keep him. His care is now in your very capable hands. On one condition. He must remain dead to the rest of the world. I do not want other people finding out about his time in captivity. Please give my best to young Dash and tell him that the Council is not to blame for what happened with his father. If he's looking for someone to blame, then he should place blame where it is due: with his mother and his grandmother. They sold Romero to us. Money was exchanged, but also they both allowed us to remove their eggs and harvest them so that maybe one day we would be able to fertilize them. And, well, a deal is a deal and we are men of our words. Perhaps one day he will have a little half-brother or half-sister. Wouldn't that be lovely?

The letter ended there, and I was glad for it. I could read no more of Adrian's bullshit.

Humble servant my ass.

"Give me that," Dash snarled, as he snatched the letter out of my hand. "This is complete and utter bullshit," he muttered harshly as he read the letter over again.

I couldn't agree with him more, but it also felt vaguely threatening to me. Like if I didn't go back to their stupid motel then they would not only come for Romero, but they'd probably take Dash with them just to mess with me.

No one was taking either of them from me. I'd worked too damn hard to just get Romero here, and who the fuck did Adrian think he was to send me some stupid letter telling me I could keep the broken man as a freaking gift? I had told him a long time ago that you couldn't give people away to other people. Clearly he had not listened to me.

I was going to make him listen to me or I was going to die trying. This bullshit with the Council kidnapping and abusing people whenever the mood struck them was getting old, and I planned on putting a stop to it if it was the last thing I did.