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Layla slumped in the chair. She looked like she was dying. What kind of blade did Natasha use on her?

“Why?!” Zand yelled across the desk.

“Teresa. Sh, sh, she has my boyfriend.” She wailed. “My human boyfriend. She said she’d kill him slowly if I didn’t help her.”

“And you didn’t come to me?” Zand asked. His voice was dangerously soft. “You chose to betray me rather than ask for help?”

“You don’t understand.” Layla pleaded. “She sent me his finger. His actual finger in a box. She said she would cut off his, his, his.” She didn’t finish, but we knew what she was talking about. “What was I supposed to do?”

Despite myself, I felt a crumb of sympathy for her dumbass. Not enough to forgive, but enough to understand the impossible choice she faced. Love made us vulnerable. It made us do terrible things to protect the ones we cared about.

“You should have trusted me.” Zand said, rising from his chair. “Instead of conspiring with my enemy.”

He opened the drawer and removed his Cripo Glock. Zand’s movements were so casual it took a moment for Layla to register what was happening. When she does, her eyes widened with terror.

“Please, Alexander, please.” She begged while struggling against Natasha’s iron grip. “You don’t have to do this. I can make this right. I can feed her false information. I can help you trap her.”

Zand strolled around his desk until he stood directly in front of her. “You already helped trap someone.” He said with his monotone voice flat. “You helped Teresa kill Morgan. You helped her threaten my fiancée.”

The gun rose in his hand. He aimed it at Layla’s chest.

“My King, I had no choice.” She mumbled the words of her closing argument.

“There’s always a choice.” Zand replied like a real mafioso. “You made yours, and now, I’m making mine.”

The gunshot was almost silent. This was the special serum gun. I had never seen it used before. The bullet hit Layla in the center of her chest. Her body instantly went rigid. Her eyes were still open wide with surprise. Natasha released Layla’s hair, and her body slumped forward. She was paralyzed, but conscious. The blood from her cuts was still pooling beneath her chair.

“I’m going to put in a call to Virgil at the crematorium.” Zand said, turning to Harlen. “Take her there and make sure she burns.”

Harlen nodded twice. He moved forward to grab Layla’s rigid body.

“Wait.” Natasha said, and we all looked at her. “I will give you a body bag, so you won’t make a blood trail down the hall and in the elevator.”

Ah, so, Natasha just has body bags lying around available.Harlen stopped advancing toward Layla. Swiftly, Natasha darted out of Zand’s office.

“Morgan Hayes, look at you.” Zand’s words made me smile. “And here I thought you were going to just sit around and cry about being a vampire.”

“My girl would never do that. She’s too strong.” Harlen dispensed some praise on me.

“She is something.”

“I’ve accepted that I’m a vampire.” I told Zand.

“Good. I will give you all the credit. It was you, the new vampire version of you, that solved this problem for me. And for that, I thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”Why did I want to say ‘my king’ just to be funny?“Are you really going to burn Layla?”

“I am going to tell my brother to do it.” He clarified.

“I want to go with him.” I heard myself say it as I stepped forward from my corner.

Zand assessed me. “Are you sure? Witnessing an execution is one thing. Participating is another.”

My gaze homed in on Layla’s face. She was still frozen in an expression of shock. She betrayed us all because she was trying to save someone she loved. I understood her choice, but I couldn’t forgive it. Her actions led to my death. Her betrayal threatened Chanel. In the brutal mathematics of vampire justice, her fate was sealed the moment she looked at me sideways and crazy.

“I’m sure.” I said with a voice more eager than even I expected. “Even though I have accepted the new me. She’s the reason I’m like this now. I want to see it through to the end.”

Zand pressed his lips together and nodded his approval. “Then go with Harlen. Learn what it looks like when someone betrays us.”