Page 253 of Blackwood

Lex snorts. Cade shakes his head. I exhale a laugh as some of the tension finally bleeds off me. Maybe she’s right. Maybe Luca chickened out. Maybe we finally got ahead of him.

“Second sweep of VIP. All secure this side,” Khoza says over the comms, voice smooth and low. “No eyes, no movement. We’re good. Sawa?”A pause. Then quieter, but firm,“You see anything shift, even a shadow and you call it in. Hatuchezi tonight.”

Laing crackles in over the line, dry as ever. “Good God, man. English, please. Some of us barely passed high school.”

“Means we don’t play, mate. So, keep your eyes sharp… or stay out of my fucking way.”

Lex spins me again, pulling me close so I’m flush against his chest and leans down until his lips are right at my ear. “You know,” he says, slow and dangerous. “If he doesn’t show, we should celebrate.”

Cade steps in behind me, hands at my waist. “Oh, we’re celebrating either way. You’re ours tonight, sweetheart. All night long.”

I close my eyes for just a second, letting myself sink into the warmth of them, the safety. The rhythm. Their touch.

Laing cuts in over comms,“Don’t suppose I get a dance after that performance? Maybe a kiss? Come on, Iz, I wore the nice suit.”

Lex snarls immediately,“Back the fuck off Mortal Kombat.”

Tex deadpans,“Laing, don’t make me shoot you from here.”

Ellie laughs softly in the background. “I’m starting to like him.”

“He’s too reckless for you, baby girl,”Sabine replies flatly.

I glance up toward the balcony, then to the VIP and the main entrance—Jack, Briggs, Daniel, even Kenji and Khoza are posted everywhere, eyes sweeping the crowd like lions in tuxedos.

I lean into Lex and whisper, “Still feel like we have the upper hand?”

His eyes flick down to mine. “We have everything we need.”

Lex spins me, catches me, and dips me low with a cocky grin. “You know, we never actually told you.”

“Told me what?”

“How much we love you.”

My chest tightens. “I know you do.”

Lex tilts his head. “No, you don’t, baby. You think you know, but you haven’t even scratched the surface.”

I bite my lip, trying not to cry, trying not to crack open under the weight of the emotion in his voice.

There’s a sudden sharp crackle in my ear. Static. Interference. Followed by a voice. Smug. Drawled.

“Hey, Iz. Laing again,” he says over the comms, tone lazy like he’s lounging poolside with a drink. “Real touching moment out there. Had me reaching for tissues and all that shit.”

Lex groans but Laing just laughs. “Easy, champ. Still sore from the last time you turned me into street art? Good hit, by the way. Real poetic. Let’s run it back sometime. You know, for old time’s sake.”

“Laing,”Nate snaps, “shut the hell up and keep the damn line clear before I throw your ass into the Hudson.”

A sharp feedback blares through the main speakers. The lights freeze mid-strobe. Then his voice fills the air. Low. Rhythmic. Filthy with glee.

“Izzy…

Such a pretty little puppet, dressed up just right,

You twirled in your chains under chandelier light.

Mask on your face, but I know what’s beneath,