Page 265 of Blackwood

Roman’s face tightens but he doesn’t move.

“And if you’re so desperate to help…” Lex adds, voice a dangerous whisper, “…go guard her friends with Briggs. That’s about all you’re good for right now.”

Roman doesn’t argue. Doesn’t defend. He doesn’t need to. He just stands there, outnumbered and outmatched, a ghost in the flesh who knows the fight was lost long ago.

Lex turns back to Bella, his chest heaving. Every shallow breath he draws is a fresh spark against his already very short fuse.

Knox lifts his chin. “Laing. Now.”

Laing moves slowly, like a man approaching an altar, or a bomb. He crouches in front of Bella, balanced on the balls of his feet.

“Hi there, Iz,” he murmurs, like they’re old friends catching up.

She doesn’t look at him. Just stares out at the skyline slicing through the dark. Lights twinkling like a world she can’t reach anymore.

Laing hums low under his breath as he starts unbuttoning his shirt.

Lex stiffens behind me. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Laing doesn’t stop. His voice is calm, but every syllable drips with calculated chaos. “You want rage, Lex? You want to pull her out of the dark?”

He pops another button.

“Then you need someone who’s known her long enough to know just how to get under that perfect little skin of hers.”

Another button.

“Someone who knows just where the fire’s buried, and how to pour gasoline on it.”

Lex takes a step forward, but Rez moves fast and grabs him by the shoulder and yanks him back.

“Not now,” Rez hisses.

Lex’s jaw flexes so hard I swear I hear his teeth grind. But he doesn’t move. Not toward Laing, anyway.

Laing just smiles like a wolf about to bite. He slips his shirt off slowly like he’s daring someone to stop him.

He touches her. Softly. He brushes a hand down her cheek like he’s petting a memory. She doesn’t react. Then his fingers shift, hooking under her chin.

“Fucking look at me, Iz.” Laing jerks her chin up with a brutal force. Her head snaps back like a doll’s. Her eyes meet his. Blank. Empty.

He leans in, breath hot and venomous. “Daddy’s head in a box was all it took to break you?”

He sneers, withdrawing his hand from her chin as if he’d just touched something foul. “You’re weak. Pathetic. Just a scared little girl pretending she runs this empire. But you own nothing, Iz. Nothing.”

Still nothing. Not a twitch. Not a breath.

Lex snarls behind me, low and brutal. “I swear to—”

Rez grabs him by the collar, dragging him back just as Lex starts to step forward. “Lex, enough.”

I can feel the storm radiating off him.

The bastard, Laing, just smirks. He plants a hand on Bella’s shoulder and shoves her backward into the couch. Hard. She folds like paper. Limbs limp, eyes glassy. A puppet with cut strings. Then he swings one leg over her lap and straddles her.

“C’mon, Iz.” His tone all sing-song and sadistic. “You can’t play dead forever.”

His hands move again. Up her arms. Over her shoulders. Fingers dragging slow and wrong across her. He stops at the hem of her hoodie. “Take it off. Let’s see what’s left under all that grief.”