Page 132 of Blood and Thorns

“He asked how many men work for her?” Caden translated before he frowned down at his phone. Stepping back, he answered quietly, his shoulders tensed.

Ryder’s eyes brightened. “Okay, let’s talk payment first. What was it we agreed, 100k?”

“Payment is we don’t strangle you with your own intestines,” Langdon responded, and I immediately translated, if only to give myself something to do that didn’t involve re-arranging Ryder’s features with my fist.

“Okay, seems fair,” Ryder said, clicking his tongue as he gave us the address. “If that’s all, I’d like to be untied now.” He wiggled his unharmed left hand, as if emphasising the ropes which I was pretty confident were from the curtains.

Caden came back, his expression tight. “Mrs Potter committed suicide. Our guys found her hanging over the banister in her home. Looks to be a few days old, at least.”

“I have nothing to do with anyone self-exiting.” Ryder strained against his restraints.

“Mrs Potter would never have done such a thing. They’re obviously mistaken,” Alexander said stiffly, clearly disturbed by this new information.

“They’re not,” Caden muttered, dragging a hand down his face. “Fuck, she was my nanny for almost a decade.”

Ryder rocked the chair slightly to the side. “Sorry for your loss?”

I kicked at him, almost toppling him over before I caught the front of his shirt. I kept him there, on the edge of falling with his weight on the two back legs of the chair. “You entered my penthouse with a keycard.”

“Yeah, yeah, it was literally left outside for me!” He sucked in a breath when I let him jolt back slightly. “Look, it’s not my fault the bitch who hired me clearly didn’t trust my skills, because I’m far too talented to use a simple key card. At least I got to use some of my new toys to jam the cameras. Sorry about that, by the way. I highly recommend you get someone to redo those servers; they were way too easy to hack.”

He looked between us as I settled the chair back on all four legs.

Licking his lips, he drawled, “So, it looks like you guys have a lot to think about. If someone would be kind enough to untie me, I’ll be on my way.”

Caden held his gun to the side of his head.

“Fuck, okay there, big man. Let’s talk about this first. Do you really want to mess up your dad’s pretty floor?” Ryder stammered.

“Let him live,” I said, Caden’s eyes widening when he turned to face me.

Ryder’s shoulders sagged. “Thank you.”

I breathed through my nose, trying and failing to expel the relentless buzzing beneath my skin. “Don’t thank me just yet.”

Chapter 60

Arabella

Unfamiliar voices were arguing, my brain fuzzy as I lay against something soft. I forced myself to remain still, my breathing calm even as cotton coated my tongue.

“Shouldn’t she be up by now?” Gabriel growled, and I couldn’t help but flinch. “I was promised she wouldn’t be harmed.”

Shit.

Fingers brushed through my hair, and I jerked back. My wrist screamed in pain, metal screeching against metal as I tried to pull free from the handcuff keeping me locked tight.

“You’re finally awake. Good.” Gabriel sat at the edge of the bed, his torso bare other than a bandage wrapped around his waist. “I was worried.”

My stomach turned cold, the handcuff around my wrist cutting painfully into my skin as I tried to press myself further against the wall. “Gabriel–”

“Madame a dit qu'elle ne devait pas avoir d'invités,”a man dressed all in black interrupted.“Elle doit rester–”

“Can’t you see I’m fucking busy?” Gabriel sneered, never taking his attention off me. He had heavy circles beneath his eyes, and yet his gaze was razor sharp.

The man’s lips pursed before he nodded, closing the door behind him. It did very little to muffle the loud music coming from below. Loud enough I felt the vibrations through the bed.

“Now, are you going to behave?” Gabriel asked, the lethal threat of his voice hitting me like a whip. “You know I don’t want to hurt you, baby.” Scratches marked his arms where I’d caught him, and a bruise darkened his jaw.