Page 6 of Blood and Thorns

“How much total?”

Caden glanced at Langdon, who was still staring at the body like it was a piece of art. “Three hundred grand.”

I blinked, feeling anger prickle through my bloodstream once more. “That’s a lot of fucking money to go walking, Cade. There’s nothing little about three hundred grand.”

Caden clenched his jaw, his fist tightening around the handle of his sledgehammer. “I’ll deal with it.”

“Uncle shouldn’t have waited until that much went missing before informing us.”

“I said I’ll deal with it,” Caden snapped, touchy when it came to his father. It wasn’t a secret there was no love lost between me and my uncle. Even though the fucker was technically the one that saved mine and Lang’s life.

Not like he’d ever let us forget it, but then again, you couldn’t pick your blood.

Red flashed across my vision, followed by an intense pain across my back. Then another. And another.

Il ne m'a pas laissé le choix.

He left me no choice.

My shoes squeaked against the threadbare carpet, breaking me from the memory.

“Bas, you good?” Caden appeared at my side.

I concentrated on the room, studying the wallpaper that had been stripped, leaving spots of exposed mould and plaster. The TV that had been shattered, and there were chunks taken out of the wooden stand. There was no glass or splinters littering the floor, which meant they were already broken before Caden and Langdon had hunted Mr Pritchard down.

Not that it was difficult. He may have managed to steal money from me, but he wasn’t a criminal mastermind. Caden had found him within the hour after he was caught using my name. Which was actually pretty pathetic, as wasthis poor excuse of a hotel room he’d decided to hide himself in.

Frowning, I realised the black book was sitting neatly on the bedside table. Opening it, I flipped through the pages, the various squiggly lines blurring, causing an ache to pulsate behind my eyes. With a grunt I tossed it to Caden, who caught it with little effort.

“You confident we’ll find the names in there?” I asked, watching how Caden read the first page.

He nodded. “Don’t worry, we’ll get the money back.” His chin jerked towards the side. “What do you want to do with Mr Pritchard?”

I returned my attention to the bed, finding Langdon had moved closer, his body stiff as he stared down at the body with a slight glaze to his eyes.

“Make him disappear.”

Chapter 4

Arabella

Another night, another–thankfully–uneventful shift.

I’d called last order almost thirty minutes ago, but there were still two customers left. Luckily, Suzy was subtly convincing them to leave so we could close, my feet aching from being on them for twelve hours straight. Heading towards the back, I grabbed a crate, using it to wedge the door open so I could take the rubbish out to the bin.

The lights outside flickered, giving off a slight whine as they struggled to fight against the impending shadows creeping in the distance. The night air was cool, so I hastily made my way to the shared bins, tossing the bag into the one on the left. It made a racket, and I flinched as a rat almost skittered across my boots.

“Shit!” I jumped back, only to laugh at myself.

It was just a rat. The city was full of them. Literally, and figuratively.

Shaking my head, I turned back towards the door, only for the light above to click off. Sudden darkness eloped me, and I automatically froze. There was no moon or stars to brighten the night. The only illumination was from thestreetlamp along the road, which created an eerie glow at the mouth of the alley.

Something shuffled, like shoes on cobbled stones.

It was only seconds later that the light buzzed back on, but not before sweat had broken out along my skin. Glancing around, I couldn’t see anyone else, but then something pressed against my shoulder, shoving me so suddenly I staggered forward. My palm scraped against the brick, steadying my fall when a pressure landed on my back.

Rancid breath feathered across my cheek, and I stilled even as the wall bit at my skin.