Page 111 of Burdened Bonds

“We’ll have the element of surprise. He won’t be expecting us to attack him. Not if I’m handing her over to him.”

“That’s the most stupid fucking plan I’ve ever heard. In fact, it’s the most stupidthingI’ve ever heard and I’ve taught twenty-year-old students for the last five years. The amount of idiotic crap they speak!”

Rhi ruffles the pig’s ears and stands to her feet. “You think it’s the only way?” she asks me.

“I can’t think of any other way we’ll be able to get inside my uncle’s house. Even if he were to trust me enough to let me in alone, I wouldn’t be able to defeat him by myself. With you, there’s a chance.”

Rhi thinks about this, her eyes flicking around us all and landing back on me.

“Okay,” she says.

“Rhi!” Phoenix says. “This is madness. It’s a stupid fucking idea. We can think of another one.”

“I’ve been trying to think of one all fucking night, Phoenix. This is the best I have, the only plan I have.”

“And we don’t have time,” Rhi says, “if we wait, if we’re too late …”

“Christopher Kennedy knows that Azlan is your fated mate. There’s no way he’ll believe Azlan has had a change of heart and is now handing you in to the authorities.”

“There’s a chance he might. My uncle has no understanding of love. His own loyalty has only ever been to himself and the family. He may believe I’ve ‘seen sense’ and am doing what’s right.”

“He won’t,” Phoenix says flatly.

“Then you’ll have to do it,” Winnie says to my friend.

“Me?”

“Yes, he doesn’t know you’re Rhi’s mate too. He’s more likely to believe you’d hand her in.”

“And why’s that Miss Wence?” he says, eyes narrowing at the girl.

“Because you’re always going on about how broke you are, Stone,” Rhi says, “and the reward for my capture is considerable.”

“A fucking fortune,” Barone adds.

“And of course, I’d do that. I’d stoop so low as to shop some girl – a student of mine, my friend’s mate no less – right into his hands, all for money,” he spits.

Rhi shrugs.

Phoenix begins to pace. “Okay, so maybe that works, maybe he believes me, maybe lets us in, past all his guards, maybe together we take him out, find Spencer and Tristan. It still leaves one giant problem. How the hell do we get out? I’m assuming the Kennedy mansion is now more fortified than ever.”

I hesitate. Then nod, my shoulders slumping. He’s right.It’s a major flaw in a plan already full of plenty. I look towards my mate, her face contorted with worry.

“I’m sorry, Rhi, he’s right.”

“No,” she shakes her head, desperately, “there must be a way. There must be a way we can get out.”

“There is,” Barone says, spinning his knife, “me.”

“You?” Winnie says, eyeing the assassin with suspicion.

“Yeah, I can shoot us out.” He says this like it isn’t a big deal, spinning the knife around like the conversation is actually quite boring.

“I don’t understand,” Winnie says.

“Renzo can … travel through time and space.”

“A contortionist?” Winnie says, mouth falling open.