Page 111 of Buried in Blood

I slam my fist into the wall. The metal dents. I want it to scream, to bleed, to burn—but it doesn’t. Only my knuckles do.

“He planned this,” I mutter. “He planned every step.”

I turn back to Reese, eyes wild. “Who else knew Brooke was in the auction?”

His throat bobs. “Only us. Enrique. And Harmony. She—she prepped her.”

My blood runs hot.

Harmony.

No. No—she wouldn’t. She couldn’t.

Could she?

Lucienlookedat her, that day in the hallway. She looked back.

Fuck.

I can’t trust anyone. Not Reese. Not Enrique. Not Harmony. Not even Brooke, maybe. Maybe she played her part. Maybe she lured him in.

Reese was with me the whole time, watching Harmony and Brooke. It couldn’t have been them…

Lucien crossed the line.

And I’m going to paint it red with his fucking blood.

I pace the hallway like a caged animal, running possibilities. Someone opened a door. Someone left a crack wide enough for him to slide through.

“We are on lockdown,” I order. “Sweep every file. Every IP. I want names. I want timelines. I want blood.”

Reese nods and vanishes. Smart. He knows I’m about to snap.

And once I do?

Lucien better hope she was worth it.

Because now?

No one’s leaving alive.

* * *

The room is cold.

Intentionally so.

It smells like bleach and old metal. The kind of scent that sinks into your teeth, clings to your skin. The kind that screamssomething died here.

Because something always does.

Enrique sits in the chair, wrists cuffed to the table, sweat soaking through the collar of his shirt. He’s usually unreadable—stoic, tight-lipped. But not tonight.

Tonight, he looks like prey.

“You were the only one to leave the Golden Hollows,” I say softly, circling him. My boots echo off the concrete like a ticking clock. “The only person to leave, and a few days later… Somehow—Lucien Crowe walked out with Dante’s sister.”

Enrique doesn’t respond.