Page 28 of Burn the World Down

Those eyes turned haunted. I wanted to reach for her, but I stopped myself.

She wasn’t mine. I wasn’t good for her. She’d suffered enough and didn’t need more crap heaped on top of her.

“He sold her dreams. Told her that he’d make her a star. She started singing in his club, and he was luring her along with the promise of a record deal. He also installed her in his bed.”

I stayed still. I knew this story. I knew plenty of entitled assholes who used their power and money to get what they wanted.

“He got her addicted to drugs. Forced her to do whatever he wanted sexually. He withheld the record deal he’d promised.” Sadness filled her face and her shoulders sagged. “Then he started sharing her with men. His inner circle, clients, friends. He filmed it.”

Fucking hell.I took her hand. Her fingers were ice cold. “I’m sorry, Georgie.”

“I came here to rescue her. I managed to get her away from him. I spent several days with her hunched on the floor of a hotel bathroom while she went through withdrawal.”

There was a blank look on Georgie’s face now and it hurt because I knew it hid so much pain.

“She was finally starting to feel a bit better. I went out to get food. He texted her and said he had some of her things to give her.” Georgie rubbed her forehead. “When I got back to the hotel, she was gone, and not long later, he texted me a picture of her high and naked with two men. I went to the club to rescue her…”

And that’s when she’d been beaten. “What happened next?”

“I woke up in the hospital. A few hours later, Viv’s body was dumped in an alley a block away from the Strip. She’d overdosed. No one cared that he’d done it to her. To the cops, she was just another junkie.”

“I’m sorry, Georgie. I’m sorry you lost her.”

“The pain never stops.” There were no tears in her eyes, but so much anguish. “I’ve lost everything.”

“What about your job? Your home?” My stomach clenched. “Do you have a man?”

“No. I don’t have any of that. All I want is revenge.” Now, something sparked in her eyes and she straightened. “Snyder is doing it again. Seducing a new singer. And I’m certain Viv wasn’t the first and won’t be the last. He and the thugs he keeps around him have to be stopped.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“I’m going to kill them.”

Something inside me twisted. “Killing isn’t always easy, Georgie. You had a chance tonight, but you couldn’t take it.”

She lifted her chin at an angle that radiated stubbornness. “I just need to be better prepared. I need to train and plan. Iwillstop them.” She paused. “Elliot once told me that you’d scare anyone.” She licked her lips. “And that you would help me.”

I shoved a hand through my hair. “That’s why you tried to find me?”

She nodded. “I didn’t think I would. The person I paid to look for you…they said you didn’t want to be found. But for Viv, I thought I’d try.”

“I’m not some fucking white knight.”

She rose and slammed the ice pack on the table. “Good. I don’t need one. I need a dark one.”

I threw out an arm. “This road is one you don’t want to take.” I paced the room, trying to get a grip on my agitation. Georgie killing anyone wasn’t something I wanted for her. “Leave Vegas, Georgie. Go home. Go and live your life.”

You could help her. Help her get revenge.

Help pretty Georgiana Linden kill.Fuck.

I was darkness. I didn’t want her coated in the muck as well.

I wanted to save her from this.

I spun to face her.

“No. I’m not leaving.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Will you help me?”