Page 46 of Exile

It's obvious that part of Grey wants to see what's caught our attention, but he stays put, stroking my scalp as he gently holds back tendrils from falling into the path of my partially digested meal.

"What is it, Deadman?"

"You better come see this, Grey."

I motion with my hand that I'll be fine for a moment, gesturing for him to go look. I'm fairly confident that I've gotten it all—at least, I hope.

There's nothing but silence from the pair of them. I don't dare leave the bathroom, leaning against the wall as I resist the urge to lose my shit or cry.

Monsters.

Grey heads back into the bathroom a minute later, arms outstretched. "Come here."

Moving with speed that would almost be impressive considering what just came out of me, I launch myself into his chest. "It's bad…" I manage to mumble.

I feel him nod above me. "Are you okay?"

Pulling my head back, I gawk at him wide-eyed. "Absolutely not. There's a fucking severed head at my door."

Teddy's head to be exact…

Fucking hell. I thought her body had been escorted from the property. I was told that Whitface had organized for her to be released to her family. More lies.

It never ends.

Damon hovers in the doorway, and I do a double take at his face.

"What?" I ask, dreading the answer.

It looks as though he's fighting the idea of whether or not to tell me, but with a sigh, he does. "There was a note inside."

I definitely didn't see any note but to be fair, the half a second glance I had inside sent me sprinting. "What does it say?"

Grey's arms tighten around me. "Deadman," he warns.

"She needs to know," Damon replies sharply. "No more secrets, remember?"

"I'll take a secret marriage over this any day," I mumble, dry-retching before quickly recovering with a hand over my mouth.

Damon offers me a tight smile. "See—the idea of being tied to me isn't so badnow."

"You're deflecting," I grumble, waving my hand. "Tell me."

He suddenly looks standoffish, almost worried about delivering this news. But I already can sense it's something messed up. In fact, I have a pretty good idea of what it says.

Bringing his hand up from his side, I spot the blood-covered paper in his grip. It's scrunched up, crinkling sounds way too loud as I wait nervously.

Damon flips the paper around so I can see the words, and it's exactly what I suspected.

YOU'RE NEXT.

I'm not sure what's more disturbing; the fact that I'm doing this… or that it was my idea.

In theory, the reaction of the guys should probably be up on that measurement too, but when you're dating psychopaths, it's easy for moral compasses to get a little lost.

"Cameras are offline," Damon confirms, giving me a sharp nod.

The three of them are staring at me with different expressions. Damon looks determined, like this is just another everyday mission. If gravity wasn't a thing, Grey would be bouncing off the ceiling with excitement. And Theo… if we weren't in the open corridor, he'd probably throw me against the wall and make me forget what I'm holding.