Page 7 of Goldrage (The Chrysophilist Trilogy #3)

The silence in the room is heavy with everything she won’t say. It’s not the first time I’ve asked these questions. She never answers, just deflects and disappears into the night like smoke. Part of me wants to grab her, shake the secrets loose, but I barely have the strength to sit upright.

Besides, her mysteries pale in comparison to the crushing weight of not knowing where Adrian is.

Five days. It’s been five fucking days since Julian carried him off, and we have nothing. No word, no sightings, no intel from Lorenzo’s remaining contacts. It’s like they’ve vanished into thin air.

Not knowing is killing me faster than any bullet could.

Eleanora sits on the bed for a moment and takes my hand.

The mattress dips under her weight, and I catch a whiff of something unfamiliar on her—gunpowder and leather mixed with the faint trace of her signature vanilla perfume.

She’s not going to reveal any mysteries about herself, but she’s still my friend.

And she’s trying to comfort me as tears slip down my cheeks; her gaze softer than it’s been in days.

I close my eyes and see Adrian stepping in front of Julian’s gun. I see the shock in his eyes and hear the tenderness in Julian’s voice as he lifts his brother: “Let’s get you home where you belong.”

Julian wanted Adrian alive, so at least I know he’s not dead. But for what? To manipulate him back into the Consortium? To keep him prisoner in some twisted family reunion? Or something worse, something my mind can’t even imagine?

Without thinking, I touch my collarbone, expecting to find the emerald necklace there. But it’s gone. Lady Harrow ripped it off and I’m not sure where it is. It could be in a dumpster.

Eleanora squeezes my hand. “Someday soon, once this is all over, we’ll talk, okay? We’ll talk about everything. For now, you need to rest.”

“Where would Julian take him?” I ask the question that’s been haunting me for days. “Where is he and why can’t we find him?”

“I don’t know. But try to sleep.” She stands and grabs the medical kit.

Before Eleanora can escape, Lorenzo appears in the doorway. His face carries less color than it should, but he’s standing straighter than he has since Julian’s bullet found him. The excitement in his green eyes makes my pulse quicken.

I shoot upright, ignoring the fire that tears through my side. “What is it?” I ask.

“I have news.”

“Adrian?”

Lorenzo nods, stepping into the room. “My contact finally confirmed a location. Julian’s keeping him at a secondary Harrow estate.

It’s outside the city and it’s owned under a false name.

It took some digging and some careful sneaking around, but Julian was discovered there.

” He pauses, jaw tightening. “We’re certain Adrian is there too. Injured but alive.”

Relief crashes through me so violently I almost sob. We found him! But the relief quickly changes into desperation. “We need to get him out. Now.”

Lorenzo exchanges a look with Eleanora that makes my stomach drop. These silent conversations they’ve been having are another mystery I don’t have the energy to unravel.

“That’s the problem,” Lorenzo says carefully. “The place is a fortress. It has triple the usual guards and plenty of security. My contact counted at least thirty men patrolling the grounds alone. We don’t know how many more are inside.”

“So we go in hard,” I say , already trying to swing my legs off the bed. “Gather whoever’s left from your men?—”

“With what army, cugina? Half my men are dead. And you—” He gestures at my bandages. “You can barely stand for more than a few minutes.”

The truth of it burns worse than my wounds. “Okay. If we can’t attack, then what if we sneak him out?”

“And who will do that? I was able to work undercover once because Julian and Lady Harrow didn’t know I was your cousin. Now they do. And if someone suddenly wants to work at the estate, they’ll immediately suspect it’s a spy. All the guards working for them are loyal.”

“I could try to sneak in,” Eleanora suggests.

Both Lorenzo and I turn our heads to stare at her. She stands with that new confidence, one hand resting casually where she’s concealing a weapon.

Lorenzo’s face lights up like a Christmas tree. “My badass wife, always ready for action.” He winks at her as his grin spreads wider. “So sexy when you’re plotting violence.”

“Oh my God, stop.” Eleanora’s eye roll could power a small city, but I catch the pink creeping up her neck. “We’re not married yet, you delusional?—”

“Yet!” Lorenzo pounces on the word like a cat. “She said yet. Did you hear that, cugina? Progress!”

Eleanora sounds disgusted. “I meant never . The word was never.”

“Your lips say never, but your blush says?—”

“That I’m allergic to your stupidity.”

Their bickering fills the room, but I tune it out.

I don’t doubt Eleanora’s skills to sneak into such a heavily guarded place, but I do doubt how she’ll then get Adrian out.

He’s injured and slow right now. He needs time to recover, but we can’t just leave him there.

Who knows what Julian has planned or how they’ll try to manipulate him.

My mind turns over our impossible situation, examining it from every angle like a puzzle with missing pieces. Julian’s obsession with family. Lady Harrow’s fixation on bloodlines and legacy. The way they’ve both clung to their twisted version of the Harrow name…

An idea strikes me like lightning, terrible and perfect.

My voice cuts through the bickering. “I know how to get in. There’s one reason they would let me walk through that door and stay alive.”

Lorenzo’s playful expression vanishes. “Which is?”

I take a breath and I feel a tad crazy for what I’m going to suggest. “I’ll tell them I’m pregnant with the Harrow heir. ”

They both stare at me with their mouths open. Eleanora recovers first, her sharp mind already working through the details.

“They’ll demand proof. A pregnancy test, blood work?—”

“My period hasn’t come in months.” I’m a little embarrassed about that, but it’s the truth. “Too much stress and malnutrition. And what about Gideon? He could fake some records or something, right? Maybe he can give me some documents that say a doctor checked me out and I’m pregnant.”

“But whose baby would it be?” Eleanora asks, cutting straight to the heart of it. “Adrian’s or Julian’s?”

A smile curves my lips because I know this plan would have made my mother proud. “I won’t specify. I’ll say I don’t know. Because I’ve, well…” I don’t want to say that I’ve been with both of them so recently because that’s private, but Julian and Adrian will understand that the timeline checks out.

Eleanora grins and it looks a bit bloodthirsty. Honestly, this new version of her is kind of terrifying. “Brilliant!” she says. “Can I be there to see the look on Lady Harrow’s face?”

“You realize,” Lorenzo says finally, his usual humor nowhere to be found, “once you’re inside, you’ll be on your own until we can find a way to get you and Adrian out.”

The weight of it settles over me, but I welcome it. This is purpose. This is action. This is better than lying here while Adrian suffers God knows what at his family’s hands. “I survived them once. I can do it again. ”

“I don’t like this,” Lorenzo says.

Eleanora saunters over to him and runs her finger under his chin. Her voice is low and playful when she says, “But you’ll do it, won’t you?”

That’s all it takes to persuade my cousin, and he nods reluctantly.

“Good boy,” Eleanora adds, which makes Lorenzo scoff and roll his eyes.

“My wife might need some discipline,” he says.

“God, I am not your fucking wife.”

Their bickering starts up again and, honestly, I don’t know what the hell is going on between those two. They both took crazy pills.

Ignoring all the tension in the room, I close my eyes and picture Adrian. He kissed my scars and called them beautiful. He killed for me, with me. He stepped in front of a bullet meant for my heart.

Now, it’s my turn to save him.

Hold on, my love . I’m coming for you.