Page 36 of The Echo of Forever

She nodded, distracted by the ripple effect the Cannon brothers were creating as they moved through the crowd.

“Very well. I’ll make the arrangements.”

Without waiting for further conversation, I moved toward the bar, needing distance and a perfect place to watch the room. Most importantly, the man who’d just arrived.

The Cannons functioned as unofficial spokespeople for the rejectors at these events. It was the one time when respect was mandatory between the two groups.

“Any kind of Tequila. No ice,” I ordered, leaning against the bar after the glass with amber liquid was ready.

Tonight was nothing more than a performance, a glitch in the matrix, if I had to describe it.

I watched as they made their rounds. Oliver worked the crowd with ease as he smiled and shook hands. Knowing he and Carmen were involved said a lot about his personality.

Demetrius moveddifferently, a little more reserved and strategic. He spoke only to those who stopped to talk to him.

I found the man, marked for death by the highest levels of the Collective, interesting. I just couldn’t figure out why they wanted him gone now, after all these years of us coexisting with his family.

Aftermy mother killed his father, that is.

Maybe that was the key to the answers I’d been searching for.

To my surprise, Demetrius disengaged from a conversation with an EG board member and started to move in my direction.

I turned away from the room and watched him approach through the bar’s mirror.

He looked good, was dressed impeccably in what, if I had to guess, was custom Armani.

“I could kill you right now and not a soul in this room would blink,” I said, inhaling his intoxicating scent as he saddled up beside me and faced the room.

Our eyes slowly met; his were smiling, and I wasn’t sure if mine were, too.

“You won’t do that without finding what you’ve been looking for first,” he mused, breaking the contact to look ahead. “They’re all watching us.”

I hummed and sipped my tequila.

“Because they know you’re a dead man walking, Demetrius. You shouldn’t have come here, especially after what you did to Jeremiah.”

My not-so-subtle way of letting him know I was on to him hadn’t been planned, but I couldn’t help myself. Either way, he didn’t react at all.

Killing and exposing him to Seo-Yeon as my way out of the marriage alliance wouldn’t hold up, at least now that my dad made his stance clear on my matter.

I decided to keep that information to myself for a little longer, make them believe I’m working hard to find their son’s killer. But I’d switched gears and started looking into who contracted the hit. Demetrius only carried out someone else’s request.

Thatperson was my ticket out.

Especially if it was who I thought it was.

“I’m flattered the woman who claims to want to kill me is concerned for my well-being. That wasn’t the case when you shot out my tires two days ago.”

The fuck.

I looked over to find him regarding me closely.

“Or maybe somebody else wants my head as bad as you,” he added with a nod.

I was doing my best to keep a neutral expression, but could practically feel my body heating up with anger.

He was mine to deal with how I saw fit, and the only person with enough power to force another assassin to take a shot at him was my father. But he wasn’t dead, and that told me this was a warning, a reminder that his threats could come to fruition, and I needed to fall in line.