Page 74 of Thorns of Silence

“I’m starting to see that she’s too vulnerable for the harshness of the underworld. The revised agreement has Reina, and she’s staying in it. Or we won’t have an agreement at all.” I watched him closely. He meant the words too.

I could have helped out my brother and left the agreement as it was. Call me fucking selfish, crazy, a prick, it didn’t matter. Despite everything, Reina loved Amon, and he wasn’t getting shot by her. He’d woo Reina some way, somehow. I, on the other hand, needed all the ammunition I could get when it came to Nix. Since Romero refused to give her to me, I’d go at it in a roundabout way.

“We change Amon’s name to mine,” I deadpanned. “Reina and I will marry.”

It was a hastily made plan. I was thinking of the long game only. Phoenix and I would take a pause, but I’d get her eventually. How did I know that? Because I knew my brother.

He would refuse to let me have Reina Romero. He might not want her for whatever reason, but he wouldn’t let anyone else have her either—especially me.

And considering the hearts in Reina’s eyes when it came to him, she’d either refuse to marry me or she’d run back into Amon’s arms. Either way, broken arrangement, andboom… Phoenix would be mine. A substitute bride but the right one after all.

Besides, Reina was in those videos, and this would give me the opportunity to learn why. Two birds, one stone.

“Why?” he asked suspiciously.

“It’s the only way I’ll agree to it,” I stated calmly, but before he could let out a relieved breath, I continued. “The document will be backdated to before my father’s death, and I will falsify his signature.”

I didn’t want to hurt Amon when this shit came up.

Romero sat up straight, determination on his face. “And I want to give Reina another three years to enjoy her freedom.” Goddammit. Three fucking years. The girl didn’t need her freedom. She needed Amon, and I needed Nix.

Something violent spread through my organs like a case of internal frostbite. My irrational side began speaking for me. “Three years is a long goddamn time. I want Ph—” Fuck, wrong name. “I want to make it officialnow.”

He shook his head, and I narrowed my eyes on him. He knew he couldn’t afford to get on my bad side. Just as I was about to deny him again, he added, “It’s non-negotiable. Reina is eighteen and still finishing school.”

Fuck, I forgot she just turned eighteen.

We stared at each other, and the cold bit into my chest. If I pushed too hard, I would risk the plan falling apart. The question was whether I could wait three fucking years.

Fuck, I’d have to play into Romero’s hand. If I rejected him, the old man might find some ungodly fucker with a twisted sense of ennui bred into him and a malignant stain on his soul. I couldn’t allow that around either of the Romero sisters.

I got up, buttoning my jacket.

“Let’s make this official,” I replied before walking out. I signaled Cesar to go fetch the lawyer I kept on standby.

I wouldn’t let this particular Romero girl get away from me.

It was just the fucking principle of it.

Three Years Later

THIRTY

DANTE

26 YEARS OLD

Iwas waiting for Cesar in the boxing ring, but he was taking his sweet-ass time.

Since my father’s passing three years ago, I’d made upgrades to the castle. This gym was my latest project. The goal was to erase any traces of my father, and by default it acted as a distraction while I waited out the terms of the agreement I never stopped thinking about.

The basement was my least favorite part of the castle and not because I was squeamish. It was because of the memories that plagued me when I was down here.

I attempted to keep them at bay, but they pushed through regardless.

Deafening silence hovered over me, interrupted only by a constant dripping sound. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Cold sweat covered my skin and I stared down at the marks slashed across my skin. I stood in the corner of the damp basement, fatigue settling deep in my bones. I just wanted to lie down and go to sleep. Find oblivion before my nightmares took over.