Page 118 of Twisted (Never After)

Bile rises in the back of my throat. “I’m going to enjoy killing you.”

He laughs again. “You’ve always been so dramatic. Isn’t that what you said to me once? Well, boss, let’s see just howdramaticI can be. We’re at the warehouse. You know, the one where you stow the guns to trade for diamonds? I wouldn’t call for backup or else Sultans will go down in flames when I show them everything illegal you have going on here.”

I laugh darkly, murderous rage thrumming through me until it bleats against my skull. “I don’t need backup to find you, friend.”

“You have until the end of the day. Darryn and I will be waiting.”Click.

Darryn. Fucking. Anders.

I should have known. I throw my phone across the room. If she did have the lamp, then I will tear this house apart to find it. Darryn and Ian, that traitorous little fuck, can have it as long as I get her back.

Her phone vibrates again, and I silence it, but then the doorbell rings. Groaning in frustration, I walk to the front and swing it open, then stop short when a pretty woman is standing there with her hand poised to knock on the door.

She lifts a brow and looks me up and down. “You’re not Yas.”

Impatience wrings my nerves tight, because I don’t have time for this, but she doesn’t give me the opportunity to send her away as she pushes past me and walks inside, looking around.

“Where is she?”

“Who the hell are you?” I hiss.

She looks at me and points a finger at her chest. “I’mRiya. Yasmin’s best friend. She never mentioned me?” Scoffing, she shakes her head. “Typical. Listen, I don’t know what you did to her,Julian, but she called me in a panic.”

I clench my jaw, remembering the will that was laid out on my desk, my heart fracturing with the thought that she’s hurt somewhere,because of me, and thinking I was planning to betray her this entire time.

Racing forward, I grip Riya’s arms tightly. She screeches and fights in my hold, but I tighten my grip. “Did she tell you about a lamp?”

“Get the fuck off me, dude.”

“Listen.” I shake her slightly. “This isn’t a time for games. Someone has taken her, okay? They’rehurtingher. And if I don’t get the lamp to them, I can’t save her.”

She stops fighting, suspicion blazing through her eyes. “How do I know to trust you?”

I swallow around the thick knot in my throat. “Because I love her.Please.”

She’s silent for a few minutes before she nods, licking her lips. “Okay, yeah…yeah, she said she had the lamp.”

The words aren’t even fully out of her mouth before I’m dropping her arms and racing up the stairs into our bedroom, ready to tear the world apart to find it. My eyes immediately zone in on her suitcase, remembering her not wanting anyone to look through it except for me.

Slamming it down on the ground, I rip open the top and dive my hands into it, my fingers hitting a hard object almost immediately. My breath whooshes out of me as I pull out the silver case, Sultans’ logo on the front, and I bring it to my lap.

Jesus Christ. How did she even get this?

My hands shake as I open it, seeing the object that’s been my desire for years for the first time and a note tucked into the side of the case.

Keep it safe. Use it to gain your freedom.— Jeannie

Of course. Jeannie must have found it and given it to her when we were in Egypt.

I stare at the object I’ve been lusting after for years, expecting to feel a pang ofsomething.

It’s gold and dusty, and jewels encrust almost the entire perimeter. It’s beautiful.

But I feel nothing.

Hollow.

Because none of this means anything if I don’t haveher.