Page 103 of Twisted Trust

We filled this hotel to the brim with mine and Nazario’s men to keep Maeve safe. Suspecting Antony would choose today to strike had us all on edge, but Chip was supposed to save Maeve and Scott. The look of utter defeat on his face does nothing to calm the explosion of white-hot fury inside my chest. It burns hot and painful as we lock eyes.

“And Scott?” I grind out through clenched teeth.

“Safe,” Chip gasps. “With your mother.”

In the chaos of Naz’s men surging up to attack once Donald revealed himself as the traitor, my mother was swept quickly away from the danger. With her and my son safe, that leaves Maeve.

I turn very slowly toward Antony who kneels in a pool of blood, gasping through a torn lower lip and ruined nose. Several men stand around him with rifles trained on his head just daring him to move.

“Where did he take her?” I growl, stalking closer and closer to Antony. “Where?”

Antony smirks up at me with bloodied teeth.

I see red.

Grabbing him by the collar, I drag him up and throw him down onto one of the remaining chairs. It splinters under his weight and he hits the floor with a grunt, but I immediately drag him back up, punch him in the gut, and throw him back down on the ground.

“WHERE?”

A low, raspy laugh rises from Antony as he struggles to pick himself up.

“I lost her once because of you, you cunt,” I snarl, kicking him hard in the ribs. “I’ll burn this fucking world down before I lose her again!”

Each wheezing laugh from Antony enrages me further until I end up with my hands around his sweaty, narrow neck.

“Tell me!”

“No,” Antony gasps. “And if you don’t let me go, she’lldie.”

Naz suddenly grabs me by the shoulder and drags me off Antony, denying me the sweet temptation of snapping his scrawny neck. “Explain,” Naz demands.

Wheezing and coughing through mouthfuls of blood, Antony props himself up on one elbow. “If I don’t make it to my meeting place with Donald within an allotted time,alone, he’s under orders to kill her and flee.” Slowly, he climbs to his feet and glances at the crooked watch on his wrist. “And I’m already late.”

No.

No.

I can’t just let him go.

After all this work to get him, there’s no way I’m letting him out of my sight. But what choice do I have? Keep him and Maeve dies. Let him go and maybe she’ll survive long enough for me to find her.

“So what’s it going to be?” Antony sneers after spitting a glob of blood on the ground. “Make your choice, Levi.”

“Does this make you feel powerful?” The words tear from me like a whistle of wind. “Does this make you feelbig?”

“Yes, actually.” Antony smirks. “It does.”

I have no choice. “Get. Out.” Several of the guards slowly lower their rifles. “Get the fuck out of my sight!”

Antony makes a show of mocking me with a bow and then casually sauntering down the blood-soaked aisle. None of his men survived so he leaves alone, and as soon as the doors close in his wake, a roar of rage rises within me and I grab the nearestremaining chair. Launching it toward the altar, it crashes and splinters, sending a flurry of colorful petals into the air. They drift down and land gently on pools of blood.

“If he hurts her,” I snarl, “I’m going to skin him alive!”

“I know.” Naz walks forward with his phone in hand. “My men are on him. He won’t be able to take a piss without their recording it. We’ll find her, Levi. I promise.”

Facing down Naz while being surrounded in blood and bodies is eerily similar to how we faced each other five years ago before the last explosion ripped us apart. Only this time, we stand side by side as friends rather than rivals.

“I can’t lose her.” My voice cracks. “Not again.”