Page 69 of We The Depraved

“This is the world I’m in now, huh?”

He gives a nod. “With power comes enemies. Your father understood that really well.”

He was a fucking monster.

Taking a deep breath, I exhale and go back to watching television. The meat in the stir fry seems to melt on my tongue. The broth has combined on top of the rice and soon everything that has occurred in the last few hours is background noise.

Niki pulls me close when we’re both full and feeling fat. Bridgerton has caught both our attention fully and we snuggle close under a blanket. So far, I’m obsessed with Queen Charlotte because Daphne seems flighty as hell. I’m just about to doze off when I hear Niki’s phone ringing in the kitchen.

He gets up slowly, a groan escaping from his throat. He’s annoyed and I can tell when he answers the phone. Though the Duke is looking delicious, my ears have perked to hear whose calling.

“What?” I hear Niki snap.

He rambles on for a few minutes.

“You were supposed to watch her!”

Hearing those words I sit up and pause the television. When I meet Niki’s gaze, I see fear.

“What?” I ask.

Alarm bells are running all over my skin. Something isn’t right.

He hangs up and paces for a second.

“Niki, what is going on?”

He stops then. “It’s Khrystina.”

I fly to him then, “What about her?”

“She’s missing….Sage she tried to set the ranch house on fire. My brother’s managed to get the flames under control but by the time they did, she had disappeared.”

“Holy fuck! This goddamn girl….”

Now my bare feet are pacing into the wood of the beach house. I scrub my hands over my face several times and then I stop in front of Niki who’s on his phone texting.

“I have Ivan tracking her,” he says.

“We have to go back,” I nod.

Niki comes over and takes me in his arms. “I’m sorry this didn’t go how I planned it.”

I look up and stare into his eyes. “But didn’t most of this go how you planned. You got me to marry you.”

He kisses me then. It’s hungry and devouring and I let him. I can’t fight him anymore. I like when he kisses me. I like all the nasty things his mouth can do to.

“I promise we’ll find her,” he says.

Niki makes me believe his words.

“When we do, I’m going to strangle her.”

We clean up the condo and I look around one last time. The ocean roars from the back porch and I sigh. I didn’t even get to spend the night.

As we’re pulling out of the driveway of Sage’s Pie, I get one last look at the place and sigh.

“I had planned to fuck your brains out,” I chance looking at Niki. “On every surface.”