Page 30 of Thrown to the Wolves

We don’t go into the house. Instead, we walk to the night garden, Aurora’s pride and joy. Even in the chaos of construction, it’s a tranquil oasis. Hadria takes a moment to check on the plants, ever the dutiful fiancée. “I’ll have to tell Aurora the garden is thriving,” she murmurs, more to herself than to me.

She settles on a stone bench, fixing me with a piercing stare. “Okay. What’s this about?”

And so, for the first time, I tell Hadria everything. My childhood under Grandmother’s brutal reign, the years of abuse disguised as training, the day I finally snapped and slit her throat. I’ve never spoken of it before, not to anyone. But if Grandmother is truly alive, Hadria needs to know the full extent of the threat we face.

“She was a monster, Hadria,” I tell her calmly. “She took me—and others—as a child, broke us down, and rebuilt us in her image. Even me, the one she liked to call her favorite, I was nothing more than a tool to her, a weapon.”

I pause, the memories threatening to overwhelm me again. I haven’t thought about any of this for years. The countless hours of drills, the punishments for even the slightest misstep. The way Grandmother’s eyes would gleam with a sick sort of pride when I finally mastered a new technique.

“I thought I was strong, thought I could handle anything she threw at me. But…” I shake my head, unwilling to voice my thoughts. “When I broke free, when I slit her throat, I thought it was over. I thought I was free. But now, with this Scarlett…what she’s told me about Grandmother, it’s all coming back. And I—I find myself—” I break off.

“Yes?” Hadria prompts. It’s the only word she’s said so far.

“I find myself afraid,” I say slowly, finally identifying that tight knot in my gut. “And I am not used to fear, Hades.”

“No,” she says quietly. “I don’t imagine you are.” She thinks for a moment. “This Scarlett...you said Grandmother sent her to kill you—but it’s also revenge for her brother’s death?”

“That’s what Scarlett believes, at least. But I don’t even know whether I killed her brother or not. It’s a possibility, of course. But it also could be one of Grandmother’s lies, another way to control her.”

Hadria is silent for a long moment, her brow furrowed in thought. “And what about this Scarlett herself? What do you make of her?”

I hesitate, unsure how to put my conflicted feelings into words. “She’s…a fighter. Determined, relentless. She has a fire in her, Hadria. A fire that Grandmother is looking to use for her own ends.” I swallow hard, my next words difficult to voice. “In a way, Scarlett reminds me of myself. Of who I used to be, before I broke free.”

Understanding dawns in her eyes, along with a warning. “You think you can save her.”

I reach back to tighten my customary ponytail, frustration welling up inside me. “I don’t know. Maybe. But whatever else she is, she’s the key to stopping Grandmother, to ending this once and for all. She’s my way in. And Hades—we have to stop Grandmother. If you want Juno Bianchi at this wedding of yours, we must eliminate her.”

“Is Juno Bianchi even aware of her? I wasn’t, until this moment.”

I fold my arms and give her a hard look. “Whether she is or not is immaterial. I will not allow you to invite the Bianchi Boss to town while Grandmother is out there, uncontained. It would end in disaster.”

She doesn’t really seem to get how dangerous Grandmother is, and Hadria doesn’t like being told what to do, either. But I’m one of the very few people in this whole wide world that she’ll listen to. She stays silent for a long moment, her gaze distant. When she speaks, her voice is cool. “I will have Juno Bianchi at my wedding, Lyssa. So that means we take out this—this Grandmother.”

“Me,” I correct her. “This is my mess.”

She regards me for a moment, and when she speaks her voice is gentle. “You’re not alone anymore, Lyssa. You’re not that little girl on the streets. You have an army behind you if you want it.”

“I know,” I assure her. “I do. But this is… This is something I need to do. Like you and Nero. You get me?”

Her face hardens. She understands exactly what I mean. “I get you. So what’s your first move—where is her HQ?”

That, I’m not sure about. “She’s not stationed where she used to be,” I tell her. “I’ve kept an eye on that place over the years—the one I grew up in. It was out near the docks, but it got sold off and converted into apartment blocks fifteen years ago. But I’ll find her.”

“You could ask Johnny de Luca to nose around. He’s useful for things like that. Knows a lot of people.”

I don’t love the idea of getting anyone from the Bianchi Family involved. Johnny de Luca enjoys doing favors, and he seems to be under instructions to dole them out plentifully to the Syndicate. But the problem with favors is, you end up owing someone. “If I need to, I’ll ask him,” I say, just so she won’t press the matter. “But right now, Scarlett is enough of a lead.”

“This Scarlett,” she begins, her brows drawing together dangerously. “She should be dead already, Lyssa.”

“I need to keep her alive,” I say at once. “For now, anyway. She’s my only link to Grandmother.”

Hadria thinks it over, but in the end she nods. “You can keep the assassin alive, for now. But hear me loud and clear—the moment she’s no more use, she dies. Her crimes against the Syndicate cannot go unanswered. Chicago must remain stable and the Syndicate’s reputation must remain sterling.”

By “sterling,” she means “ruthless, merciless and brutal,” of course. But Scarlett lives. For now.

The thought shouldn’t bring me as much relief as it does.

CHAPTER 15

---