Page 56 of Thrown to the Wolves

“Why the fuck is the assassin still alive?”

“I thought you were going to ice her, Lyssa! What is this shit?”

“Did you know about her bullshit this whole time?”

Chaos reigns until Hadria’s glacial tone cuts through the din like a frigid Arctic wind. “Everyone. Out. Now.”

No one dares defy her. They scatter, leaving me alone to face the wrath of our leader. The door clicks shut with a sense of grave finality, and I can’t stand up anymore. I collapse on a sofa.

Hadria’s pale gray eyes bore into me, blazing with a rage colder than I’ve ever seen. When she finally speaks, I wish she’d just scream instead of use that soft, lethal tone that’s a million times worse. “You have let your goddamn feelings compromise everything.” I open my mouth, but she silences me with an upheld hand. “I could see something was going on, but I trusted you, Lyssa. I trusted you. I believed you when you said you had everything handled. But now, because of you, Mrs. Graves is a hostage. The woman I consider my mother?—”

“And mine,” I say weakly. My chest constricts with each agonized breath. “Hadria, I didn’t know?—”

“Don’t insult me with your pitiful excuses. If anything happens to that woman...” She shakes her head slowly. “I will never forgive you. Ever. Do you understand?”

Pleading is probably useless, I know, but I have to try. “Hadria, please…give me one more chance. I’ll get Mrs. Graves back, I swear on Elysium. And I’ll kill Scarlett and Grandmother as soon as Mrs. G is safe. No more fucking around. You know I can do it. You know I can.”

I can. And I’m her best shot, and she knows that, too. But when she finally answers, there’s still no trace of warmth.

“One chance. That’s all you get. Don’t waste it, because I will fucking skin you alive if you fuck this up.” And then, to my surprise, she blows out a long breath, and when she speaks next, the cold crime queen has disappeared. “Lyssa, I swear to God, if she dies…” She puts a hand to her mouth, and I’m shocked to see that it’s shaking.

Seeing Hadria’s fear bolsters me, somehow. I’ve always been a rock when others need me. I can be that now. For Hadria. For Mrs. Graves.

I get to my feet and go to her, take her by the shoulders, shake her hard. “Get your shit together,” I tell her in a low, firm voice. “You can be pissed at me later. Hell, I can be pissed at me later. But we don’t have time for that now. You need to get your head in the game.”

Under my hands, she straightens up, and I’m relieved to see the fear in her eyes harden to resolve. “You and me,” she says at last. “Together. That’s our best shot. We go in together—surgical strike.”

Just like the good old days.

The good old days, before we had to worry about things like the Bianchi Family and Chicago becoming destabilized and people kidnapping the woman we both love like a mother.

I’d rather do it alone, because I feel like I need to pay for my foolishness. And I’d like to look Scarlett right in the face as I drain the life from her.

I’d like to do that privately.

But I can see Hadria is working to put aside her rage and her fury and come up with the best plan. Like me, she can focus when it counts. “Okay,” I say. “Together. What else do we need?”

“We’ll need some men to help manage ingress and egress,” she says. “Johnny de Luca managed to get footage of Scarlett’s car all the way to a particular high-rise building, so at least we know where they are. He’s getting hold of the blueprints now so we can find a way in.”

I nod. I should have known Hadria was already working on a plan. She’s always ahead of the game, and that’s the one thing that gives me hope right now.

Then she reaches up, putting her hands on my shoulders too, drawing me close to put her forehead against mine. “And once Mrs. Graves is safe, you will kill this Scarlett, Lyssa. That is an order.”

“Yes, Boss.”

I don’t need the order.

Nothing on earth could stop me from putting down Scarlett now.

CHAPTER 28

Scarlett

I can’t stop shaking as I usher Mrs. Graves into the warehouse. The shadows in here seem to shift and dance, making me jumpy, which in turn makes Mrs. Graves jumpy. She keeps glancing back at me.

This underworld I chose to dive headfirst into has slowly stripped away everything from me, leaving me a hollow shell consumed by rage and an insatiable thirst for vengeance. I see that now…

But that wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

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