Page 102 of Fool Me Twice

“Who needs to understand what they’re breaking. You’re right, we have no idea how this curse is going to interact with Hart, and trying to break an unknown curse is dangerous, period. You know that better than anyone,” Fix said. “We can’t just brute force this one and metaphorically burn the whole thing to the ground, not when Hart is the one that will be left with the consequences.”

“We don’t fucking know who cursed me though,” Cane said.

“We have a clue,” Fix said. “It’s more than what we had before, and a pointer in the right direction. Arianna Layton.”

“That name means nothing to me.” Cane wished he could somehow pull the knowledge of who this person was out of his ass just to get Hart back. He’d do anything.

“Nothing at all? Not even a variation of it?” Fix asked intently. “Ari? Anna?”

Cane shook his head, frustration making him want to tear his own hair out. He began to pace the length of the kitchen. He never forgot a name. Never forgave a person for crossing him. They were indelibly inked into his DNA. The worst ones carried the scars to go along with them. He ran a hand over his stomach.

“Okay, while you’re looking for this chick, I’ll call for reinforcements. Who do we want?” Ash asked, all business.

“Arcstead is closest to us,” Fix said slowly. He sighed, running a hand over his face. “And Damir already knows some of the story.”

“Yeah, I was afraid you’d say that.” Ash took a few tentative steps toward the door, shoulders slumped.

“Warn Wren first,” Fix called after Ash, who stopped in the doorway to the kitchen. “He’s in his room, I think. I can hear him inside, but he doesn’t want to be seen.”

Ash nodded with a solemn expression before disappearing out the door.

Cane closed his eyes, tugging at the piercing in his lip roughly as he tried to search his brain for anything that sounded familiar about the person they’d mentioned.

Arianna Layton.

Arianna Layton.

There had only been one woman in his life who had really fucked him over, and her name sure as hell wasn’t Arianna Layton. No. His demon was called Sarah Whitlock. The one who had changed the trajectory of his life forever, and done it multiple times.

She’d nearly killed him, leaving him for dead before he’d gotten picked up by the police. Like she couldn’t decide which one she wanted more and had left it to fate. He’d spent years in prison learning the lesson she’d given him. Her mocking laugh ringing in his ears.

He’d taught her a lesson of her own as soon as he’d gotten out.

He hadn’t risked leaving her like she had him. She was six feet under, her last words still echoing in his mind.

“Please…Cane…you can’t take them from me.”

Cane had assumed she had meant the businesses they’d built together, but now he paused. How much did he know about Sarah? He’d known the determined girl who had found her way under his skin. He’d known the ruthless, business-savvy, adaptable, and unpredictable Sarah. Known her enough to be able to see her moves before she made them.

Until she’d blindsided him.

What did he really know about her outside of what she had allowed him to see?

Nothing.

He’d never met any of her friends. She’d claimed she had no family, and the business partners she’d worked with she’d kept at a safe distance unless Cane was needed to do a job with them. She’d used separate phones, given them fake addresses, and never allowed anyone inside her home. She’d said it was for their protection.

She’d used all of that to make Cane feel special to her. Because he was allowed in her inner circle. He was the one she’d trusted. The one she kept close. It had been the two of them against the world. Naive, teenage him had thought it would be like that forever.

“Cane?” Fix asked, breaking him out of his thoughts, and he snapped.

“You need to ring up your PUMA lapdog and ask him to do some digging,” Cane said.

Fix frowned. “I can’t just ask them for information without any reason. That’s not how this works.”

“Do you want to help Hart or not?”

Fix opened and closed his mouth several times before shaking his head without a word. He pulled out his phone and called Cyrus, putting it on speakerphone and placing it between the two of them on the counter.

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