Page 25 of Rising from the Ashes

“And like a house of cards, you folded.” I dig my heel deeper. “Did you really think Enzo would hold up his end of the deal?”

Grunting between breaths, “He killed his own daughter for the deal, so yeah.”

Taking me by surprise, I rip my heel out of his leg, standing before Craye as anger flourishes within me.

Just as I am about to charge forward to drive the arrow through his heart, Shado grabs my arm. “The buy-in, bunny. E said we can’t kill him yet.”

Ripping my arm from his grasp, I plunge the arrow in Craye’s right side, narrowly missing his liver, which I know could easily cause him to bleed out.

“When’s the next buy-in?” I grit through clenched teeth.

“The next shipment comes in three days.”

Pulling the arrow out, I drag it across his cheek, “What’s the shipment?”

Gasping for breath, “Guess you will have to find out.”

This mother fucker is taking all of my reserve not to kill him.

I shove the arrow through his upper left shoulder to match the right, “You have two choices. Accept The Society’s bid to take over the docks, or I kill you here and now.”

His breaths quiet for a moment as his eyelids flutter, trying to stay open. “T-the b-bid,” he chokes out.

I back away, ripping my arrow from his shoulder, dropping it and letting it clang to the floor.

Looking down, there is blood splatter across my clothes and sprayed across my arms. The mention of my father’s name shouldn’t have surprised me, but I fear I will never escape his power until he is completely off the board.

That’s the real reason Allister came to Edinburgh, to help my father.

Shado walks up behind me, gently gripping my hips, he whispers into my hair, “Go. Get cleaned up. I’ll finish up here.”

Nodding, I slip off my stilettos, peel my gloves off, throwing them to the floor, and shakily clamber toward the exit. Everly is standing outside, waiting for the news.

When I exit, she pops off the wall, looking me up and down, “Messy this time, eh?”

Ignoring her comment, I say, “He took the deal. Shado is finishing the job and taking him to the drop off point.”

Everly’s voice softens as she grabs my arm, “Hey, what happened in there?”

“We need to get rid of Enzo. Now.” My voice cracks at the thought of another betrayal where my father is involved.

“Patience, Calista. We will. I promised you that.”

“Shado needs to let him go to finish his affairs. He has twenty-four hours to transfer the money into the offshore account. If he doesn’t, we kill him.” She pauses. “However, when Enzo finds out he lost control of the docks, Craye may be a dead man anyway.”

Nodding, I mindlessly pad over to the elevator, accessing it to get to the main floor, heading to my sleeping quarters. For once, I am more exhausted after this session than I am riled up.

Walking past Julian, one of our hitmen, his eyebrows cock at me, noticing the blood all over me. Before Shado, he would be the one I called on to satisfy my hunger after a torture session or late night excursion. But now, all I want is Shado to over take my body again. I feel different with him, protected.

“Well hey there, angel,” he calls out to me, expecting me to invite him to my room.

I ignore Julian as I stride past him. He doesn’t attempt to hide his disappointment. He’s no longer the source of my satisfaction.

Shutting my bedroom door behind me, I begin to peel my clothes off, throwing my mask on the floor. Clambering over to the bathroom, I study myself in the mirror. My body is strong, fit, and able, but on the inside I am screaming for protection, to somehow rid myself of the anger Silas and my father caused. The killing and torture only numb the pain for a short time, taking me to a place I can escape.

Turning on the shower head, the water comes bursting out of the faucet. Steam begins to billow between the glass walls. Throwing in a lavender shower steamer, similar to a bath bomb, I step in, letting the scent invade my senses. As I stand underneath the scalding hot water, I let it wash away the dried blood on my skin. The water turns from a deep pink, to clear within a few minutes as I lather my loofah up with bodywash and run it delicately across my skin.

Sitting on the cut out seat of the shower wall, I relish the hot water burning my skin as the thick steam is almost enough to suffocate me. Knowing I can still feel pain means I am alive, but it also means they can still hurt me. As much satisfaction as I thought I felt eliminating Silas, I still have a void that I can’t fill. I can’t decide if killing my father is truly what I need to do to fill the hole inside me, but I also know I can’t let him gain more power in Edinburgh.

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