Page 160 of Seizing Control: Part One

I left her in his protection, and he’s managed to drop the ball numerous times so far.

All thoughts of my rival for my woman’s affections dissipate when Lily steps into the shower. She angles her face to the water. I observe her shoulders shaking. Her lips move like she’s singing. It takes me a minute to grasp what she’s doing, and when I do, the dam walls burst.

I’m in action in the next heartbeat.

Moving closer to the window, I’m on the verge of gripping the sill and vaulting inside so I can hold her while she cries, when my phone pings through my earpiece. I deactivate the cherub pendant. Keeping an eye on Lily as she slowly regains her composure, I use my thumbprint to open the message I’ve received, then enter the code to unencrypt it.

It’s a voice memo from Layla De La Rue.

Code name: All-seeing Skye

She’s Gabriel’s favourite cyber-terrorist. In her early twenties, Layla’s a long-time member of the Adjudicator’s curia. She was recruited at the age of sixteen after Alexander Kingsley and Hugh St. James left her for dead after one of their hunting trips. The dark-haired goth girl is a chameleon. She’s one of the few on Gabriel’s curia to maintain their true identity in addition to their underworld influence.

Publicly, Layla is lead journalist for an international broadsheet.

In reality, she’s a hacker with a grudge and the mastermind behind a gossip profile that keeps the wider public abreast of underworld dealings.

Much like Gabriel’s executive assistant, Veronica Cerulli, All-seeing Skye is allowed to play by her own rules while the rest of us are expected to act as puppets. Aware that she’s caused a bunch of shit for the Shamrocks over the past year or two, I’m not her biggest fan. I’ve made it clear that I don’t trust her, and she’ll need to earn her place on my curia when I take over next year.

Funnily enough, she seems to have taken my declaration as a challenge.

Going above and beyond for me, Layla has been a great support.

Her assistance has been immeasurable when it comes to keeping Lily safe.

It’s likely her extra help comes with strings attached, or she’s setting me up… I don’t care as long as her payback doesn’t land anywhere near my metukà shelì.

“So, big, bad, recently resurrected, Lazarus,” her voice message begins. After a sarcastic laugh, Layla continues in the same mocking tone she always uses with me. “A little tidbit has come to my attention, and I thought I’d share it with you—the Trinity are in Perth. Seems it’s the first tête-à-tête since the Shamrocks allied with the guild…” When she trails off, I brace for the punchline she’s gleefully gearing up to drop on me. “They’ve brought Sariah with them so they must be confident the union is close to bearing fruit. Anyway, just thought you’d like to know. Toodles.”

My stomach drops.

The message ends.

It auto-deletes.

Blinking too fast, I jam my phone back into my pocket, breathe four times, then return my attention to Lily in the shower. Her crying jag is over, replaced by a serenity I haven’t seen her display in half a decade. My blood rushes south as I bear witness to my sweet thing soaping up her beautiful body. When she arches to rinse the conditioner from her hair, I swallow hard.

Fuck she’s stunning.

I track her curves with my eyes.

If Alex hadn’t hurt her, we’d be parents by now.

Instead, her stomach is flat, marked not from carrying our child, but Lily’s desperate need to bleed out her sorrow. It’s unnerving to think about what could’ve been while I’m currently dead and she’s married to a man I once trusted with my life. Slash has no place in the future I’m planning, but I have to face the fact that he’s still a part of Lily’s life.

Sure, she might’ve left him.

That doesn’t mean she’s stopped loving him.

Different but equal.

Three words I haven’t thought since I was resurrected.

Three words with the potential to change everything.

Especially if Slash succeeds in having a child with Lily before I do.

Which is the reason why the Trinity’s fertility expert would be in the country.

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