Page 88 of Deadly Wolf Bite

Mia’s eyes widen. “So you’re okay with her being locked up there?”

Exhaustion sinks all the way into my bones. I run a hand over my face. “Nothing about this is okay.”

“No shit.” Razor glances toward the bedroom then back to me. “Do you think Ramsey’s story is true? About Franco’s experiments?”

“My wolf tells me he’s not lying,” I say quietly.

“Do you think your dad knows about it?” Mia asks suddenly.

I frown, remembering how weird he was in the suite earlier. And all his questions about Lexi’s medical history. “It’s possible.”

“If Franco experimented on Lexi’s wolf, it would explain why he kept her alive,” Mia adds.

Franco.

The asshole’s been playing me from the beginning. Using me. Since day one.

Here I was looking outside the city for someone who might’ve helped Lexi’s parents escape. Instead, I should’ve been looking at why they’d run in the first place. The answers were right here inside Indigo Hills all along.

“What are we going to do with him?” Mia asks, jutting her chin toward my bedroom.

“Take him to the warehouse. Make a schedule to keep an eye on him. No one else in or out. No one can know we’ve broken the compulsion.”

“What do we tell your old man?” Razor asks. “You don’t think he’ll notice a general’s son’s missing?”

“Charlie knows Ramsey’s a fucking mess. He said so at the church,” I say. “No way the generals are going to invite him in. Besides, after what happened tonight, they have their hands full with a coverup, so they won’t notice if he’s not around the next few days.”

“What about his aunt Sylvia?” Mia asks. When none of us answer, she says, “I’ll go over and tell her he’s staying with me for a few days to grieve.”

“Thanks,” I say, walking around them and dropping to the couch. “Wake me up in a few hours, would you?” My eyes immediately fall shut.

“Grey?” Crow calls softly. “What are you going to do about Lexi?”

The others are silent. I don’t bother to open my eyes or face them as I consider his question. I could reject her. Let my father have her and the title when the time comes. But giving Lexi up doesn’t stop the corruption. And it doesn’t erase what my father’s done. What he’ll do if I don’t stop him.

No matter what Lexi did to me, I can’t let my father win.

But that’s not what he’s asking.

We all know I’m determined to beat him. He’s asking if I still want her.

“Honestly,” I say, my insides hollowing as the loss burrows deeper inside me. “I have no fucking clue.”

28

LEXI

Maybe it’s a lifetime of training myself to sleep in new places, but somehow, I manage to drop into slumber the moment my head hits the pillow in my new home-sweet-prison. When I wake, the sun is high in the sky as it streams through the blinds in the small bedroom. At first, I think the daylight must be what woke me. Then, I hear the unmistakable thud of the front door closing.

I whip myself out of bed and over to the half-open bedroom door. With my hand on the knob and heart racing, I peer out into the living room. My injured arm rages with pain, but I ignore it as I search the space.

Dressed in a navy suit, Vincenzo stalks through the living room.

When he sees me, he stops—and smiles.

I shudder then steel myself for this visit. Stepping out into the living room, I cradle my arm and stand behind the couch, meeting his harsh gaze head-on. “I don’t remember giving you permission to enter.”

“I don’t remember asking.” He sits in the chair opposite where I stand then gestures to the empty couch. “Join me.”

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