Page 98 of Hell Breaks Loose

“It’s time.” I hear a voice at the door.

So I rise. I walk.

When I reach the front door of the mansion, I pause, looking out over the gathering. The opulent decorations.

Where the hell did he even get all of this?

All the decadence money can buy, hoisted to block out the disaster outside the walls.

The aisle yawns ahead of me, a march to the gallows.

And all I can hear are his words from two days ago.

“I won’t badger you. I won’t even ask what I want to know. Not yet.”

I step down the wide stone stairs.

“You will simply do as I say. Sit there. Stand up. Keep your mouth shut.”

Faces turn to watch me, all empty.

“You will go to your room once we are back at the mansion and wait. And then you will put on that dress. And you will marry me.”

Flower petals rustle underfoot, the soft velvet of the red carpet cushioning every thump of my feet.

“And then we’ll really see the truth of the Sinful. You’ll either tell me everything I want to know…”

Music reaches through the haze of my thoughts, sounding offkey. Dissonant.

The stage looms ahead.

“Or they will act. I should say he will act. Your father, Damon. Watching all this time from behind the scenes. Waiting. He must be.”

A countdown starts in my head. Ten steps.

I can’t look up. I won’t look at the stage, at the evil man waiting there for me.

“And when your father, or the Sinful, or whoever is biding their time makes their move…”

Nine. Eight.

The stairs to the stage rise in my field of vision.

“I will offer them a trade.”

Seven. Six.

“Your life for the keys to the city, so to speak. A fair trade. Blood for a legacy.”

Five. Four.

I know, the minute he has what he wants, he’ll throw me away. Like he did my mother.

“But make no mistake, Hellena. You will always, always belong to me.”

Three. Two.

One.

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