Page 60 of Queen of Wrath

He handed me the glass of auburn liquid, and I accepted, holding onto it with both my hands.

I peered hesitantly into the glass. “Looks like whiskey. Are you sure you aren’t just trying to get me drunk? Though, I might just prefer that over being sober right now,” I laughed humorlessly, wincing at the sudden aches it incited.

Damn, Diesel really did a number on me, I thought as even that little laugh was enough to make every part of my body protest violently. He did a number on the whole city.

A part of my heart broke for those people, but they had money to rebuild. It wouldn’t be like if Diesel had burned down Dask. Besides, I had a more important task at hand. I couldn’t be distracted by a privileged city.

The anger welled up inside of me, but this time it felt dishonest—like I was fanning a flame for the sake of turning a blind eye.

That’s who I am now. Deal with it.

“You look torn, Lea,” Emory observed, his voice was deep and smooth.

Hearing my name from someone else’s mouth gave me a shock. I didn’t know how to feel about it. On one end, it was revitalizing, but on the other, I had a sense of misidentification. “That’s not who I am anymore.”

“I hope that’s not true. The person I met before was strong and kind. The world would be at a loss without you in it.” He glared down at me with his dark brown eyes, as if it was supposed to sway my opinion.

I looked away, sneering at the very idea. “Well, sorry to disappoint. I’m here for one reason, and one reason alone: to destroy Diesel and exact my revenge on Jax. There is nothing else left of Lea.”

His face didn’t change. He didn’t scold me, or voice a retort. He simply leaned his head to the side. He didn’t need to speak. His expression said it all.

“Don’t look at me like that. You obviously changed, too, considering I don’t even recognize you, but you recognized me. If you want to worry about something, worry about that.”

I thought I had him. The triumph swelled in my bones, and I even managed to raise my chin past its natural angle.

His head dropped as his eyes scanned the floor. Then he moved toward me and took a seat on the table right in front of the couch I was sitting on.

“This change was done to me, I had no power over it. I’m still the same person on the inside, though. My alias is for my protection, but it’s not who I am. I’m still the man I was…who met you in prison all those years ago.”

My mind ran at the speed of light, too fast to catch a single thought.

My heart was pounding so loudly that I could barely hear anything else.

Someone I met in prison?

“At the time, you knew me as Miller.”

The words lingered in the air between us.

My breath hitched in my lungs, and my blood ran ice cold.

What should I say? What should I do? I don’t know how to feel about?—

My mind abruptly went quiet at the sensation of something running down my chilled cheek. It was a tear that might as well have been on fire.

I quickly wiped it away and looked down at my wet fingers as another teardrop fell.

Then all the other feelings came rushing through me at once.

It felt like he had reached out, grasped my heart, and started squeezing it until it burst.

“I thought—” The words were weak and didn’t amount to half of what I wanted to convey. “But you died…”

He gave me a pained smile, and shook his head slowly. “I didn’t. After that day, they dragged me away to be tortured and killed by General Achlys, but when I didn’t die so easily, she thought of a better use for me… Trust me, there were times when I wished for the release of death. I was taken to a dungeon—some sort of lab where they were testing illegal potions.”

My eyes went wide as soon as I realized what he was talking about.

Was he once trapped in Facility B in the underbelly of Jax’s company?

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