Page 124 of Dash

“I’ll give you whatever you want.” I inhaled a big breath. “But you have to let Dash go.”

“Oh no, my dear.” My fucked-up uncle reached to the nearest flute and sipped on what remained of the champagne. “You two don’t have the luxury of negotiating with me.”

This was true, but still, I had to try. “I won’t help you unless Dash and his team go free.”

“Is this your odd way of asking me to fry your boyfriend’s brain again?”

My shoulders slumped. “I’ll do whatever you want, but don’t hurt him anymore.”

Uncle Shit’s glower was triumphant, cold, and full of hatred. My skin crawled. In my heart, I knew he’d already made up his mind. As soon as he got whatever the hell he wanted from Dash and me, he was going to kill Dash and murder me… slowly.

Chapter Thirty-five

Dash

I clamped down on my teeth and tried very hard not to do something that could compromise Thena’s life. Being tied up, collared, and electrocuted was a challenge to my restraint. The fear I spotted in her eyes had my blood boiling, adding fuel to my rage. After taking every precaution, planning and anticipating, the enemy had still managed to infiltrate my fortress, put an IED on Thena, wire the house, and collar me like a damn animal.

Way to go, Dagger.

In the back of my mind, that familiar sense of failure stirred, the ghost that haunted me. A black hole opened before me, the same darkness that had almost swallowed me when I failed Nix. But I couldn’t surrender to failure, not now, not ever. My team was still out there and I had no doubt they were trying to figure out how to help us. I forced myself to visualize the outcome I needed. Thena was gonna be alive by the time I was done with this, even if it cost me my life.

Arthur’s glower fell on me. He’d gone to great lengths to establish his reputation as the “good” brother, the amiable and not-so-bright preacher who loved everyone and did good deeds around the world. What a load of crap. Meanwhile, if my take was right, he’d been building his own empire, one that exceeded Richard’s levels of global malignancy, and that was saying a lot.

“Thena.” Arthur reached out for a bottle and spoke as he poured himself another flute of champagne. “I need you to tell Tracker Team to evacuate the house and deactivate the automated defense systems.”

“Why would she do that?” I asked.

“My sweet niece doesn’t want blood on her hands.” Arthur paused to savor Thena’s fear. “Also, if she doesn’t obeyme, this will happen.”

Arthur curled two fingers in the air.

The collar tightened around my throat, cutting off my air, digging into my skin. Another shock of electricity hit me like a bolt of lightning. The pain spread through my nerves, sharp and hot, tensing my muscles, turning my body into a mass of agony.

I clenched down on my teeth, unable to do anything other than embrace the pain, feel it flowing through me, and wait for it to end. Seconds turned to years. Years turned to centuries. Thena’s screams drifted through the sustained buzzing in my ears. White light flashed behind my eyelids, overloading my brain until only the pain existed. My heart staggered in my chest.

I couldn’t die yet. Not yet. Not while Thena was Arthur’s prisoner. I couldn’t lose consciousness, either. I couldn’t leave her alone.

The pain relented.

Gasp, gasp, gasp. It was a desperate sound and it came from me. It was about all I could do for a while. I found myself sprawled on the ground again. My teeth ached. Blood flavored my mouth. Every muscle in my body hurt. I sucked in some more breath, and panting like a blown mule, unclenched my jaw and unfisted my hands, forcing my brain to work.

Collar. Cuffs. Guns. Bombs. Explosive cameo. Too many ways to die had been crammed into this room.

“Donotunderestimate me, Dashiell.” Arthur lectured me like a preacher at the pulpit. “Do you want your friends to die?”

I didn’t want any of my people to die, but it struck me that Arthur wanted the team out of the house. I understood his chances were better that way. I also got that, if he was gonna force me to sign the Astor fortune over to him, he might want to protect his assets, including the house. But there was more to his plan. Perhaps the theory I’d shared with Trev had been right. Was there something in this house that Arthur needed?

He also wanted the automated defense system deactivated. This could only mean one thing. He had manpower waiting nearby to reinforce his hold on the house and he knew an assault force would fail against our system. If Arthur could get my crew out of the house in one clean swoop, he’d take the house and…

I blame the electric zaps for not seeing it before. Arthur wanted my team to “evacuate” not only the house, but the planet. If he was gonna present himself as the legal Astor heir, keep his cover, and expand his influence, he couldn’t have any witnesses to the murders today.

Knowing him, he already had a cover story for the murders, one that concealed his involvement. He and Shaw were gonna be the only survivors of a vicious attack on Astor House. No witnesses. Everyone at the house who was not part of his scheme had to die today so that Arthur and his associates could proceed with his plans.

This meant he’d prepared an ambush for my team. He was gonna kill all of them at once. Blowing up the house was a contingency measure to persuade my team to leave. Murdering my crew was the real objective.

I wasn’t gonna let that happen. Somehow, I had to alert the team.

“Get up.” Arthur stood, grabbed a steak knife from the cake cart, and sliced through Thena’s cuffs. “I need you to relay my orders to Tracker Team. This includes evacuating the sniper hiding out there.”

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