Page 66 of Merciless Prince
I breathed a quiet sigh of relief.Good girl.She hadn’t said a word about me or anyone else from the Hellfire Club.
It wasn’t enough to save her, though. Her fate was sealed the second I figured out her secret the other night.
She walked away, and I stayed behind the corner, chest heaving as I listened to her shoes clicking on the tiles. It was getting harder and harder to be patient with her, and it took every ounce of strength I had to stop myself from chasing after her and snatching her out of the darkness right here and now.
I knew I had to do things according to plan to ensure it all ran smoothly, but I was just so fucking sick of waiting. Without Shay in my possession, I felt like I was living in a cold, dark limbo, always wondering if and when the other shoe was about to drop. I needed to steal her away to stop that from happening; needed to drag the truth out of those sweet, treacherous lips and punish her for withholding it until she cried and begged for mercy.
She thought she was miserable now, with her best friend lying broken in the hospital, but she had no idea what was coming. No idea how truly miserable her life could be under my rule. She’d soon find out, though.
Just three more days and she’d be mine.
21
Shay
“How didyou get that red-eye effect?” My colleague—a tall brunette actress named Nina—tilted her head slightly to one side as she assessed my appearance. “The makeup artist didn’t do it for me.”
I furrowed my brows. “Sorry, what?”
“Your eyes look so red. How did they do it? Lenses?”
I swallowed hard. “The makeup artist didn’t do it. My eyes are just really red right now.”
“Oh. Well, it’s good timing with the show and all. It really goes with your costume,” Nina replied. “But I have some allergy drops if you need them.”
“Thanks, but it’s not allergies,” I said, giving her a tight smile. “I’ve just had a rough week. Haven’t been sleeping much.”
Her face softened. “Oh, I’m sorry. That sucks. What’s been hap—” She stopped herself midsentence as comprehension filled her dark eyes. “Oh… shit. You’re friends with that other girl who was supposed to be here tonight, aren’t you? The one who was in the accident. I can’t remember her name.”
“Cori,” I said softly, turning to look in the mirror behind me.
Nina was right. I looked like shit. My eyes were puffy and pink around the edges with dark halfmoons below them, and they were so bloodshot that I looked as if I’d been beaten up. It was a result of me crying so much over the last few days. Every time I thought I was okay, a fresh set of tears welled up in my eyes, and I broke down all over again.
I couldn’t help it. My best friend was in a coma, and it was all my fault.
She wasn’t run off the road by a random person for no reason. Killian was responsible. He either did it himself or arranged for someone to do the dirty work for him.
The reason was obvious. Me and my big mouth.
I shouldn’t have sent that text to Cori saying I needed to talk to her. At the time, I thought it sounded vague enough, but in hindsight, it must have been clear to Killian that I intended on telling her everything when we met up. He arranged her ‘accident’ to send a warning message to me.
This is what happens if you try to tell anyone.
The guilt was eating me up inside, like acid on a fresh wound. My best friend was lingering somewhere between life and death, and it was all because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.
I’d learned my lesson, though. I was never going to say anything about the Hellfire Club to anyone. Even when Cooper repeatedly pressed me to tell him what was going on the other night, I bit my tongue and refused to say a word about it.
“That’s right. Cori. Poor girl,” Nina said as she straightened her wig in the mirror. “Those roads up north can be so horrible.”
I flattened my lips and nodded. “Yeah.”
“Is she going to be okay?”
“I don’t know,” I said softly. “The doctors said it’s too early to tell. She could wake up tomorrow, or she could wake up a year from now.”
Or she could never wake up at all,I added silently. I was too scared to say it out loud, as if I could somehow make it happen by speaking it into existence.
Two lines appeared between Nina’s brows. “God, that’s horrible,” she said. “Will you be okay to do the show tonight?”
