Page 44 of Bathed in Blood

He shakes his head, falling heavily into his seat, and I do the same in mine. “Then this was your plan from the beginning, was it, son? To take our golden ticket for yourself?”

“One of many plans; that’s what you taught me. And spare me the golden ticket bullshit—you’re a greedy old man. I did what I set out to do: stop the Sullivans from encroaching on our territory.Shewas never part of the long term. You don’t need her!”

“What about the Vanegas legacy? What she could have meant for your place at the head?”

I shake my head. Already, my temples are pounding. “The blood princess is a myth, a legend. Amaskedwoman…”

“You mean to replace her?”

“I mean to leave it up to mywifehow she wants the legend to end. The hell she suffered—”

He waves a hand, steepling his fingers before resting his forehead against them. “Jace has been working to ensure there are no remnants of the streams that show her face. They were never downloadable. The Sullivans had malware in place to avoid recordings being made, but you already know this, I assume?

I nod, shifting in my seat. “Have him double check. I want it as if it never happened.”

“He’s already on his third pass.”

My hair is still slightly damp from the shower I took at our in-home gym. My suit is suddenly tight and scratchy. The knot in my chest formed from the uncertainty of Vince Sullivan lessens knowing my father was already looking out for her.

When I stand to leave, I’m halfway out the door when he stops me. “She will be safe while you are in Hallum, son, and every day after.”

I nod at him before heading into the hall, the organ in my chest feeling full again for the first time since that night.

22

Found

Lana

I nestle my head into Christian’s chest as he holds me, his hand making gentle passes up and down my spine. A glance at the clock tells me he’s already late. He should’ve left for the other snuff location an hour ago.

I’m in New York, apparently.

“You should go,” I mumble before promptly reburying my face in his chest, hating everything about him being gone. It’s not that him leaving for a few hours is the worst thing. No, it’s the distance that had me passing on dinner and nausea swirling in my gut. Even the orgasms he just gave me barely took the edge off my growing anxiety.

“Already getting tired of me, princess?” he coos, but I don’t miss the way his hands halt their gentle passes to wrap around my waist instead. Deep down, I think my terrifying, adoring husband wants to be needed too, even if my being here, being with him, didn’t start consensually.

If my chest wasn’t still a gnarly, festering wound, I would smile. Instead, I push up, ignoring the painful pulling from myhip and the wrapped cut on my hand as I rest my forehead on his. “You’ll come back, right?”

It’s a whisper, and I hate how vulnerable it feels to say it out loud, how stupid I feel for even asking.

“Nothing, Lana,nothingwould keep me away.”

I watch with barely suppressed panic as he dresses, refusing to wash my arousal off his cock until he returns. His dark hair is even more tousled than usual, thanks to the sex we just had. It looks…devastatingon him. For a moment, a wave of insecurity washes over me, my eyes dipping towards the updated wardrobe, now fully stocked with designer clothes for me.

Clothes.

No lingerie.

I never want to wear lingerie again.

He didn’t buy any.

My bedroom growing up could fit inside, with room to spare. The opulence I've been surrounded by the last few years never really occurred to me. Sure, I hadn’t been blind to it, but it just seemed…irrelevant, another byproduct of my circumstances. I’d never…noticed.

I shrink against the ottoman I pushed against the window, trying and failing to tear my eyes from my husband as he straightens his suit jacket. Like this, he looks like any other suited up man in a luxe menswear catalog. Like this, you’d never know how dangerous he is, how…wild what’s inside him is. I guess the same could be said about me.

Except people do know. Lewis and Mom…they know what I became. The Sullivans sent them the link in those early days, one for the twenty-four-hour stream. I haven’t taken a full breath since Christian told me.

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