Page 126 of A Twisted Arrangement

The firmer I press, the less she fights, the light I’ve admired the last few days dimming. I should kill her now, revel in it, but my stomach churns, and bile climbs up my throat at the thought.

Delicate fingers gently wrap around my cuffed wrists, and it’s only then that what I’m doing really hits me.

Fuck.

I throw myself off her, disgust coating my tongue. “Get the fuck out of here before I change my mind.”

She scrambles to her feet, back hitting the shelves out of reach. “You don’t understand.”

“You’re right I don’t fucking understand. Did your brother send you here? Was this all some kind of sick game? Were you supposed to worm your way in? Bat your pretty lashes?”

“I can explain?—”

My chest heaves as I cut her off. “I hope they catch you. I hope you spend the rest of your days under your old-ass husband, having to take his wrinkly fucking dick. I hope you spend the rest of your life miserable for what you did to my brothers.

“I’m sorry.” A sob escapes her lips, and she ducks through her bookshelf.

I slam my fist into the ground the second it closes behind her, a scream ripping from my throat. The sharp slice of betrayal wreaks havoc like knives through my ribs, tearing me to shreds.

I collapse until my forearms press into the floor, and my head rests against them, taking heaping lungfuls of air as the reality of my idiocy hits me. How the fuck could I let her in?

I wait for hours for what will come next, the dead guard stiff and wide-eyed at my feet. I keep my thoughts blank, not trusting them not to stray too terrified blue eyes.

It’s the sound of gunshots that pulls me out of my daze, but it’s Damon’s face dripping with blood that has me standing.

My eyes search him, unable to process that he’s here. He’s in black tactical gear, guns holstered all over his body, covered in deep red speckles as if he’s been sprayed over his arms and neck.

Xander and Bash come up behind him. Their eyes are haunted, but they have wicked smiles on their lips. Both of them have knives in their tiny hands, tipped in blood.

I shake my head, praying this isn’t a dream.

“How,” I say roughly, barely able to get the word out. “How did you find us?”

Damon crosses the distance between us, cupping my cheeks with callused fingers over the same spot delicate ones held hours before.

“Scarlet.”

I flinch at her name. “No, she betrayed me.”

“No, brother. She called me. Set everything up. She told me to tell you she’s sorry, but you would have ruined everything if you got out before I arrived.”

It’s like a punch to the gut. I fucked up. “I have to get to her.”

I move toward the bookshelf, breaking from Damon’s grasp. “I need to make sure she’s okay.”

Damon grabs my arm and hauls me with him. “She’s already safe. You should’ve seen what she did to her father on her way out. Fucking beautiful.”

A laugh bubbles up from my throat, escaping my mouth in a wild cackle.

She’s free.

Chapter 58

Scarlet

I tuckmy knees further under my chin, the narrow hidden hallway making it impossible to get comfortable. My heart pounds as the minutes tick by, each one feeling slower than the last. I’ve been waiting quietly for Damon for the past few hours, left alone in this dark, cramped space with my thoughts tumbling over themselves as my memories of Matthias’s face twisting in betrayal replay on repeat.

My chest burned with a desperate longing to tell him why he needed to stay, but I couldn’t risk being overheard.

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