Page 23 of Cruel Crown

I flicked him off. “Do you make it a habit to check for bugs anytime the pale demon is around?”

“You have any weaknesses, G, I suggest you keep those tight. Damian would love to watch your face as he rips out the heart of the thing you love the most.”

My eyes cut to his.

“What do you mean?”

“Love is a weakness, and Damian has a cure.”

A flicker of hope bloomed in my chest, but I put it away for now.

“So why does he want Yoro dead. Why now?”

Bastian held up a finger. He came back a little later with a manila folder. He sat across from me and opened the files, showing me pictures and account numbers.

“Son of a bitch,” I murmured.

“Yeah, that’s why,” he replied. “Three years ago, you went to Yoro’s house because you thought one of your agents had gone rogue when in reality, he was one of ours. He was undercover because Daphne had reported to Damian that she thought Yoro was trying to cut him out. Now she can’t do anything to him. Like I said, contracts are sacred. I think that’s why she went with you, in hopes you would kill him. That way, her hands would be clean and Yorovich dead.”

Something that felt a lot like failure spread through my chest.

“That didn’t happen, but you came into the picture, and so did White.”

My eyes cut to his again. “The dead senator?”

“Yeah.” He licked his lips before continuing. “A few years ago, Rivera’s old boss, one of White’s associates and Damian opened up a temporary human trafficking ring with a live auction. Call it a test drive. It was successful in the way that they were able to pull one off in New York.”

I spoke without thinking. “Your girlfriend.”

He looked out the windows, pretending like they were fascinating. “I was a dumbass kid with a hero complex. I had money, all the resources, and yet I couldn’t save her. I stood in the shadows and watched as they killed her off in front of the camera. As they took turns with her, used and abused her, I watched her mouth bleed, their cum and her blood leak down her thighs even after the light had left her eyes. If I had revealed myself, I would have been dead too.”

“What stopped you?”

“Daphne.” He said her name softly and delicately. “She told me running in there would get me killed. She talked me down, and when that didn’t work, she gave me a sedative that kept me lucid but immobile. She forced me to watch all of it. Said I would need the rage if I wanted my revenge.” He turned his gaze from the window and looked at me more seriously than he had ever before. “I don’t remember how many times she broke me, but when she was done with me, she put me back together stronger than before.”

For the first time in days, I wondered what she was doing, and if she felt any regret at all for what she had done to me. When Bastian cleared his throat and spoke again, he pulled me out of my thoughts.

“As I was saying, they had one test drive and three in Chicago, but here, they had some complications, and they brought the whole thing down, and it was decided that it was too hot to keep doing it here.”

“Then?” I leaned forward, greedy to get all the information I could.

“Sinestre happened.”

Out of all the things I expected, that was not it.

“All those women, and kids, someone else was running the shop, and Damian was cut off. It’s why Daphne didn’t get punished, why you lost your job—”

“I didn’t lose my job. I quit.”

Bastian smirked at me and shook his head. He took a pack of cigarettes out of his jacket, and when I asked for one, he put his hand up to give him a second. He threw a baggie full of weed and a rolling paper at me.

“Fuck, my lighter,” I cursed mostly to myself. In all the chaos, I had lost the ballerina lighter. Next thing I knew, a lighter hit my cheek hard. “Fuck.”

Bas shrugged and kept talking as I rolled.

“After your boss told you to stay out of it because Damian threatened both the CIA and MI6 for Daphne’s release, we left it.” He leaned forward, ashed his cigarette, and took another drag. “The reason the Sekt is feared is that they are always one step ahead of everyone. Anyone who Damian deems important, we keep tabs on. Before the Colombia meeting, various Sekt members were asked to keep an eye on the players who would be at the meeting.” Bas grinned at me. “Have you ever felt like you were being watched, Gideon?”

He was fucking with me, but his words did make my blood run cold for a second.

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