Page 76 of Trick's Trap

It had grown quiet when she finally cracked her eyelids open. Her arms and legs were tied at the wrist and ankles. She was propped up in an armchair in her father’s old office. The desk was gone. So was the carpet. In its place was a pentagram drawn with thick layers of white powder.

Shit.

Her cousin Cain’s face filled her field of view as he knelt in front of her. “You thought you could go off and fucking live happily ever after, didn’t you?”

His smug face twisted into a sneer. “Well, that was never going to happen. It’s not what you were born for. You were fucking bred for one purpose—to serve your family. And no one, not some trumped-up new money hotel owner, or any of your friends, are going to get in the way of that. Dad has fucking cancer for fuck’s sake.”

She blinked. “How is that my fault?” Her voice was a raspy mess.

Somewhere in the background, her cousin Lucas swore. “Stop talking to the sacrifice and get this incense pot ready.”

Tahlia stared at the pentagram, dread pooling in her stomach.

I knew it.She’d denied the truth for so long, she almost convinced herself she didn’t know why her family wanted her.

In reality, the truth had always been there in the back of her mind. It was why she’d been raised the way she had—like a veal. She was never meant to be a real person, one with independent thoughts or feelings. It was why her father hadn’t bothered to have her educated until forced and why he ignored her existence until her stepmother and brother were gone.

According to these psychos, the family’s prosperity was tied to the demon they worshipped. And demons required sacrifices. Live human sacrifices.

Why couldn’t they use a damn goat?

“Was this how my mother died?” Tahlia asked.

She’d always wondered about the woman who’d given birth to her. This was her last chance to learn the truth.

“As if that dirty bitch was good enough for Mammon,” Cain spat. “Herequires genuine sacrifice—the eldest child of the firstborn. That’s why your father knocked up a maid. It’s a long-standing family tradition. We know better than to get attached to Mammon’s gift. Everything would have been fucking fine if your baby brother—the real heir—hadn’t died. Unable to have more children, Salvatore turned to you, letting you go off to fucking Harvard for fuck’s sake. So now Mammon’s sacrifice isyearslate, and it’s your fucking fault.”

Her mind reeled as the sheer perversity penetrated her mind. Her whole body ached, but the deepest wound was to her heart.

You knew that about him,she reminded herself. Her father’s belated pride in her accomplishments came only after he’d lost her brother. He’d turned to her because he had no one else, nothing he could point to with pride.

Her accomplishments in academia had given Salvatore that, but it didn’t seem to matter. She wanted to shrivel up and crawl into a hole.

“Are we even sure this is going to work?” Lucas grumbled. “She’s not pure anymore.”

Ugh. Was it supposed to be a virgin sacrifice?

Wait. That meant she was unsuitable now.Please God, Tahlia prayed, but Cain dashed her hopes.

“That part doesn’t really matter. Pure is in the eye of the beholder. Mammon will take her. At this point, he must be hungry enough.”

Did that mean they thought the demon was going to eat her or…Tahlia wrinkled her nose.

Great. Just perfect. Tahlia pressed her bound wrists against her thighs as the heady incense smoke began to fill the room. The smell of it made her gag even as the room began to spin and her lids grew heavy.

Not again, she thought, recognizing the taint from the time she accidentally walked into Chang’s back room. The incense was laced with opium.

Soon, she was listing to one side, her head lolling as she tried to fight off the effects of the drug.

Cain picked her up, handling her like a sack of potatoes. He picked his way through the room, careful not to step on any of the lines of the pentagram as he deposited her in the center. Then he let her alone, trusting the drug to do its work.

Chapter 31

Trick ripped his suit jacket off. He balled it up and shoved it under a bush.

The humid Florida air made his shirt stick to his skin, but the sun was finally starting to dip in the sky.

“Are you sure they’re here?” he asked Ethan.

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