Page 27 of Twisted Kings

“Finish the fucking vows!” Dad yelled at the priest, sounding more stressed than he had in ages. “Thea, get back here now!”

“Do as Daddy says, Thea, or she pays.” The more Verity thrashed and screeched, the deeper the knife cut, further escalating her panic. As much as I wanted to kill Torrance with my bare hands, I needed to calm my sister down. Right now, he held all the cards.

“Verity! It’s OK! I’m here!” I kept my voice low and even.

She startled, fixing me with teary amber eyes. “Thea?”

“You need to calm down, Verity. It’s time to sleep.”

“Sleep,” she repeated, slumping against Torrance, the fight seeping out of her body as the sedative kicked in again.

“Torrance, bring Thea over here, now!” Dad’s voice rose when Marku’s guards tried to steer their boss toward the nearest door.

Torrance pushed Verity to the floor and shoved the blade back in its holster. Marku’s men pulled him away from the priest and my father, and after exchanging angry words, they left. It looked like the wedding had been called off. For now, at least.

Alfonso, one of Dad’s trusted bodyguards, jogged over. I heard him say the garage was on fire and all his beloved cars were gone. A small chuckle broke free. He loved those cars more than anything in the world.

My father cursed before barking orders at the remaining guards left in the room. I watched, uncaring, as the priest crawled under a console table and pulled out his hip flask.

Since Torrance’s attention was on my father, not me, I pulled Verity to her feet and started leading her away.

“Not so fast,principessa,” Torrance hissed. In two strides, he was on us, safety off, gun in hand.

“Shouldn’t you be out there, dealing with the fire?” I asked, one eye on the hand holding the gun. I wouldn’t put it past the bastard to shoot Verity and claim it was an accident.

“Oh, I will once you’re safely locked away.”

“You can’t lock us up in a burning house!”

“The house is fine. The fire is being dealt with.”

“We should go outside, where it’s safe,” I pleaded. Smoke inhalation was dangerous.

Torrance clearly didn’t give a fuck about our safety, even though the smoke grew thicker by the second. He pulled Verity from me and pointed the gun at the back of her head.

Dad came over. “Something’s wrong,” he hissed, scanning the room. “There’s a separate fire in the wine cellar.”

“Maybe faulty wiring,” I suggested. “It’s not like you’ve spent much on maintenance over the years.”

Dad ignored me. “Take Thea and Verity. Put them somewhere secure until we can figure out what’s going on.”

“Yes, sir.”

My father paused before fixing Torrance with a hard look. “Don’t let anything happen to them. Marku will want a refund if they end up dead. Are we clear?”

Torrance nodded. “Of course, sir. Nothing will happen to them on my watch.” His grip on Verity’s arm tightened, but her head lolled sideways and she showed no reaction. Whatever drug he’d given her had not fully worn off.

Turning toward me as Dad strode off with his phone glued to his ear, he leaned in. “Follow me or I’ll blow her brains out.”

“That would be in direct violation of Dad’s order,” I felt compelled to point out.

“Accidents happen,” he sniffed.

Baring my teeth at him, I reluctantly let him push me forward.

The hallway outside the drawing room was empty. A Christmas tree stood forlorn, a few white baubles hanging from the lower branches. Someone had abandoned their drink on a polished wood console table. It felt like the Mary Celeste in here, cast adrift on the Atlantic.

Everyone must have fled outside to avoid burning to death, not that I could see any flames. If a fire still burned, it was under control, but acrid smoke remained, irritating my eyes and stinging my throat. It tasted bitter, like all the many mistakes I’d made in my life, and I desperately wanted to get away from the stench of burning cars and whatever else had gone up in flames.

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