Page 549 of Rage

Best point that energy at our enemies. She’ll have them if she’s planning on changing this old boys’ club. And I’m thrilled I might get to help her dispose of each and every one of them.

Chapter Twelve

Cece

Liam’s eyes shine in the dark as I pick my way to him. “What happened?” he asks as soon as I’m close enough to not shout.

Instead of answering, I look him over, frustrated to find that his leg is drenched and black, even the tulle blood dark. “I might need to improve my field medicine skills.”

“We all probably should.”

“Let’s call Eddie and get Doc out here for you.”

“And you? Are you hurt?”

I shrug. “I jammed my wrist earlier, and I have some cuts from getting the zip ties off, but I’m perfect, all things considered. Especially compared to you and Xander getting shot.”

He lifts his arm up in a half circle beside him, something hopeful about his face, waiting for me to crawl next to him. After a moment of hesitation, I tuck myself against him, the weight of his arm around me soothing. “You’re heir,” he says.

“Yup.”

“Your family made the right choice. All this would be too much for Eddie.”

“I killed Nat. It’s going to break his heart.”

“But it was necessary. Unfortunately. Call him,” he says.

Using a dead woman’s phone should probably cause some remorse to bubble up, but I don’t feel much about the woman besides fury that I have to break my brother’s heart.

Eddie picks up after a few rings, the background oddly silent for a man who’s supposed to be living it up for his bachelor’s party. “Nat?”

The panic in his voice has my fury burning hotter. “No, it’s me,” I say.

“Cece? Is Nat with you? I can’t get a hold of her, and Liam and Xander are missing.”

“I’m with Liam and Xander,” I say, not sure how to break it to him that I killed his fiancée not thirty minutes ago. “Can you come get us? Bring Doc.”

“Wait, but you’re calling from Nat’s phone.”

“Yeah, about that...” Liam tugs me closer against him, the warmth of his body giving me strength. “Nat wasn’t who you thought she was.”

The stillness in his voice when he answers makes my chest tight. “What did she do?”

“She took our secret to her brother, and they conspired to take out three heirs to create a power vacuum.”

He says nothing for a painful minute. “How quickly do I need to get Doc to your location?”

I turn to the most damaged of us. “How bad are you, Liam?”

He takes the phone from me, then he and my brother talk medical stuff, regrets, and all kinds of things that best friends talk about, while I work to not eavesdrop on their conversation. Instead, I focus on the steady beat of Liam’s heart beneath my ear.

If tonight had gone differently, I might never have heard its even rhythm. I might never have discovered my childhood crush on the man beside me could be anything besides anembarrassing memory. Or that Xander Liu has a temperament to match my own and a kiss that’s more dangerous than any weapon he could wield against me.

One or all of us could be dead right now. We should be.

Liam hangs up on my brother, setting the phone aside before tilting my chin to him, his fingers hot against my skin. “He’s going to kill me when he finds out about this,” he whispers.

“I’d like to see him try.”

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