Page 67 of The Devil We Know

She stands there frozen, her eyes locked on Matt, confusion on her face, but then Kaian comes up behind us shouting, “Get out. It’s time to go.”

His words jar her from her thoughts, and she shakes her head, immediately turning and pulling me behind her toward the exit, Marieka right on our tail.

There’s another shout behind us, and I turn just in time to see the man behind him lifting his arm, a knife glinting in his handas if he’s going to throw it. I shout once again, struggling to get free.

Marieka and Kaian forcefully shove me from behind, the pull of the stranger jerking me away, and I glance back helplessly as the crowd surges forward, the man with the knife now standing there looking smug, the knife no longer in his hand.

Matt is no longer standing on the stage, and I scream incoherently, releasing the agony in my guts as I fight to get free, but now the three sets of hands hold me back, and then I’m lifted bodily off the ground and hustled out the door and down the hall.

Kaian grabs me more firmly around my torso, pinning my arms to my sides, and someone else holds my legs. I’m carried through the maze of hallways until finally, we burst out into the cool, dark night.

We’re at the edge of the woods, a dirt path just wide enough for one vehicle, and I see a van parked there, waiting.

They hustle me to the back doors, which open immediately, and I blink in shock as Marieka appears.

I stop struggling, shaking my head as I ask, “What? What the fuck is going on?”

My legs are dropped down until my feet are on the ground, and then they release me. After a moment, Kaian eases his grip around me, his hands on my arms steadying me as I look at Marieka, confused as fuck. I turn back to the two women who helped me, seeing the stranger there but then also Marieka, and for a moment, I feel like I might pass out.

Marieka gets out of the van, stepping over beside the mirror image of herself. She leans in close, scanning the facial features, and she smiles and then laughs and says, “Isn’t that fucking wild?”

I look at her and then stutter, “Wh-what is happening?”

She turns to me, smiles, and then points her thumb at the other Marieka and says, “Jessica, meet Camilla McDonough, master of illusion and deception.”

The woman smiles, inclining her head good-naturedly, and I shake my head, waving a hand tiredly as I walk to the back of the van and sit on the edge.

I look at Kaian as I whisper, “You need to go back. I saw a man with a knife, and then he was gone. You need to go back.”

He nods, then turns on his heel, and sprints away. I turn to the still unidentified woman who helped lug me out and ask, “And who are you?”

She smiles a wicked grin and replies, “Antoinette. Do you like my new look?” I groan, my head falling into my palms as I rub my face in an attempt to get my bearings, then I glance back up at her and ask, “Do you know anything about Matt being Mathias Ferro?”

She shakes her head and then motions for me to get into the van, and I don’t bother standing. Instead, I turn my body and roll myself inside, where I lay down in the fetal position.

Antoinette steps in, Marieka and Camilla right behind her. The doors slam shut, and I’m surrounded by silence. Then Antoinette replies, “We’re going to go find out.”

I remain silent, lying there doing my best not to think the worst of what I saw, knowing that it’s sometimes what you didn’t see that matters.

But still, I pray.

29

A Heart-to-Heart

Antoinette

What the fuck?

That’s all that’s been running through my head since that douchebag Mathias stood up on that stage and announced himself a motherfucking Ferro.

The mere idea that that asshole could possibly be my uncle is preposterous.

And, of course, Darius and Tony aren’t even here to be my sounding boards. I’m stuck with a bunch of people who have nofucking clue who I am, who the Ferros are, or the fact that while placing the goddamn crown on his head, he also put up one giant fucking target.

This leads us to the other problem. Darius and Tony would have also been blindsided, and we had to leave them behind to face not only the people who would have wanted to take Matt’s place as the head of the Irish but the hordes of people who would like nothing more than to end up at the top of the kingdom.

What the actual fucking fuck?

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