Page 42 of Inside the Wicked

“She’s not here, so you can save yourself searching the dark corners of the roof next,” I say.

His displeasure isn’t subtle as he passes off his pool cue, slipping that hand into his pocket as he stalks over. “Your company is divine, Anastasia, but I might find myself growing bored quickly.”

I don’t take it as an insult. Silas deals in thrills and madness, and he knows what I want. If Kenna won’t come back and she’s truly loyal to Alistair, I’m going to have to work harder to keep his interest.

“Alistair wants a meeting by the end of the week,” I say.

Silas sits, always in the same place. “I like you, Ana. I admire your confidence and will to do what it takes to get your boyfriend back. But it is not my problem. I’ve considered what you proposed, what I could gain out of all of this, and you’re right—it would be legendary. But it is also putting everything on the line for a chance. An alliance with an inexperienced princess, for all intents and purposes, and her band of vigilantes. I’m happy with my lot.”

“You’re content,” I counter, growing panicked and angry.

“I have everything I need.”

“You’ll always want more. Always be in the shadow of your father.”

“You have no idea how I feel when it comes to that. Perhaps I don’t mind at all.”

My teeth clench. I can’t fucking lose this.

“So you’d do it all for a woman you don’t know. Who doesn’twantyou.”

“Careful.”

“That’s what you are, all you’ll ever be—careful.”

Silas stands, towering over me, and yeah, I’ll admit, I’m fucking terrified. But I can’t back down now.

He approaches me, and I can’t move. I square my shoulders as if through bravery, tracking his eyes, but really, I’m rooted with the thought that one upturned palm could have someone placing a gun into it. I don’t think he’s above killing me with the right motivation.

“It’s been an honor hosting you, Miss Kinsley. Now I advise you to leave, as your membership seems to have expired.”

Silas all but banishes me from his club with a slow drag of his cigarette, blowing out the smoke into the air above me. Then he turns, stubbing it out in the black ashtray before heading over to the pool table again.

“That’s it then? You just give up?”

His dark eyes cut into me, and it’s the first time I’ve felt the tension of the whole room thicken, with a few of his men even shifting on their feet. I guess people don’t tend to get to leave this place if they dare defy his clear dismissal.

“I don’t give up, because I never enter into things I can’t win,” he says, so low and cold.

“What about Kenna?”

“If her relationship with Lanshall is genuine, I won’t pursue someone who’s taken.”

“I can’t find that out without you,” I say.

Irritation flexes his eyes. “Speak clearly, Ana, before you find out how little patience I have.”

“I-I don’t know if her loyalty is true. But she’s been there since she was only fifteen. I’ve not seen her in all the three months I’ve been there, yet today she was sitting on his desk while he?—”

I falter at his white-knuckle grip on the back of the sofa.

“They might be intimate, but I don’t know how long for. I don’t know how she ended up there, but it can’t be good, can it? It can’t be innocent or coincidence. What if she was sold to him? Even if she believes she’s loyal to him, she’s been groomed since she was just a fucking child.”

Silas closes his eyes and his head bows, almost shakes. I’m sure he’s millimeters of pressure away from ripping the couch. His men are restless, either ready to sprint at any command or bolt from Silas’s trembling explosion.

He straightens, and his walk to the pool table is chillingly calm. He takes a sip of his drink, then it goes crashing into the wall.

“I know you have a plan, someone you want back, Ana, but I don’t know if I can wait that long when I have the means tostorm in there and take her, kicking and screaming, and Alistair wouldn’t dare face me to get her back.”

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