Page 60 of Reaper Flame

Before my ass could get comfortable at the table, a loud ringing caused everyone to spin and face West. He whipped his phone out of his pocket and frowned. How did his cell work out here? I knew Q had a radio in case we sank, but this was the first time since arriving that the outside world had tried to contact us.

Zander’s jaw set. “Who is it?” he demanded sharply.

I sat up straighter.

“An unknown number. Our security guys are the only ones who have it,” West replied, then picked up and growled, “You better have a damn good reason for calling.”

West muttered a few curse words under his breath, holding the phone away from his face. His muscles tensed like he was clutching a bomb. His hand shook as he held the phone out and turned to me. “It’s for you.”

“Me?” My eyes widened, fearing the worst. “Who is it?”

“Yourhusband,” West spat through gritted teeth. “He won’t speak to anyone but you.”

I snatched the cell from him. Out on the ocean, I’dalmostforgotten about the English sleazeball.

“What the fuck do you want?” I snarled down the line, my voice simmering with underlying hatred. There’s no way I could work in a call center.

“That’s not how a lady should address their husband,” Giles’s nasal tone mocked, “even if you are a runaway bride.”

Whoever said distance makes the heart grow fonder was talking bullshit or had never met someone like Giles fucking Briarly.

“Our wedding was bullshit, and you know it,” I snapped. “If you don’t start talking in the next ten seconds, you’ll never hear from me again.”

Zander watched on, casually sipping his coffee like he couldn’t give any less of a shit. On the other side of the table, West’s face reddened with each passing second as he used every ounce of his self-control to not rip the cell straight outta my hands. Rocky couldn’t stay still. He got up and paced the deck like an animal ready to hunt while Vixen stroked Mieko’s shoulder, and both of them hung off my every word. We all knew we were entering a war, and the battle lines were being drawn.

“Don’t be like that, sweetheart,” Giles drawled. Any man who talked down to a woman by calling them ‘darling’ or ‘sweetheart’ needed their testicles used as a pincushion. “I’m calling because I wanted you to be the first to hear the news.”

“I’m losing patience, Giles.” I clicked my tongue. “Cut to the fucking point already, or I’ll show you just how much of asweetheartI can be.”

Giles laughed. He enjoyed dragging out our conversation like a call girl hoping to scrape a few extra cents. It would be different if we were talking in person. People squealed fast when they had a pair of pliers held against their toe nails.

“I’m sitting outside Briarly Manor now,” Giles said. In the background, the distant screech of sirens grew steadily closer.

My stomach lurched in dread. “What have you done, Giles?”

Vixen motioned for me to put the call on speaker, but the line was starting to crackle, and I batted her away with my hand.

“Me?” Giles taunted. Of course,hewould never get his own hands dirty. “Ihave done nothing.”

“I’m not going to ask a second time,” I warned.

“The Sevens may have taken my wife, but they are not takingmydestiny too,” Giles sneered. It was hard to hear him over the static and commotion. The sirens almost drowned out his voice completely, but I made out the last line, “Your new love nest will be ash by the time you return to Port Valentine.”

I ended the call.Holy fucking shit.Giles may be a pathetic excuse for a human being, but he knew how to stage a performance. Giving him a reaction would only have fanned the flames. Besides, I was more of a ‘show’ not ‘tell’ type of girl. He’d know exactly how I felt when we next came face-to-face.

“Well?” Vixen slammed her palms on the table. “What is it? What did he want?”

“It’s the manor,” I said. I liked to deliver bad news like ripping off a bandaid. The quicker the better. “Giles burned it down.”

“Are you sure he’s not joking around?” Mieko stammered.

I shook my head. It’d be a good hoax to lure us to Port Valentine, but I detected the overwhelming smugness in Giles’s tone. I wanted to stuff fifty scones down his throat until he stopped breathing.

Rocky slumped back. “Shit...”

He pulled a weed baggy and papers out of his pocket. His fingers moved quickly and rolled a joint expertly. Q poked his head out of the Captain’s cabin, but after seeing our somber expressions, he ducked back in again.

I’d fantasized about being the one to strike the match and watch the manor burn, but never like this. Zander had spent his life wanting to get away from the building that was a prison to him as a child. Regaining ownership of the building was a way of reclaiming it and righting the wrongs of the past — not to mention all the time and dollars Vixen spent upgrading its interiors.

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