Page 35 of Reaper Flame

“Why don’t we all go downstairs?” Mieko said, looking nervously at my life ring. She was the only one who realized my earlier overboard threats weren’t entirely fantasy. “We can talk there… you know, away from the water.”

“Good idea,” Q said. As always, he wanted to avoid confrontation. “We need to get moving. Candy, why don’t you hear what Za—”

“I don’t want to hearhisexplanation!” I said, realizing I sounded like a moody teenager but not giving a damn.

“Please, C,” Rocky pleaded. “You need to hear him out. You can trust me—”

“Says the guy who was supposed to be dead twenty-four hours ago and who kept me in the dark to get me on this boat!’ I said, bursting the happy bubble of our recent reunion.

“Red didn’t tell you sooner because we all agreed we’d wait until we were together,” Zander said. “You need to hear us out. That’s an order.”

“An order?” I clutched my chest and laughed. “I don’t answer to you. I’m not a Seven anymore.”

“A tattoo doesn’t change anything.” Zander’s jaw hardened in a firm line like he was biting down on his back teeth. “The Sevens are a lifetime deal. Leaving isn’t an option.”

“Just watch me,” I snarled. “Maybe you should have left me with Hiram. At least then I wouldn’t be trapped on a floating fucking dingy with a group of people who are so happy to screw over people they claim to care about!”

“It’s not a dingy,” Q mumbled under his breath, but I was too angry to care about bruising his ego.

“You’re worse than Hiram,” I said, staring Zander down. “At least Hiram doesn’t pretend to be something he’s not. He’s a monster, and he owns it. But he has one thing you don’t. He has fucking loyalty and when he says something, he means it. Your word meansnothing.”

Zander let my insults ricochet off him like bullets off steel, while Mieko’s look of wide-eyed pity only fuels my anger more. I didn’t need pity from her or anyone. What I needed was for Zander to be punished.

“Are you finished?” Zander asked, meeting my eyes properly for the first time since the day I shot Rocky in the warehouse.

“Finished?” I took a step closer. I wouldn’t be finished until I endedhim.I racked my brains to remember the rules about murder in international waters. I wasn’t sure about the legalities, but it’d be worth the risk. “I’ve not even fucking started.”

“We’re not the only ones with explaining to do,” West said, stepping in. He raised an eyebrow. “Have you told Red about your new husband, Pinkie?”

“You’re married?!” Rocky’s head whipped around so quickly that he almost snapped his neck. “What? A husband? Who?!”

I ignored Rocky’s questions. My marriage to Giles wasn’t worth wasting my breath on. It was a union of arranged convenience. It’d never have happened if Zander hadn’t handed me over.

“Nice try, West,” I said. His deflection wouldn’t change anything. Besides, he was hardly one to talk after asking the skank of the century to be his funeral date. I raised my eyebrows and pretended to look around. “Where’s your girlfriend, anyway? I didn’t think she’d be one to miss out on a boating trip.”

The muscles in West’s arms tensed as he balled his gigantic hands into fists. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Was Penelope in on Zander’s plan, too?” I asked, goading him. “Were the two of you working together, waiting until you could get your slice of the cut? Did fucking me sweeten the deal?”

Having sex with the Sevens had meant something to me. For West to have jumped into bed with Penelope the moment I disappeared showed how little I meant to him.

“Be careful, Pinkie,” West growled through gritted teeth. “Don’t fucking push me.”

“I bet Penelope wouldn’t be happy to hear what you did at the funeral,” I continued, ignoring his warning. Judging by everyone else’s confused expressions, West mustn’t have told them about how he pinned me against the door and kissed me. “You can’t control yourself, can you? I used to think what we had was special, but you’ll just fuck anything that moves!”

West’s face reddened.

“What’re you gonna do, big man?” I challenged him, wanting to push until he snapped. “Throw me overboard?”

“Don’t,” Zander ordered. He put a hand on West’s shoulder for him to stand down. “That’s enough.”

“That’s right, West,” I said, shooting him a sarcastic smile. “Do as yourmastersays.”

Vixen shook her head. “You can be a real bitch, Candy.”

My lip curled into a snarl. “It takes one to know one.”

“I said, enough!” Zander intervened. The menacing edge to his tone sent a shiver racing down my spine. “You have no idea about the sacrifices we’ve made to get you here, Candy.”

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