Page 37 of The Devil's Bargain
The detective stared as though he was too afraid to trust what he was seeing. He looked exhausted and beaten, like he’d been up for a week straight instead of the mere twenty-four hours they’d been dealing with this.
“Did you find anything?” Titus decided to give him something he could focus on, something to force him out of this silence. Sure enough, it worked wonders.
“The entire ordeal was captured on several CCTV cameras,” Calix said. “But we haven’t been able to locate the truck or the driver. It was a plain white cargo truck. Unregistered. While it’s true they ran a red light, it was also fairly obvious from the footage that at no point in time did they try to hit the brakes.”
Titus had been worried about this outcome. “Are you telling me it wasn’t an accident?”
“Someone tried to kill him,” Cal confirmed, eyes flashing with anger. “I came to ask if you know of anyone who might be a suspect. Is there anyone he’s pissed off recently? Enough to want to take his life?”
“Just say what you really mean, Detective.”
“What about someone from the party?” he didn’t hesitate to take him up on that offer. “Could one of them—”
“We killed everyone at that particular party,” Titus reminded. Nyxian had ensured everyone of import to the club hadn’t gotten an invite that night. The people who’d died had been lowlifes. Criminals lurking in the seedy underbelly of Emergence.
“One of their friends, or a family member of theirs, then.”
“Not a chance.” They’d been more careful than that, but he didn’t expect Calix to know all the ins and outs of that night, or the lengthy preparation that had gone into making it happen.
With a huff of annoyance, Cal ran a hand through his blond hair. “There’s got to be someone.”
“Why?” Titus shrugged when that earned him a glare. “What? Why can’t it just be a coincidence? Someone was in the mood to kill, and they seized the opportunity, something like that?”
There were plenty of people like that in the universe. People who’d murder for no other reason but that they were in the mood for it.
Titus was one of them.
So was Aodhan.
“This was a targeted hit,” Calix insisted tersely.
“How do you know?”
“I just do.”
“Detective—”
“I have great instincts, remember?” he stopped him. “Trust me, Mercy. Whoever did this, they were trying to kill him. To take him away from us.”
That was also a possibility, so Titus didn’t push the issue. Instead, he nodded.
“I will find who did this,” Calix promised, holding his gaze pointedly before turning his attention to Aodhan, who’d been silently watching their exchange. “I will. They won’t get away with hurting you.”
“We know that,” Titus reassured. “Don’t we, baby?”
Aodhan nodded again, proving he was following along even if he was still out of it from the drugs.
Any potential damage to his brain had been repaired, though, along with most other injuries he’d suffered. The casts needed to stay on a while longer, since mending bone was difficult, and Titus had placed most of his focus elsewhere, but they wouldn’t need to remain nearly as long as they would have if he’d been bonded to anyone other than a Connect.
The bandages had already come off his head, and the monitors he was hooked up to had a steady beeping rhythm that was helping to keep Titus calm.
If only it had the same effect on their detective.
“I was telling him all about the show he missed before you arrived,” Titus said to Cal then, making sure his tone was light.“How I had you choking on bloody bathwater, and then my cock. How I made you come all over the bathroom, and how I intended to make Aodhan clean it up once he joined us.”
Calix’s brow furrowed. “Should I go take care of that now?” He tried to step away from Titus, seemingly unaware when Titus tightened his hold around his waist, not allowing him to move more than an inch from his embrace. “He’s not going to want to be greeted by a dirty—”
“Calix.” Titus sighed. “That wasn’t my intention. That’s not why I brought it up. Stay. You aren’t going anywhere for the rest of the night. None of us are.”
