Page 23 of Unleashed
“Shut up.” Nicoli looks at Maximo. “We need to keep a lid on this as tight as we can.”
“Too late.” He’s still scrolling his phone. “There are whispers online. Photos. A housekeeper leaked something to a blogger. It’s spreading.”
“Fuck!” Alexius slams his fist on the table. “Call your guy, get every trace of this removed off the motherfucking internet, and fast.”
“On it.”
I get up and start pacing. The soles of my boots scuff against the marble like a clock ticking down, and I don’t realize I’m grinding my teeth until my jaw starts to ache.
“There’s something about that verse.” I stop and lean against the wall. “Especially the‘vengeance is mine’part of it.”
“What are you thinking?” Maximo asks.
“I dunno. But the verses Micah chose weren’t random. They were all connected to sex and sins of the flesh. If this guy really is a copycat, that verse wasn’t random either.” I glance at Maximo. “What’s the rest of it?”
He flicks through the images on his phone. “Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.”
I lean my head back against the wall, staring at the ceiling. “For the time when their foot shall slip,” I murmur, more to myself than anyone else in the room. “For the day of their calamity is at hand?—”
“And their doom comes swiftly,” Caelian finishes. “Saying it out loud won’t make it make sense.”
“It’s a threat.” I ignore Caelian and look straight at Alexius. “Whoever this fucker is, he’s warning us.”
Alexius leans forward, voice low and final. “No. He’s daring us.” His gaze cuts through the room, sharp and deadly. “And we don’t get warned, we get even. I want names. Patterns. Every file on Rowan De Luca’s dealings, everyone his wife so much as texted. We tear this apart from the inside out.”
His tone leaves no room for debate.
“Because if someone’s dragging our past out of the grave…” He glances at each of us, slow and deliberate. “Then we burn down whatever goddamn ghost they sent to do it.”
Caelian raises his glass in mock salute. “To digging up old graves and burying new bodies.”
Maximo grunts. “Jesus.”
“Nope.” Caelian sips. “Just us.”
“Isaia.” Alexius looks my way. “You’re with Maximo tonight. You two make sure every trace of this is wiped off the web, and you make damn sure everyone on De Luca’s side keeps their mouth shut about this. I mean it. Use force if you have to.”
“Sure.” I nod, pushing myself off the wall. “There’s just one thing I need to take care of first.”
Chapter 8
EVERLY
The beeping is soft. Steady. Hypnotic.
Like it’s counting the seconds between who I was before tonight and who I am now.
The white ceiling tiles above me are too bright, too clean. My throat burns from crying, my skin tight with the residue of panic and dried tears. I don’t remember getting here. Not really. Just a blur of Anthony’s voice, blood on my thighs, and that sharp, tearing pain that made me think… made meknow…
“How far along is she?” I hear Anthony ask, and even though his words make sense…they don’t.
“Nine weeks.”
I blink slowly, forcing my head to turn. It’s like my mind’s swimming, thoughts muffled, bobbing in an ocean of confusion. Distantly, I see Anthony, his mouth drawn into a grim line of concern, his eyes brimming with emotions I can't quite name.
“Nine weeks…” he murmurs, mostly to himself, one hand raking anxiously through his hair.
“She experienced what's called a subchorionic hemorrhage.” Blinking, the doctor standing near the foot of the bed, clipboard in hand, a nurse just behind him, comes into focus. He looks young but not inexperienced. Calm in that way only people who live in emergencies can be. “It’s when a blood vessel between the uterine wall and the gestational sac ruptures. It can cause significant bleeding. Women with PCOS?—”
