Page 54 of Reign By Wrath

He laughed. A rich, wild sound that made me feel a little crazy. A little dangerous. “Surprise, bitch!”

And then we were both laughing—loud and unhinged as our car disappeared through the trees.

As promised, I drove in as far as I could, then pulled off on the side of the road. The house I thought was Everleigh’s didn’t have any security, but her real one might. To be safe, I followed the dirt road as far as I dared. We’d walk the rest of the way to the dim lights in the distance.

Cato was a stalking panther beside me—so silent it was easy to forget he was there. His breaths were whispers on the wind. His steps so light twigs didn’t dare break.

The complete opposite to the stumbling, heavy-footed oaf beside him. My foot caught on something and I went flying. Cato reacted fast—catching me before I hit the ground. But not before thatsomethingscreeched and went tearing off into the bushes.

“I don’t want to know what that was,” I huffed. “Goodness. Is it your father’s Rogue training that makes you so good at all of this? Makes me wonder how different I’d be if Alistair raised me. I’d be a lethal weapon too.”

“You are.” Cato set me on my feet. “One thing would be different. You’d have been mine sooner.”

A smile played at my lips. “I would’ve, wouldn’t I? If we all went to school together, guys like Owen and Levi would’ve skeeved me out with their superiority complexes. Even in Catholic school, I found myself running with the outcasts.” I hugged his arm, trying to find his lips in the dark. “Guess we’ll have to make up for stolen time.”

“There.”

The ragged hiss snapped my head around. There in the distance, hazy glows took form, revealing a one-story mansion.

My lips parted. I was deluded the night before. How in the world did I think that rinky-dink pile of logs was the grand mansion worthy of Everton Starling? That place wasn’t grand. The vast, gorgeous home of polished stone, columns, twelve-foot windows, and sloped ceilings was where the word grand came from.

“This is the place.”

Cato slouched off his backpack. My skin tingled at his smile as he held up a torch and matches.

“It’d be fitting,” I whispered, mesmerized by the glittering flame. “Burn down her home like she burned down ours. We can end it all right here. Right now. No more plotting, waiting, hoping, fighting. Just a hollow building with a roasted corpse. The exact end that she planned for me.”

I let out a breath. “But we can’t. Not yet, at least. First, we have to make sure this is the right cabin. I won’t risk destroying the home of an innocent person.Again. Also, we can’t torch the place before we find her laptop.”

His brows drew together in the glow of the fire—asking without asking.

“It’s not just Everleigh we have to destroy. We’ve got to bury the T.O.D. Club too. They were her murder weapon. Fuck’s sake, they were my murder weapon.” I squeezed his forearm. “It’s terrifying what someone with enough malice and money can make the members do. Wolf blocked my access to the site...” My gaze drifted to the cabin. “But he didn’t block hers.

“I know her access isn’t half as restricted as Giovanni’s was. If I can get in through her laptop, I can see all the members, expose the club, and take that weapon away from her and every Royal.”

Cato flicked off the lighter. “Break in.”

“We have to.” My gaze sharpened, looking hard for any sign of cameras or other security measures. “We need to get in there, prove it’s Everleigh’s place, steal her laptop, then you can burn whatever you want, baby.”

Cato kissed me hard, then tugged me along—skirting the tree line leading to the back of the cabin. I said the man didn’t need words to get his point across.

“Anything in your pack that can pick locks?” I asked. “Window-breaking doesn’t work out too well for me.”

No reply from him except to pick up the pace. Cato knew how he was getting in. The question was would his method be anything close to subtle.

“We’ll call the guys when we know for sure it’s her place,” I said—to him or me, I wasn’t sure. “No need for them to come rushing out here just to watch another bald man try to bash my head in. When we know, I’ll call. The forty-minute drive will give us enough time to find the laptop. It’s better to apologize than ask for permission.”

Cato stopped dead, making me pull up short. I followed where he pointed, and my eyes bugged.

A window. Anopenwindow in the back beside glass double doors.

“It can’t be that easy,” I breathed. “All we have to do is climb in.”

Cato set off. He was about to do just that.

“Wait,” I hissed, pulling him up short. “It’s not that late. Only ten o’clock. She could still be up and chilling in the living room, watching movies in her fuzzy slippers. First, we get eyes on her and make sure we’ve got the right place.”

Cato pointed, then jerked his head in the opposite direction.Let’s split up.

---