Page 16 of Dark OZ

I looked over my shoulder to Crowe, hoping that he might speak up.

“I know it’s probably hard to talk about, Darling, but we really need the full picture if we’re going to keep you safe. Niccolo will play nice. If he doesn’t, then I’ll shove my fist down his throat so he can’t speak.”

“You could try.”

“Your name is Niccolo?” Well, that explained the accent.

“Just tell us your story,” he grumbled.

Chapter 8

Dorothyshifteduneasilyonher stool. Her fingers kept drifting to the hem of her shirt in a futile attempt to pull it over the curve of her ass, and it was distracting as hell. It was also taking everything in me not to study the angry red stripes curling around the edges of her thighs.

It didn’t compute. What kind of treachery had Dorothy done to make Emily Rosen ship her only heir to Eastin Witcher, a butcher and a sadist? She had to know that Eastin would kill her.

Dorothy answered my thoughts, “‘When I was a baby, my Aunt Em made a deal with Eastin. In exchange for killing my parents, Em would use the resources available to help secure the Eastern Quadrant. Eastin drove the car my parents were driving into a lake. When they died, all of my family’s money went into a trust for my aunt to control until I turned 21.”

“Who were your parents that they had enough money to set up two separate criminal empires?” I thought through what I knew of The Farm and every long-standing family in Oz. I couldn’t remember any massive criminal names disappearing off the board, but then again, if it was done right, maybe nobody knew. Emily Rosen didn’t exist before Cyclone Shipping started providing Oz with everything from imports to people. Records stopped at the formation of the company. She had one living heir, her adopted niece. I had an entire drawer of Farm research in my office upstairs. I felt like a fool for not recognizing the security photo posted with Westin’s bid, but I did now.

“They were nobody. I didn’t even know I was born into money until Eastin told me.”

“Or your aunt was happy leaving you ignorant.” Crowe leaned back against the wall, arms folded neatly across his chest. “What were their names? Maybe we’ll know something you don’t.”

Dorothy’s eyes narrowed skeptically, but then the ice in her veins warmed. “Ella and Darren Gallant.”

My mind came to a screaming halt.

“Holy fuck,” whispered Crowe.

Dorothy didn’t seem to notice how the three of us all tensed at the name. She kept babbling on. “My aunt changed my last name when she adopted me, but they were—”

“The Premier of Ozmandria, or well, Darren Gallant was until he was assassinated.” I leaned into what I was saying, pushing closer to her so she was forced to crane her neck. “Their assassination was what allowed the four quadrants to be established in the first place. When Darren and his cabinet died, Oz became fair game for anyone who could muscle it into their control. I’d say it was a coup, but that doesn’t quite cover the way the entire structure of government was wiped out in a single night.” I huffed a laugh, “Turns out you actually are a Princess or as good as this fucked up country has for royalty.”

The cracked pink lips that up until now had been carefully locked into a tight line went slack. She licked them.“But that’s not…”A small disbelieving exhale left her. “I would know if—”

“Would you, though?” Crowe interjected. “You said Em kept you sequestered at the Farm. How would you know anything about Oz, other than what she told you?”

“I wasn’t exactly sequestered. We did occasionally travel when Em had business.”

“Let me guess, to processing centers in Oz?”

“Mostly, she ignored me. Until she didn’t.”

“Can we skip ahead to current events?” Nick looked bored, but from the slice of his eyes across the room, I knew better. Dorothy made a tiny annoyed sound, turning away from him and not bothering to acknowledge his comment at all.

“My twenty-first birthday was a month ago, and two days ago, Em decided to let Eastin finish the job she started seventeen years ago. Next thing I knew, I was beaten, ziptied, and headed to East Oz.”

Nick circled back to face Dorothy. I knew that comment struck him deep. The tattoos might be covering all of the scars, but it wasn’t that long ago we were freeing him from Eastin’s basement of horrors. If anyone knew exactly the level of cruelty she could inflict, it was him.

His large hand came up, grabbing her chin and forcing her to look at him. The muscles of her jaw tightened in defiance, her brows pinched together, making those hazel eyes flash with even more ferocity.

His accent was thick, as it always was when he was letting his emotions get the best of him. “What did she do to you? Eastin is…was a sadist, putting it lightly. I doubt she would have waited long to make animpression. What did she do that pushed you into bashing her face in?”

Dorothy jerked her face out of his hand, but her eyes lingered on his knuckles. She drifted a finger over the thin white lines pushing up beneath the word, “Again.” Her head tilted in confusion, then she looked at the matching letters inked on his other hand. The wheels of her mind turned as she pieced it together, mouthing, “Never Again.”

Crow clapped his hands, breaking the hush that had fallen in the room. “Your fascination with pain aside, Eastin whipped the fuck out of Thea every time she opened that sweet mouth of hers.”

Dorothy cringed, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. For the first time since arriving in my garage, she looked meek.

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