Chapter 87
LEX
NOX - fourteen minutes and fifty-seven seconds, fifty-eight, fifty-nine…
“Time to go,” I say, already moving”
“Lex,” Cade’s voice cuts in behind me.
“No.” I snap, grabbing his arm. My eyes never leave the elevator. “We’re going up there. Now.”
The elevator doors open with a cheery little ding that feels like a fucking insult.
We step out and I freeze. There’s blood on the floor.
“Jesus,” Cade breathes.
Three guards, one slumped and one face-down. Silent. Motionless. The one by the bar… he’s gone. The crimson halo under his head is still spreading.
“No,” I whisper.
We take off in a full sprint, the echo of our steps bouncing like gunshots off the marble. I slam through Roman’s doors so hard they rattle the walls.
“MALYSHKA?!” My voice cracks. “BELLA?!”
Roman’s slumped across his desk, chest heaving, blood soaking through his button-down in waves.
Cade barrels in behind me, eyes wide. “Oh my God.”
“Where is she?!” I scream, rushing to Roman, grabbing his collar. “Where the fuck is she?!”
His head lolls. His lips are pale.
“Bella!” Cade shouts, already tearing open doors, checking behind furniture, throwing open the balcony over looking The Obsidian.
She’s not here. She’s not fucking here.
“Roman, look at me!” I’m shaking him now, blood slipping through my fingers like water.“Where is she? Where the fuck is she?!”
He blinks. Once. Twice. “She’s… gone,” he rasps. The words are barely audible.
He collapses. Limp. Heavy.
“NO—NO, NO, NO, Stay with me!” I shake him harder. “Don’t fucking die on me, you don’t get to die yet! Where did she go?!”
Cade stumbles back, horror flooding his face. “Lex…” His voice is thin. Broken. “She’s not here. She’s gone.”
I can’t breathe. My vision blurs.
I grab the edge of the desk, knuckles white. “She was just here.”
“I know.”
“She was just here, Cade!”
“I KNOW.” He chokes on the word. It splinters in the air between us.
A slow, hot roar starts building in my head. My lungs burn. My hands are covered in Roman’s blood. Bella’s black cherry and smoked vanilla scent still lingers in the room. Her voice, her laugh—it’s still in the fucking air.
And now she’s gone.
“No,” I whisper.
I drop to my knees and for the first time in years, I scream.
@LucaWasHere
Hi there Lexie. Did you miss me?
She whimpered once—your name, I think.
But then she bled, and couldn’t blink.
So soft. So still. So easily mine.
Your little queen, now mine redefined.
You played the game. You lost the piece.
Our board belongs to something carved from your unease.
We don’t bluff. We don’t forgive.
She’s with us now. And she’ll learn to live.
You touched her once and called it fate,
But I’ll be the one to detonate.
She wears my collar. Bears my name.
So go home, Lexie. You’ve lost the flame.
Her screams? A symphony of purest art.
Each note a promise we’ll tear apart.
So gather your kings, your knives, your pride,
But the girl you loved already died.
And Lexie? Sweet Lexie, you better sleep tight,
Because tomorrow, my game finally ignites.
One door opens. One rule breaks.
Let’s see how much your kingdom shakes.
[Attached Image]
A dim, grainy photo taken from the front seat of a SUV. Bella lies unconscious in the back. Her hair is messy, matted with blood from a wound at her hairline. One cheek is bruised, her lips parted slightly.