Chapter 33
Kaiser
I frown. “It’s our engagement party.”
“You don’t think I’m a threat.” She runs a finger around the rim of her wineglass. “That’s why my father isn’t here. You think he’s a threat to the Vesuvios?”
“The Vesuvios told us they wouldn’t come if he were here.”
“Ah. But I’m just the daughter. No one’s afraid of me.”
I am. I’m afraid of what you’ve become. “This truce is important. It will keep you safe.”
“Hmmm. There’s no such thing as safe. Everyone dies, Kaiser. You know that. You’ve killed enough.”
I stiffen. It’s not the reminder of my past that hurts. It’s the careless way she tosses it out, like she doesn’t care if it hurts me. “You’re pushing me away. Bella, I’m not your enemy.”
“Of course not. You’re my future husband.” Her voice is flat. No emotion. It’s like she’s numbed herself to everything. All her beautiful, wild emotions, she snuffed them out. It’s like seeing a garden destroyed.
Don’t do this, I want to plead with her on my knees.
Don’t become like me. I know what it’s like to be numb to everything.
To watch the world around you like it’s a movie filled with happy people and wonder what it would be like to feel things again.
You are meant to burn bright. My light burned out long ago.
I might as well be in the grave but not you. Never you. You are so full of life.
I don’t want this darkness for you.
I open my mouth, but the words stick in my throat.
She turns away. “Take me back inside. I need to powder my nose.”
I escort her to a small bathroom and hold her glass of wine. As soon as she disappears, I pour a vial of sleeping potion into the wine and swirl it until it dissolves.
Then I wait, feeling like the walls are closing in around me. This mansion is huge, but the hallways are narrow and covered with awful paintings. A big wooden clock ticks down the seconds. It’s almost midnight.
The senator is coming up the stairs, heading for his study, where we’ll meet the Vesuvios.
Bella exits the bathroom just as he passes.
“Senator, I just have to thank you for a lovely party.” She sounds like someone else. A stranger.
“The pleasure was mine,” the senator says.
She moves closer to him, offering her hand. That’s when I notice… she’s no longer wearing gloves, and the ring I gave her sparkles on her ring finger. “Wait—” I say, but she’s already shaking his hand. I move closer, and the senator makes space for me. “And here’s your jealous fiancé. I remember.”
“Senator,” I say. I glare at him until he releases Bella’s hand. I can’t kill him. St. James will have my head.
“This way,” I tell Bella. I’m to take her to a private room and give her a sleeping draught that Atticus prepared.
There’s so much riding on this meeting. We can’t mess this up. But I have the feeling that I already have.
My cell buzzes with a text. St. James and Damien have arrived. They’re waiting in the study with the Senator.
I walk Bella into the room. A library with a low couch.
“It’s time. The Vesuvios will be here soon. I need you to drink this.” I hold up a glass of wine. We agreed that we’d drug her tonight because she’s a wild card. And the way she’s acting now? I’m missing something. I need to figure out what it is before it’s too late.
She takes the glass and swirls the wine, studying it like she knows what’s in it.
I feel like Judas. Except Judas betrayed his love with a kiss, and I can’t even kiss her.
She drains the wine in one long gulp.
I want to tell her I’m sorry, but I can’t get the words out. Everything’s changed between us, and I don’t know how to fix it.
In five minutes, she’s out. I hesitate before arranging her on the couch and covering her with a blanket.
When I walk out of the room, Jaeger is waiting. He’s wearing a white tux. I study his black eye.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s nothing,” he returns easily. He never lets anything bother him for long. “I’ll keep her safe.”
I head to the study where the senator is holding court. He’s behind his desk, showing off a bottle of wine to the Vesuvio capos. I join St. James and Damien beside the window.
“Did Atticus test that?” I ask St. James, looking at the bottle of wine.
“We did one better,” St. James says. “We swapped it out with our own.”
“Save some for Sal. He loves this shit,” one of the capos says.
“They better get here soon,” the senator jokes.
“They’re coming,” the capo says. “Frankie just texted me.”
The wait is killing me.
Out in the hall, the clock chimes midnight.
It’s now or never.
I face my Fraternitas brothers. “I need to speak with you.”
St. James and Damien glance at each other as if to say, ‘Now?’
“I want to call off the engagement.”
“Now?” St. James shakes his head, like he doesn’t believe what he’s hearing. “It’s done.”
Damien frowns, studying me. “You don’t want her anymore?”
“I want her.” I struggle to explain. “I don’t want to force Bella to marry me.” I look apologetically at St. James, who did all this work to give me what I want on a silver platter when I asked him for Bella a few weeks ago.
“The marriage will convince the Vesuvios we’re in lockstep with the Poisoner,” St. James says. “You mess with the Boscos, you mess with us.”
“I understand, and I still want to protect her.”
“Without the marriage?” Damien has a shadow of a smile on his face. “You want to claim her.”
“I want her to claim me.”
“It’s too late.” St. James waves a hand at the window. Outside, several black cars have pulled into the mansion’s circular driveway. The rest of the Vesuvios are here.
“There has to be a way,” I say, feeling desperate. “Some sort of contract. I’ll do anything—”
“A toast to the truce,” the senator says and raises his glass, but a tremor goes through his hand.
He opens his mouth again, then chokes.
The capos stop talking and stare.
The senator drops the glass. It shatters on the floor while he clutches at his collar.
Slowly, he falls, hitting his desk on the way down to the floor.
St. James and Damien cross the room with me on their heels.
St. James checks the senator’s pulse, while Damien rips open the senator’s shirt, sending buttons flying and starts chest compressions.
But the senator’s face is purple. The capos back away. With muttered curses, they run out of the room.
The worst has happened. Someone poisoned the senator. But, how? Bella.
I race down the hall, back to the library.
Jaeger is there, leaning against the door. He sees my face and opens the door for me. “She’s safe,” he says, letting me pass.
But I don’t breathe until I see her lying there, looking peaceful.
Still asleep.
Bella
I wake up in a dark room. My mouth feels grimy, like I need to brush my teeth. The last thing I remember was falling asleep on the love seat in the senator’s house. Now I’m in my bed. Alone. “Kaiser?”
“I’m here.” His voice comes from my left. He’s sitting in the armchair beside the bed, where he’s been sleeping lately.
I sit up, still in my ball gown. He took off my shoes but didn’t tuck me in. He just set me on the bed. “What time is it?” It feels late.
“Three a.m.”
Still the middle of the night. I touch my hair. It’s still in the fancy updo I styled to match the dress. My gloves are gone, though. I took those off. “What happened?” What I mean is, what happened after you drugged my wine?
“You know what happened.” Kaiser clicks on the light. I wince, holding up a hand to block it until my eyes adjust.
Kaiser looks at me like I’m a stranger. Like I’m the enemy.
I feel a deep sadness, mixed with relief. It’ll be easier if Kaiser’s the villain. “We were at the party. I fell asleep.”
“I drugged you.”
“I know.” I could taste the additive when I drank it down. It made me a little drowsy, but it was nothing I couldn’t fight. I decided I wouldn’t fight it, though. I lay down and let sleep take me.
“I don’t know how you did it, but I know you did,” Kaiser says.
“What are you talking about?” I feel a stab of glee. Like I used to feel. I stuff it down.
He stands and steps toward me. His shadow falls over my face. “It’s you,” he says. “You’re the Poisoner.”