Chapter 25
Ifelt it before I heard the words. The subtle shift in the air, the way Edmund’s gaze sharpened, like a predator circling closer.
I’m part of Shiloh’s story?
“He’s always been part of your story,” Edmund repeated, slow and deliberate.
I froze, my body so stiff, Shiloh noticed. He shifted, his stormy eyes searching for mine. Confusion flickered, and I couldn’t wrap my head around this game Edmund was playing.
I forced my shoulders back and folded my arms.
This dickhead wasn’t going to shake me. I smiled faintly, a casual, controlling leer matching his, but inside, my chest was tightening, and my stomach had turned in on itself.
Shiloh’s hand flexed on the edge of the table. I could see him bracing, trying not to snap, trying not to let Edmund read him like an open book.
My job as ‘whatever the fuck’ I was was to keep him tethered, keep him human, keep him from tearing the old man apart with his bare hands.
I took a slow breath.
“Ignore him, Shiloh,” I murmured, low, more hardness than comfort, my own discomfort surfacing in the shaky hint to my tone. “He’s baiting you. Trying to pull you into his game. We aren’t playing.”
Shiloh’s jaw twitched.
“He’s twisting everything,” he muttered, his voice tight and too rough.
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “That’s the point. Don’t give him the win.”
Edmund leaned forward slightly, his silver chains clinking, his dark eyes glinting like he’d found the string he could pull to unravel everything. “Ah, I see…you don’t even know, do you?”
Shiloh’s head shot toward me. “Know what?”
I clenched my fists under the table, forcing my jaw to stay tight.
What demon did Edmund drag from my closet?
Edmund’s smirk widened, a poisonous slow burn. “The truth is…some things you carry, you didn’t even choose. Some men, some jobs…they shape the world before the next generation even realizes it.”
I felt Shiloh’s tension spike and the slight tremor in his shoulder. I wanted to reach for him, grip his arm, and shake him awake, but I held back. He was too unstable, and without knowing Edmund’s angle, I didn’t have a way to comfort him.
“You’ve got questions,” Edmund continued, his deep tone deliberate, patient, oh so cruel. “Oh, I know you do. But not all questions are meant to be answered at once. Some answers…” He let the pause hang like a blade. “They destroy the messenger.”
I leaned closer to Shiloh.
“Breathe, Sunshine. Stay with me. Don’t let him see how deep this goes,” I said, making sure my voice was a whisper:
Shiloh swallowed hard. “I…fuck. I can’t…”
“Yes, you can,” I growled, low and controlled. “You have to. And I’ve got you. Always. Make this bastard shake.”
Edmund’s eyes flicked between us, sharp and fucking calculating, like he could smell the bond and wanted to sever it. He was toying with us, enjoying each uncertain glance of Shiloh as he looked between us. The bastard thought he had the advantage.
But I couldn’t let him break Shiloh.
That was my job.
I felt the weight of Edmund’s gaze like a physical force. Every move I made, every breath I drew, he was there, measuring me, judging each movement, and continuing to circle, looking for a weakness. He had Shiloh, and he clearly thought he had me.
He knows something I don’t.
“Some things…” Edmund said slowly, letting each word roll like venom across the table, “Are buried deep, even from those who carry them. Like a wound, they are simply unaware of until it’s ripped open once more.”
Shiloh’s eyes flicked to me again, searching and suspicious.
“What the hell does that mean?” His voice was raw, low, and so tight.
I clenched my jaw, forcing my hands to stay under the table. I didn’t have even a hint of the truth he was chasing, but Edmund was laying it out like a trap. Every word was designed to make me falter, make Shiloh look at me with doubt.
And it was fucking working.
“Nothing you can touch, son,” Edmund continued, calm and poisonous. “But someone else…someone close…might know more than they realize.”
Shiloh’s fist slammed against the table. “Who? Stop with the fucking games, old man!”
I leaned slightly toward him. “Don’t bite. Not yet.”
But the words didn’t stop the tremor in his shoulder or the flicker in his jaw. Edmund noticed it, and I could see it. The bastard thrived on it.
“You brought him with you,” Edmund stated, eyes flicking to me now, sharp and piercing. “The one you lean on when the world’s too much?”
I froze. Realizing that now I was the target. The one he was circling.
I forced my voice to remain calm, but the tension in my chest twisted like a knife. “I don’t know what your fucking game is. I’m here for him. So don’t touch him. Or I will kill you.”
Edmund leaned back, still smiling. “Ah…so this one carries your fire for you. Good. But fire can be dangerous, can’t it? Especially when you don’t even know what you’re burning for, and who it has burned in the past.”
I swallowed hard. He had me trapped. Every subtle word, every hint, every pause was crafted to make me flinch, to make Shiloh question me.
Is he trying to tell him all those I killed?
Shiloh wasn’t stupid. He had to know it wasn’t just those women from the maze.
The contracts from my father were nameless and vast. I couldn’t tell Shiloh that now.
All I could do was grit my teeth and hold my tongue.
“You were younger then,” Edmund mused, letting the words trail. “And very…useful.”
Is he talking about…me?
Shiloh’s head snapped toward me. “Carrington?”
I shook my head slightly, keeping my jaw tight. “Don’t even start on my past, fucker.”
But Edmund wasn’t done.
“Some jobs,” he murmured, almost to himself. “Shape the future more than you know. Some choices echo longer than the men who make them.”
I felt my stomach drop. Every muscle in my body wanted to move, to protect Shiloh, to claw at the old bastard and tear the words from him.
But I had nothing to counter the direction he was headed.
He was going to tell Shiloh I was a killer.
He was trying to pull him away from me. He must have known about my father’s contracts.
But he didn’t realize how powerless I was in the decisions.
I leaned closer to Shiloh, whispering low. Rough. “Breathe. Focus. He’s trying to pull you apart. Don’t let him. Push back, Sunshine.”
Shiloh exhaled sharply, his fists clenched. “I can’t—he’s…he’s baiting me. There’s something unsaid. I need to know.”
No…
“Yes,” I muttered too tightly. “ But he won’t give you the answer, Shiloh. He’ll keep twisting and try to twist me next. Hold onto yourself. Hold onto me.”
Edmund’s eyes flicked back and forth between us, amusement and mock adoration shining bright. Like he could see the exact second our control wavered in front of him. He was enjoying it. I could almost hear him counting the seconds until I faltered and broke down.
And I knew whatever came next, he was going to try to rip Shiloh from me, even if I didn’t know the full extent yet.
Edmund leaned back, chains clinking softly, his eyes flicking between us like he was inspecting a puzzle, seeing which piece would crack first.
“You know…” he said slowly, deliberately. “Sometimes the right man in the wrong place changes everything. And sometimes the wrong man…well, he thinks he’s right until the consequences catch up with each decision made.”
I felt a flicker of unease. That’s what he wanted. He wanted me unsettled. He wanted Shiloh to see me…vulnerable and unsure. I wasn’t weak, but the words were meant to make me doubt. It was to make Shiloh doubt me.
Shiloh’s gaze kept flicking to me, searching. His fists were tight on the table, his nails digging into the wood.
“Carrington,” he muttered, his voice tight. “What…what does he mean?”
I wanted to tell him. I needed to explain my past. Hell, my future…who I was. I needed him to accept me, accept my darkness.
I swallowed, keeping my face neutral.
“Nothing,” I said firmly. “Stay with me. Don’t look for the answers here. Let’s just go.”
Edmund chuckled, soft and cruel.
“Ah…the protector, now? How noble of you.” He leaned forward slightly, the chains rattling.
“But sometimes protectors damage those they are sworn to protect. Have you, Carrington Harding? Are you aware of the damage you have inflicted and what you carry? What blood is on your hands?” His eyes pierced mine, calculating and measuring.
I forced a shrug, careful not to show how hard my chest was hammering. “I carry only what I need to. My past is the past.”
“Interesting,” Edmund murmured, tilting his head.
“You’ve carried a lot, haven’t you? You’ve done…
difficult things. Orders. Jobs. You think you’re untouchable because you followed instructions.
But even the obedient ones…” He paused, letting the weight of it settle.
“They leave stains that can’t simply be washed away. ”
I felt my stomach twist. He was circling me now, and I knew exactly what he was doing. He was probing for weaknesses, watching my reactions to see if I’d break before Shiloh did.
Shiloh’s voice was sharp and trembling with anger, but now it was directed at me. “Carrington, what the fuck is he talking about? What orders?”
I kept my face steady and as controlled as I was able. “He’s toying with us. That’s all. Don’t engage.”
Edmund’s smile widened slowly, and it was fucking poisonous.
“Oh, but I think you know, don’t you? You’re just hiding it from yourself.
Some part of you knows how far the reach goes.
Some part of you…” He let the pause drag.
“Wishes it weren’t true. How the pendulum swings, even when it was set in motion only once. ”
I felt my jaw tighten, my hands clenching under the table so hard they felt wet. My mind spun, trying to anticipate the edge he was leading us toward. Every word, every slow breath, was a blade dragging across my nerves. He meant my past. He spoke of my contract, but…why?