Chapter 25
“Iced chai tea latte with matcha cold foam?” Ignatius offered the plastic cup filled with a beverage that looked like green mold floating on top of dirty dishwater.
My hard glare answered for me.
He withdrew the beverage and shrugged.
“It’s all the rage amongst the humans. Eases stress.” A meaningful pause that he excelled at weaponizing. “You look like you could use a sip or two.”
I stood by the main entrance of Sevenfold, a shoulder against the wall with my arms crossed in front of me. Since I’d discovered my Little Spade had gone on another unsanctioned escapade this morning, I’d waited here for her return.
Rip was out there, waiting for the perfect time to rain his bullshit down all over my empire. Yet Eve was galivanting about Superbia like she hadn’t a care in the world. It took everything in me not to tear apart this whole fucking city to see where she had gone.
Ignatius had been the voice of reason—an annoying trait of his. He had suggested I at least wait until brunch hours were over before leveling the entire supernatural shithole in which we lived.
Continuing my hawklike vigil by the doors, I checked my watch again for the umpteenth time. Forty-five more minutes. Twenty-two if we went by the hours of the value buffet in the basement of the Sin-N-Go convenience store down the street.
My trusted associate acted like an angel sitting on a demon’s shoulder, standing watch with me and looking far too unbothered by Eve’s absence.
His humming of some quiet tune that sounded far too cheery for the situation only ceased when he sipped from the offensive concoction he’d tried to offer me.
The seconds passed painfully. Inside my head, I’d already envisioned which place I’d demolish first—Argian’s Forked Tongue casino. It needed a renovation anyway. After that, I’d torch the path straight to Hell itself if I had to.
Between the destructive fantasies playing out inside my mind, more unsettling thoughts crept in. Images of my Little Spade hurt, crying, scared, or alone. Worse? Some greedy asshole eye-fucking what belonged to me.
A growl vibrated in my throat, dying down quickly when Ignatius’s hand settled on my shoulder.
“The simplest explanation is usually the correct one, Ace,” he offered softly.
I snorted.
“Fuck the simplest explanation. Nothing about Eve is simple,” I retorted. “The simplest conclusion is that Rip got his dirty fucking hands on her and instead of me being there to—”
The doors opened, and in strode Eve. She walked right by me, her head in an oblivious cloud. Seeing her unaware only pissed me off more. What if I had been Rip or his men? I could have snapped her pretty damn neck before she ever saw it coming.
Pushing away from the wall, my arms fell to my sides. Silently, I stalked behind her, my hands clenched into fists.
I hadn’t made myself known yet. Instead, I merely followed a few paces back.
My eyes drifted over the way her locks swayed with her movements, the shade of honey red looking like dawn’s light in an otherwise dark city.
The admiration of her backside didn’t stop there.
It continued south to take in the sight of her.
The oversized lavender sweater hid some of her curves, but not nearly enough that I couldn’t appreciate the way the black leggings clung to the round shape of her ass.
Focus, Ace.
I’d have my chance to dick her down later. For the moment, I needed her to understand the gravity of what she’d done and what she’d put me through.
All around us, the casino continued its operations as normal. Gamblers threw away their money like my whole world hadn’t just gone tits up.
A gorgon hissed over a busted hand of blackjack, some mangy-looking shifter drooled over the craps table, and a sleepy spectre haunted the lounge bar. As we passed the slots area, a group of rambunctious warlocks looked like they’d spent all night celebrating their buddy’s one-hundredth birthday.
They were all standard sights in a business designed to rob you in plain sight.
Meanwhile, my Little Spade didn’t seem to grasp how easily someone could do the same to her outside of this building. Precognition or not, regardless of my claim on her body, she had put herself at risk, and I wasn’t going to let that slide.
When she continued straight towards the elevators, I surged forward. I grabbed the back of her arm and tugged her to the left.
Eve gasped in surprise, her head turning to stare at me.
“Ace, what are you doing?!”
My jaw was locked tight with tension. I didn’t bother responding to her. Without hesitation, I tugged her along, my grip unbreakable without being painful.
I pushed open the door to the private high-roller room, currently closed for cleaning this morning.
Several workers looked up, but one pudgy troll in the back refused to acknowledge anything but the task of working the vacuum over the black carpet.
“Out.” The command left no uncertainty that the consequences of staying would be more than just their jobs.
Each of the staff members scrambled to leave the room, one brave enough to nudge his friend in the back to leave the vacuuming for later. The troll looked put off that his task completion would be delayed, but grudgingly relented.
The room was clear. We’d have the privacy I wanted for this conversation.
I pulled my Little Spade into the room with me, releasing her after the door shut behind us.
She spun around to face me, flustered and angry.
Good, let her unleash her wrath. Her fire paled in comparison to my own.
Eve was the match, but I was the raging inferno.
“What the hell is your problem?” she asked as she idly rubbed her arm where my hand had been.
One step towards her, then I stopped.
“My problem?” I echoed and took another step. “My problem, Little Spade, is that you have been gone from the safety of my domain for hours.”
Two more steps.
“My problem is I didn’t know where you were.”
I continued advancing on her, watching her back away until she had nowhere left to go. Unless she was going to phase through the poker table her ass was pressed against, she was trapped here with me and my anger.
She tilted her head back to look up at me. Defiance shone bright in her sapphire hues.
“I don’t need your permission to go out for a cup of coffee, Ace,” she spat out with indignation. “And I definitely don’t need to explain myself to you.”
Leaning over, I put my face close enough to hers that I could smell the truth of her outing on her breath.
Both my hands gripped the edge of the poker table on either side of her hips, caging her in.
“Coffee? You snuck out for a cup of fucking coffee?”
It felt thin, like there was something more to this than a morning jolt of caffeine.
Something in her eyes shifted, as though she was debating whether or not to say more.
I pressed in closer, letting her feel the rage coming off me.
“Yes, a damn cup of coffee. I know it’s difficult for you to believe, but there are these shops specifically designed to brew cups and sell them to people.”
Her sarcasm only added fuel to the fire.
“Don’t sass me, Eve,” I growled. “And don’t take me for a fool. A cup of coffee doesn’t take hours.”
The table groaned under my tightening grip, muscles straining beneath my clothes with the effort not to smash it apart.
“Where. Were. You.”
She didn’t respond right away, but I could see the cracks forming in her resolve.
“I told you. I went for coffee.” A small pause, hesitant, before she added, “And I had a conversation with my mother.”
A nuclear bomb may as well have been dropped in the middle of Sevenfold with how well her admission landed.
“What?” I ground out through clenched teeth.
Eve visibly tried to regain her confidence as she replied, “You heard me. I had coffee with my mother. We chatted for a little while, talked about Tighe and also about my abilities.”
Everything was spiraling fast. All control over the events was slipping through my fingers.
“Fuck!” I shouted as my hands released the edge of the table only to pound my fists down on it.
The impact made Eve flinch, and the look on her face said she finally understood the extent of my fury.
Rather than stand there watching her look at me like I was being unreasonable, I put distance between us and took a few steps back, turning to face away from her.
I ran my hand down over my face, a piss-poor attempt to wipe away the flare-up of my temper.
The scruff on my face I hadn’t bothered shaving off this morning after realizing that my Little Spade had gone missing scratched my palm.
It served as a reminder of just how much I’d lost myself in her absence.
A moment of weakness that I couldn’t let happen again.
Hearing Eve shift restlessly behind me, I finally pulled my shit together and turned to face her.
“I don’t see why it’s a big deal,” she said, softer than expected.
A bitter laugh huffed out of me. “You don’t see why it’s a big deal, Eve? All those visions in your head and you don’t fucking understand why any of this is a big deal?”
“That’s not what I said, and you know it.” Her voice grew harder again, regaining some of the edge from earlier.
“The same damn demon who got your brother locked up, who is looking to seize control over everything that’s mine—which includes you—is out there playing fucking games with some unknown puppet master. And you thought that going out behind my back for coffee with your mother was smart?”
I shook my head, frustration warring for dominance with my anger.
Eve folded her arms in front of her. “She’s my mother, not one of Rip’s men. Do you really believe that she would let anything happen to me? She was able to tell me more about my abilities than Val or you.”
“That’s not the point, Eve!” I roared back at her. “You don’t get to run off without saying anything and go advertising to all of Superbia that you can echo my powers!”
Her expression hardened. “I didn’t advertise it! But maybe I should. Then everybody would know how powerful the great Ace Reynard is, collecting a rare object to show off to all the elites in the city!”
The threat landed hard, but not as hard as hearing her refer to herself that way, like she was something to be put on display. It shattered the last of my restraint.
“Don’t you fucking dare, Eve! Don’t mistake my mark or my pride in what I have for something cheap.” I gestured with sharp movements as my volume continued to grow louder. “You want to compare yourself to an object? Fine, let’s go with that.”
I watched as she bristled, her fingers digging into her arms as she stood there looking self-righteous and flushed. In any other situation, I’d have called it foreplay.
But not after that two-way insult.
“Let’s at least be honest here. I take care of what’s mine, I worship and protect what belongs to me. You are the crown jewel, not the scraps a starving man finds in a dumpster.”
The analogy was vicious, but I didn’t care.
Reaching out, I gripped her chin between my finger and thumb. “I didn’t wait over seven hundred days for some trinket to come into my casino. I didn’t jerk off to the vision of something to show off when it suits me. I built an empire worthy of its crown.”
My voice dropped to a harsh whisper. “And guess what, Genevieve? You’re the fucking crown.”
I didn’t wait for a reaction. I released her before I said anything more damning. When I turned to leave the room, Ignatius stood in the doorway. The look on his face said he had overheard more than he should have.
“I came to check if everything was alright,” he admitted with a hint of sheepishness.
Heading to where he stood, I straightened out the front of my dress shirt in an attempt to regain composure.
“See to it she makes it back up to the penthouse.”
I looked at Ignatius with eyes that betrayed the weariness I felt after the initial blast of adrenaline faded, leaving me with the ghost of my words and actions.
He saw it, I knew he did. But he didn’t comment. He merely nodded and walked past me, offering a hand to Eve.
“Come, I have just the thing to share with you. These imbeciles shipped me the wrong shade of…”
Ignatius’s voice faded as he led Eve out of the room and down the hall back towards the elevators.
Once they were long gone, I let out a long breath as I sagged back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling as I was left with my thoughts.
Fucking hell, she had gone to see her mother without me. Nothing good would come of that. Mirra Bechette was a known force, but more so, she was an unknown variable.
That made her dangerous.
As fate would have it, I wasn’t left to dwell on it much longer. My phone buzzed in my pocket.
Retrieving it, I saw an incoming text appear on the screen from one of my security contacts I’d tasked with making sure that Rip never set foot inside Sevenfold again.
FELIX
Boss, have you heard?
ACE
Be more specific.
FELIX
Brace yourself.
The phone remained clutched in my hand as I waited, my eyes never leaving the screen. Anticipation hung in the air.
When the next text arrived, it changed everything. Two words, and the game would never be the same.
Rip’s dead.