Chapter 42
FORTY-TWO
KNOX
Every step with Rodrick’s gun pressed to the back of my head was a descent into darkness.
Every step, I knew, was toward my damnation. We were heading down the hall toward the ballroom. We passed a window, and I couldn’t help looking out into the desert night. Silent, still freedom, with a thousand galaxies across the clear night sky.
Rodrick shoved me a step, the gun digging to my back.
Rogue and Thistle… they should be safe.
My mind flashed to the video, to Christina, but I shoved it back so I wouldn’t panic.
The main security feed was compromised, but the basement feeds were on a different system so the misfits never had to deal with Rogue if they didn’t want to. That meant Rogue and Thistle’s location remain secret.
Bella was here for me. They’d have no reason to look further, and I’d give them no reason to.
She waited in the huge ballroom, seated on an armchair that had been dragged to the centre of the room as if she was a queen.
Melodramatic cunt.
Her pack was here, too, all armed.
I counted six Alphas in the room, aside from Rodrick, but I knew she had nine in total. There were two at her side, and four more, each manning a door.
That was good, I think. She wouldn’t leave only two to scour the whole mansion. It was more likely they were waiting outside, or perhaps hadn’t come at all.
I caught the leer of Quinn Hayes as Rodrick shoved me into the room. He was in his thirties, one of the two brothers who’d been in her pack for long enough that he was familiar to me.
Rodrick shoved me right to the middle of the room, and the delight was palpable in his shitty faux leather scent as we stopped before her, the hard metal of his gun still painful against my back.
Bella looked her usual, vile self, with long, blonde hair perfectly straight, a red dress clinging to her curves. She picked at her cuticle with manicured nails as she looked up at me from where she sat.
I pulled myself together with every scrap of strength I had. I couldn’t give her more power.
“What the hell is this?”
Ruby red lips parted for a brilliant smile. “I’m tired of the games, Knox, Baby.”
“This is my fucking home.”
She barely flinched. “But you’ve got some secrets that our mutual friends won’t be too pleased to find out.”
I kept my expression straight. “You’ve been following me?”
“Of course I have. You’re mine. Your taunts have gone too far.”
“Taunts?” I asked, voice incredulous.
“To steal an Omega from me with a bid like that?” she asked.
My mind scrambled to catch up with what she was saying.
Thistle.
She’d been one of the other parties bidding—not that she was the reason I’d joined in. Discovering Rogue’s scent match had wiped everything else from my mind.
“If you wanted to test me, Knox, you should have made sure your slate was a little less… incriminating. Did you see the video of that stupid Beta we made for you?” Her voice was deathly sweet. “When they showed me, I was almost disappointed. They went all the way to LA for that little bitch to end it before they could have any fun. But luckily, it was Jacob and Victor.” Her eyes slid adoringly to one of the brutish Alphas standing at her side, hand reaching up to brush his arm affectionately. “They aren’t deterred by much, and the body was still warm.”
My stomach twisted, bile rising up my throat.
Again, I shoved away the few memories of Christina I had. How scared she was when she’d arrived. How she wouldn’t look me in the eye, or speak to me—writing down the city she wanted to go to on a piece of paper. She, like so many of the ones I ended up buying, had survived much worse than I could imagine.
But Bella was baiting me—angling for a reaction so she knew what she could use as leverage. That conviction was a lifeline: it didn’t have to be true. She just wanted to know what I cared about.
Christina had died quickly—smarter and braver than she should have ever had to be.
It had been instant.
Painless.
Bella was speaking again, and I tried to focus on the words. “…Couldn’t find a trace of her when I looked back at the Ring’s records, but I’ll admit to paying closer attention than I should. I remember every little doe-eyed whore you spend money on.” Bella cocked her head. “But you set her up with a new identity and a bank account? Seems awfully… kind.”
I took a breath, words slipping through gritted teeth. “I wasn’t aware it was anyone’s business what I did with my property.”
That was technically true, but we both knew that setting Christina free was a threat to the vile people involved in the ring.
“ Why did you do it?”
I held her eyes, hating the burning jealousy in them, as if she had any right to that. “Soft spot.”
“I’m getting whiplash from all the rats that hold your interest while you continue to ignore me.”
“What can I say Bella? I like my women a little less desperate.”
There was a sneer on her face as she crossed one leg over the other, carefully straightening her dress. “Is she the only one?” Bella asked. “You’ve paid for a good number over the years.” She looked around the quiet room. “Where are they?”
“It isn’t your business.”
She looked victorious, though. “I’m here to offer you a way out,” she said.
I held my expression rigid, shoving away the last flash of the video in which Christina had died. Of what might happen if the Ring knew what I’d done.
Even a tenth of it.
And how many others could be tracked down like Christina had?
If I was out of the picture, I couldn’t warn them.
“A way out of what?” I asked. “I’m one of their richest clients. I don’t have anything to fear.”
Bella’s smile was still far too smug. “I’ll give you one chance, Baby, or things will start to get… painful.”
My mind was reeling. How much else did she have?
Were there any others she’d found she hadn’t mentioned yet?
My mind flashed to Callum and the Misfits, heart slamming into my chest.
They better be in the fucking safe room.
Bella looked pleased as she leaned forward, cleavage on obscene display as she gave me another sickly sweet smile. “I won’t go to anyone with what I know, Baby. All you have to do is bite in.”