Twelve Trials of Barinov

Chapter 1

LEX

Roman Russo’s office - The Obsidian

Freaking the fuck out.

DING.

The sound rips through the quiet of Roman’s office. I hurl my phone out of my pocket so fast it damn near flings out of my blood-soaked hands.

“Shit!”

Cade whips his head toward me. “What is it?”

I glance down at the screen, choking on a breath as I skim the message. “He’s got her, Cade. He fucking has her!”

“What does it say?” Cade asks, his voice shaking as he hurries over. He skids to a halt at my side, peering around me to get a better view of the screen.

“Hi there, Lexie. Did you miss me? She whimpered once. Your name, I think.” I clear my throat and try to calm the rage surging up my spine.

“But then she… no.”

“What?” he asks, his hand cinched in a damn death grip on my bicep.

“Then she bled and couldn’t blink. So soft. So still. So easily mine. Your little queen, now mine redefined.”

“Oh my God,” Cade whispers.

“You played the game. You lost the piece. Our board belongs to something carved from your unease.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?!” he snaps. “This isn’t some sort of game.”

“I know.” I nod and continue. “We don’t bluff. We don’t forgive. She’s with us now. And she’ll learn to live.” My blood-stained fingers slip on the glass, making it hard as shit to read. I swipe the phone on my jeans, but it only makes the red streaks even worse.

“Here, babe. Let me see,” Cade says, taking the phone from my grip. He scrubs the screen against the hem of his shirt until the glow breaks through the mess.

“You touched her once and called it fate. But I’ll be the one to detonate,” Cade reads, his wide eyes flicking to me for a breath before looking back down. “She wears my collar. Bears my name. So go home, Lexie. You’ve lost the flame.”

“A collar?” I grit my teeth, dragging a hand through my hair before the coppery slickness registers. “Damn it!”

“What’s wrong?”

“I just got Roman’s fucking blood in my hair.” I rub my palms on my jeans, but it doesn’t do shit. “What is this sick fuck doing to her, Cade?”

“I don’t know,” Cade replies, his hazel eyes glossy.

“Is that it?”

He shakes his head and wipes off a tear sliding down his cheek. “Her screams? A symphony of purest art. Each note a promise we’ll tear apart.”

I cough and try everything I possibly can to swallow the growing lump in my throat.

“So gather your kings, your knives, your pride. But the girl you loved…” Cade presses his palm against his mouth to stifle a gasp.

“Spit it out, babe.”

“The girl you loved already died,” he whispers.

“No.”

“He’s not done.” Cade runs a hand over the back of his neck. “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.”

He turns my phone so I can get a glimpse of the dim, grainy photo. It’s our girl knocked out in the backseat of some soon-to-be dead fuck’s car. Bella’s hair is a mess and matted with blood from a huge gash at her hairline.

“Fuck!” I scream.

I whip around, grab the nearest chair, and smash it straight into the full-length glass window overlooking The Obsidian. A spray of shrapnel explodes outward with a deafening crash.

Cade flinches at the shattering sound echoing off the high ceiling.

“W-what do we do?” His voice breaks on the last word. He thrusts my phone back at me, his long fingers trembling against the glass.

“I don’t fucking know,” I admit, not even looking at him. I reach down and yank a jagged, inch-long shard out of my forearm. The hot sting of it barely registering over the fire in my gut.

A low, gurgling cough stutters from behind us. We spin to see Roman, his steel-gray eyes barely open. His chest is rising in short and panicked bursts as watery rattles choke every inhale.

“Roman!” My phone crashes to the floor as I sprint over to his slumped body. I rip my shirt off and jam the bunched up fabric into the gaping hole in his chest. “Roman, look at me. Stay with me.” I glance up at Cade. “Call 911. Now!”

He fumbles his phone out of his pocket.

Roman coughs again; blood bubbles at the corner of his mouth.

My hands are drenched. Crimson stains every line of my palms. It seeps between my fingers and crawls up my wrists. A wave of prickling heat washes over my skin. I try to blink away the gray spots forming at the edge of my vision, but it’s no use.

Breathe. Just fucking breathe.

I clamp my jaw shut and focus every ounce of my will on the wet pressure against Roman’s chest.

Do not pass the fuck out like a dipshit in front of your boyfriend, Barinov.

“Roman! Come on. Open your fucking eyes, man.”

Roman’s lips twitch. “L-L,” he coughs. “Luca.”

“Yes, we need an ambulance,” Cade blurts into his phone from behind me. “The Obsidian, right now. H-he’s been shot.”

Roman tries again, his breath stuttering. “L-L-Luca…”

“I know it was Luca,” I say. My hands slip through the blood as I press them harder into his chest. “You’re gonna be fine. Just stay awake. You hear me? Stay the fuck awake!”

My pulse is everywhere. It’s in my ears, my throat, and even my damn fingertips. All I can see is Bella’s body in that back seat. Her cherry-vanilla scent quickly being replaced by the smell of pennies in the air. All I can feel is the warmth of Roman’s blood soaking into my skin.

And all I can hear is Luca’s smug voice in my head.

The girl you loved already died.

No.

No.

Fucking no.

Cade’s hand clasps down on my shoulder, dragging me out of my spiral. “Ambulance is on the way.”

Roman’s eyes flutter, then close.

“No, no, no!” I shake him, both hands gripping at his shoulders. “Don’t fucking close your eyes, Roman! Don’t you fucking die!”

Cade jabs at the screen and slides his thumb over the glass. It leaps from his grip and clatters onto the hardwood below.

“Shit.” He scrambles to snatch it back up. “Pick up. Pick up. Pick up,” he mumbles, squeezing his eyes shut. “Jack! It’s… It’s Cade. Call me back. We need you.”

He lowers the phone, thumb still hovering over the dead screen. “Voicemail.”

“Tex,” I rasp, the fabric in my hand already soaked. “Call Tex.”

“Right,” he says, nodding. His fingers fumble and the phone nearly slips again before he shoves it to his ear. “Tex! Get to The Obsidian.” His voice cracks on a shrieking, high note. He swallows hard. “It’s Bella. He took her. And Roman… Tex, the blood.”

Silence echoes.

“Yeah, it’s on the way.” Cade’s free hand grips his hair, pulling hard enough to white his knuckles. “I don’t know!” he suddenly shrieks into the phone. “They’re all dead! Just fucking get here!”

He hangs up with a shaky exhale.

“What do we do, Lex?”

“I don’t know,” I admit.

???

“You might need a stitch or two,” a blonde EMT chick says to me while she dabs at the bleeding rip in my arm.

“Just slap a bandage on it,” I grit, peering around her to watch Roman being lifted onto a stretcher. “I’ll live.”

“Sir, we really should—”

“Damn it, just do it!” I yell.

The girl flinches.

“Lex!” Cade snaps, shooting a raw and exhausted look my way.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” I say, lowering my voice. I glance at her ID badge. “Kristin, is it?”

She nods.

“Please, just bandage it the best you can. I’m not leaving.”

Kristin’s hands are a little shaky as she wraps my forearm in a clean, white strip of gauze. I glance back over her shoulder. The EMTs have Roman’s body strapped down and wired up. Monitors screaming warnings that bounce off the walls.

They rush him toward the elevator, but my eyes stay glued on the blood pooling where his desk meets the floor. A slow and steady drip from where he almost bled out in front of us.

The same spot where our girl was taken.

The same spot where Luca stood moments ago when we were downstairs counting down the fifteen minutes we were stupid enough to give her.

The door bursts back open. Tex, Nate, and Knox storm in like a shockwave. Knox freezes first, his face draining of color as he takes in the scene. The shattered glass and overturned furniture. Roman’s blood still drying in dark streaks on my arms.

Tex doesn’t waste a second. “What happened?” he asks, charging toward me.

“We were in the lobby,” I manage. “She… she wanted time alone with him. We shouldn’t have let her.”

This is all your fault.

“We shouldn’t have fucking let her,” I snarl.

Tex grabs me by the shoulders, his fists tight. “Focus, Barinov. What the hell happened?”

A breath scrapes down my throat. “We got here and saw all the bodies,” I say, the image searing into my skull. “Ran into the office and she was gone.”

This is your fault. It’s all your fucking fault.

I stare down at the dark smear on the floor. I clamp my fists tight, my fingernails digging tiny moons into my palms.

“Lex!” Tex shakes me out of it.

“Roman was dead. Or we… we thought he was. I don’t—” My gaze drops to my red-stained hands. I wipe them on my pants like an idiot.

“What else?” Tex’s voice cuts through me.

“She’s gone, Tex!”

Knox steps forward, crunching shards of glass with each stride. “What did Luca say?”

“Another poem about collars and games and Bella being…” I blink through the sting in my eyes. “About Bella being fucking dead, Knox.”

He holds out a hand. “Let me see.”

I shove my phone at him. He scans it, his eyes flicking fast and jaw working with each line. He pauses. Then gives it back and runs a hand through his sandy-blond hair.

“Okay. She isn’t dead.”

Cade’s head jerks up. “How can you know that?”

“Think about all the poems and the insanity of this year. He was building up for something.” Knox shifts the bag on his shoulder. “Killing her now ends all of his momentum.”

He meets my eyes. “I don’t think he’s done playing whatever game he’s created.”

My stomach twists in a sick blend of dread and relief.

Before we can speak, Nate cuts in. “Where’s her phone?”

“Her phone?” Cade echoes.

“Yes,” Nate says, yanking out his own.

Buzz. Buzz.

Heads begin turning as we all look around.

Buzz. Buzz.

I shove some blood-stained papers aside, scattering them across the floor only to find her phone abandoned underneath.

“Damn,” Knox mutters. “So much for tracking her location.”

Nate nods. “Okay, listen. Both of you need to go home and get cleaned up. We’ll handle the scene here and meet you back at your place.”

“We’re not fucking leaving,” I say, fists clenched again at my sides.

“Yes you are,” Nate fires back, colder now. “Look at yourselves. Both of you are in shock and need—”

“I’m not—” The denial comes out hoarse and unconvincing even to me. I open my mouth again, but Nate holds up a hand before I can get a word in.

“No judgment or anything. I can’t imagine what you’re feeling right now, but you need to go home. Go wash this off. And then we’ll all sit down and make a plan.” Nate takes a small step toward me. I hate the way his face softens when he looks up at me. “You can’t help her like this.”

“Listen to him,” Knox adds. “In the poem, Luca said tomorrow the game ignites. Not tonight. Not now. Tomorrow. So let us do our job. We’ll assess everything here and dig into whatever trail the asshole hopefully left behind.”

Knox rests a hand briefly on my arm. “And we’ll see you in a few hours.” He gives me a smile, but it’s forced. I know him too well by now not to notice.

“I promise,” he adds.

Tex nods. “Go home, Barinov. Get your heads back on. We can handle things here.”

“We’ll find her, guys,” Nate says. “But she needs you both focused. She needs you strong.”

I want to fight them. I want to yell and shove every guy in this room aside and run until I find her.

But they’re right.

She needs us.

She needs me.

Fear won’t get her back.

But this rage will. So will the darkness creeping through my veins. The same darkness that’s built for war and doesn’t break or beg. That shit will get her back. It’ll tear Luca apart piece by fucking piece until he’s nothing more than a bright red stain on the floor.

Cade’s beside me, ghost white and trembling. His hazel eyes are wide, wet, and fixed on mine. If I crack right now, he’s going down with me.

I force my own hands to stop shaking long enough to reach for him. My palm is rough against his, fingers locking around his knuckles in a grip tight enough to bruise. I pull him closer until our shoulders thud together.

“Come on. Let’s go home.”