Devil’s Property (Devil’s Syndicate #3)

Prologue

F allon

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend. These precious gems last forever as do promises and contracts. Repayments will be made.

In blood.

Ask your father…

I stood in the ruins of what had once been my beautiful little home.

Every painting had been ripped from the walls, cut to shreds by a sharp blade, and every piece of furniture tossed aside like trash.

I moved slowly, touching the last painting I’d been working on, a rare abstract portrait of my sister.

Whoever had destroyed my precious little world had driven a blade right through her heart.

Exhaling, I turned in a full circle, only allowing a single tear to fall.

Then I read the note again, the red block lettering resembling blood. With my hand shaking, I closed my eyes, terrified of the memories that I’d managed to shove aside. A twisted understanding settled in.

There was no running from the past.

There was no escaping the truth.

There was no possibility of keeping the lies.

I took my phone out of my jacket pocket, staring at the screen, allowing the note to flutter from the whispered wind of the open windows to the floor.

Steeling my nerves, I walked to the last painting, gingerly wrapping my fingers around the carved bone handle of the knife, pulling the blade into my hand.

As my phone connected, the sound remained dull, the solid thudding of my heart echoing in my ears. I stared at the knife, twisting and turning it until the blade shimmered in the waning sunlight.

The phone rang.

And rang.

And rang.

Yet my father didn’t answer.