Chapter Thirty-Four
Kylo
The chains rattle as I yank on them, but the metal bars don’t budge. I try to shatter the restraints, but a piercing migraine detonates behind my eyes, severing my focus.
Iron cuffs dig into my wrists and ankles, each one bolted into separate metal bars anchored to the concrete floor and walls.
What the hell happened? Where is Lia?
I search for her through our mental bond, but there’s only a daunting silence. I can’t hear her. I can’t sense her.
There’s nothing.
The sharp click-clack of heels echoes down the corridor. I squint into the dim light, my vision blurring. Blair saunters into view with that same scornful look on her face. The sight of her drags me back to the hallway where I found her.
I remember how she wrapped her arms around me, her touch carrying the ghost of the sister I’d mourned for years. I remember how I buried my face in her shoulder, my hand at the back of her head, terrified that if I let go, she’d vanish again.
After years of waking with her absence lodged in my chest, she was right there.
For one beautiful, ruinous second, I let myself believe the lie.
That the girl in my arms was still my sister.
That I hadn’t lost her.
When I pulled away, something about her smile looked wrong. It didn’t reach her eyes; something manic lurked behind the glassiness.
I told her to come with me—that I’d get her out of this shithole.
The moment my hand touched hers, pain erupted, and darkness swallowed me whole.
And now I’m here, chained to a wall like some rabid animal.
“Look who’s finally awake.”
She’s thinner now. She was always petite, but she looks smaller somehow—almost fragile, like something hollowed her out and left the shell behind.
Her long brown hair is gone. What’s left is a jagged bob that barely skims her jaw. Straight, blunt bangs slice across her forehead, uneven enough to look self-cut. They frame her face like a cracked porcelain doll.
She looks like she’s wearing her own face as a mask. Her red outfit is sleek—a fitted leather dress cinched at the waist, black gloves, thigh-high boots.
“What the hell is this, Blair?”
A spine-chilling laugh escapes her lips. Her once-bright eyes are blown wide, the color washed thin and empty. What’s left is unrecognizable, painted in madness.
She may be alive, but the spark she used to have is gone.
She smiles like she’s enjoying this.
“That’s right. The Blair you knew died the day she was taken.” She grips my jaw. Her long ruby nails dig into my skin before she steps back, heels clicking against the concrete as she circles me with the slow prowl of a wildcat.
“What happened to you?” I demand. “What did they do?”
This is my fault.
She laughs again, louder this time. The sound tears into me like knives. “That’s right. You are to blame,” she says, like she plucked the thought straight from my head.
Fuck. I’m not in control.
My thoughts are leaking, and she’s picking them apart like a vulture.
“Although,” she continues, smiling wide with red-painted lips, “I should probably thank you. Losing my family was… illuminating. Pain has a way of reshaping you. Draven showed me who I really am. He took me in, and now I’m stronger than I ever could have been with you. I owe him everything.”
Her response gives me all the information I need. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner.
“Draven?” I bark out a bitter laugh. “He manipulated you, Blair. Release me so I can help you.”
I jerk my arm, metal clinking as fury gives me a burst of strength, but the cuff bites into my skin. Warm blood trickles down my forearm, soaking the metal.
She leans in until our noses almost touch, her grin stretching too wide, teeth bared. “He didn’t do anything I didn’t ask him to. He has a way with words.” Her fingers drift over her collarbone. “He’s a charming man. Everything I could’ve ever dreamed of.”
“That’s what he wants you to believe.”
She digs her nail into my jugular. “You’re going to get everything you deserve.
And your pretty little girlfriend? She’s first. Draven’s been dying to get his hands on her, and I’ll be the one to bring you both in.
You’re kind of famous around here, you know?
You Radshaw boys earned that after all the hunters you slaughtered. ”
“Stay away from Lia.”
“Or what? You’re tied up. You can’t protect her.” Her expression darkens, twisting with contempt. “You’re a fuck-up. You lost me, and now you’re going to lose her too.”
“I don’t know where she is.”
“Then let’s take a look.”
Her fingernails dig into my scalp like spikes as she plunges into my mind.
If I weren’t weakened, she’d never break through my defenses.
“Get the fuck out!” I shout, thrashing against the chains.
She scours my mind, hunting for plans or clues.
Thank fuck I don’t know where Lia is.
“Huh. You were telling the truth. Oh well. I’ll send a little message to Lia myself.”
Pressure builds inside my skull as I try to shove her out of my mind. My brain is being cooked from the inside.
It’s been years since a telepath has broken past my defenses.
Not since the night of my parents’ death.
“Come find me, Lia,” she says, but it isn’t her voice anymore. It’s mine.
She’s firing message after message.
She was never this strong.
Blair snickers. “Message sent. Now we wait.”
Lia’s going to walk into a trap, and I let it happen. She warned me about Blair. I should’ve listened.
“Don’t feel sad, Kylo,” she coos. “You did your best.”
“Blair, you can’t be this far gone.”
Her lips curl into something cruel. “Oh, look. Our guest has arrived, and she brought company.”
My stomach freefalls, no parachute.
Lia and Leo step into the room, flanking each other.
“Lia!” I roar, straining against my restraints. “It’s a trap!”
Blair slams her fist into my gut, knocking the breath from my lungs. “She’s right where I want her.”