Chapter 23
Indigo
The second we stepped inside the house, I snatched my arm out of his grip so hard I almost stumbled.
“Don’t fucking touch me.”
Malachai closed the door behind us with a quiet click that somehow sounded louder than a gunshot. He turned slowly, eyes flat and terrifying.
“Don’t ask me shit, you lying-ass, evil-ass motherfucker!” I screamed, grabbing the heavy crystal vase off the console table and hurling it at the wall. It exploded in a satisfying crash of glass. “The Russians have been dead this whole time and you kept me locked up like a fucking prisoner?!”
Malachai stood there completely still, watching me. That calm only made me angrier.
I swept my arm across the table, sending everything crashing to the floor—candles, picture frames, a marble sculpture. The sound fueled me.
“I’m done!” I yelled, my voice cracking with rage. “I’m fucking done with you, Malachai! I’m leaving. Tonight. Right now!”
He moved like lightning.
Before I could throw anything else, he grabbed me by the throat and slammed me against the wall. Not hard enough to really hurt, but hard enough to pin me there. His body pressed into mine, heavy and unyielding.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he said, voice low and deadly calm.
I fought him like a wild animal—clawing at his wrist, kicking at his legs, trying to knee him in the balls. “Get the fuck off me, you crazy motherfucker!”
He didn’t budge. His grip on my throat stayed firm, controlling but not choking.
“Did you fuck him?” he asked, eyes burning into mine. “Did you let Cooly touch what’s mine?”
“Fuck you!” I spat, still struggling. “What you gonna do if I did? Let me go.”
“Did you fuck him?” he repeated.
I sank my teeth into his forearm until I tasted blood. He hissed but didn’t let go. Instead, he grabbed my hair with his free hand, yanked my head to the side, and bit me viciously right above my collarbone. I cried out in pain and fury.
“You bite me,” he growled against my skin, licking the fresh mark, “I bite you back harder from now on.”
I tried to headbutt him. He dodged easily and slammed me back against the wall, pressing his thigh between my legs to keep me still.
“You think you’re leaving?” he seethed. “You walk out that door and go to Cooly… that war Caine warned about tonight? It starts. Because I’m going to put a bullet between his beady fucking eyes.”
I froze, breathing hard. I didn’t want anybody I knew dead because of me — Cooly included.
He leaned in closer, lips brushing my ear.
“Think about it before something I don’t like comes out of your mouth, Indigo. I will kill Cooly. Slowly. And I’ll make sure you watch.”
Tears of pure rage burned in my eyes.
“You’re a fucking monster,” I whispered. “A cold, heartless sociopath. I hate you. I hate you.”
Malachai pressed his forehead to mine, still gripping my throat.
“I told you about that word… but it’s okay. You’ll stay anyway. And you’ll stay away from him.”
I stopped fighting.
Not because I wanted to — but because I knew he was right. Running now wouldn’t just be me leaving. It would drag Maya, Raziel, Kael, Priest… everyone into a war they didn’t ask for.
So I would stay.
But we were right back to that place we were in right after we got married — where I planned to make his life a living hell.
I didn’t speak to him for the rest of the night.