Road to Revenge (Valemont Violence #2)

1. Dom

DOM

That fucking little rat.

I couldn’t get out of the living room fast enough, storming out as soon as Leo, Spencer, and I came up with a game plan.

But as I stomped up the stairs and toward my wing, I felt my entire body’s rage. My lungs were on fire, my ribcage too tight to let enough air in. My teeth clenched together, nearly enough to crack each tooth.

They never should have brought her here. She was never supposed to be here.

Slamming the door to my study closed, I tried to settle my breathing. That press conference was everything I’d feared. Gabriel was prepared to use every resource at Spyre and Zeus’ disposal to find Kiera.

All for some stupid fucking shares that she doesn’t have.

Everything about this place was going to remind her, to show her exactly why she never should have come here.

And Gabe certainly wasn’t helping on that front. Neither was Isaac, clearly. They wanted to smoke her out. If we hadn’t been so careful, I would’ve assumed they knew she was with me, here.

But if that was true, Isaac would have sent his private militia to raid the place and steal her from me again.

And he wouldn’t have left this mansion standing.

I moved through my study and into my bedroom, slamming every door I came in contact with.

There was a mission to deal with. And The Oracle wasn’t going to let us delay, even with Isaac and his goons hot on my tail. Whatever was happening in Valemont was growing, fast. And we needed to put a stop to it if we had any hope of keeping our little underground operation intact.

Looking in the mirror, I pulled off my shirt and reached for the button down I’d laid out on the velour chair near the mirror. As I leaned over, I caught sight of the scars on my back.

A lashing I would feel deep in my bones until the day I died. A sting that made my nose turn every time I looked at her.

If only she knew.

But she couldn’t, not ever. She would never forgive me, not after what they did to her.

One thing was clear, Kiera knew exactly what Zeus was and she knew they were the scum of the earth.

I was the scum of the earth.

Trying to pull myself out of the deep chasm at the center of my heart, a hole she’d left behind long ago, I threw the shirt on and started to do up the buttons. With a freshly dry cleaned pair of trousers, I was ready to go.

Everything was already in place, the mission was set. The Oracle had told us where to go, who we were looking for, and when to follow them. They’d taken control of the whole operation, much to my annoyance.

Even after all of these years, they clearly didn’t trust me.

They never will.

Despite my frustration with them, our partnership was our only hope at catching these bastards. And taking Isaac down once and for all.

Staring at my reflection, I smoothed my hair, combing it into place with my fingers.

Kiera wasn’t ready. Somewhere in the cloud of emotions that I tried to keep buried, I still knew her better than anyone. What she would see tonight would change her forever, maybe more than the Gauntlet ever could.

It was different when it came from your own hands.

Swallowing, I steeled myself as I sucked my teeth. There was no waiting now. She’d chosen to dance with the devil, and it was time to take a ride on the River Styx.

She needed our protection. And The Oracle’s.

As I did up each button, leaving the top two undone, Gabe’s face kept flashing back to my mind. The smarmy little asshole wanted to weaponize the people of Valemont into his personal data collection army.

But I knew the truth, it was my father standing behind him and pulling the strings.

Despite The Oracle’s orders, I knew that the only place that would be safe for Kiera now was this mansion. The place she hated so much. Somewhere she’d sworn she’d never come back to.

A bar was certainly too dangerous for Kiera. Any number of patrons could spot her, send pictures to Zeus, and have a militia of Isaac’s making at our doorstep. What little peace I’d been able to find in our little dark zone from Zeus would be ripped away.

In all the chaos of years past, I’d managed to keep Zeus out of Valemont. And luckily, Isaac had no interest in revisiting the cursed town.

What little CCTV there was was owned by local businesses, barred by local ordinances from turning footage over to private companies. A measure I’d worked with DA Burns to keep in place, hiding Valemont from the prying of the outside word.

All of that was over now. Our neighbors would be turning their phones into spies and setting Isaac on a place he’d hoped would burn behind him.

I knew one thing for sure: The Oracle wouldn’t take no for an answer. Not now. She was their most valuable asset and it was my job to protect her. Whether I liked it or not.

With my outfit on, I grabbed the brown leather knife holster from the chair by the mirror.

Shrugging it onto my shoulders, I let the sheath drape down, it’s opening toward the floor.

From the mantel of my fireplace, I grabbed the folded blade.

I slipped the blade-end into the sheath, letting the handle hang out.

Grabbing my leather jacket from the king-sized bed at the center of the room, the modern mahogany bedframe a welcome update from the room's tudor-esque design, I tried to steady my breathing.

I slipped into my jacket, looking at myself in the mirror one final time. It was time to bring Kiera into the fold. If she wasn’t ready, she’d have to be in the next few hours.

And if anyone came near her… I’d gut them from throat to ass.