Epilogue - Olivia #3
Okay. That was a seriously boss move.
***
I was definitely drunk. Not tipsy. Not pleasantly buzzed, but drunk.
When they said girls night, I’d expected something normal. Dinner. Drinks. Maybe dancing. Not… whatever this whirlwind had turned into.
The second I got into Ezra’s car, the night stopped feeling real.
One minute I’d been sitting awkwardly in a restaurant booth, and the next I was wrapped in a robe inside a luxury spa while magical steam curled around marble walls.
Aniyah had shoved Syndicate spiked champagne into my hand before I’d even sat down.
Nova dragged me toward massage tables while Riot silently appeared behind me whenever I wandered too close to an exit or unattended hallway.
Everything blurred together after that.
Warm oil worked into my shoulders until I melted into the chair.
Glittering magic sauna rooms that smelled like eucalyptus and smoke.
Fresh polish drying on my nails while Aniyah laid across the chair beside me describing vampire sex positions loud enough to traumatize the staff. Nova nearly choked laughing at my face.
Then came the shopping.
Entire stores closed down for them. Designers practically bowed while rolling racks and racks of clothing into private rooms.
Aniyah threw dresses at me dramatically while Nova judged shoes like her life depended on it. Riot somehow picked the most dangerous-looking outfit imaginable and quietly informed me it would be “easy to fight in.”
Ezra barely spoke the entire time, but every once in a while I’d glance up and catch her watching me from across the room over the rim of her sunglasses.
Studying. Measuring. Like she was trying to solve me.
And now somehow we’d ended up at an exclusive rooftop club hidden above half the city.
Music pounded hard enough to shake the floor beneath my heels. Lights flashed over packed bodies while the skyline glittered endlessly behind the dance floor.
Aniyah and Nova kept forcing drinks into my hands faster than I could finish them and I’d danced until my legs hurt.
Taken shots directly from Aniyah while she shouted increasingly concerning advice about “optimal vampire stamina.”
Nova spent twenty minutes teaching me how to throw a proper punch, then laughed and slapped my shoulder hard enough to nearly knock me sideways when I actually landed one correctly.
“You’ve got potential,” she’d grinned.
Riot, somehow still completely sober-looking, had walked me through every blind spot and weak point in the club like she was training me for war instead of a night out.
“Always know your exits,” she’d murmured while pointing toward the balcony doors. “Never let someone trap you near corners. Watch hands before faces.”
Now I sat curled in the booth beside Ezra while the rest of the club blurred together around us.
Nova and Aniyah were somewhere on the dance floor causing chaos. Riot lingered high above us along the rafters, eyes slowly scanning the crowd below like a silent predator. Meanwhile I sat beside the most terrifying woman I’d ever met trying not to fidget under her silence.
My fingers kept clenching around my glass, because there was no way this night happened without a reason.
Finally, Ezra spoke. “You’re intelligent.” Her voice cut cleanly through the music despite how softly she said it.
I looked over immediately. One leg crossed elegantly over the other while her gaze remained fixed on the sea of bodies below us.
“Likable, too.” She lifted her drink slowly, taking a sip before continuing. “You adapt well. Different personalities. Different perspectives.”
My stomach tightened.
“I’ve also reviewed the projects you’ve been working on.”
That got my full attention instantly. Her eyes flicked toward me briefly.
“The intention reader is particularly interesting.”
My breath caught. Only Calix and Rack had seen that prototype. I’d worked on it secretly for weeks.
“How did you—”
Ezra suddenly snorted into her drink. Not a laugh, but close enough to completely throw me off.
And before common sense could stop me, my mouth moved. “Do you always spy on your siblings and their mates?”
Ezra turned her head toward me slowly. Those icy pink eyes locked onto mine fully for the first time all night.
My stomach dropped instantly. Oh no. I fucked up.
“I-I mean—”
“Yes.” The answer came immediately. Calm. Certain. “I monitor all of my siblings, and their mates.”
The club suddenly felt quieter despite the pounding music.
“They carry our name,” she continued evenly. “Represent our family. Represent the Syndicate.” Her fingers traced slowly along the rim of her glass.
“And if there are problems,” she said coolly, “I prefer discovering them before they become disasters.”
A vampire appeared beside the booth almost instantly the second she lifted two fingers. Ezra took the fresh drink from him without looking away from me once. Then slid it across the table.
I stared at it. Then at her.
Her brow lifted impatiently when I didn’t grab it immediately.
Another test. Everything with her felt like a test. Dominance. Pressure. Observation.
My mates flashed through my mind suddenly. Calix’s grin, Rack’s steady calm, and I grabbed the drink. Alcohol splashed over my fingers while I lifted it and swallowed every drop hard enough my throat burned and I slammed the empty glass onto the table between us.
“I’m not giving up,” I said before I could stop myself.
Something sharp crossed Ezra’s face. Not anger. Interest.
Then another drink appeared, and another, and another. Each one slid toward me silently and each one I drank with vigor.
Around us, Nova and Aniyah had stopped dancing completely. I could hear them now over the pounding music.
“Ezra…” Nova warned quietly.
Aniyah looked genuinely nervous for the first time all night, but I still kept drinking, because every time Ezra watched me with those cold assessing eyes, something stubborn inside me refused to back down. I wanted her to see I wasn’t weak. That I belonged beside her brothers.
Finally the drinks stopped and my head hung low, heavy enough I struggled lifting it again. The room tilted strangely beneath the alcohol.
A floating hand made of shadows wrapped around my chin, tilting my face up to see Ezra only inches from me now. Close enough I could see the fire burning beneath those pale pink eyes for the first time tonight and fear crawled straight through my bloodstream.
“If,” she said softly, “you ever betray this family…” Her grip tightened slightly. “If you ever betray Calix, I won’t kill you.”
My pulse stumbled hard beneath my ribs.
“No,” Ezra murmured. “I’ll let you live just so I could strip your life apart piece by piece until every breath hurts.”
The club disappeared around us completely now. Only her voice existed.
“I’ll tear your mind down slowly. Until fear becomes the only thing you recognize. And when you finally beg me to let you die, I’ll let you think you escaped.”
A tiny smile touched her mouth.
“Then years later, when you’ve finally convinced yourself you’re happy again…” Her eyes darkened. “I’ll destroy you all over again.”
Fear hit me so hard my entire body reacted before my brain caught up. My hands started shaking first. Then my stomach twisted sharply enough to make the alcohol turn sour in my throat.
Every single thing she described wrapped around my mind in vivid detail. Years of suffering, years of being hunted and broken down piece by piece until nothing was left of me but pain.
There wasn’t a single ounce of doubt in me that Ezra could do every horrifying thing she promised and sleep peacefully afterward.
But even through the fear clawing through my chest, one thing stayed painfully clear inside me. I would never betray my mates.
Never.
Not if my own life depended on it. Betraying the Syndicate would mean betraying him too, because this family was him. His blood. His heart.
I dragged together the last scraps of courage left floating around in my drunken brain and forced myself to glare back at her.
“Then do it.”
Ezra’s brow lifted slowly.
The words shocked even me a little, but the alcohol had apparently burned away whatever survival instinct normally stopped my mouth from running wild, so I kept going.
“If I ever betray him…” My voice wobbled, but I pushed through it anyway. “If I ever betray the Syndicate, then do exactly what you said. Tear me apart. Make me miserable. Make me wish I was dead.”
A hiccup interrupted me and I ignored it completely.
“Because if I ever hurt him like that…” My chest tightened painfully. “Then I wouldn’t deserve peace, deserve happiness. So take it. Crush it. Ruin me if I ever become that kind of person.”
My voice cracked at the end. “It’d be what I deserved.”
The smoky fingers beneath my chin loosened slowly. Ezra leaned back into the booth again, eyes still fixed on me with unsettling focus.
“Interesting.”
That was it. One word. And for some reason it pissed me off instantly.
“Are you fucking with me?!” My voice came out way louder than intended. Nearby tables immediately looked over before scrambling to look away again.
I barely noticed, instead pointed wildly across the club toward Nova and Aniyah.
“Did you do this to their mates too?!”
Aniyah nearly choked on her drink. Nova covered her mouth trying not to laugh. Ezra smirked over the rim of her glass.
“No.” The answer came so smooth and easy, I thought I miss heard. “No, I didn’t.”
“Then why me?” The question ripped out of me before I could stop it.
I pressed both hands dramatically against my chest to steady myself while the room tilted slightly beneath me.
“Is it because I’m—”
“A woman?” Ezra leaned toward me again immediately. “Yes.” The blunt honesty knocked the rest of the words out of me completely.
“Is it unfair?” she continued calmly. “Absolutely. Is it a double standard? Definitely.”
Then her voice lowered. “But do you know why?”
I shook my head slowly even though something told me she didn’t actually expect an answer.