Page 23 of Queen of Diamonds

Not yours.

Never yours.

Behind us, Knight took another down. I didn’t realise more men had arrived on his side until I heard a struggle. I turned to see Zed past the dumpster. He had a figure in a headlock while Knight aimed for another who was backing up now. A gun tumbled from the man’s wrist, going off in a wild direction. To my horror, the man managed to get an elbow in Zed’s face, knocking his mask straight off. There was a nasty gurgle as knife found flesh, then the man went limp. Zed grabbed the weapon as my terror dialled to an eleven. His mask…

It was dark.

No one would see him.

Kyan cursed at my side. “Aw, shit.”

I turned back around to see him aiming, but the last guy in the alley turned the corner before Kyan could get a clear shot.

Gone.

Quiet descended on the alley, broken only by the faint hum of traffic and occasional shout in the Las Vegas night.

Had we done it?

That felt too quick. Why had they left?

Was it, perhaps, because he’d seen Zed and known he had to get back to Ace?

“Time to go. Police won’t be long.”

Right… if these men hadn’t warned them off.

There was a strange tightness in my chest, a fear I couldn’t shake.

Zed’s mask…

But then the body Kyan had shot first finally slid from the metal railing above. It landed with a sickening crunch in a heap on the wooden pallets before us. It was twisted at a horrible angle, leaving his arm sticking out. Even in the darkness, the thin rose tattoo across his wrist was stark.

Oh shit.

An eerie silence fell as all gazes landed on it. I shut my eyes.

“Well.” Knight was the first to speak. “Fuck.”

8

GLADE

“That was the Brotherhood?” Zed’s eyes were wide as he stared at me.

I couldn’t rip my gaze from him, knowing we were both reaching the same conclusion.

Ace might know by the time the night was out. Zed’s mask had come off. But that would mean…

My breath caught, a whine almost escaping. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go.

How the hell was this supposed to go, actually?

It had been a mess from the start. There’d been no good option, not from the first second I’d opened the door to the private room, and found my goddamned mates waiting for me.

“It’s over,” I said, voice weak. “I’m gone. That’s what you want.”

That was the best I could do now.

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