Page 159 of Lady Killer

“Nixon,” Lucian said.

“On it.”

“What are you doing?” I yelled, thrashing against Everest.

“Keeping both you and your friend alive.”

“They said to come alone,” I argued.

Everest scoffed. “They always say that. Never trust a killer, darling.”

“So, what we . . .”

Spinning me around to face Lucian, he whispered in my ear, “We scout the location, ambush the killer, save your friend, and then ride off into the sunset together, crazily ever after, my love.”

The man gave me whiplash.

“You will go where the killer specified, and we will be waiting in the wings. We will do everything we can to retrieve your friend, but not at the cost of your life, Luz. Do you understand?” Lucian spoke as though his word was final.

“I’m already dead if we don’t catch them!”

The leader of the Blackwells bore down on me, pinching my chin with his thumb and forefinger. With Everest still holding my arms, I was pressed up against him.

“Do you understand?”

“It’s my life to lose,” I said through my teeth as he stared down at me with dark eyes.

“Wrong, brat,” he said, leaning down inches from my face. “Your life has been mine since you killed that boy . . . And I say that you live.”

Chapter forty-four

Luz

It was a miserable day.

The rain from the storm lingered, turning the back roads into muddy, pothole-filled messes. Dark clouds still hung low in the sky, and there was a foreboding energy in the air.

We had twenty minutes to get to the location the killer had given us, or Autumn was dead.

According to Lucian’s men, it was an empty show home outside Shady Harbor, built to be the first of many in a small subdivision that never materialized. The nearestadjoining lots had been cleared, but the house itself stood alone in the woods, with one poorly maintained service road coming in and out.

As we approached the road, Alister pulled over and killed the engine. Turning in his seat, he looked over at Nixon and then back to Ever and me. “Stick to the plan, Luz.”

“I don’t exactly have much choice,” I said with narrowed eyes.

It wasn’t a bad plan. I could admit that.

Alister, Nixon, and Everest were getting out here and approaching the house through the woods, where they would be joined by two of Lucian’s men. I was to stay in the car until it was five to the hour, then drive to the location and park at least fifty feet from the house.

“Then you get out of the car, and you wait, Luz, do you understand? You wait for directions from the killer, but you do not go into that house alone,” Alister repeated Lucian’s earlier instructions word for word.

“You said the house was clear,” I pushed.

“Our men did the best job they could in the time available to sweep the house and the surrounding woods for threats, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t miss something, Starbright,” Everest said.

“The killer wants you here for a reason. We can’t give them the upper hand,” Alister added as he checked his gun.

The three of them were decked out in more weapons than I had ever seen in my life. Garrotes for stealth, knives for close combat, guns for brutal efficiency . . . some weapons I couldn’t even name.

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