Page 89 of The Games We Play

Everyone leaves…except the several men scattered around the room. They stare at me like I’m the salvation they’ve been waiting for. They practically salivate, the yearning for my death prominent in their eyes.

“And the main event is about to arrive,” November coos in my ear. The surrounding men turn and face the doorway that leads to the stairs. In my periphery, Puppet struggles under her captor’s hold, and he leans in closer, whispering something in her ear that has her eyes widening and screaming at me to help her.

I can’t. I told Doc I wasn’t enough to keep her safe from this, and I was right. I should have let her go that night. But I was too damn selfish to do what was best for her. Instead, I let my desires get us both killed. It was a child’s fantasy that she could exist in this world at my side.

She may have a taste for blood, but she’s not the cold-blooded kind of hunter that survives this life for as long as I have. Her eyes pool with emotion, and I clench my jaw.

Maybe I can use her emotions to my advantage. They’re proof of how much she believed the lie.

“You were my bargaining chip, after all, Xane. I guess I should thank you. Your sacrifice is duly noted. Give Mallard my regards, will you?” November says.

A click and silence are all that’s left of the phone call, and I slowly lower the phone from my ear as I step down the hall and come closer.

Step. Step. Crack.

Step. Step. Crack.

Glasses smiles and steps away from me until I’m alone in the middle of the room. Puppet moves closer to the stairway, and I steel my features, even as she comes perfectly into my line of sight. She doesn’t stop fighting. My pet writhes and wiggles in her captor’s hands, crying out whenher shoulder is bent too far back and she’s held suspended with her toes barely touching the ground.

With a final crack, a figure emerges from the darkened hallway. Their chin dipped low, and the brim of their hat hides their features.

“My, my. This is a pleasant surprise,” the voice echoes around me, and my nostrils flare, the only sign giving away how much his presence shocks me.

How is he here? What did he offer Nadia to get me here?

“You,” Puppet roars, and her fight rages with a whole new purpose.

The man lifts his chin slowly, leaning on his cane as he favors his left leg, and a cynical smile curves up his lips.

“You fucking monster!” she screams, her shrill voice echoing off the stone walls. “I’ll kill you!”

Stop,Puppet.Please, just stop fighting.

“Xane,” Darius says, ignoring his daughter’s threats. “What a mess we find ourselves in!” He clicks his tongue and steps closer. The clack of his cane reverberates off the stone walls. “First, you kill me, then I come back from the dead and kill your brother, who honestly I thought was you. Imagine my surprise to learn of your existence. Nadia finally clued me in. You plotted my ruin for nearly a year. Quite impressive restraint you have, really,” he says with a gleeful chuckle. “But how disappointing was it to learn that my daughter wasn’t the way to get to me? After you spent so many nights fucking her, with only revenge driving you forward. A year of your time, wasted. And here I stand,” He raises his arms at his side, the cane in his left hand suspended over the ground. “I am immortal,” he breathes out. “And you’re nothing more than a grain of sand in this universe. I’m going to wipe you from existence, and nobody will remember your name.”

He drops his arms down and places both hands atop his cane in front of him.

“What did you offer her? What was I worth to you?” I ask, genuinely curious. “How much of your empire did you have to trade to be the one to kill me? What didIcostyou?” Knowing he lost even a fraction of his power because of me is satisfying, even if it went to an equally repulsive person.

He leans in closer, his smile widening. “Not a damn thing. Right now, there is a team sneaking into her headquarters and cutting the head off the snake. She thought she had me by the balls, sure. But one thing our father didn’t teach her was to never trust family. I won.”

“Boss,” a man shouts, gesturing with his phone. “It’s done.”

Darius sighs and looks up at the ceiling. “It’s been a long two years. And finally, it’ll end. I have eradicated the Collins line and will raise a new line of Wallaces. Ones who aren’t so easily persuaded by men who make them blush. I blame her mother, really. She was always weak and not good enough to have my child.”

Puppet screams again, and it gets muffled. I can’t help it. My eyes flick to her for a second, then back at Darius, but it’s enough for his eyes to light up.

“Women are always leading us around by our dicks and screwing up our plans. Eve was the first to eat the forbidden fruit and convinced Adam with a bat of her lashes to do the same. They’ve damned us since the beginning of time. I’m doing you a kindness, Xane. My parting gift to you, so to speak. I’m taking my daughter with me, alleviating you of your burden.”

He raises his cane and pokes me in the chest.

“And they’re going to tear you limb from limb to ensure death, so final resurrection isn’t an option.”

“NO!” Puppet cries out, and she breaks her arm free, and it hangs limply by her side. She reaches through the slit of her dress and pulls the gun from between her thighs.

I try to lunge at Darius, but I’m grabbed around the collarbone and jerked back, an arm around my throat cutting off my air supply. She shoots the man she’s fighting in the foot, and he howls in pain, falling back, and two more men grab each of her arms. They pry the gun from her hand, and she bites the one on her right when he gets too close. He jerks back with a roar as she spits his ear to the floor at Darius.

Her father pinches his nose and sighs. “This is why you need your medication, sweetheart. You—you don’t think clearly without it. Who in their right mind bites off people’s ears?”

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