Page 106 of Midnight Wedding

The cousins hurry away.

Tigran grabs a bottle of vodka and pours a drink. He tosses it back with a mean grunt and slaps my back. His laugh doesn’t feel fucking right, and when he offers me a drink, I shove it away.

“Today was a fucking bad day,” I snarl at him.

“Lighten up. We both know that was necessary.”

“I hoped they were going to listen to reason. Our fucking family’s been killing itself enough lately. I don’t want more Armenian blood to be spilled.”

Tigran doesn’t always agree with my methods. He thinks I’m too soft. But he doesn’t understand that this family is all we have,and if we treat it like we’re brutal dictators, we’ll eventually lose it entirely.

Killing Narek and Levon will haunt me for a while.

I agree that it was necessary, but that doesn’t change anything.

“What’s the next move?” Tigran asks as we leave the laundromat together. Our soldiers are waiting in the street. If Narek and Levon brought more men, they’ve either been subdued and killed, or they saw which way the wind was blowing and decided not to be stupid.

“Garen really is trying to delay. Now we make him understand that there’s no time left.” I feel heavy as I ease myself down into the car. “Find anyone that still thinks like Narek and Levon and make them see how things are going to be.”

“Any means necessary?”

“No more killing.”

“Believe it or not, I’m not a bloodthirsty psychopath. I just think these fucking assholes only understand brutality.”

“Do what you have to do, but no more killing.” I start the engine and gesture for a few guards to come with me. “I’m heading back home to speak with Aunt Sona. Hopefully now she’ll understand there’s no winning this war and she’ll talk sense into Garen.”

“Good luck, brother.”

I leave Tigran on the sidewalk. The sound of bullets thudding into Narek keeps playing through my head. The crunch of Levon’s windpipe echoes up my leg.

More men I grew up with. More corpses in my wake.

This family won’t stop until it tears itself to pieces.

Chapter 38

Lena

Itake a big step back.

That’s how I’m thinking of it. Whatever’s growing between me and Arsen isn’t dead, but I do need a break. It’s all been too much, too fast, and now I have to process.

Corpses. Secrets. Stalking. Violence. It swirls all around this house and infects everything.

I’m afraid it’ll shape the way our baby grows up.

Most days, I act like everything’s normal. I’m not going out of my way to see Arsen, but I’m also not running away when he comes into the room. Things are civil. It’s painful, but it’s for the best. I need to find myself first before I get caught up in him. That’s partially why I start sleeping in a guest room.

But also so that I can explore the passages at night.

Sona got in my head. I hate it, but I can’t help myself. Her story and her little challenge are bothering the hell out of me.

Each night, I sneak out into the library, slip into the secret passages, and search.

I have no clue which room was Sona’s when she was growing up. That makes this a real challenge. I don’t want to ask Arsen because that’ll give away what I’m doing, and I don’t trust anyone else in the house to keep this secret from him.

I’m stuck going at it the long way.

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