Page 90 of The Merciless

“Who was behind this?”

“Mia Andrews.”Ray spelled out and saw his eyes flash in surprise,“You remember the phoenixes?”

Kyle nodded.

“Miranda Andrews – Angel’s stepmother – was the leader’s wife. And Mia their daughter.”

“So, revenge?”

Ray nodded,“Somethinglike that.”

Kyle took a second to process it. But turned back to her with the same sold calculative look in her eyes,“Are they dead?”

Ray had to press her lips together to not relive it all, but she responded nonetheless,“Yes.”

The relief in Kyle’s eyes wasn’t surprising, but it jarred her still. Somehow, she still couldn’t bring herself to accept it all. Miranda’s death didn’t bother her as much as Mia’s did. Mia had been mourning her father, and then a mother.Maybe she didn’t deserve to die,but Ray’s gut had told her to end it right there.She’d given her a chance,she told herself,one chance.

And then the rest of them took care of it.

A warm hand landed on her shoulder in a show of comfort and Ray looked over her shoulder again to see Cameron’s still and calm face.

“Stop.”He signed and Ray let out a sigh,“There’s no point.”

It was Neera who continued beside him, her eyes grave,“And there’s never any safety in being merciful.”

Never.

Ray nodded and looked back down to see Angel’s eyes trained on her. She realized then, that after Angel had let her murderhisfather after he’d let her take what he’d been wanting for so long now, that something had changed. Angel shifted closer, like he could read her thoughts as they were, and placed a soft kiss on her cheek.

“I’m sorry.” She breathed out, low enough for only him to hear, and saw him pull back in surprise, “I shouldn’t have taken Martin’s death from you. Shouldn’t have ruined your lifelong plans just like that–”

He stopped her by pressing a kiss on her lips. Ray paused as saw his amber eyes narrow in understanding,

“I have a new lifelong plan now.” He whispered and Ray’s lips threatened to break into a smile as he leaned in closer and closed his eyes just as she did,

“She might swear a lot. And she might be a tad bit crazy.” He whispered and Ray shook her head, a smile ghosting across her lips, “But she’s my lifelong plan now.”

“Is she?” Ray taunted, her voice soft. And Angel’s smile was utterly hers anddevastatingwhenhe said,

“She is.”

Epilogue

Ray braced a palm on the back of her neck in an attempt to get it to stop hurting as she held her phone with the other. Her eyes were trained on the screen, narrowed with the thought of answering it or not as she lounged in her chair. It vibrated in her hand again and Ray let out an insufferable groan but picked up nonetheless,

“What?” she snapped, a bit irritated as she looked ahead, “What part ofvacationdo you not understand?”

A sigh reverberated from the other end, “I wasn’t looking forward to this call either, but some investors had some questions–”

“Get them to Neera, she’ll handle it.”

She could swear she couldseeAkash’s glare from the other side, “I tried her already. She isn’t answering her phone.” He grumbled as Ray swore silently, “I don’t understand why you all get to go on vacation and I’mstuckhere fuckingbabysitting–”

“Hey!”

Ray grinned at the sound of Ira’s voice, “Hi Ira! Hi Micah!” she called out and heard a muffled response. She heard Akash’s tired sigh again and nodded, a smile on her face as she looked ahead at the sunset,

“Alright, alright, what do they want to know?”

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