Page 11 of Inside the Wicked

“Soon?” I ask desperately.

Rix nods with a soft smile before he casts one last look at Adam. “Consider very carefully who you can really trust.”

He’s leaving before I have the chance to say anything.

“He’s a prick,” Adam grumbles. “Want to tell me what this is all about? Does he work for Alistair?”

I’m blinking after the ghost of Rix and resisting the urge to go after him, to not let him out of my sight at all, because what if this was all some crazed, alcohol-induced hallucination?

I say out loud for the first time. “Rhett is alive.”

CHAPTER 4

Anastasia

I’m not taken to Alistair’s manor for thejobhe wants me to see. Or participate in. My nerves grow in the back of the car while Tony drives. I’ve watched several men die by Alistair’s hand or at his orchestration, but something about this is important enough for him to want me there.

We circle down into an underground garage, where the car stops and I spy another next to us. When Tony opens my door I get out and walk around our black SUV to slide into the small awaiting limo. Across from me is Alistair Lanshall; beside me is a stunning woman.

For a moment, though, it’s just me and him. I stare into his blue eyes with more hatred than I’ve ever felt before. He’s been holding Rhett hostage somewhere all this time. I think a part of me knew—a small, hopeful part that never let Rhett truly die and held onto the belief he was coming home.

I’m filled with more determination than ever to find him, and we will collapse Alistair’s empire. Together.

I keep my expression as cold and indifferent as ever as I drag my attention to his companion in the car with us.

She has long, straight jet-black hair, and her deep green eyes regard me with icy indifference. It’s like she knows every detailabout me and has already made up her mind about how she feels. It’s not friendly—that much is clear.

“I’d like you to meet Kenna Radley. She’s my best spy and assassin.” Alistair introduces her.

My eyes rove over her again. I never would have guessed her line of work. She’s dressed in a small black dress with heels I would surely break my neck in. Her bust is pushed up to draw attention, and she wears an array of purple jewels and diamonds around her neck, as well as in her earrings and bracelets. Her makeup is impeccable, with winged eyeliner that gives her piecing irises a feline, seductive edge, and that’s where her power lies—in a look that could make a man beg at her feet and not know what for. Everything about her screams wealth, but also authority.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“You two are going on a job for me,” Alistair says, crossing his ankle over his knee and reaching for a short glass of whiskey. This car is fancier than some bars I’ve been in.

“I might be underdressed,” I say, admittedly intimidated by Kenna now I know what she’s capable of. Her beauty is merely a mask.

“Yes, you are,” Alistair says in such a way that I know he planned for this. “Before you go, I wanted to tell you myself what will happen.”

“We’re not here?”

“No. The club I need you to get inside is ...off-limitsto me.”

“I didn’t think such a place existed.”

He gives a boastful smile. “Few do. However, the owner of this establishment is veryparticular about who he lets in. His name is Silas Balenheizer, the son of averypowerful cartel leader in Miami. Word is he’s thinking of moving to the D.C area, which is already overcrowded.”

I don’t give away any hint of recognition at the name, but my heart speeds up and my hands go clammy at the mention. Matthew Forbes was Damien Balenheizer’s true son, and I’m overcome with nausea that another son of his who grew up by his side could be far fucking worse.

“Does Jacob know he’s in the city?” I ask, trying to remain neutral in my interest.

“I can’t be certain, but this is why we have to move in tonight and gain his interest first before Forthson gets the same idea.”

“What makes you confident he’ll yield leadership to you?”

“I’d like to propose it to him as more of a ... partnership of sorts. If he joins with me, it’ll give him a false sense of authority, while I have the respect and loyalty here that he does not.”

“And if he chooses Jacob?”

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