Page 54 of Sadist

“This is who my father is going head-to-head with?” I said dryly. “Fight club?”

She chuckled. “No, Sweets. I guttedfight clubfrom the inside out when I realized who they were. It just so happened that they were already on The Triarchy’s radar, and Erryn was leading the team trying to infiltrate them. I razed the entire place to the ground in twenty-four hours after she had been working on it for over a month. The next day, I found myself in front of the three Chairs of The Triarchy, looking down the muzzle of Erryn’s Glock, and was given an ultimatum: Work for them or be terminated on the spot.”

I blinked at her. “Theo…you had no choice in this?”

“There’s always a choice,” she said. “I could have disappeared at any point over the last decade, but I’m good at this. And Ican make adifference.” She picked up my hand and traced the outline of a three-pointed crown. “That’s my signet. My calling card to tell everyone who took the kill. A crown because I have the strength to keep the three Chairs in power, or take it.”

“With abduction and murder?” I asked, raising a brow.

There was a flash of teeth as she smirked.

“There is more to what I do than just that. But I wasn’t lying when I said that hostages were not my area of expertise?—”

“Nooooo,” I cut in. “You don’t say?”

“What gave me away?” she asked, doing a great job of looking offended.

“Might have been when you seduced the hostage, but to be honest, I haven’t seen your code of conduct and company policy, so I could be mistaken with my assumptions…” I trailed off, distracted by her smile as she chuckled to herself.

“The Triarchy have…morally grey methods,” Theo said after a moment. “Abduction and murder are tools they use for the greater good, and their results are the reason I’ve stayed. In a corrupt world, they keep the worst of humanity in check.”

“And my father fell on the wrong side of that?” I asked.

A muscle ticked in her jaw, her eyes losing their softness.

“Yourfather,” she said quietly, “and I use that term in the loosest possible way—doesn’t know what’s coming for him.”

“This…Triarchy. They will keep trying to take him down?”

She was silent for a moment, and I waited for her to choose her words.

“The Triarchy needs something from him,” she said finally. “Or rather…needs something back.”

“Tell me,” I urged.

Shifting against the mattress, she was silent for a while, her mouth pursing as she frowned at the ceiling.

“I’m telling you this because you need to know what will happen if he wins,” she said. “Vanguard Technology wasintegrated into Triarchy software a while ago, and it corrupted the files to give William access to everything. To the records that could put its entire existence in jeopardy.”

“What is he asking for?” I asked. “Money?”

“No.” She shook her head. “He doesn’t want money—he wants Erryn’s Chair, which would give him control of the UK chapter and all of its resources.”

I stared at her in horror. “That kind of power…”

“My concern is that he’s already tried to have you murdered once,” she said. “And with the software we have available to us—not to mention a global network of assassins—you would always be looking over your shoulder. If you ever slipped up, he would be notified. I can’t let him get that foothold, and it’s why I need you out of the country. If he gets the Chair, the transfer of power will be quick. I doubt I will retain my position, and if I survive that, I definitely won’t have the resources to get you out like I do now.”

I froze, an icy hand closing around my heart.

“What?”

She looked at me, a crease forming between her brows.

“I will get passports and documentation sorted through my contacts. You won’t be picked up leaving?—”

“After everything, you are still sending me away?” I choked out.

A look of confusion crossed her face. “Sweets…I can’t hide you here forever, and your face is everywhere. You cannot stay in the country. What did you expect was going to happen? I need to focus on making sure he doesn’t get that Chair.”

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