Page 75 of Onyx Realm

A short litany of Greek fell from Markos’s lips. Looking up, I watched them move. A tingle spread through me at the thought of them against my body.

“I’ll see you for breakfast,” Markos promised, switching to English to speak to me.

Those last few words sent the tingle into a dark thrill.

He produced a key on a simple leather strap and placed it in my palm, curling my fingers over the object. I nodded, and he let me go.

Hurrying after Atlas, I left the turbulent throng. He was quiet as we slid into a sporty black car. It purred to life the same way Markos’s had, and then we shot into the night.

“What do you want to know?” I braced myself, meeting the elephant in the space head on.

Atlas snorted, his eyes briefly leaving the road to glance at me. “Direct. I like that.”

“I’ve found that pretending ignorance just delays the inevitable.” I clutched my hands in my lap, trying not to show how fast my heart was racing.

“Smart girl.” He navigated a tight curve with practiced ease. “So you understand this isn’t a normal marriage.”

“I gathered that when I was kidnapped and forced to wed a man I know next to nothing about.” I couldn’t keep the bite from my voice.

Atlas’s laugh was deep and unexpected. “You’ve got fire. Little wonder he’s so protective.” He sobered quickly. “But make no mistake—this isn’t a game. The Twelve don’t play games.”

“What are the Twelve exactly?” I asked, seizing the opportunity. Any chance to learn more about my captors, the better.

His knuckles whitened on the steering wheel. “Family. Business. Power.”

A typical mobster response.

“That doesn’t tell me anything,” I pointed out.

“It tells you everything you need to know.” Atlas took another turn, the car sliding smoothly through the darkness. “We are bound by something older than the modern world understands. Markos is one of us, whether he likes it or not.”

I studied Atlas’s profile in the dim light from the dashboard. Strong jaw, aristocratic nose, eyes that had seen too much. Like Markos, there was something ancient about him.

“So why me?” I asked quietly. “Did you force him to marry a nobody? That can’t be good for...business.”

Atlas’s laugh was short and humorless. “A nobody? Is that what you think you are?” He glanced at me, his eyes knowing. “Black Tide marked you. He wouldn’t do that if you were a nobody.”

Flooded with a rush of self-consciousness, I reached for my throat. He wouldn’t have marked me if I wasn’tsomeoneto him? Was that some animalistic way of saying I was his prize?

Atlas continued, not waiting for an answer from me. “And you played Chopin’s Nocturne in C-sharp minor like you wrote it yourself. That’s not nothing.”

My blood ran cold. It was what he didn’t say that made me scared. There was an unspoken current running through our rather tame conversation. “You were watching me?”

“We allheardyou, and we saw the way Markos was summoned by your siren call.” Atlas turned the car into the condo’s gated parking lot and pulled into a spot close to the door. “There’s more to you than you realize.”

Turning, I faced him. “Anything else you want to know before I go upstairs?”

Atlas’s shadowed gaze watched me. “Hurt Markos, and we’ll repay you in kind.”

My empty stomach flipped violently. “I wasn’t—”

“There’s nowhere you can run that we won’t find you,” he added, letting his cards fall between us.

“I understand,” I gulped.

Atlas nodded. He followed me from the car, waited with me in the elevator, but didn’t come inside the condo.

Once the door closed, I sagged against it. Threats were a part of life, but to have them directed at me.... I shivered again. No, hurting Markos physically wasn’t part of my plan to get back at him. I would find another way to get even with the mobster.

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