Page 13 of Dominion

“Fine,” Atlas relented, earning a glare from Indigo. “Call him.”

“You’re going to explain this shit to Storm, not me,” Indigo stated. “I’m not getting your ass out of this mess.”

“Did I ask you?” Pissed off, Atlas glanced at Indigo. “I didn’t, so shut up and let me do my thing. Call Conti, Kill.” Atlas’s eyes moved toward Cillian. “We have two days maximum, and then we need to get moving. I don’t want to waste time.”

“Two days?” I gasped. “But that’s too much. What if they die by then? They’re going to torture them. Please?”

Atlas stood up and walked toward the hallway with his laptop in his hands. “We don’t have a choice, Sky. We need a properplan. Once we get the confirmation from Cillian and Conti’s then we can act. Until then, my hands are tied.”

I wanted to protest. I wanted to shout and cry and run out and toward that fucking Red Manor even though I had no idea where it was, but I knew he was right. If we acted without a plan, we would do more harm than good.

“Fine,” I relented, my entire body deflating. “But it’s two days and not a single second more. I want them home with me.”

I wanted them safe. I wanted them next to me.

I needed to know that I hadn’t killed them.

Indigo stormed out of the room without looking back at any of us, while Cillian stayed by my side. “We will get them back,” Cillian said from my right, while Atlas nodded.

“We will, darling,” Atlas murmured. “You just need to be a little patient.”

Patience was never one of my virtues if I even had any, but I could wait. I would fucking wait even though it was the last thing I wanted to do.

But I could do this… for them. It was time to set things right. If this was the beginning of a brighter future, then I could be patient for two days.

4

ASH

The putrid smellsurrounding me was making it hard to breathe, while the muscles in my arms clenched and unclenched painfully, strained from the position they were in.

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t lift my head or move any part of my body, but I could feel them—the cuts and bruises freshly formed on my body from the beating they graced us with. I knew I was in and out of consciousness, but I had no idea how much time had passed since they brought us into this hellhole.

It could’ve been hours, but it also could’ve been days.

Biting down on my lip, I pulled all my strength and lifted my head slowly, blinking against the light flashing straight into my face. The ringing in my ears only intensified the longer I kept my eyes open, but then I saw them.

Silhouettes at first—dark shapes moving in front of me—but the Devil could never hide his face for long. Within mere seconds, Judah’s smug smile crystallized in front of me.

I pulled at my restraints, groaning as pain ricocheted all the way from my wrists through my body.

“He’s awake,” Judah said, taking a step back from me. It came to me all at once—Skylar’s face, the sound of screechingtires on the wet road, Dylan’s anguished roar as they separated us… like a kaleidoscope of memories flashing all at once.

Thousands of pounds stood on my shoulders, pushing me toward the ground, making it hard to look into the eyes of the man who destroyed my family first and now he was trying to destroy the two people I loved. My tongue burned, the metallic taste of blood still lingering in my mouth, but I pushed through, trying to speak.

Trying to tell him every little detail that I was going to do.

His cheek hiked up, the sick smile gracing his face, setting my blood on fire. I burned from the inside out to show him everything I wanted to do, but my body failed to cooperate with my mind.

I was weak. Too weak to fight the battles I wanted to start. Too weak to even speak.

“You look mighty fine chained like that, Asher,” he purred, petting my cheek with his hand. If only I could summon enough strength to spit in his fucking face, that would hold me over until my muscles started cooperating.

“I never imagined that one day I would have you here, but now that I think about it…” Judah trailed off, lost in thought. “You were a beautiful boy. You’re a beautiful young man now.”

“F-fuck y-ou,” I spat out, breathing heavily through each syllable murmured.

My throat burned from the strain, paper dry from the lack of water.

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