Page 111 of Reaper Flame

How hadn’t I seen it? Hiram was the master of smoke and mirrors. A fight breaking out right where we were standing was too convenient to happen out of chance. When we were looking one way, Hiram moved in the other direction. He couldn’t have known Mieko was going to be at the Maven tonight, but he saw her and seized the opportunity when it presented itself.

“It doesn’t matter how he did it,” I snapped, putting an end to the speculation. All that mattered was how we hadn’t protected her when we should have. “The only thing that does is that he believes the Blackbird is still alive, and we have to keep it that way. We’ll come up with a plan.”

If he suspected the Blackbird was dead, Mieko would already be heading across the border with his human trafficking connections if he spared her life.

“What will he do to her when he finds out?” Vixen’s bottom lip trembled, making her suddenly seem fragile. “If anything happens to her, I don’t know what I’ll…”

“Nothing will happen to her,” Rocky reassured in soothing tones. “We’ll make sure of that.”

“How can you say that?” Vixen shook him off. “Look what happened to Candy! She was stuck with him for years, and you couldn’t get her back!”

Rocky’s face fell. He opened his mouth to answer but no words came out. He couldn’t argue with her on that.

“Red’s not alone this time.” West stepped up. “Mieko has all of us.”

“What good were you in the Maven?” She snorted. “We paired her with you because you were supposed to protect her! He kidnapped her on your fucking watch.”

“West made the right call by telling her to run,” Zander said sharply. “There was no other way. Mieko knew what she was getting herself into when she stepped into the Maven tonight. We can’t turn on each other now.”

“Of course you’d say that,” Vixen mocked. “I bet you’re glad it’smygirl he took this time and not yours.”

Whenever Vixen got angry, her words were like poisonous bullets. Her syllables penetrated the skin multiple times, causing three times the damage than any wound would do. Her words didn’t cut deep because of what she was saying. They cut deep because they were all true.

“This is my fault,” I said. West tried to help her, but I’d sent her straight into danger. “I asked her to help get your signature for Bryce’s will. If you want to blame anyone, blame me.”

“I do,” Vixen snarled. “And if anything happens to her, then I’m holding you responsible. Until then, you’d better bring her fucking back to me.”

“I will,” I promised, hoping she could tell from my face how sincere I was. “If it’s the last thing I do.”

“What do we do now?” Vixen threw her hands in the air in despair. “Sit and wait?”

“He’ll be in touch again,” West said. “He wants to keep us waiting.”

“But we can’t just do nothing!” Vixen whirled around and shoved him, then started pounding her small fists into his chest. He let her, taking every punch and not flinching. “We have to do something! Mieko is with him! She is with him!”

“The Blackbird may be dead,” Zander said. “But there is someone who could help.”

Rocky raised his eyebrows. “Do you think he’s sobered up enough?”

“No!” Vixen’s mouth fell open, dropping her fists like a deflated balloon. “Do you really expecthimto help us? He burned down our fucking house!”

“You didn’t see him tonight, Vix,” Rocky said. “He wanted to help.”

“Or was he setting us up, like he has so many times before?” she seethed. “We wouldn’t have set foot in that fucking cave if it wasn’t for him!”

That may be true, but it was my actions that caused Hiram to do what he did. Ilefthim. Ibetrayedhim. If Mieko never helped the Sevens get me back, Hiram would never have taken her. She was an amazing friend and was suffering because of me. If I hadn’t made a deal with Bryce or agreed to work with the Sevens, they’d all be safe! This was all on me.

“We’ll get the truth out of him,” Zander said. “He’s the only lead we have.”

West cracked his knuckles. “A chat with the Blackbird will have shown him how serious we can be.”

“Cooperation is not optional.” Zander’s mouth pressed into a thin, menacing line and opened the door of the limo. “Let’s go and speak to my cousin.”

* * *

No one spoke on the ride back to Lapland. Vixen shot me menacing glares from her seat, but I couldn’t look at her. She was furious, but it masked something else. Fear. Next to her, Rocky tried to talk about our next steps, but Zander shut him down. Our driver didn’t hear our conversation outside, but we couldn’t trust anyone else with the information. West buried his head in his hands, and Zander drummed his fingers on his knee like he was playing out different scenarios in his mind. We all came to the Maven together, but we were leaving one person behind. How had it all gone so wrong?

Returning to the empty club felt surreal. Zander led the way to the bunker underneath the club. As we walked, he lowered his voice so only I could hear.

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