Page 169 of Reckoning

I blink, I almost choke and he chuckles that deep, growly laugh of his, like he knows he’s played his trump card.

* * *

For the nextfew days I do little beyond sleep and use the toilet. When I’m well enough to be discharged, Koen has us move into a fancy penthouse looking right over Central Park, and I sit there, staring out past the glass, watching the view below, imagining how it will feel to be free, to explore.

Every day Koen brings me delicious food, fattening me up the way he always promised he would.

And that first day I step outside, I can’t help the smile that covers my face. Koen ensures we have enough men around us that I feel safe, secure, that even though my body isn’t fully healed I’m not concerned about anyone accidentally bumping into me in the busy congested streets.

He takes me to a bookstore with so many floors I lose count. And I swear I hear Reid cursing under his breath as he has to carry the huge stack I buy back.

And that night, I stay up, curled up, with a blanket, watching those sparkling street lights while I read.

It’s an odd feeling, to feel suddenly at peace, to realise that all that fighting, all that anger and rage, it’s gone, it’s left me. Maybe I really was cursed. Maybe that diamond was truly a thing of evil but now that it’s gone, I feel reborn.

And I’m determined that I’m going to make the most of my life now, that nothing my father did will every haunt me again.

Koen

Ileft Sofia sleeping. My men are on the doors. I know she’s safe now, safer than ever but I still won’t take any risks.

As I step out into the park itself, there’s barely anyone around. For a city that never sleeps this place feels eerily quiet.

And then I spot why.

“You.” I snarl. I thought the bastard was long gone. That he’d gotten his damned diamond and had flown away.

Magnus smirks, stepping out from the shadow of the trees.

“We needed a chat.”

“Have you been waiting here all this time?” I taunt.

He gives me a deadpan look that I’d wipe off anyone else’s face without hesitation.

“You killed Alistair,” He states. “Such an act cannot go unpunished.”

“Who?” I reply.

His lips quirk and then I realise, Blue Eyes, he’s talking about Blue Eyes. That’s his real name then.

“He deserved it.” I growl. “He raped Sofia, he stole my sister’s eyes…”

“I not here to debate his soul.” Magnus says dismissively. “I’m here to explain a few facts.”

“And what are those?” I sneer.

“The Brethren does not forget. The Brethren does not forgive.”

My eyebrows raise, I take a step, closing the distance between us. He might think he had power but right now, I could crush him so easily.

“I’m not afraid of you.” I state.

“Then perhaps you should be. You think we wouldn’t hesitate to crush you? To kill your men, to wipe you all from the very earth.” He glances up, over my shoulder to where the sparkly great skyscrapers are, in the direction of where I know Sofia is. “We’d take her too. She’s got some experience as a sex slave from what I hear, I’m sure she’d fit in just fine as she serviced our Lords…”

I snarl, grabbing his throat, slamming him into the bark.

A gun jabs into the back of my neck. I know all logic and reason should mean I relinquish my grip and yet I can’t do it. I won’t do it.

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