Page 155 of Depravity

She flinches more, dropping her gaze like she’s afraid to speak the next few words.

Magnus lets off his gun, shooting right through that vaulted ceiling and bits of debris come spiralling down, landing at our feet.

“He, he took him,” Elaine all but whimpers.

“Who?” Antonio snarls.

Fucking hell. Is this another moment of getting our arses kicked? I clench my fists, waiting to hear that inevitable fucking name.

“Your, your brother,” Elaine stammers, “He, he took him, and he sa-said, if you want him ber-back then you have to ha-hand over the girl.”

“Excuse me?” Magnus snarls.

She lifts her hand as much as she can in the bindings; it shakes so violently you can barely see the slip of paper in it.

I step forward and snatch it up before anyone else can, seeing Devin’s scrawly handwriting. ‘Give me Paitlyn and I’ll give you Titus,’ it reads, clear as fucking day.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Antonio snaps, clearly reading over my shoulder.

Magnus rips the note out of my hand and he reads it quickly, before screwing it up.

We all know what this is, that Magnus can name himself as Chapter Lord tomorrow if he wants but without Titus, it means nothing.

“Get the girl,” Magnus orders, but I shake my head.

It won’t be as simple as that, Devin won’t let it be. He’s planned this out. Played us all.

My phone fumbles over the buttons and my mind races as I hear that monotone ring in my ear. When it picks up, it’s almost a relief because I half expected him to be there already.

“Is she safe?” I ask.

“Yes boss.”

“Then get her sedated and ready to go,” I order. “I’ll be there within the hour.”

My eyes meet my brother’s but there’s nothing else to say. Nothing that can be done. Devin must know. He must knoweverything, so how the fuck do we manage this now?

We’ve sat here for hours, for what feels like all night.

Me and her. She keeps trying to start a conversation, but I’m too jumbled in my head to manage it.

In the end we sit in silence, reading while the clock ticks by every single second.

If this goes wrong, if this backfires on us, then I know the Esau will be here not long after. My father will come back. I think they’ll kill Liliana because they have no other use for her, but me, will my father hand me back to Xavier again?

I try to focus on the pages, on the words, but I’m too flustered to manage it.

I keep resting my hand on my stomach, wondering when this baby will start moving. Magnus and Liliana aren’t meant to know yet. That’s Conrad’s plan. To tell them I’m pregnant in a few weeks and then schedule a c-section when it’s time, so it looks like my baby came early.

But she keeps glancing at me, looking at where my hand is resting, and I know I’m not smart enough now to hide this.

I lift the board, thinking that maybe I can explain this, that I can make her believe that this baby is Conrad’s. Only, we both hear the sound of cars.

“They’re back,” I say, in that awful broken sound and Liliana nods like she understands it.

I roll the wheelchair and we both rush out to meet them. Clearly, Liliana is as anxious as me in this moment.

Magnus comes storming in, his face screwed up. He looks absolutely furious.

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