Page 97 of Heartless
Completely barren, with none of Shadow’s personal touches, as minimal as they were. No tattoo supplies scattered out on the desk. No sketchbook and pen on the nightstand. No black long-sleeved shirts hanging in the closet. Even the bed was stripped of all the sheets, with only a mattress remaining.
“What did you do?” I whispered to the empty room, then turning around slowly to face the two guilty men behind me. “What thefuckdid you do?”
“I didn’t kill him, if that’s where your mind’s going.” Reaper’s voice was laced with bitterness.
“Then where is he?” It took all of my resolve not to scream. “I’m getting sick of repeating myself. What did you do, Reaper?”
“I burned his cut,” he snapped back. “The act of which eliminates him permanently from the Steel Demons. And told him to get the fuck out of here.”
Blood rushed to my ears, filling my head with a dull, angry pulse. No, this couldnotbe happening.
“What? Where?”
“Anywhere. Just told him to get as far away from you and us as possible.” Reaper crossed his arms, looking defiant, if even proud. “Not that there’s enough space in the world between us and him that would make me satisfied.”
Gunner said nothing, but copied Reaper’s stance, clearly aligned with his president. Only Jandro was sullen, fists at his sides as he looked blankly into the empty room.
“You…you sent him away?” My voice shook in a disbelieving whisper. “Just…cut him off and sent him out into the world?”
“Yes.” Reaper lifted his chin. “I would have preferred something else but that didn’t seem favorable to you.”
My fear and disbelief shifted to an all-consuming anger. I stared at Reaper, standing there so proudly, wondering in that moment what I ever saw in this bloodthirsty, deceitful man.
“How could you?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Excuse me? I did thisfor you.”
“Right, even though you never told me this was your plan?”
Reaper sighed, scrubbing a hand down his face. “I knew you wouldn’t want this, yes. But I did what you asked, and this was the best solution for everyone.”
“The best solution?!” I screeched. “This club was everything to him, and youburnedhis cut?”
“He was no longer a Steel Demon the moment he put hands on you,” Reaper growled. “That fact is not up for debate—only worthy men wear the patch. The only reason I didn’t burn the tattoo off his body was because he wouldn’t have felt it.”
Something inside me snapped. Sending Shadow away was one thing, but knowing Reaper would have subjected him to torture, after everything he’d been through, changed everything. I didn’t know this man standing in front of me. And I sure as hell didnotlove him.
“You fucking barbarian,” I hissed. “I told you it was an accident and he needs help! And now you’ve cast him out into the world where he has no one and nothing?”
“I don’t fucking care about him!” Reaper leaned toward me to yell, far enough that Jandro and Gunner had to pull back on his shoulders. “I care aboutyou. You told me not to kill him and I respected that. Beyond that, it’smydecision what happens to him, and I want him far away frommywife, my family.”
“I wish he did kill me,” I said, enjoying the look of shock on Reaper’s face as I wrenched his ring off my finger. “Then I wouldn’t have to live with a husband who’s a heartless piece of shit!”
The ring clattered noisily to the floor, the sound echoing deafeningly throughout the whole house as my men stared at me in stunned silence. Desperate to get away, I slid past them and up the stairs to the master bedroom. I slammed the door behind me and sank to the floor, too weary to even collapse on the bed.
I sobbed noisily, releasing all my heartbreak through painful wracks of my chest and not caring who heard. Not even Freyja was here to comfort me. Maybe she could sense that I didn’t want to be comforted. In that moment, I just wanted to wallow in the hurt.
It happened just like Noelle said—my heart had been broken by two men.
Shadow, at first for hurting me, then the fact that he was gone without a trace. And now Reaper, trying to act like a savior when he just hurt me worse.
Shadow…Oh, poor Shadow.
Where would he go? A fresh sob escaped me at the thought of him alone, trying to navigate a world filled with strangers. It would be lonely and isolating even for the most well-adjusted person. My chest ached so badly, like my very soul was splitting in half.
I cried until I had no strength left to sob with. My head ached and my whole body felt encased in cement. Tired of sitting against the door, I slid down to the floor on my side. If Shadow was out there all alone, with no friends or support, what right did I have to a comfortable bed?
My mind wouldn’t shut off to sleep. The exhaustion would take me eventually, but all of their faces played on a reel through my mind, each one another prick of a needle through my heart.
