Page 178 of Dukes Are Forever
Malloryn stripped the blood off his blade with his fingers and nodded his thanks to Barrons. As grateful as he was to have someone at his back, he couldn't help wondering if any of them were going to get out of here. The explosions had stopped—thank you, Gemma—but hot orange flames licked up the center of the tower. Barrons had a wife and a daughter and—
Don't.
Don't think about the what-if's.
Focus on Balfour.
"Where did Byrnes go?" Charlie demanded.
Malloryn looked around. "He said 'Ingrid.'"
"Do you think the ladies are in trouble?"
He understood Charlie's worry.
If Ingrid was in trouble, then it stood to reason that Lark and Adele faced the same peril. A whisper of dread slid through him.
There was no point going after Devoncourt. Vengeance could wait. He had to make sure Adele and the other women were safe.
"Hello, Malloryn," Balfour's voice said in his ear.
Malloryn froze, pressing his fingers to the earpiece in horror. "Balfour?"
The only way his nemesis could have gotten his hands on one of the communicators was to take down one of his agents.
But who?
"What the hell do you want?"
"Your lovely wife would like to say something to you," Balfour murmured.
"You're bluffing. You don't have Adele."
He'd gotten her clear of this entire mess, hadn't he?
Maybe it wasn't a communicator? Ava's transmitting device kept them on the airwaves, but there was no guarantee Balfour hadn't somehow manipulated the system. Perhaps he'd found the correct radio frequency—
"Here, Adele. Tell your husband how much you love him."
"Auvry?" came a tremulous voice.
Her voice.
The bottom of his stomach dropped. What had happened? How had Balfour gotten his hands on her?
The seconds ticked out in time to his heartbeat.
"Hello, Adele," he managed to say. The last thing he needed to do was panic. He couldn't betray his feelings right now. He couldn't. "Are you all right?"
"He has a knife to my throat," Adele admitted, though he could hear the tremulous quiver in her voice.
"Where are you?"
Static whined in his ear.
And then Balfour was back. "I'm where it all ended last time."
"The throne room," he said, loudly and clearly, so anyone listening through Ava's communication device would hear him. "You're in the throne room."
