Page 133 of Betrayed in the Dark
“Madeleine Alarie.”
Dread coils within me. I look at Leo, whose anger in his eyes reflects my own.
A moment passes before Mikhail says, “I’m listening.”
“I have it on good authority that she has her heart set on a soldier overseas. One named Eli Lyon. And after some digging, I found that he’s currently deployed in Iraq. Specifically, in our territory.”
“How interesting… And your good authority?”
“My other half, of course.”
“Hmm, and what do you want us to do with him?”
“I want him kidnapped.”
My heart thunders so loudly I can barely hear the rest of their words.I want him kidnapped.This fucking cocksucker is the reason why I was taken. The reason why my friends died. The reason I was forced into an early retirement from what I loved doing. The reason for my nightmares and flashbacks. He orchestrated the whole fucking thing. But why?
“And why would we do that?” Mikhail asks. “I know that name. He’s practically one of the Alaries. Are you trying to make an enemy out of them?”
“No,” Alastor answers. “I’m trying to do just the opposite. If I marry Madeleine, then I become one of them.”
“I see.”
“If he goes missing, Madeleine will do whatever it takes to get him back. And when she realizes her family has no pull in that territory, but that mine does, well…”
“She’ll come crawling to you for help.”
“Exactly.”
“And you’ll offer her a marriage in order to save this man?”
“If everything goes according to plan, then yes.”
Silence stretches between them before Mikhail voices, “We’ll do it. I’ll have my men take him, but what would you like for us to do to him?”
“It’s no concern to me what they do with him. Torture him, for all I care, but just keep him alive. He’ll be the only chess piece I have to play with to keep Madeleine in line for this deal to work. I’ll reach out when it’s time to release him. But if Madeleine backs out of the deal for any reason, you may kill him.” He laughs. “Think of it as a contingency plan.”
“That can be easily arranged. But what do my brothers and I get out of this?”
“If this plan works, my father has agreed to name me the rightful CEO of Manacorda Enterprises instead of Enzio. And I will personally grant you a fifty percent share of the company stocks.”
Mikhail hums. “You have yourself a deal.”
The call ends, and everything around me transforms into a deep shade of red.
“I’m going to fucking kill him,” I breathe, a fire of vengeance scorching its way through my body from the tips of my toes to the top of my head. “All of them.”
“We need to put a plan in place,” Vin notes as he removes his jacket, leaning against the wall. “This is more than we thought them capable of. This changes everything.” He drags his fingers through his hair, exhaling. “I understand what you might be feeling, but there’s a room full of people between us and them, and we can’t just walk out there and—”
“Watch me,” I snap before turning and stepping out the door. I charge down the hall, hearing distant footsteps rushing after me, but I don’t stop.
Nothing and no one can stop me.
Entering the main room, my eyes land on Alastor as he sits contently with his family, oblivious to the murderous undertone in the air.
I’m going to kill you.
I march toward him, catching his attention.
