Page 105 of Our Violent Ends
Another round of gunfire from a rifle that made no dent. Another cry, another soldier down.
With a sigh, Roma put his gun away and tore his jacket off. “Helpisn’t quite the right word,” he said. “Shed your colors. I think they’re only attacking gangsters and Nationalists.”
Marshall peered down at himself. “I don’t think I’m wearing any to begin with.”
“Do any of us ever carry around a white handkerchief like some errand runner?” Benedikt added.
With his eyes pinned on the scene before him, Roma pushed his sleeves up, then grabbed a plank of wood from nearby.
“Shed anything identifiable,” he clarified. “Then hurry up and help me pull Rosalind Lang out of there so we can knock her out.”
“Wait, what?” Marshall yelled. “Knock her out?”
Roma was already marching forward, lifting the plank of wood. “How else are we supposed to take her to Juliette?”
Thirty-Five
Bàba!” Juliette exclaimed. “Please, tell me what’s going on!”
The house was in disarray, overtaken by activity. At first Juliette had thought they were assembling their forces to fight against the attack. Messengers had been sent out the door at rapid speed, but as soon as she listened in on exactly what her father’s men were saying, it seemed that it was not a defense they were putting up. They were summoning Nationalists to the door, gathering forces inward. They were bringing together the Scarlet inner circle, the business tycoons who held properties in the city.
Now they were here in abundance, greeting Lord Cai briefly and hurriedly, eyes darting back and forth like there was something urgently pressing on their heels. The moment her father came up the stairs, Juliette lunged for his sleeve, holding on tightly.
“What’s going on?” she tried again when he continued walking forward. “Why would the blackmailer strikenow—”
“It was never one blackmailer,” Lord Cai replied evenly. Pausing before his office, already humming with noise inside, he eased her grip off his sleeve, then smoothed the fabric of his shirt down until it was free of wrinkles. “It was the Communists. It has always been the Communists.”
Juliette felt her face furrow, all her muscles pinching together. “No, I told you, they’re working with the Communists, but those werePaul’sinsects. One of the monsters is aFrenchman.”
Lord Cai opened his office door, then gestured for Juliette to stay put. He wasn’t allowing her to follow him in.
“Not now, Juliette,” he said. “Not now.”
The door closed in Juliette’s face. For a minute Juliette could only stand there, blinking in disbelief. It had been laughable of her to think that she would be accepted into this gang once Tyler was gone, that Tyler was the only thing standing between her and complete recognition. They let her feel powerful, running about the city like she could solve all its problems, but as soon as true trouble came...
They closed the damn door in her face.
Juliette took a step back, practically seething through her teeth.
“Miss Cai?”
A pitter-patter of footsteps came up behind her. Juliette turned and found a young messenger holding a note out for her.
“For you,” he said.
Juliette scrubbed a hand over her face, then took the note. “How come you weren’t sent out into the city with everyone else?”
The messenger grimaced. “I—er—if you don’t need me, I’ll be off now!”
He fled before Juliette could get another word in. She almost called out again to summon the messenger back, but then she unfolded her note and stopped short. It was written in Russian. The messenger had not been a Scarlet at all, but a White Flower.
Come quickly. The safe house. We have Rosalind.
—♥
“Kathleen!” Juliette bellowed. She was already sprinting down the hallway, coming to a sharp stop outside her cousin’s bedroom, her heels practically making skid marks in the flooring.
Kathleen scrambled up from her bed. “Do we know what’s happening?”
