Page 108 of Painted Scars
We stay like that, him buried deep, me slumped over the pinball machine, him on top of me.
Lights flash. Bells ding. Electronic sounds whir.
I laugh, breathless. “I think we just got a high score.”
He chuckles into my throat. “Pretty sure we broke the machine.”
He’s seen the woman behind the glitter armor and doesn’t try to dress me in sequins and hide me behind a smile. With him, I don’t have to be the loudest color in the room to hold his attention. I can be quiet, bare, and still feel seen. And that’s more powerful than any mask I adopted or any weapon I’ve clutched.
A reckless and dangerous fire curls under my breast. God help me, I’m in love with a man who can break me a hundred different ways… and the worst part is, I’ll let him and thank him.
CHAPTER 31 - AUGUST
Monday hits like a boot to the ribs. One minute, Kate and I were tangled in bed with ice cream and plans to burn the world down together. The next, I’m back at the bunker, reviewing the last intel Grayson and Katar have collected, tracking Blackthorn’s movements and surveillance on my Glitter Bomb.
We cleared Kate’s two friends from our investigation. One has joined our team, the other remains a neutral party.
Despite my recent distractions with Kate, the Romans haven’t stopped breathing down our necks since we released dashcam footage of Blackthorn plowing his Mercedes into an oncoming car. He tried to get his police contacts to erase the footage, but Grayson is one step ahead of them and saved copies on multiple servers and encrypted hard drives.
“Give me an update on the social media reactions to the drunk Blackthorn videos?” I ask Grayson.
He clacks away on his keyboard and brings up a screen of metrics. Spikes in shares, thousands of comments, and trends in half a dozen suburbs in Shadow Lake. Social media influencers running stories debating whether his DUI should be groundsfor removal from his post. Too much for the Mercury order to ignore, and they ran a story debunking it.
“Every replay chips away at his untouchable image,” Grayson says. “And I’ll keep that wound open.”
Katar gets up to get a closer look at the memes spreading like wildfire. Far too many fires for the Romans to put out and conceal. “Excellent work, Code Daddy. Are these your handiwork?”
“A few.” Grayson’s devilish smile spurs Katar on.
I settle him back into his seat by patting my friend on the shoulder. “This kind of campaign doesn’t just humiliate, it sticks.”
He nods and takes the compliment without crowing. “Blackthorn will have a tough time scrubbing all of this. Every share is another nail in their coffin. We’re the ones swinging the hammer.”
Katar grins at the meme that pops up, looking every bit the devil’s apprentice. Blackthorn’s car crumpled beyond repair. The ambulance in the background. His face mid-yell. Captioned like a brilliant fucking punchline.
Katar twirls his knife over his fingers. “Here I thought you didn’t enjoy the dirty work.” He ruffles Grayson’s hair and lets his knife fly into the target board with a satisfying thud.
The kid doesn’t even flinch, he’s so used to blades zinging past his head by now.
I give him a look. “It’s not about enjoying it. We remind them we catch them anytime, anywhere, and they’ll sweat, wondering when their time strikes.”
Grayson keeps the meeting moving at a fast pace, and I can tell he has somewhere else he’d rather be. “Blackthorn’s still sniffing around your unicorn from the shadows. No obvious tail, but he hasn’t put the hunt to bed.”
Fuck. My jaw locks and aches.
Katar retrieves his knife. “Men like him don’t forget. They wait.”
He should know. Out of the three of us, he’s the most dangerous predator, the one you don’t see coming. Rebuilt to inflict bodily harm or bleed you dry until your bank account flatlines with you.
Grayson’s the ghost in the wires, and not to be underestimated. Erasing us, corrupting our adversaries, burning every digital breadcrumb before it’s cold, leaving no trail.
I’m the one who brings the Romans’ empire crashing down. Boardroom, bloodline, fucking cult. Everything rendered to ash.
Grayson twitches, eager to get back to his little pet. “That everything?”
“Yeah.” I wrap up the meeting by standing and clapping him on the shoulder. “Go on. Your dragon’s waiting.”
Katar’s nickname for Charlie’s fiery hair caught on.
