Page 122 of Bride

I nod and start down the stairs. About halfway through the first flight, Serena takes my hand. When we reach the end, I lace my fingers with hers. I have no clue what’s going on, but Serena is here, and everything will be all right if—

“Stop,” a voice says from behind us. A very memorable one.

Fear creeps up the back of my neck. I spin on my heels to find Vania smiling at me.

“I’m going to need you to come with me. One last time, Misery.”

CHAPTER 28

He didn’t think he could love her more, but she is a constant surprise.

Serena and I are fairly well-trained in self-defense, but Vania is my father’s most skilled enforcer. She’s holding not one, but two knives, and is flanked by two guards—the same who escorted me into Vampyre territory all those weeks ago. Attempting to take them would be severely idiotic, and Serena and I are not quitethatbad. So we march in front of her, hands raised over our heads, and follow her directions. Aware that should one of us decide to run, the other would end up with a knife in her back.

Let’s be real:Serenawould end up with a knife in her back. I would probably just get dragged by the ear in front of my father.

Because we’re at the Nest. And Vania answers to him and no one else.

“If they murder me, avenge me,” Serena whispers.

It’s nice, all this faith she seems to have in me. “Any preferences on how?”

“Be creative.”

Father is waiting in his office, once again sitting in the high-back leather chair behind his massive wooden desk, surrounded by four more guards. His smile doesn’t reach his eyes, and he doesn’t stand, nor does he offer us a seat. Instead he leans his elbows on the dark mahogany and joins his fingertips in front of his face, waiting for me to say something.

So I don’t.

I’m hurt, betrayed, shocked at my father’s involvement in somethingthisegregious, but I’m also... not. No point in being surprised by a notoriously ruthless, selfish assassin when they stick a knife in your back—even if they are a relative. It’s a totally different story when the stabbing is done by someone you consider to be a kind, decent person. Someone you consider afriend.

My gaze lands on Mick, who stands by Father’s desk like one of his enforcers would. It lingers for as long as it takes for Mick to lower his own eyes. He looks ashamed, and I’m okay with that.

“Why?” I ask him flatly. When he says nothing, I add, “It was you, wasn’t it?”

The grooves at the sides of his mouth deepen.

“Is Emery even in on this? Or did you just talk everyone around you into believing that she was targeting Ana because the Loyals were a convenient scapegoat?”

He looks away in what can only be confirmation, and my fists curl with fear and anger.You’re despicable, I want to say,I hate you. But he seems to be already filled with self-disgust.

“Why?” I ask again.

“He has my son,” he whispers, looking at Father. Who has the self-satisfied expression of someone who checkmated everyone in the game.

“Then you should have told Lowe.”

Mick shakes his head. “Lowe couldn’t—”

“Lowe would have doneanythingfor you,” I hiss, nauseous with rage. “Lowe would die himself before he let anything happen to a pack member. You’ve known him since he was a child—he’s your Alpha, and yet you don’t understand him at all.” Anger bubbles. I can’t remember the last time I spoke this harshly to someone. “The poison, it wasyou, wasn’t it? Did you also send Max after Ana?”

“Misery,” Father interrupts. “You are a never-ending source of disappointment.”

My head whips in his direction. “Yeah? Since you’ve been taking people hostage and blackmailing them, I could say the same, but the bar was already so fuckinglow.”

His eyes harden. “This is what you miss, Misery. Why you could never become a leader.”

I snort. “Because I don’t go around kidnapping people.”

“Because you have always been selfish and close-minded. Stubbornly unable to understand that the ends justify the means, and that things like fairness and peace and happiness are bigger than one specific person—or than a handful of them. The good of the most, Misery.” His shoulders rise and fall. “When you and your brother were little and the need for a Collateral arose, I had to decide which one of you would have the grit to take my place on the council. And I’m glad I chose Owen over you.”

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