Unchained Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 5)

“Ella is smart. And no offense, but it’s not as easy to find her as one might think,” Gage drawls. “Especially when Kimber is assisting her in hiding.”

I should have just locked her away last night when she was safely sprawled across my body, freshly sated and relaxed. Now she’s fucking hiding. I should have known better. Today’s the day my life finally matters.

Chaz just looks bored with this entire situation, even though I’ve seen his jaw tick no less than five times since he’s been in here.

“Look, as sweet as what you’ve done for Ella sounds, we’re here to see what you’ve seen. We need to know what we’re facing,” Zee states.

I glare at Kane. I informed him precisely why he was to tell no one else before I ever told him anything.

He pinches the bridge of his nose. “I just told them. I thought they’d need to know about the portal—which I won’t mention aloud to you. I need them focusing on the things around them, because you said we’ve all died at some point. I’m trying to save more than just my daughter. I trust you with that task implicitly,” he explains with exasperation.

“Implicitly?” Gage asks incredulously.

“I spared you some details to let you know what led me to that extreme,” Kane tells him, even as his eyes stay on mine, silently conveying the message.

I nod at him, realizing he must have generalized. He still fucking told them too much.

“I need to find Ella before tonight,” I say again, trying to sound calm. “I’m not showing anyone else anything.”

“If I find her, I’ll give you a call,” Kane says, and I know he means it, because I can see the torn look in his eyes.

He feels like he’s betraying his daughter by letting me go to my death. I really shouldn’t have let him read that fucking journal. I don’t know what I was thinking.

Maybe I just needed him to know why.

He and the others vanish from the room, but Chaz remains.

“I bet they’d see things differently if Roslyn had dragged back someone they cared about to the rings where they were tortured or brutalized in other ways. They’d certainly view Leah differently if they’d seen her as I knew her,” I point out.

“But Kane said you didn’t have those memories.”

“Oh, I still left the rage intact for Leah—for all the Aquarius—just to ensure I killed her before she killed Ella. My rage for Roslyn needed no reminder, since she was fresh on the brain by the time we escaped,” I assure him.

“Why remove that memory of Leah?”

“I removed Hannah’s identity too. Everything needed to be relearned, so that I didn’t miss anything important this time that could lead to yet more failure.”

“You focused on not failing. Not on riding off into the sunset with the girl,” he states as he glances down.

“Surely you didn’t stick around to say that,” I state dismissively, sitting down as the tension rolls over me.

I have to find her. I really fucking hope she’s not hiding from me. I hope she’s not this naïve.

“It’s funny how, until recently, I didn’t even realize I’d become a hypocrite,” he says under his breath, moving to take a seat.

“I don’t have time for personal epiphanies. In case you missed it, I’ve got to kill a demon who hasn’t been killed in over a thousand scenarios, and she’s been growing stronger. I need to focus. And I need Ella. Do you know where she is? I noticed you stayed quiet.”

He doesn’t look like he’s even listening to me.

“We keep telling Ella she’s powerful, but that she’s not strong enough to control it. All of us. Including me. We keep telling her one day she’ll be strong,” he goes on. “We see her as a child. Helpless. I see her as one of my best friends, but one that I still need to shelter and protect.”

He snorts, and I roll my eyes.

“She walked into the middle of a lynch mob and pulled out the man they were rallying behind. I was furious at first. I just knew it was about to get nasty, all because she had zero idea of how to handle a delicate situation like that.”

“When exactly did this fucking happen?” I bark.

He ignores me, his eyes distant as a small smile toys with his lips.