Scorch (Virtues & Lies 2)

“Why me?” I yell with the lump in my throat breaking my voice.

Shivering, everything inside me tells me to back away.

“You kept all the wolves at bay.” The words roll off his tongue like butter sliding off a hot knife.

“What?”

“It wasn’t personal. It’s the way things are. You got in the way.” Guilt flickers on his face, and the world upends. The events that have led me to this moment hang in the air around me. Memories and nightmares. Broken dreams and stolen lives. “It was never meant to be like this. It’s them, don’t you see? They don’t understand how the world has changed. How it works.”

“You’re a traitor.”

Nodding, he takes a step towards me, then another…

“Is he worth it?”

He takes one more step. His proximity is palpable now.

Still, I don’t move.

“You could have saved yourself and

your child.”

A shudder wracks my body as he studies the scars on my sheathed skin. Then it hits. His words hit me like a hammer to glass.

The thirst for blood—his blood—overwhelms me. I’m unable to stop myself as I lunge at him. I’m no match for him as he towers over me, but I give it everything I have in me. Scratching and clawing, I want to rip him apart. I want to tear him to shreds.

“I have to admit, you have more in you than we gave you credit for,” he spits in my face, his hand closing around my neck as he suspends me on the tips of my toes. Holding me his arm length away, I can’t get close enough. I try to kick, but it’s like hanging myself.

“You played the perfect part. Benedict was too scared to make a move on Tomasz because it put you in danger. Christopher was too busy chasing you to put his energy into anything else.” Blood smears his white shirt from my attack, but apart from that, he’s barely fazed, not one feather ruffled. “He would’ve kept you.” He nods at the corpse on the futon. “You see the damage you did? He knew you were playing him, but he still refused to take care of you. You almost ruined everything…all you had to do was follow the instructions. Put on the dress and go to the club. I made it easy. It would’ve been painless. Quick. You wouldn’t have felt it, and he would’ve had his head back in the game.”

My heart hammers forcefully as my blood continues to drain to my feet. I pinch and scratch at his arm, trying to weaken his hold, but everything at my edges is going numb. The pounding of my heart is slowing despite its hard work.

His voice distorts in my muffled ears. My vision spots before it steadily fails me, dimming into a black canvas of half feeling and half hearing.

“It could’ve been so different.” Warm breath fuzzes over my face.

My heart beats one more time, dragging its thrum before it stops.

There’s nothing left.

It’s over.

Chapter 43

Christopher

Where are you? It’s all I can think as I gulp the thick and foggy air. Bodies move ahead of me, Ryan and Wayne on either side as Freddie and Leo follow behind. Last time we were here, the place was draped in fine fabrics, the panelling waxed to perfection. Now everything is dank.

Acid burns the back of my throat with every step that threatens to send the place crashing down on us. Claustrophobic passages are strewn with remnants of unsalvageable furniture and goods.

There’s a glint in the dark. Movement dissipated by one loud crack before the place lights up like a thunderstorm.

Ryan pushes me aside, Leo and Freddie ducking into the alcove after me.

“We need to find Arabella and get the fuck out.” Leo feels along the wall. It’s so dark that the strobing from the gunshots makes it look like he’s moving in slow motion.

A door opens and Oliver throws a torch our way that I catch with my free hand. The other holding my weapon is steady and at the ready.