The Dark Elite (The Dark Elite 1)

Ciro. Hale. Lucas. Zaid.

They were the ones who came back for me. They are the ones who have kept me safe and continue to keep me safe.

Not Brian. Not my dad.

These four men may have dragged me away from the altar, but they kept me from marrying a man who was willing to kill me. They may have stolen me from my old life, but that life was just an empty facade. And they may be hiding things from me, but at least they’re open with the fact that they can’t tell me. They’re not going behind my back and betraying me.

Did Brian ever love me? Or did he just use me—

“We don’t know if you were part of the plan from the beginning,” Ciro says, reading my thoughts. “He could have fallen in love with you first and then made the connection.”

“Or he could have gotten together with me all that time ago with the intent of selling me out,” I say, feeling another painful stab of betrayal but trying to bury it in bitterness. “And killing me.”

I look away, not wanting Ciro to see how much this actually hurts. Not wanting him to see the tears that are forming in my eyes, threatening to spill over.

“Either way, he was never planning on rescuing me,” I finish. “And if he ever loved me, that’s worse. Because that means greed trumped whatever feelings he had. He destroyed whatever existed between us for what? Money? Power?”

It’s always one of those things that leads people to do horrible things.

Or both.

I drag in a deep breath through my nose, trying to find some semblance of calm.

There’s no way out now. I’m stuck here.

And what’s worse, I don’t know if I’m thankful for that fact. I don’t know if I’m relieved that I’m back with these men and not with Brian—even if Brian truly had been here to rescue me, not to kill me.

“Stay here, Grace,” Ciro murmurs, and I look back up at him just in time to see his throat dip. His hands hesitate at my jaw, featherlight touches that I want to lean in to. “Stay where you’re safe.”

His voice is earnest. He means it. He’s asking me to stay, not dragging me into the bedroom and tying me to the bed.

But is it really up to me?

Damian Novak still expects Hale and his crew to deliver me to him. The leader of the Novak Syndicate is still out of the city, but the moment he comes back, he’ll want them to fulfill the last stage of their mission.

He’ll want me.

I still don’t know what for, and I’m not even sure Hale knows. So how can these men truly protect me? Can anyone?

I push off the counter, careful not to brush against Ciro as I slip away from him. His touch is so rarely offered that I hate to give it up, but I can’t handle it right now. Not when I’m so exhausted and vulnerable. Not when I’m likely to give too much of myself.

“I’m tired and filthy,” I say, stepping across the large bathroom. “I need a shower.”

He doesn’t say anything, doesn’t move an inch. I feel bad for

pushing him away, but he’s so hard to read that I can’t even tell if I offended him or made him upset.

He’s quiet, wearing that same blank expression he often does.

Void of emotion.

Void of feeling.

And he still hasn’t made a move to leave the bathroom.

“Of course you won’t let me be alone.” I force a laugh, a manic sound. My rescuers are my captors. My enemies are my saviors. None of this makes fucking sense. “Of course I can’t be trusted.”

I don’t even bother hiding myself as I strip out of my clothes and turn on the shower, waiting for the water to heat up. As soon as steam begins to waft through the air, I step under the spray.