EPILOGUE
ETHAN MASTERS
Her chest heaved as she struggled against her bonds. I could already see the ugly red welts encircling her wrists.
With each desperate tug, my heart cracked a little bit more. It took all I had to keep my cool because all I saw in that chair was my sweetheart, Rosalie, twisting and desperate. It wasn’t the kings’ girl in agony; it was mine.
The reason why I was now part of some sick, fucked up torture session which was all too reminiscent of what I’d watch Rosalie suffer through not long ago was beyond me. She’d been terrified too.
I hated this.
I wasn’t this guy.
This. . . monster.
But I knew what was at stake. I knew to protect who I loved it meant someone else’s love had to go.
The world was wicked like that.
It still didn’t sit well with me.
It was killing me inside.
Macy was dead. Vincent Valentino had confirmed it. She’d been so special to me. To us. She was the one who. . .
Fuck. I couldn’t think straight.
To know she was gone. . .
Macy. Was. Dead. She’s dead.
How long until it was one of us? Until it was Rosalie, my sweetheart?
The syringe in my pocket pressed against my thigh.
It didn’t matter if this poor girl was the wife of our enemy. She was innocent and didn’t deserve to watch someone she loved die.
And he was going to die if something didn’t give. The three knives sticking from his body dictated that.
The blood pooling at his feet dictated that.
The fucking horsemen dictated that.
All in the name of love.
“Kill him,” Enzo ordered, his face filled with a ruthlessness which made my blood run cold.
“No. No. NO!” Bianca, the blonde beauty screamed, her sobs creating an earthquake in her body as she shook. “Vin. Vinny! VINNY!”
My guys told me to let her watch. But I wasn’t that guy. I’d been in the same position as her. It still fucking haunted me.
“I don’t want you to see this, peach,” I murmured in her ear, pulling the syringe from my pocket and jamming it into her delicate neck. “Sleep. It’ll be over when you wake.”
Vincent’s name continued to fall softly from her lips until her lashes fluttered and her head slumped to the side.
“I love you. Forever my B,” Vincent choked out as she went still.
My heart shattered in my chest over his vow to her.
Cole raised a brow at me. “Really, E?”
“You wouldn’t understand,” I muttered.
Fox shot me a sad, knowing look.
“If B is hurt, I swear I’ll come back and haunt you fucking pricks,” Vincent snarled. “Cazzi del cazzo. Ti maledico in questa vita e nella prossima. Lo giuro.”
I had no idea what he’d said. I glanced at Enzo, who narrowed his eyes and kneeled in front of him.
“You curse me in this life and in the next?” Enzo murmured. “I’m already fucking cursed, re morto. We all are, my dead friend.”
“Dom won’t let this go unpunished,” Vincent rasped, his face pale, sweat dotting his forehead.
“I’m truly hoping he’s everything I’ve heard he is.” Enzo shoved the knife in Vincent’s thigh a little deeper, making Vincent cry out. “But just in case, we best give him something to fight for.”
My gaze shot to Bianca passed out in her chair.
“It’s OK, man,” Fox said softly to me. “It sucks. It hurts. Stay focused though, OK?”
“I already regret this,” I answered.
Fox nodded. “I get it, but we’re in. For life. You know what that means.”
“I know,” I whispered. I fucking did know, and I hated it with my entire being.
This scene would become just another nightmare which kept me awake at night. I didn’t know Bianca, but I knew her pain. I didn’t want that for her, but like I’d been told countless times, this was war. This was what being in looked like. We’d done far worse already. And we’d continue to do worse until the devil claimed our fucking souls.
Enzo stood and looked to us. “It’s time to see what the kings are made of. We’ve already seen what the lords can do. In this new world, we aren’t heroes, E. Remember that.”
I nodded tightly.
In this new world, we were the monsters.
In this world, I would become one of the biggest monsters of all.
All in the name of love, power. . . and sugar.