Forever (Betrothed 7)

“Not your fault. It’s my fault.”

“If I’d been at the hospital with you the whole time, that wouldn’t have happened. They can’t take us both down.”

“Doesn’t matter. She’s my woman to take care of, not yours. I should’ve had you watch her while I went out and hunted him down. It would’ve been the last thing he expected. I would’ve taken him out so easily.”

“We’ll still take him out, Damien.”

“I know we will.” I couldn’t wait to aim the barrel between Liam’s eyes and pull the trigger. I couldn’t wait to get rid of the man who had been a fucking wedge in my relationship since the day I met her. When he was gone, we would have what we deserved.

Finally.

Days passed, and information didn’t turn up.

“Thanks. Call me if you hear anything.” Hades circled my bedroom before he hung up. His loud sigh said everything his voice didn’t need to. After his phone was shoved into his pocket, he planted his palms against his face and slowly dragged them down until his fingertips reached his chin. “Fuck.”

I stood at the window and looked outside. My eyes combed the buildings and streets, as if I were a hawk surveying his prey from a distance. With every passing day, hope dwindled and anger grew. I probably wouldn’t even kill Liam with a gun, choosing to use my bare hands instead.

Hades came to my side. “No one is rolling over on Liam.”

“Because he didn’t tell anybody.”

It was the middle of the day, and Hades looked out across the scenic view of Florence. “There has to be somebody…”

“As far as I can tell, he doesn’t have any friends.”

Hades crossed his arms over his chest, and his finger supported the bottom of his jaw. He was lost in thought for a long time, his eyes scanning the horizon.

I hadn’t given up, but this would be much harder than I’d ever realized.

“The Skull King.” Hades turned and stared at me, a vibrant look in his eyes like it was the answer we both needed. “He mentioned something to you. Brought up Liam and Anna.”

Yeah, he did. It was so random, so passive-aggressive. The only way Heath would’ve known about that was if Liam mentioned it, and it wasn’t a secret that Liam was one of the Skull King’s clients. When my body became rigid and I felt a sudden excitement in my veins, I realized we were finally on to something. “Shit.”

“Liam couldn’t have pulled that off alone. The only person who could do something like that is Heath.”

All the blood drained from my face and escaped to nowhere in particular. I felt like I was losing all my vitality, all my strength. The answer was right in front of me, but I was too upset to see it on my own. “He’s supposed to collect his monthly taxes tonight.”

“Perfect opportunity to ask him.”

“Even if we’re right, will he help me?”

“No. Not unless you make it worth his while.”

Heath preferred to meet on my territory. He never invited me to his, so he showed up at the lab that night with his to cronies to collect his cash. If I didn’t believe he was the key to finding Annabella, I wouldn’t be able to handle the meeting at all. Hades or one of my men would have had to do it on my behalf. Paying an asshole money wasn’t at the top of my priorities at the moment.

I leaned against the desk with my arms over my chest as I watched him walk in, carrying himself like he was a king presenting himself at court. And he wore the most obnoxious grin. I looked him up and down, noticed the bulge in the back of his pants where he kept his gun. He was in all black, his fair skin covered with dark tattoos.

“Why the long face?” He kneeled down and unzipped each bag to see the cash inside. Most of the time, he never checked the contents, but this time, he actually pulled out a bundle of cash just to examine the bills.

“You know exactly why.”

He dropped his smile and fingered the currency, checking the different denominations. “Looks like you had a good month…you know, despite everything.” He didn’t even have the audacity to play ignorant. He wanted me to know he was part of this, that it was payback after I’d defied him, humiliated him. “Take it away, boys.” He rose to his full height and snapped his fingers, like his men were dogs.

His henchmen came inside and picked up the heavy bags. They carried them back out into the main warehouse.

Heath stared at me like he knew something was coming, like the anger inside me was about to come out full force. He thrived on it, wanted to see me lose my shit.