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“Yeah,” Shaw said. “But this bitch already flattened you to the ground once.”
“It won’t happen again.” My rotten uncle’s stare fell on me and so did the aim of his pistol. “Will it, dear?”
I lifted my chin in the air and made no promises.
“Get back to your position,” Mr. Evil ordered.
Drew moved behind my chair and crossed the room to stand behind the main doors, glaring at me. He was riled and anxious. This made him even more dangerous.
If you get caught, watch, listen, and learn.The voices of Dash and Nix whispered in my head.Assess for weakness. Visualize a plan. Apply SERE principles—survive, evade, resist, escape.Don’t give up hope. Never give up hope.
“This is the last chance the two of you have to leave this house alive.” I squared my shoulders and steeled my voice. “You won’t survive Tracker Team.”
“Tracker Team?” Drew jeered. “Dagger has assembled a group of damaged idiots. He and his losers are not gonna ‘dash’ in here and save you. They’re gonna die, too.”
My stomach sank, but I kept my nose high in the air. No way I was going to let these assholes know about the fear rattling my skeleton.
“You were supposed to be one of the good guys.” I tried appealing to Drew’s better angels. “You knew my brother. You fought alongside him. It’s not too late. Whatever this is, you can undo your mistake.”
“Itistoo late, princess.” Drew sneered. “As inyearstoo fucking late.”
The glower in his eyes told me he’d made up his mind.
I turned my attention to the thug formerly known as Uncle Arthur. “You’re an Astor. You’re family. How can you do this?”
“Astors have been killing each other for generations,” he offered with a smirk. “My great-great-grandfather murdered his father. His sons killed each other until only three remained. Mygreat-grandfather killed all his daughters. Said they were useless mouths eating him out of his crops. My grandfather killed two of his siblings. My father killed his only brother.”
A shiver pebbled my skin.
“I bet your father didn’t tell you that our family’s history was written in blood.” He lifted the gun and scratched his head with it. “Nah. Richard was too busy white-washing his past. Well, you should know. We were raised by our father’s fist. Our family is cursed. We come from violence. It’s our heritage.Of violence we were born. To violence we will fall. That was the real Astor family motto before your father went out and bought himself a new one along with a noble title, a crest, and all that useless shit.”
I was still shocked, but my crappy uncle’s revelations gave me a new perspective of my father. Was violence the theme of his childhood, the way he’d grown up? Had he been an abused child? Was this bloody history and the fears that came with it the reason he’d made such an effort to build himself an empire? Had he traded bodily violence for financial greed in an effort to beat the curse?
“You’re not defined by the actions of your ancestors,” I reminded him. “You can be better than them. You’re a preacher, not a killer.”
“People are seldom who they seem to be.” There was no trace of my old, kindly uncle in the face of the beast facing me. “Iama killer and Iwillkill you if you don’t do what I say.”
“What do you want me to do?” I asked, using every ounce of bravado I could muster.
“I’ll tell you soon enough.” His placid smile confirmed my worst fears. “For the moment, you’re just bait.”
***
Dash
“Shit.” My heart dropped. “Fucking Arthur?”
“Fucking Arthur,” Trev concurred.
“Get back to base, stat.” I clicked off the call and stalked toward the doors. “Guzman, King, stay with Rivera. Get me some answers. Secure the door after I leave and watch out for hostiles. Bozeman. With me.”
“Boss?” Mina’s voice garbled in my ear. “I’ve lost—”
My comms died.
I looked at Bozeman and tapped my ear. “You got anything?”
“Nothing.”
