Page 52 of Hades

And where the fuck was Falcon?

“Raven.”

“Not now, Hades. Please.” Her lids closed as if listening to me or seeing me was painful. “I can’t.”

“Fine,” I grunted. “I love you. The rest is complicated, but I need you to know that I feel what you feel. I love you and I want to be with you.”

She shook her head, eyes still closed. “You care about me, sure, but you don’t love me. If you did, it wouldn’t matter what anyone thinks. Not my brother or anyone else.”

I wanted to argue, but dammit, I couldn’t. I had to talk to Falcon first, at least if I wanted to keep our friendship, which I absolutely did.

Chapter Twenty-seven

Raven

I stared at my reflection in the mirror for so long that I no longer saw my face, but just the parts that made it up. Underneath the makeup I was pale with dark circles under my eyes, which looked to be sunken in, either from a lack of appetite or a lack of sleep. Possibly both. My cheeks were gaunt, my skin was cold and I wasn’t even sure I was alive as I applied mascara and a thin layer of powder to my pale skin.

I looked awful, which I didn’t really care about, but if I did, I might chalk it up to the test I took this morning, or my broken heart. I couldn’t be sure.

But none of that mattered now. Once I was dressed in the off-white dress I borrowed from Harper, I wiped all evidence of emotions from my face and stepped into the nude pumps I knew Viktor would appreciate and I left the room.

The clubhouse was quieter than I’d ever heard it, as if the whole MC knew what lay ahead. I felt dozens of pairs of eyes on me as I stepped into the bar wearing an outfit that I’d never be caught dead in, with hair and makeup that made me almost unrecognizable.

Slate stopped in front of me, his hair messy as if he’d been running his fingers through it for hours. “Are you wearing the hair elastic I gave you?”

I nodded slowly. “Yeah, I’m wearing it.” I turned to one side to let him inspect it.

“Good. There’s a tracker in it. It’s got a long range and it’s difficult to spot. But this,” he produced a silver charm bracelet and fastened it on my wrist, “is the perfect decoy. It’s a listening device. It’s obvious and they’ll spot it quickly. They’ll feel smug and stop looking.”

I swallowed around the big ass lump in my throat, his words were the reminder I didn’t know I needed about what exactly I was—willingly—walking back into. I’m doing this for me. To free myself of Viktor. To keep the Steel Demons family safe. “Yep. Got it.” My smile wobbled but I stretched it bigger as if that would make it more fucking genuine. “Even if they strip me down, I’ll probably still be wearing a ponytail.” The part I didn’t say out loud? Even if they killed me, at least the elastic would let them find my body so my brother didn’t spend the rest of his life worrying.

“Dark,” Slate murmured, offering up a sympathetic smile. “But I get it. You’ll be fine. Don’t go off script and stay calm. You got this.”

My lips tugged into something that looked like a smile, but I wasn’t sure if it really was, and I honestly didn’t give a damn.

***

I spent the ride to the restaurant in total silence, mentally preparing to see Viktor again without freaking the fuck out. This man had defined our relationship for years and this was the first time I was meeting him on somewhat equal footing, and I needed to remember that.

He wasn’t my boss. Not my owner.

He was just a man.

Hades sat beside me, jaw clenched tight enough to crack every tooth in his head, worry vibrated off his broad shoulders.

I wished I didn’t care that he cared so much, dammit. What difference did it make if he cared when it wasn’t how I wanted him to care? How I needed him to care? He cared more about what Falcon thought about our relationship than anything else, so yeah, it was nice that he cared.

It just wasn’t enough.

“I’ll be fine,” I whispered when we arrived at Lavender Leaves, just before I slipped from the backseat.

The coffee and tea shop was busy but not too busy, just enough people to notice if he dragged me out of here against my will, but not enough to make him start shooting. I sat at the empty table right in the middle of the shop, taking the chair that faced the window while my heart pounded out of my chest.

It felt like several eternities passed before the door opened and the wooden wind chimes sounded, but really it was just a few minutes.

I laid eyes on Viktor for the first time in years and sucked in a sharp breath. He looked the same but older. His dark hair now contained thick streaks of silver at the temples and the lines around his eyes and mouth were more prominent. He still dressed impeccably in a crisp suit and a stark white shirt, no doubt fitted with expensive cufflinks. I was sure he’d send Alexei instead, but here he was.

“Daisy.” Those two syllables had the power to make my heart drop down to my stomach, but I kept my expression unreadable while he took in my appearance with an appreciative smile. “I trained you well,” he said in that slightly accented tone as he took the seat across from me. “You’ve changed.”