Page 58 of Hades

I rolled my eyes. “Viv told me you think I’m distancing myself. Who knew you were into head shrinking.”

“Don’t be a dick.”

I grinned. Fighting with him like this felt normal. Like we weren’t inside a mansion where one or both of us would die. “I’m not being anything, Trav. I’m just trying to be realistic here. I know the risks of this plan, and I didn’t want to see everyone’s sad eyes. Plus I got to spend time with TJ.”

His expression sobered at the mention of his kid.

“Don’t be stupid, okay? You have a woman and a kid who need you to come back to them, and that’s the only thing I want you to focus on. Not me. Not Viktor. Just getting back home to them.”

“I can do both,” he insisted, his tone arrogant as hell.

“No, you can’t. I’m doing my part because I don’t want him to kill you to punish me. Don’t give him a reason to kill you. Please.” I pleaded with him because my brother was tough. He was a protector and he wasn’t easily intimidated, but he didn’t understand how high the stakes were.

“Don’t look at me like that, little sister. I’m not letting you just hand yourself over to that freak show.”

“You’re not letting me do anything. This is a done deal because you’re here. If I don’t hold up my end of the bargain, he won’t hold up his, damn you.”

“He’ll probably kill me anyway.” He wore a smug smirk as if he thought he’d cornered me in this argument.

“Maybe, but it’d be nice if you stayed quiet long enough to stay alive until the MC comes. If he has to kill you tonight, we’ll leave before morning and that’ll be that.”

“Fuck,” he groaned as his shoulders dropped. “You don’t play fair.”

“Good. Remember that. This isn’t easy for me, either. I never wanted to be back here or in this position, but here I am. Just keep your mouth shut until we get a rescue or until I’m gone, yeah?”

He nodded. “You can’t get on that plane, Raven. If you do, nobody will ever see or hear from you again.”

I swallowed hard because I knew that. More than anyone, I knew what Viktor was capable of doing. “Then don’t do anything that will force me to get on that fucking plane.” My stomach lurched and I smacked both hands over my mouth, running around the room until I found an expensive vase to throw up in. My stomach lurched and hitched as I filled the vase until my throat burned, my eyes watered and goosebumps covered my skin.

I had another reason why everything had to go to plan. It wouldn’t take Viktor long to realize I was pregnant, and unless he made me have sex with him as soon as we left, then he’d know the baby wasn’t his, and we’d both be dead. I didn’t think I had a life back at the clubhouse anymore, but the only way for me and my baby to survive all this was if we got as far away from Vegas as possible.

I put my hand over my belly, instinctively trying to protect the life growing inside me, but I felt my brother’s gaze on me, full of concern and curiosity and I pulled my hand away.

“What’s going on Raven?”

“Nothing,” I replied. “Nothing at all.” And as soon as we were free of his place, I’d take my nothing and build a life away from Steel City.

Away from Hades, who would choose my brother over me.

Chapter Thirty

Hades

“How much fucking longer?” I’d probably asked the question at least fifty times over the past hour while we waited for Slate to get eyes inside Viktor’s humongous fucking mansion. Diesel ordered us to wait until after sunset because this was a respectable fucking neighborhood, and we didn’t want to draw stares from nosy people inclined to bring in the law.

“Sun’s down,” Sniper said with a shrug. “So probably not much longer. You need to get your fuckin’ head on straight.” His brows knitted as he hit me with a worried stare.

“Yeah,” I grunted a response because I couldn’t get my head on straight. How the fuck could I possibly when Raven was in there? My mind wouldn’t stop flashing images in my head of her scared out of her fucking mind and trying not to show it. Images of Viktor touching her, of him hurting her. Was she worried we wouldn’t come for her? I could have kicked myself for not having that talk with her. She’d been distant since the other day. I knew the whole thing with me wanting Falcon’s approval to date his sister was fucking with her head. I should have told her that even if he’d threatened to kick my ass out of town, I wasn’t gonna give her up. And now it might be too late…

My hands tingled with the need to do something. I wanted to rush inside that oversized house and kill everyone in sight until I found Raven. But I couldn’t. Not alone.

So I had to fucking wait.

“We’ll get inside soon enough. There’s no other way out of this block, so we know they’re in there.” He was trying to reassure me, to keep me from diving headlong off the deep end.

Finally, my phone buzzed. “I’ve got eyes,” Slate’s message read.

My shoulders relaxed instantly.