Page 93 of Silk and Sirens

I shot her a glare before my eyes landed on the table behind her where a small empty bottle lay discarded on its side. Beside it were a packet of white pills, as well as evidence of cocaine.

“How long ago did you give it to him?” I asked, my voice strained.

A shrug. “A few hours? My dealer said—ouch! Hey, what the fuck?”

I’d already thrown my car keys at her chest.

“Take my car and leave.”

Vivienne’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not going anywhere. I didn’t go to all this trouble to leave before he wakes up next to me. Even if we didn’t fuck, he needs to think we did.”

My hands were shaking as I gently rolled Caden onto his side. “He might OD, Vivienne. Do you really want to be here when that happens?”

She scoffed. “This is ridiculous. He’s just high. He’ll sleep it off and hopefully wake up horny.”

“Leave,” I snapped, fear sharpening into something feral, “or I’ll call Selene right now and tell her exactly how you fucked this up. How you partied too hard and now everything’s fucking ruined.”

Vivienne’s expression shifted. The pouty, spoiled princess mask slipped, revealing the cold, calculating woman underneath. Her lips curved into a slow, dangerous smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“You’re really going to threaten me?” she murmured, voice silky and venomous.

“Go,” I warned.

Vivienne’s grin widened, slow and delighted, like she’d just discovered a delicious secret. “Holy shit,” she gasped, almost laughing. “You actually care about him. The holier-than-thou whore falling for the big, bad drug lord?”

She let out a mocking laugh, eyes gleaming with cruel amusement.

“That’s almost pathetic enough to be cute.”

“Get the fuck out, Vivienne. Now.”

She held my gaze for another long, taunting second before finally letting out another soft, mocking laugh. “Fine. But this is going to be so much fun.”

She snatched my keys off the floor and sauntered towards the door, pausing with her hand on the handle. Glancing back at me over her shoulder.

“Remember, he’s mine. Act on those feelings, and I’ll make sure I cut out the baby’s tongue first.”

Something dark and volatile burned in the pit of my stomach, but I didn’t act. Letting her shoot me a kiss before slamming the door behind her. I wasted no time, making sure Caden was still breathing before searching for his phone. Finding it still in his pocket … beside a green glass pebble. Why did Caden have a mermaid’s tear?

“Cade?” came Sebastian’s deep tone.

“It’s Aeris,” I quickly said, a dangerous panic bleeding into my voice. “Caden needs help.”

Chapter 39

Caden

Pain throbbed through my temple.

Jesus-fucking-Christ. How much did I have to drink?

“Cade?”

Opening my eyes to slits, I glared at my cousin.

“I really need to change the code to the lift,” I grumbled, debating whether punching him would cause any more pain to radiate through my head.

Sebastian sat beside me, his usual frown in place while his wife hovered in the background. “The doc’s given you the all clear.”