Page 116 of Pretty Savage: Defy

One Day Until Bonding

Carrson

The ballroom has become a battlefield.

Tables lie overturned across the floor. Men in tuxedos crouch behind them, rising long enough to fire before dropping back into cover. Across the room, men dressed as servers return fire from behind pillars, bars, and toppled furniture.

There are more dead here. Women and men who will never make deals in backrooms again.

Laurel remains behind my right shoulder, both hands wrapped around the gun I gave her.

A voice carries from the kitchen behind us.

“Where’s my son?” My father. “Has anyone seen my son?”

The panic in his voice stops me. Carr never raises it without purpose. Even his anger is controlled, each word chosen before he speaks it.

This voice is high and strained, close to breaking.

I backtrack toward the kitchen.

“I’m here,” I say as I step inside.

The room carries a trace of cinnamon and clove, now mixed with gunsmoke and the sharp scent of blood.

Carr spins toward me.

“Don’t worry.” I open my arms enough for him to see I’m intact. “Your precious heir is still alive.”

I expect him to make a sharp comeback from my sarcasm but instead he whispers, “Thank God.” He crosses the space between us and clasps my shoulder. His eyes move over my face, my chest, and the blood covering my clothes, searching for an injury.

That’s…different.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“Silas Creed.” Carr releases me and rubs a hand across his forehead, smearing blood from a cut over his eye. “The Jackals came disguised as waitstaff. They waited until everyone was drunk, then opened fire. No one knew which servers belonged here and which had come to kill us.”

My thoughts return to the men in the hallway. The tattoos concealed with makeup. Teardrops. That’s what they were hiding.

“We were at Sinners,” I say. “We just got back.”

“Silas?” Laurel steps out from behind me. “I saw him earlier, dressed as waitstaff.”

Father and I turn to her.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask.

Laurel’s fingers close harder around the gun. “I meant to.”

“When?”

“I don’t know.” Her eyes move over my face, searching for an answer that will make sense to either of us. “It all happened so fast after that. Your father had shown everyone the brand. You were furious with me. You left, and I followed you. I let everything else take over.”

“You forgot Silas Creed was inside this house?”

“No.” She winces. “I didn’t forget. I didn’t realize what was going on. Not fully.”

Carr steps closer. “What did he want?”