Page 70 of The Devil

“I think it was me who got you into this mess,” I say.

“Well, this is all very touching, but I suggest we get going,” Severin says, buttoning his jacket and gesturing subtly at two more men who appear beneath the arch that connects the dining room to the lobby. Behind them, someone is carrying our bags to the exit. Malcom, too, is getting antsy, wanting to fight. I can see it in his stance.

Jet sees too and his hand slides toward his holstered gun. Severin lays a hand on his shoulder.

“Think, brother. This isn’t some rival family you’ve dealt with for Cassian. Even if you kill every one of these low-ranking thugs, there will be more and the offense you cause will be repaid in kind. If you cross this line⁠—”

“So you expect me to simply tuck tail and obey?” Jet asks.

Severin’s teeth clench. “If you cross this line, you know where you’ll end up. Where we all may end up. That includes your wife.”

I shudder at his words. The tone in which they’re delivered. But I know how dangerous this is. In the four years since my father’s death, I’ve been well aware of the world that awaits me outside Cassian’s protection, but this? Now? With these men? It’s a different level. I feel it in my bones. And I’m scared. Scared for all of us.

“You think you know what they’re capable of, but you don’t. Not really. And I’ll tell you, it’s worse than you think. Than you can imagine,” Severin says and that quiets Jet. The two of them know something I don’t. An old secret. “Please, brother.”

Jet’s eyebrows furrow, his forehead wrinkling. He glances at me. He’s thinking. A few moments later, his fingers tighten around mine.

“She stays with me. No one touches her. No one talks to her. Hell, no one so much as looks at her.”

“Or what? You’ll shoot the whole place down? Be reasonable,” Sev says, but Jet isn’t reasonable, not when it comes to me. I close my fingers a little tighter around his because I’m not reasonable either, not when it comes to him.

“If anything happens to me, you protect her,” Jet says. “I need your word that you’ll do that. Same way you would have me. If you could have. With your own life if need be.”

Same way you would have me. If you could have.

Jet’s words hit their mark. Severin flinches.

The history between the brothers is more than the blood in their veins. Jet’s eyes are locked on his brother. The secret they share is dark. I see it in Severin’s face. In that slight flinch. Something happened. Something Severin was unable to protect his little brother from. And now, Jet is using that as a weapon to keep me safe.

“You have my word. I will protect her same as I would you. Now let’s go because I have a feeling they’re getting close to dropping the pretense of courtesy.”

Jet’s jaw clenches so hard I feel it in my teeth. He turns to look at me. Rage and violence and possession war in his eyes but Severin is right. This isn’t a choice.

“If they touch you, if any one of them lays a finger on you,” he says through his teeth, leaning so close only I hear him, his breath warm and soft, the only gentle thing in this room. “I’ll burn that island to the ground with every last one of them on it.”

23

JET

Isaw Sev’s face when I said what I said. When I used the one thing that haunts him to this day, more than a decade after the event.

Same way you would have me. If you could have.

I don’t blame Sev for what happened. I don’t think he could have protected me. He was barely a man himself, and our grandfather was a force. I swear he had the hand of Satan at his back.

But I can’t risk Amal.

I look at her walking beside me. She’s standing tall, her spine straight, eyes set, expression unreadable to all but me. She’s scared but she’s good at hiding it. It’s a façade she’s learned well over years.

When I squeeze her hand, the mask slips just a little. Just for a split second. Severin walks on the other side of her, slightly back, but I know he’ll keep his promise.

My brother is an enigma to most, but I know him. I know at his core he will do anything to protect his family. And like it or not, she is family now.

As soon as we’re in the lobby, one of the men lays Amal’s coat over her shoulders. I find it strange because they don’t bother to do that for me or Sev and I doubt it’s simply a man being gentlemanly.

IVI soldiers lead the way to the lobby doors. Two more men wait outside. Two Rolls Royce’s stand ready at the entrance each with a driver inside. A van with tinted windows is parked behind them. I’m going to guess more soldiers are inside, should they be needed.

“Sir, Mr. Blackstone,” Joe, the bellman starts. “Will you be⁠—”