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“I think I’ve had enough conversations with you to know that you’re waiting for your person. You’re one man,” he reminded me of my words from the Yellow Canary. “The one you believe really exists.”

What if I said I think that person is you somehow? Only days, and you know me better than people who have known me for years.

I didn’t voice that thought. Instead, I nodded and waited for the scoff that usually came, but there was no judgment, not even reserved mockery in his eyes. Instead, he just stared like he usually did, like I was his favorite weapon he wanted to dismantle with his eyes.

“What?” he whispered.

With a slight shake of my head, I said, “People these days don’t agree with my sentiment.”

“People these days don’t agree with a lot of things. That shouldn’t stop you from living your life the way you want.”

“Look at you, so wise.” I smiled at him, and that made his eyes glow like the silver moon on a still lake. “It’s just that it doesn’t anger me. Their opinions. It only deeply confuses me.”

He tilted his head. “How so?”

“They label me as delusional or hopeless for wanting true love.”

“What about it confuses you?”

“I don’t like the labels,” I said. “I also don’t like how one’s sexuality or preferences are used to suggest whether someone is weak or strong. Especially when it comes to women. If someone chooses to be a virgin, they’re called virtuous or innocent, or even prude at times. And if it were the opposite, they are called a whore or a slut among other salacious names. Why can’t we be either without being judged?”

“It’s an opinionated world we live in, Bella.” He smiled with his eyes. “Men are fools.”

I nodded. He was right. “So Kenny?” I asked for the third time today, cutting back to the important matter.

Arkane chuckled, leaning back as he explained, “About thirty years ago, my uncle was madly in love with a woman named Ana Glen. Uncle Kenny and my father used to be inseparable but were also opposites. While my father was reserved and calculating, my uncle was easygoing and rather protective, but he had an aggressive side to him that he kept hidden. When we figured out the Glen family was simply using us and was involved in the skin trade, my grandpa devised a plan to completely wipe out the family. He burned the building where the entire Glen family gathered. Kenny only found out at the last minute and couldn’t save her. So he promised retaliation and stole the Sanctus, and you know what happened after that.”

Ana Glen; Killian took his mother’s last name.

Everything he told made sense of the situation he was dealing with, but it still didn’t answer how it was all tied to the murder of my family. Maybe it wasn’t, but I had a feeling it was. Only time would tell.

Arkane and I talked about nothing and everything, and time just floated by when suddenly, one of our bugs picked up heavy footsteps right outside our door.

We both dashed to the laptop on the table to see Killian Glen sauntering down the hallway with an unbothered expression. He seemed casually dressed in a black leather jacket, ripped jeans, and one too many gold earrings that made the flame tattoo on his neck stand out like actual fire. He paused in front of room 404 and knocked thrice, almost like a code, and seconds later, someone let him in, quickly shutting the door behind him.

Only it wasn’t midnight. He was early.

“Whoever he’s meeting is already in there,” I pointed out, turning to Arkane. “Timothy Walters was right.” My brows furrowed. “In a way, at least.”

“I think I got that,” he said dryly, leaning away from the table, his eyes going to the door. “I’m going in.”

My eyes widened. “You mean to their room?”

He gave me a glance for my dumb question. “Where else?” he mumbled, already walking away and pulling his gun from its holster with a ruthlessly fierce look on his face. It was a look of determination that said no one could change his decision.

“Wait.” I hurried behind him, unsheathing my blades. “It could be dangerous.”

Arkane didn’t even bother knocking on the door before he burst into the room, gun in hand, and I quickly shadowed him, my blades ready for a fight.

And what I saw was the last thing I’d imagined to see. Two bodies coiled on the bed in a certain suggestive position. Their eyes closed in pleasure, and lips sewn together.

A shirtless Killian with a near-naked woman, clad in a lacy black lingerie set, who had her heel-covered feet pinned around his hips. His strong, muscular back was ripped with scars and tattoos. Not an inch of his actual skin was visible as he flexed and ground against her.

They most probably would be having sex if we hadn’t interrupted. Was everyone in Rose Ellen having sex tonight? Well, except for Arkane and me.

Killian reacted so fast to our presence that I almost didn’t catch it. One second, he was on top of her, and the next, he pulled out a gun from under a pillow and pointed it at Arkane, with a scary sneer on his face. “Cousin, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he snarled in an icy tone that cast a certain chill in the room.

Arkane casually eyed them both and raised a brow at the woman. “Alanna?”