Chapter 183 183

Chapter 183 183
“Nothing,” he growls. “I’ve looked fucking everywhere, Nikolai. Wherever Xena has taken her, it isn’t one of the usual spots. It’s somewhere new.”

“She doesn’t want me to sneak up on her.”

“Or she doesn’t want to be found,” Christo suggests.

I shake my head. “Xena always wants to be found. The woman needs an audience. She just wants to control the performance.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I need to send her a message.”

“What kind of—”

I hang up before Christo can finish. With one swift movement, I kick the door to my right wide open. It bounces off the wall, and I hear a yelp from deeper in the room.

“Come out now and I’ll let you live,” I boom.

There’s a long pause before the man speaks. “Bullshit. You’re going to kill me like you did everyone else.”

“Maybe. But would you rather die facing me or cowering behind the bed?”

The location was just a guess, but a good one. A few seconds later, the man stands up, facing me across a queen-sized bed. He’s young—barely twenty, if that—with a patchy beard and red-rimmed eyes.

“All your friends are dead.”

He swallows nervously. “They weren’t my friends. I barely knew them.”

“Are you trying to tell me you aren’t one of them?”

“I am. But only for a week.” His chin wobbles, but he quickly shakes his head to try and maintain his composure. “I was just recruited and initiated. I moved into this house yesterday, and now—”

“Death is here.” I give him a cold smile. “But I told you if you came out, I’d spare you. I’m a man of my word.”

He swallows hard. “Why would you do that?”

“Because you’re going to deliver a message for me,” I inform him. “You’re going to tell Xena that I want to meet. You’re going to find her and tell her that this war ends now. Can you do that?”

He nods. “But… why me?”

I look him up and down, from his buzzed head to his scuffed sneakers. “Because you’re the only one still alive. And because I want Xena to know that the sole reason you’re alive is that I spared you.”

His frown deepens, but he doesn’t argue. He isn’t really in the position.

“Can you do that or would you rather join your friends?” I ask.

“I can do that,” he says quickly. “I’ll tell Xena.”

We stare at each other for a few seconds before I snap, “Then what the fuck are you waiting for?”

The man gasps and then hurries by me, keeping a wide berth. I could follow him and find out who he is calling or where he’s going to deliver the message, but it isn’t necessary. Xena will reach out and tell me where to meet. She won’t be able to help herself.

Once that happens, I’ll find her.

Then I’m going to wring her neck for what she’s done.

39

BELLE

A sharp pain radiates down my arm and vibrates through my bones.

“Wake up already,” a distant voice whines. “This is boring.”

I feel like I’m underwater. My ears are full and my vision is blurred. I can’t tell which way is up.

“Come on.”

There’s a sharp jab against my hip. The pointed toe of a shoe, if I had to guess.

The last thing I remember is laying in the hospital bed, waiting for Nikolai… and then Xena. The syringe. Her laugh. I thought she was killing me. But I should have known better—Xena would never make it that easy. Why kill me in a hospital bed when she could toy with me in what I have to assume is some kind of sadistic torture dungeon?

"You're awake now," Xena croons in my ear. "I know it. You just can't stop pretending, can you? Can't stop lying and wasting my time."

Someone grabs me by the arm and hauls me up. I'm conscious, but barely. Not enough to open my eyes or respond. I’m just starting to realize that I’m sitting upright when there’s a hard crack across my face.

Stars burst across my vision and my face burns from the heat of the slap. And one thing becomes crystal clear: I’m in a lot of trouble.

“Oh, Bellyyy?” Xena taunts in a sing-song voice. “Wake up and play.”

I pry my eyes open, squinting against the dim lights above me. I have no idea how long I’ve been unconscious or where I am. It should be terrifying, waking up with Xena looming over me like Death’s eager minion, but I can’t find the energy to really care.

“There you are!” Xena grins. “Finally. I worried I gave you too much of the sedative. It would have been no fun if you’d died in your sleep. What a waste that would be, right?”

I don’t know if she expects an answer from me, until she’s suddenly yanking on my hair, arching my body up so she can snarl into my face.

“I said, ‘Right?’” she spits.

“Dying would be preferable to ever seeing you again.” I think the words come out alright, but my mouth feels like it’s full of cotton. It could be a garbled, incoherent mess for all I know.

Xena lets go of my hair. I drop to my knees on the concrete floor.

“What’s the matter?” she asks, pacing in a circle around me. “Trouble in paradise?”

Paradise? I want to bark out a laugh, but I don’t want to give her the satisfaction. She doesn’t deserve an explanation.

“I figured you’d be begging for me to spare you and your baby.” She narrows her eyes at me, her expression turning acidic as she glances at my stomach. “I bet you didn’t know Nikolai put a target on your back when he put that baby in your womb.”

“I actually think he put a target on my back when he put his dick in me,” I snap back. “Again and again and—”

Xena rears back and strikes. I barely have a millisecond to brace before her palm cracks across my face again. The metallic tang of blood fills my mouth this time.

“You’d be a lot better off if you could keep your mouth and your legs closed,” she hisses.

I would remind her that she is the one who forced me to talk, but there’s no point. Xena sees the world the way she wants to see it. Logic and reason don’t factor in.

She bends down and snarls in my face, “You destroyed my plan. You wrecked everything. And now, I’m going to do the same to you in the most painful, agonizing way possible. If you had any idea what I have planned for you, you’d start begging.”

“Begging for what? My life?” I shrug. “You can have it.”

She pulls back, arching an eyebrow. She’s put on makeup since the hospital, I notice. The wings of her eyeliner flare out nearly to her temples. She looks more like a cartoon villain than an actual person.

“Are you trying to make me feel sorry for you? You steal my life—my fiancé, my baby—and now, it’s not good enough for you?”

I didn’t steal anything. To steal it, you have to possess it. And nothing about Nikolai has ever been mine.

Not his heart. Not his baby. Nothing.