Cory dragged his fingers over his mouth. Maybe he couldn’t stand the taste of his own depravity. “He learned real fast that he didn’t have a say. I was far more valuable than him or any of the pathetic complaints that he had. Had to teach him a lesson, you know?”
Cory’s voice shifted, drifting into this cold, distant malice. “Took his sister. Bitch deserved it, anyway.”
Disgust prickled across my skin, the words a horrified tumble from my mouth, “Like you did me? Like you did that girl in the picture with my brother? Like you did with your wife? She was Royce’s, wasn’t she? His girlfriend?” I was backing up as I made the accusation. Sickness clawed through my being as I added it all up.
As it all came to a boil.
Cory was a sociopath.
A psychopath.
And Royce had used me to take him down.
Cory grinned. “Actually, she was his wife.”
His statement hit me like a punch to the gut, the words inscribed on Royce’s chest impaling me like a knife.
Love is the heart’s greatest deceit.
Oh God, his heart belonged to his wife.
Anna. Anna. Anna.
“Asshole came after me when he found out about his sister,” he continued. “He should have known he would be the one to go down. Fucker went to prison for three years for assault after he nearly killed me when I was simply paying back a debt.”
He cocked his head. “See how that works, Emmy Love? An eye for an eye. You take something from me, and I take it back. Just like your brother tried to take Leah from me. Just like Royce tried to take my band from me. And now . . . now he’s trying to take you from me. Well, I can hardly stand for that to happen since I haven’t even had you yet.”
God, he didn’t even care that he was married. That his wife was somewhere in this house. Sickness rolled. He’d marked her. I could only imagine he viewed her as another possession.
Fear sliced through me. A dull, bitter blade dragging through my center. Cutting me open wide. Nothing there but more heartbreak and loss.
Trembling wracked my body, and I backed closer to the wall, trying to inch my way around the room toward the door. I was getting out of there before the monster snapped.
No one was touching me again. No one was going to hurt me again.
He kept coming closer, evil oozing from his pores and gushing into the room. “Get on your knees.”
“I don’t belong to you.” It was a rasp of defiance.
Shouts echoed from somewhere downstairs, a commotion growing louder.
“They’re comin’,” I warned, trying to remain firm. To stay strong.
He laughed. “You really think I’m going down for this? You and Royce need to learn that I don’t pay for anything. I take what I want. The world is mine, Emmy Love. Isn’t that what they say? Cory Douglas is the king of the music scene?”
My mind flashed to the king etched on the back of Royce’s hand. The pawns written on the knuckles of his fingers.
I had to wonder which was which.
Who was playing who.
Nausea curled in my stomach, and vomit crawled up my throat.
He slipped forward, closer and closer until he was two feet away. Until the only thing I could taste was his foul presence.
“Stay away from me. I’m warnin’ you.”
Cory cocked an insolent grin. “Or what, Emmy? What exactly do you think you’re going to do?”
Exactly what I should have done all along.
Fight.Twenty-EightRoyceA flurry of activity buzzed around me, people scrambling through the room. Right as I was going after Emily, one of the officers had dragged me into a corner, asking me a bunch of questions. The whole time, I was searching over his shoulder, a hundred pounds pressing on my chest as I looked for her in the crowd.
Nerves racing.
This feeling taking me over.
Something different than coming to a boiling point with my stepfather.
Something sinister.
“We appreciate your cooperation.”
I almost laughed.
I’d been plotting this for years. I was all too happy to cooperate.
“Anything I can do. If you need me, you can get in touch with me through Detective Casile.”
The second I said it, I dipped away, making my way through the bodies blocking the way to get out of the room.
Word had spread quickly that police officers were on the premises. A ton of people had scattered, not wanting their names in the press, while others were eager to get a front-row seat.
This was supposed to go down quick.
In and out.
And I hadn’t seen Detective Casile in five minutes.
This already should have wrapped.
I pushed out into the hall, that feeling amping when I saw him walking toward me, frustration on his face. “Did you get him?” I demanded as soon as he was in earshot.
He gave a harsh shake of his head.