Page 50 of Gatsby's Starlet
That got his attention.
Really got it.
His eyes sharpened, something darker settling in behind the amusement. “Yeah?” he said quietly.
The air changed again.
I felt it.
“Then you better hope,” he went on, taking one slow step forward, “you picked the right one.”
The door handle clicked, and I flinched, but Kane didn’t. His gaze stayed locked on mine, unblinking, unmoving, until the door started to open.
I straightened without meaning to, my body reacting before my mind caught up, my eyes flicking to the doorway as Ruby stepped in first, and I knew immediately, before she even lifted her head, that nothing had changed.
Her face was determined.
Too controlled.
Like she’d taken whatever just happened behind that door and shoved it down somewhere deep, somewhere it wouldn’t show unless you knew exactly where to look.
And I did.
Her eyes met mine for half a second, just long enough for something to flicker there.
Acceptance. She would take whatever Drago offered her no matter how small. It was there hidden behind the same tight composure she’d been holding onto all night.
Drago came in behind her, slower, calmer, like nothing had happened at all, like he hadn’t just stripped her down to nothing and built her back up into something useful again.
The door clicked shut behind him.
And just like that, the room felt even smaller if that was possible.
Kane didn’t move from where he stood near me, but I felt the shift in him anyway, the way his attention slid from me to Drago, something unspoken passing between them before his gaze drifted back, settling on me.
“You can leave,” Drago said, looking at Ruby with a pointed expression before looking back at me. “You get me information and be back here in two days.”
I didn’t waste time moving around Kane and following Ruby out the door. As we walked out, I thought about begging Ruby once again to run but knew it was a losing battle. Getting out of this was going to be all up to me.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
BY THE TIMEI pulled up to Devil’s place,the sun was just starting to break through the trees, cutting long strips of light across the yard like the day was trying to force its way in whether anyone wanted it or not, and for a second I just sat there with the engine idling, looking at the house the same way I always did.
Untouched. Frozen. Like time had stopped the day Raina died and never picked back up again.
I killed the engine and hopped off, the quiet hitting me right away, heavy but different from the clubhouse, more… hollow.
I walked up the steps and unlocked the door, pushing it open slowly, already knowing what I was walking into before I even crossed the threshold.
Everything exactly where it had been left.
Every time.
Didn’t matter how many times I came here, it still felt like I was stepping into something that didn’t belong to the living.
“Alright,” I muttered under my breath, setting my bag down near the entry. “Let’s get this done.”
Work had always helped, giving my brain something solid to lock onto when everything else blurred into noise, and I leaned into that now as I moved through the house with quiet purpose, checking entry points first, windows, back door, side access, mentally mapping the layout the way I always did, already calculating where cameras would give me the best coverage without drawing attention, the front door an easy placement, the back entrance just as simple, but the side windows needing more thought with too much blind space unless I angled things just right, so I stepped back and studied the line of sight until it settled into place in my head, a clean solution clicking where it should, and I gave a small nod before moving on, because that was the thing about this kind of work, it stayed clean, logical, stripped of the bullshit, just problem, solution, done, no room for guesswork and no space for emotion to creep in and complicate it.
