Page 49 of Dark Alliance
Seeing the plan laid out before me, like a drawn map leading straight to our shared ruin, made my heart sink.
No matter which direction I turned, I felt the weight of this impending chaos pressing down on me, threatening to crush.
Sitting in the middle of everything was agony. My mind was made up. I wouldn’t waver. Zeno didn’t know yet, but once he did, I would be aligned with Thal, no matter the cost.
My phone buzzed beside me, snapping me out of my fog and bringing me back to the present. I blinked and saw Zeno’s face looking up at me from the screen. I paused, feeling a breath catch in my chest, then exhaled before picking up, half-guessing he somehow knew I needed him, as if he had psychic powers.
Or maybe, I thought, I just imagined him in this chaotic moment.
“Hey,” I answered.
“What have you got?” he said, his voice edged and demanding. The urgency of his demands instantly annoyed me.
“What do you mean?” I stood up from the stack of reports and walked over to the kitchen to pour myself another glass of pinot noir. If I was going to talk to Zeno, I’d need it.
“What the fuck do you think I mean, Daph?” he growled.
“Why are you so angry?” I asked, gulping the wine down a little too fast.
“I’m an angry guy, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“That’s an understatement,” I muttered under my breath.
“Well? Do you have an update for me or not?”
I nearly burst out laughing. Did I get an update? I had a big update for him, but I wasn’t going to share any of it. If he had been a bit gentler with me, I might have wanted to tell him he was about to face a blow even worse than any he had encountered before. But he wasn’t gentle, not at all. Not now, and probably not ever.
“What has Thal been up to?”
What a question!
Should I tell him how Thal claims me until the world outside the bedroom stops existing? How he makes me feel less like a tool and more like a queen, even if the crown is made of thorns?
I wondered. Or maybe I should tell him how just the fact that Thal showed me respect and recognized my intelligence made me feel more like myself than Zeno ever did.
Of course, I didn't say any of that. He wasn’t seeking that information, and even if I had spoken, he likely wouldn’t have listened. All he would have perceived was betrayal. Zeno could never see me as anything other than a tool he had crafted out of nothing.
“I don’t have any news.”
There was no use in arguing.
“How is that possible? Are you not doing your job?” He hurled his words like tiny daggers of disparagement and disappointment.
“I haven’t been feeling well,” I lied.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“I don’t know, allergies or something.”
“Rhea isn’t after my casino, Daphne. She’s after the debt your father signed in blood—namely, you. I’m your only shield remaining between your luxurious life and a prison in a syndicate’s basement. If you don’t provide me with something I can use against Thalassios, I may decide your loyalty isn’t worth the cost of your protection, Daphne. I might step aside and let the collectors seize the unpaid interest your father defaulted on. You think life with Thal is dangerous? You wouldn’t last an hour in a syndicate cellar once they see you as the debt you owe.”
My blood turned to ice. “I’m doing my job, Zeno.”
“There’s no time to waste,” Zeno said. “Something is happening. I can feel it in my bones. And I’m convinced Thal is behind it.”
“Why?” I asked, in a rare moment of standing my ground.
“Because he’s had it out for me for a long fucking time,” he snapped. “He keeps that cool demeanor and that fake smile on his face, but I don’t trust him. I never have.”
