Of Diego, and the vengeance I knew would be coming this way.
But most of all I thought of Tanner. I thought of how he was no longer with the Klan. He was here, with the Hades Hangmen . . . My stomach fell, and I had to catch a sob before it fell from my mouth.
We were at war with the Hangmen. The Klan was at war with the Hangmen. Tanner was no longer with the Klan. He was now a brother of the Hangmen.
I rubbed my hand over my sternum, fighting panic as the truth filtered into my fogged-up brain.
It was worse.
I didn’t think it could get worse for us.
But this, now, was exponentially worse.
I stepped into the shower and let the hot water fall over my head. I washed my hair with the shampoo and conditioner Beauty had left out for me. And I thought of the past few days. Thought of waking to find the Hangmen looking down at me. My hands and ankles had been bound with rope. Fear had flooded my veins, but I never let them see.
I thought back to how the man dressed in black had gotten into my suite. How he had come through the tunnels . . . Had he searched them all until he found me?
My hands stopped halfway through rinsing my hair. The only way they could have known about those underground passages was from me, my father . . . “Or Tanner,” I whispered into the thick, dense steam. “No . . . he wouldn’t . . .” But I could think of no other answer.
Anger built at the tips of my toes and traveled up my body. With every new breath, I felt that anger take hold. I shook from the betrayal. I knew my father had made it appear that it was a cousin who was getting married.
“Why?” I said to no one but myself.
Drying off, I tried to quell my fury, but I succeeded only in reducing the roaring flames of ire in my chest to flickering kindling. I left the bathroom. Beauty was sitting on the bed. “Here, darlin’,” she said, getting up and handing me some clothes. “This is all I had. Thought it would be more comfortable than leathers and a tank. There’s some new underwear there too.”
“Thank you.” I dipped back into the bathroom and pulled on the fitted sleeveless black dress. I combed my wet hair with a comb I found beside the sink and brushed my teeth with the new toothbrush and toothpaste Beauty had left for me too.
I leaned against the sink. My hands shook on the porcelain. I couldn’t get it from my head that Tanner had a part in the kidnapping—a huge part.
“You okay in there, darlin’?” Beauty asked through the door. I hadn’t realized I’d been in here that long. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and forced a smile. “Look at you!” Beauty said, smiling wide. “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
Beauty handed me a sandwich of some description. “Here, eat this. You’ll feel better with something in your stomach.” I forced down the sandwich, but every bite felt like swallowing sand. My stomach was churning over and over with the possibility—no, the almost certainty—that Tanner had been the one to relay my family’s secrets to these men. My family’s enemy.
When I was done, I said, “I’m tired, Beauty. Can I lie down?”
“Sure, sweetie,” Beauty said. “I’ll just be in the corner reading my book.” She leaned in. “It’s about a duke and a servant girl in sixteenth-century England. Tank mocks me something fierce for reading this shit, but I can’t help it. I fucking live for all the romantic crap!”
This time my smile was genuine. Tanner had been right. I did like Beauty. In another life, perhaps we could have been friends.
Moving to the side of the bed, I lay on the cover and closed my eyes. Beauty turned off all the lights but a small lamp for her to read by. I closed my eyes, breathing deeply to shed this feeling of betrayal. How the hell had it all got so messed up? I answered my own question when I thought back to that night. To the night when everything changed.
To the love, the loss, and what led us to the mess we were in right now . . .
*****
“No . . .” A pain so intense it sliced through my stomach; I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I stared at my