back before the crowd swallowed me and grinned at the look of shock on her face beneath the delicate mask she was wearing.
My part had gone down perfectly. Now I had to hope that the others could be so flawless for their parts of the plan.
I gazed after Frankie with my heart in my throat, hope ripping through my soul like a tsunami. Was he here to rescue me like some sort of drunk hero who'd go to hell and back for their kin? Or was he here just to give me this phone?
It was now tucked up my sleeve and I needed to get away to look at it as soon as possible. But as I turned my gaze to Carlos to tell him I wanted to go to the restroom, he face-planted the bar with a gut-wrenching crack. I gasped in alarm and looked over to the barman, but luckily he was serving someone else and no one had noticed this ten ton wildebeest passing out. The crowd jostled around us with drinks in hand, laughing merrily, too wrapped up in their social bubbles to have realised what had happened.
I looked around as if hunting for an answer to what had just happened. Then it all came together. Frankie had bought Carlos that drink. He must have drugged him. I swallowed a laugh of excitement as I got up, not wasting a second of the gift Frankie had bought me as I slipped away into the crowd, crossing the room in the direction of the restrooms. I slipped away from the throng of bodies and into a short corridor that led to two doors. I pushed into the ladies room, moving across the cream tiles and past the golden sinks before pushing into a cubicle. I locked the door, my breaths coming heavily and life rushing into my veins like ecstasy. I couldn't stop smiling as I put the toilet seat down, perching on it and inspecting the phone Frankie had given me.
I checked the messages first but there was nothing there, then the numbers, but the contact list was empty. I frowned, moving to the only other possibility as I opened the photo albums and I found one video waiting for me. I pressed play and my heart stammered at the sight of Nicoli standing in front of the camera. His face was flecked with blood and there was a darkness in his eyes which I'd missed on a base level. I bit my lip as he stared directly into the lens, my heart beating wildly as desire flooded me.
"This is for you, baby doll." He stepped aside and I got a view of Duke strapped to a chair in what looked like an abandoned warehouse, his crotch stained with urine and his face beaten bloody. It was him, my demon, my tormentor. Oh my god, Nicoli found him.
Hatred made my upper lip peel back and I watched, barely blinking as I refused to miss a single second of this. Because if Nicoli had gotten to him, that could only mean one thing. Duke was dead.
Nicoli took a hunting knife from his hip and I watched as he cut Duke apart piece by piece, my bloodlust rising, practically salivating as I devoured his demise. I had to turn the volume down so as not to draw attention to myself if anyone came into the restroom, but I made sure I heard his screams all the same, each one breaking an invisible chain on my soul and releasing me from The Five at long last. Nicoli was merciless, cold and driven with the ferocity I'd seen up on that mountain. Back when it had just been us and revenge, when our lives had been simple in a way I missed so goddamn much.
I starved for him as I watched every muscle in his body turn against my enemy. When it was nearly done, whoever was recording brought the camera close to Duke's face, his body now on the floor and his blood glistening around him in an ever-growing pool.
"Apologise," Nicoli snarled, pressing his foot down on Duke's chest.
Duke could barely speak through the swelling of his face, but his lips parted and he grunted out the word sorry pathetically.
"Say it to her!" Nicoli pointed at the camera and Duke's brown eyes fixed on the lens. On me.
"Sorry red," he rasped. "Just business."
Duke started haemorrhaging, choking and turning blue as he jerked on the ground.