spotty and his brain screamed for air, he refused to cower. He glared back at the demon.
Jones hauled Win close enough to feel the heat of his breath and smell the sulfur in it. “I gave you a way out, and now you throw it in my face. For that, I am taking your soul with me as well as your child’s.”
“Bullshit,” Winston ground out. “You cannot—”
“Cannot what? I never said your soul was yours to keep.” He laughed lightly. “Now did I?”
No, he hadn’t. Win had just assumed. His guts rolled as the realization sank in.
Jones’s eyes gleamed, obviously seeing the horror dawn over Winston’s features. “You think to play with the devil and win? Be assured, you are mine, whether you give me my child or not. Taking your soul is child’s play to me. Would you like to see?” The tip of Jones’s finger burned against his forehead, and everything went dark.
Ice cold, then raging heat, flared through him in an instant. Every fiber of his being screamed at once, yet he knew he hadn’t made a sound. Jones’s finger seemed to burrow into his skull, and sharp, blinding pain shot down his center. The touch tugged at his soul, pulling it out of his body and into Jones’s finger. Win lost himself, lost all sense of what he was. Screams and the sharp tang of pure, unending terror surrounded him, growing larger and more violent, until he feared he might shatter. He sobbed, but he had no body, no way of escape. Utter hopelessness filled him. Please. Please.
And then it was gone, and he found himself huddled on the ground. Shaking and covered in sweat, he looked up at the demon standing over him, still wearing the appearance of Mr. Smythe.
“Have I made myself clear?” the demon said.
Win’s teeth chattered, and his heart threatened to beat out of his chest. “Fuck you, Jones.”
Jones grinned, revealing a row of brown and jagged teeth “If you ask again nicely when I take you to Hell, you just might get your wish.” There was a pause in which the air in the room grew thin. Jones’s expression turned almost serene, his voice soft. “You and I both know Poppy will never agree to give me what I want. I need an heir. If I cannot have the boy, then give me Poppy. Do it and you can keep your child, once it’s born, and your life. I’ll allow you that much.”
His child. Win hadn’t expected to have a child. Not after years of Poppy being barren. Her disappointment was his, but he’d been resigned to the notion. Now that he knew that a child grew within her womb, he loved the unknown babe with a fierceness that almost frightened him.
He forced his mouth to work. “Why Poppy?”
“Come now, Lane. You are no fool.” Jones paused, looking, for once, distinctly uncomfortable. “ ’Tis a fair trade, after all. She does not even want the child.”
“Shut up!” Win wouldn’t believe that of Poppy, wouldn’t let Jones drive a wedge between them.
But Jones merely shook his head as if pitying him. “I am her blood. When she is away from me, I can see through her eyes, know her fears. She doubts her ability to rear this child. But you don’t, do you, Lane? Take it, and leave my firstborn to me.”
And all this time, Win had thought Jones followed him. The bloody bastard. Win struggled to rise, but whatever Jones had done to him had left him weak as a babe. “Get out.”
With a shrug, Jones stepped away from the desk and headed again for the door. “You have one more day. The choice is yours, Lane.”
“I will never give her up. Never.” He said it with all the conviction in his heart, but bloody, bloody hell, Jones had him by the cods, and they both knew it.
Jones’s smile was tired, but the gleam in his eyes spoke of victory. “Then you are, as you say, buggered, mate.”
Chapter Thirty-five
Someone made a sound. Ian, perhaps; he had the least patience. Poppy stirred, realizing she’d simply been sitting there as her family sat around the SOS conference table waiting for her to speak. Best to get it over with quickly.
Her voice was modulated and smooth in the quiet. “What I must tell you cannot go further than this room.”
“We rather thought that a given, dearest,” said Daisy with a small smile. She was trying, Poppy knew, to ease the way. Poppy appreciated it,