“And I keep telling you I’m not really in for a VD. Be serious for a moment. Aurora’s missing. I need your fucking help.”
His laugh was low. “Oh God, I wish I were there to see your face, that press of your lips together, as you are forced to kneel and ask me for help.”
“I kneel before no one, jackal.”
“Of course, ever the queen. But I bet you I could make you kneel.”
“You wish.”
I felt like I was watching a tennis volley back and forth and back and forth.
“And what if I got on my knees for you, Sera?” I heard him purr. “Would you like that?”
Wow. The two of them were wow.
“While I like the idea of you kneeling before me like the scum that you are, I’m not letting any part of you anywhere near me, so can we get to the point here? I need your help finding Aurora. Felix left her with Chad. Now I can’t find either one of them and—”
“You may as well unbunch your panties and hand them over to me. I have Aurora.”
For once, Sera paused. “What?”
“Yep, the Four Seasons. Penthouse Two. Don’t tell Phineas or Lennox, obviously. Or her team of royal security goons.”
Serafina hung up with him without saying another word and then calmly gave the driver the next set of instructions to head uptown toward the Four Seasons. Then she sat back, her lips pressed together, her hands locked.
I watched her warily. “What’s wrong?”
“You heard. He has her.”
“What does that mean?”
She swallowed hard. “With Rhys, it could mean fucking anything.”
Twenty minutes later, we pulled up to the Four Seasons and a bellhop hurriedly opened our doors. Once we were ushered to the elevator, Sera tapped impatiently on the brass handle she held while the elevator took us up, up toward the penthouse.
“What’s wrong?”
Her lip quivered. “If he fucking hurt her . . .”
“Rhys is a dick, but Lennox and Phineas are his friends. He wouldn’t hurt Aurora.”
The look Serafina gave me was bleak. And a little wild. “You don’t know him.”
She marched to the door and started banging, making a holy racket. “Open the damn door!”
Rhys swung it open. He wore a long-sleeved T-shirt with the sleeves pushed up to the elbows, exposing his forearms that were pale but well muscled. His gaze darted to me and widened just a fraction as if he were surprised I’d come with her.
Serafina was not to be deterred. “Aurora.”
She shoved Rhys out of the way, but he held her with a hand on her elbow and tugged her back. “There’s no need to be rude, Sera.”
She glanced down at his hand. “If you do not get your hands off me, you’re going to be missing a pinky.”
I watched the two of them, and I knew. One of them was going to murder the other. It was the only solution.
“All I’m saying, Sera, is maybe you don’t barge in here. She’s in the other room.”
Sera yanked her arm free. “I swear to fucking God, Rhys, if you did something to her.”
He jerked back as if she slapped him. “What?”
She jabbed a finger into his chest. “You heard me. If you hurt her, they will never find the body parts.”
He grabbed her hand then, wrapping all of his around hers, capturing her. He stared down at her, fury and disgust etched all over his shockingly beautiful face. “You’re really going to ask me that?”
“Yes, I am.”
He shook his head. “You of all people. I may be the devil, and I’ve done lots to earn that title. But I would never do this. Hurt her? The fact that you could even think that about me. Wow. Fuck you, Serafina. She’s in there. I found her walking back, coming out of Soho, trying to walk all the way uptown. No coat. No phone. No wallet. Her top was torn, skirt askew, and her shoe heel was broken. But she was determined to walk home.”
Sera dragged in a shuddering breath. I stood there frozen, unable to move.
“Oh fuck.”
“Yeah. Oh fuck. So, I picked her up. But she was too embarrassed to go and see you, and I was headed to Owen’s. Couldn’t take her there, right? So I brought her here. She’s been allowed to stay in the room there down that hall, huddled in bed. I ordered her some fresh clothes. Tried to get her to eat something. But she won’t. I kept her safe. That’s it. I didn’t do anything to her.”
Sera blinked, her lashes fluttering. “Y-you saved her.”
He puffed out a breath. “Even the devil can be the hero once. Just so you’re aware, I have no intention of being the hero again, yeah? So you figure out what you’re going to do with her, how to get her back to your place. It’s not on me.”
All of a sudden, the fight went out of Sera, and her body sagged. “W-was she hurt?”
Rhys searched her face. “I don’t know. She wouldn’t talk to me. But I could hear her crying. I didn’t want to touch her or anything, and I wasn’t sure if she should shower, but she said that . . .”
Sera wrapped an arm around her middle and choked a sob. “Oh fuck.”
He shook his head. “She said that he hadn’t hurt her. That she fought him off, so I don’t know how much of that is true or how much of that is what she wants to believe. But she won’t see anyone, I can’t make her, and she doesn’t want comfort. She definitely doesn’t want Phin or Lennox to know.” He slid a glance to me. “Which means we don’t tell Owen.”
I’d been all for keeping Owen from seeing Aurora’s business, but not telling him at all felt impossible. I threw my hands up. “Jesus, what am I supposed to do?”
“Keep your mouth shut like the rest of us,” he replied in a cold voice, then turned back to Sera. “And then you called me. So, that’s the whole story.”
Sera reached
