"Fine," I growled. "Eight o'clock tomorrow at Zanzibar."
"Come alone, Darling," Chase reminded me, "and unarmed. Consider it a peace negotiation." His laughter seemed to echo through the room long after he’d ended the call, and I dropped my head between my knees to try and keep myself from passing the fuck out.
When I felt confident I wasn't going to swoon like a damsel, I raised my head to lock eyes with Zed.
"You can't go," he told me, his eyes pleading.
"Then find her," I ordered. "Before eight o'clock tomorrow night. Otherwise, I’ll have no choice. I'll do whatever it takes to keep her safe, and you know it."
Zed grimaced, but it was Lucas who said what we were all thinking.
"So does Chase."
And that was the problem. That was what filled me with cold apprehension. Because how far could my strength and my sanity stretch, if pushed? How far would Chase bend me with my little sister's life in his grip?
I had a feeling I would soon find out.
27
Despite the high level of anxiety coursing through me at how painfully helpless I was to save Seph, I eventually fell asleep. The exhaustion from not sleeping the night before combined with the amount of physical activity I'd undertaken with Zed all damn day, it all finally caught up on me, and I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
When I woke, I was less than excited to find that it hadn't all been a nightmare. Seph was still missing, and we were no closer to finding her without playing Chase's game.
Actually, that wasn't true. Cass's transport had arrived in Italy, and he'd linked up with Demi already. Between the two of them, they'd already mapped out a radius that fitted the missing time frame Seph had described. Between Paulo picking her up and her calling me, we had a solid estimate of how far he could have taken her.
"Waiting around like this is going to drive me insane," I muttered into my coffee. Zed had already been out to get groceries and reluctantly handed me the newspaper when I asked him for it. I placed my coffee down and started flipping through the pages, heading for my favorite section.
"Why do you like to read the obituaries, anyway?" Lucas asked, peering over at the page as he sipped his own coffee. He had a stack of textbooks already out on the island counter where we sat and had been up before any of us working on assignments for his classes.
Zed snorted a laugh in the kitchen, where he was loading the dishwasher, and I gave him a wry look. To Lucas, I just answered, "Because clearly, I have issues, Gumdrop." Then I changed the subject because it was way too early in the morning for a psychoanalysis. "How is your tattoo healing? Cass will skin you alive if it gets infected."
Lucas leaned back in his chair and lifted his shirt to show the scabbed-over tattoo. "So far, so good," he reported. "Now Cass is going to need a Darling tattoo as well so he can be on Team Hades."
Zed snorted a laugh. "He already has one."
Startled, I jerked my face in Zed's direction. "What? Since when?"
He just gave me a lazy grin, continuing to load the dishwasher. "Uh, same night he did Gumdrop's. After you two went to bed, he got me to put it on his back."
I frowned, my eyes narrow in suspicion. "Cass doesn't have any free space on his..." I trailed off as I took in the way Zed was focusing extra hard on the dishes. Then I snickered. "You tattooed Cass's ass?"
Zed gave an annoyed groan. "No. It wasn't his ass, it was just... his back. Lower back." Yet he still wouldn't meet my eyes, so I definitely needed to check that out for myself.
Lucas grinned like he'd just been given ammunition to tease Zed, but Zed spotted the look before Lucas could get even a word out.
"You'll keep your smart remarks to yourself if you know what's good for you, Gumdrop. Don't make me retaliate in the gym later."
Lucas cringed and held his hands up in surrender. "Not a word, bro." He mimed zipping his mouth shut but sent me a smirk when Zed turned away once more. I just shook my head but had to admit how natural it felt to be interacting with them both like this. It was comfortable, except for that nagging sick feeling in my stomach over Seph's safety.
Fucking hell. I was going to kill her when we got her back. What kind of dumb-shit move did she think she was pulling by running away from the very people keeping her safe?
Growing angrier with every thought, I almost tore the newspaper pages as I turned them. When I found the obits, I took a couple of calming breaths and started reading through them one at a time.
"Fuck's sake," I groaned before I’d even made it through half a page.
Zed braced his hands on the other side of the counter from me—in the exact spot he'd fucked me yesterday. "Let me guess."
I rubbed my eyes. "No guessing necessary. All actions have consequences, my Darling. It's not nice to throw knives." I read the not-even-slightly subtle message from the obituaries and looked up to meet Zed's eyes. "In case there was any doubt, the attack on Seph was payback for me throwing a knife at him."
Zed grimaced and shook his head. "I'd bet he already had this plan up his sleeve. He just tweaks the details to make it seem like it's a direct retaliation."
I folded the newspaper up, having finally lost my desire to read the obits. "Well, whatever. Either Cass and Demi find her today, or—"
"Or nothing," Zed snapped. "You're not fucking going to meet Chase tonight."
Linking my fingers together in front of me, I gave Zed a cold glare and drew my Hades mask on as easily as a pair of old socks. "Don't presume to tell me what to do, Zayden. Just because we fucked a couple of times, that does not give you any power or control over me. Let me be perfectly clear: I wasn't asking your permission. If Cass doesn't find Seph by eight tonight, I will do whatever it fucking takes to get her freed. End of discussion."
Zed glared back at me, his eyes blazing with rage and his hand balled into a fist on the counter. But he knew me. He knew damn well when I could be pushed and when he needed to back right the hell off before shit turned nasty.
So he gave a frustrated, angry snarl and stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the dishwasher door shut on his way toward the gym.
"Shit," Lucas groaned. "He's going to take that out on me, you know." He offered me a small smile to show he was joking, but I was still too hardened to reciprocate.
Zed's voice boomed down the corridor a moment later. "Lucas! Get your ass in the gym!"
Lucas gave me an exaggerated pout with puppy eyes, and it was just enough to crack through my Hades shell.
"You're adorable," I admitted, giving him a weak smile back, "but I'm not rescuing you. Zed needs to learn that I'm not one of his cheap fucks and I won't fall in line to his manly opinion just because he's been inside my panties. Nothing changes; I'm still the boss."
Lucas nodded his understanding, then leaned in to kiss my shoulder where my sleep T-shirt had slipped off. "You sure fucking are, Hayden. Zed will work it out. In the meantime, I suppose I'll let him work out some of that rage on me."
I scoffed. "You secretly love his training. Don't think you have me fooled."