"I'm apologizing to you, so please, let my family go. You had the Vale tribute choked off, and my father nearly died of a heart attack..."
She wept like a flower drenched in rain, the kind of tears that tugged at anyone's heart.
Around the gathering hall, plenty of made men were already turning accusing looks my way.
Elias was worse. He came charging over, furious, and shoved me aside with one hand.
I lost my footing and hit the marble in an ungainly heap.
"Miles Hale, there's nothing between Theo and me. What gives you the right to bully her like this!"
"No sense of right and wrong, throwing your weight around. Look at yourself. What is there about you for me to love?"
He gathered Theo into his arms, aching with tenderness for her, and the look he turned on me was pure disgust.
He led with accusation, just like he had for the past ten years.
Elias believed everything Theo said, no questions asked, stubbornly convinced I was the one abusing my blood and my standing in the Family.
In my past life, by now I'd probably have been sobbing my heart out, begging him to forgive me.
But now, my heart went cold, one degree at a time.
Theo's eyes were red from crying. "Miss Hale, please, just let my family go. I'm begging you..." Then, for the space of a single breath while Elias's gaze was fixed on me, her face snapped flat and dry, before the tears reassembled.
Cupping the wide bruise blooming on my knee, I pushed myself up off the marble.
"The Vale name will fall within three days. Mark my words."
The color drained from Theo's face in an instant.
Elias, past all restraint, clamped down hard on my arm. "What nonsense are you spouting? Apologize to Theo right now. Look how badly you've frightened her!"
I wrenched my arm free and let out a scornful laugh.
"I never talk nonsense. Burying the Vales is as easy as crushing an ant underfoot."
Elias's face darkened. His thumb slid to his signet ring and traced its underside, slow and deliberate.
"Fine. Very well."
"Miles Hale, this time let's see how many days you can hold out. Don't come crying to me to forgive you again!"
"Theo, we're leaving."
He scooped Theo up sideways into his arms and strode off, past soldiers who stepped aside without being asked.
She lay against his shoulder and, as if in challenge, winked at me.
Something ached low in my chest.
The year I was fifteen, my parents' enemies snatched me off neutral ground and doused me head to toe in gasoline.
I was scared out of consciousness, and when I opened my eyes again, I was already draped across Elias's back.
Alone, he'd hauled me on his back and struggled ten miles through the dark to escape.
In the end, his strength gone, he hid me away and drew off the men hunting us by himself.
Back then, watching his retreating figure through a blur of tears, I handed over every last piece of my heart to him.
But ten years had passed. Everything looked the same and nothing was. Elias was no longer the boy in my memory.
I gave a self-mocking smile and shook my head.
This life, I'd let go. I'd give him and Theo my blessing.
I didn't sob and beg Elias to forgive me the way I had in my past life.
Instead I turned and walked back into the hall, where the bidding was a duel of standing and every Capo in the room watched to see who flinched first.
Once I was seated, the man running the floor called the room to order and brought out the first piece.
A men's obsidian necklace, thirty million in laundered cash, radiating an air of restrained luxury.
I studied it with interest for a few moments and decided it would suit Lucian perfectly.
Fitting, really. He called himself a mad dog, so I'd get him a collar.
I gave my enforcer a small nod, and he raised the paddle at once.
Before he could say a word, Theo's coy voice rang out behind me.
"Thirty-five million."
"Elias, I'll buy this necklace and give it to you, a gift for the day the Commission names you the Family's heir."
I turned to find Elias and Theo seated right behind me.
Seeing me look over, Theo shrank back and nestled into Elias's arms.
Elias frowned, held her close with all his tenderness, and looked at me with eyes full of contempt.
"Miles Hale, what trouble are you looking to start now?"
I smiled at him and raised the paddle with my own hand.
