Forbidden (Blood Ties #7)

This was them burning it to the ground.

“What else do we have?” Coulter muttered.

“This is where we are now.” The bastard who’d barged me stabbed the map. “But this entire wing here is free. This is where we move them.” Then he moved his finger right over the room where I’d put her.

Fuck.

I stared as Coulter narrowed his gaze and turned the map to get a better view. I glanced at the map as the realization dawned. I was trapped in this place…like a rat in a fucking cage…only now I’d dragged my brothers and a goddamn liar with me.

I turned around and left. I doubted they’d even noticed I left.

Panic drove me along the glaringly bright hallways. I headed to the connecting door that would take me to my personal quarters, the ones I shared with my kin. All I saw was that bastard’s finger pointing right at the room where I’d put Helene.

Thoughts of her and Kane rushed into my head. I pressed my card against the scanners and pushed through the doors. It wasn’t just how his eyes had widened the moment he saw her, but how quickly that flare of surprise had turned to a look of desire.

He wanted her.

No.

He craved her.

I scanned the dark, woodgrain interior of my apartment as Kane stepped out of the doorway to Thomas’ room. He wiped his hands on a towel, his shirt sleeves rolled high. I scanned the darkened room behind him. “Is he asleep?”

“For now,” my brother answered in a clipped, pissed tone.

He watched me stride past the kitchen, heading for the fully stocked bar. This place might not be crammed with designer furniture, but it had what we needed, and right now, that was alcohol and a lot of it. I needed to be fucking numb, to forget this entire fucking day…for a second at least. I grabbed a bottle, unscrewed the top, and poured half a glass.

“You want to talk about this?” Kane glanced at the glass as he stepped closer.

“Not really.” I lifted the glass to my lips and took a deep swallow.

It burned all the way down. Still, it wasn’t enough.

“I didn’t know.”

I took another hard swallow.

“If she means that much, I can—”

I moved fast, holding onto the glass with one hand as I grasped his neck. “You canwhat, brother? Leave? Forget her? You really think you can do that?”

I drove him back against the wall with athud,catching the wince of pain as his head hit. Still, he never fought. Not this time. Not like he had before in front of her. I searched his eyes, watching his calculating mind search for a way inside my head.

Not this time.

Not…this time.

I shoved him hard and dropped my hand.

“I had no idea you were involved with her,” he started. “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have—”

Wouldn’t have…wouldn’t havewhat? Fucked her?

Is that what had happened?

Is my brother…is he Michael DiAngelo?

“Was it you?” I asked, my tone dangerous. “Was it you she was going to meet?”