Page 57

“Get fuck⁠—”

“Oh, will you turn down the crazy for one fucking second!” he snaps. “And just answer your goddamn phone!”

I glare at him. He glares back.

His knife pulls abruptly away from my throat.

Goddammit.

The Bella I know and love would normally have taken that opportunity to slice his fucking jugular open.

Instead, for some dumb reason, I let my blade drop as well.

I watch as he steps away and then turns, slipping his phone out of his pocket and answering it.

Mine is still lit up like a Christmas tree as I frown in curiosity at my dad’s name on the screen, then sigh and answer it.

“Dad?”

“You need to come into the city right now.”

Hades Drakos is a lot of things. But “stone cold serious” is rarely one of them. So when I hear the icy tone in his voice, something tenses inside of me.

“Mom?” I choke.

“No,” he says quickly. “No, sweetheart, it’s not that. But you need to come to Ya-ya’s house. A car will pick you up at the front gates of the school in fifteen. No need to bring anything, just get here. Now.”

My pulse skips. “What the hell is⁠—”

“I’ll explain everything when you get here. Right now, I have to make some more calls.”

I swallow uncomfortably.

“Love you, kiddo,” he murmurs. “I’ll see you soon.”

Then he hangs up.

I’m frowning in confusion as I slip the phone into my pocket and turn. Damiano is off his call, also with a strange look on his face.

“So, uh…” I clear my throat as my eyes drop to the knife still in my hand, then lift back to him. “I, uh, gotta go.”

“Yeah,” he growls in his deep baritone. “I do too.”

“So…” My bottom lip catches and twists between my teeth. “Rain check on the whole murdering each other thing?”

He nods. “Yeah, sure.”

“Cool.”

I turn and start to walk out of the graveyard. Then I hear footsteps behind me.

“The fuck are you doing?” I hiss when I turn to see him following me out.

“There’s a fence and one gate,” he snaps. “What you want?”

I glare at him. “Some space would be nice.”

He rolls his eyes and gestures elaborately for me to continue. I leave the graveyard and start quickly walking across the fields past the stables.