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  The truth was, everything he said made sense. Ewan and I had never seen eye to eye, but his dedication to the group bordered on zealous. Even with what we thought was proof, right in front of us, I still hadn't really been able to see him doing all of this. Add that to the inconsistencies Sophia had raised earlier in the car, and the doubt only grew.

  If he was telling the truth then someone else out there wanted to hurt the group. And that meant we were all still in danger.

  Including Sophia.

  I was out the door before I knew it, my phone already in my hand. She's safe. By now she's probably asleep back in the house with armed guards stationed all around her. But as the phone continued to ring out, a chill rolled through me unlike anything I'd ever felt before.

  Ten rings. Twenty.

  No answer.

  With desperation clutching at my lungs, I hung up and called again. Nothing.

  She's not answering because she's passed out. That's all.

  I tried Trey's number, but it went straight to voicemail. With my heart beating like a wild drum in my chest, I raced back to find Thomas.

  "Who's still at the house?" I asked.

  He recoiled as I drew close, like he'd seen something horrifying in my face. "What the hell? What happened?"

  "The house," I repeated, barely even hearing his questions. "Who's there?"

  He licked his lips. "Jav should still be I think."

  I was dialling before he even finished his sentence, and within a few rings, Jav picked up.

  "Where's Sophia?"

  There was a pause. "Sebastian? What do you mean? She's with you, isn't she?"

  I closed my eyes and drew a ragged breath. This can't be happening. "She was coming back to the house with Trey," I said slowly, my voice trembling. "She should have been there an hour ago."

  "Trey hasn't been here since he left to meet you."

  My hand shot out to clutch the wall as the room spun around me. There could have been other explanations, flat tires and empty phone batteries, but I knew that wasn't the case. I could feel the truth of it right down to my bones. They had her. Again. And it was my fault.

  All the signs had been there, and I'd ignored them. And now... oh Christ. I had all the power in the world at my hands, and it wasn't enough. I couldn't even protect the one thing I truly loved.

  Trey. He was responsible for this. Whatever destructive plan he had for the group, Sophia was somehow involved. And I'd handed her right to him.

  Thomas' expression had slipped even further. "What is it, Sebastian? Is Sophia okay?"

  But I couldn't respond. I couldn't even breathe. I felt like I was drowning, like the air around me had suddenly thickened into something my body could no longer process.

  Last time I'd had a tail on Sophia from the start. I knew where they'd taken her, and I used that purpose and direction to hone my fear into focus. But this time she could be anywhere. The chance of finding her was next to nothing.

  I collapsed against the wall and buried my head in my hands. I realised I was sobbing. I wanted to die. I wanted to curl up into a ball so tightly I just disappeared. My mind was racing, desperately searching for any kind of next move, but it was like trying to catch the wind in my hands. I had no clues. No information. No hope.

  And then, my phone vibrated in my hand. The caller ID listed Sophia's number.

  Barely breathing, I swiped the screen, and a picture of her flashed before my eyes. She was bound to a slim wooden chair, her mouth gagged, her eyes wide with fear. The caption simply said, "Come alone." It didn't give any directions, but it told me all I needed to know. The room in the background was instantly familiar. It was one of the control rooms in the old Alpha headquarters. The place the two of us had first met.

  Trey had Sophia, and he wanted me to come for her.

  I felt an icy calm descend over me, a sudden sense of clarity that was almost painfully sharp. Despite how stacked the situation looked, he'd made a mistake by inviting me. I didn't know how yet, but I was going to end this tonight. I'd failed Sophia too many times already.

  I wouldn't fail her again.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Sebastian

  There was plenty of muscle waiting for me when I arrived at headquarters; at least ten men wearing suits and impassive expressions. No one commented as I approached, they just stood by with their hands on their holsters as the two closest moved in to search me. The gun strapped under my arm was commandeered without even a frown. I hadn't expected to actually get it past them, but I had to try anyway.

  I'd nearly called in the cavalry. Thomas had been flipping out trying to work out what was going on, and it would have been so easy to explain the situation and bring the whole team down here with me. But I took Trey's warning seriously. He wouldn't hesitate to kill her if he got even a sniff of Alpha activity, and I had no idea how far his eyes and ears reached. If he had the right alerts set up, she could be dead before our cars made it a block. I couldn't take that risk.

  When the guards were sure I was unarmed, they stepped back and I continued inside. I reached the door that led to Sophia's prison, but I took a moment before opening it to draw a deep breath. I still had no idea how I was going to get us out of this, but I had to remain calm. Blacking out, like I did with Ewan, would get us both killed in a heartbeat. If I wanted Trey and his friends to pay, I had to keep my wits about me. I refused to believe this was the end. After everything Sophia and I had been through, an opportunity would present itself. It had to.

  I turned the handle and stepped inside.

  Sophia sat towards one side of the room, bound to the chair exactly as she had been in the photo. Her face was puffy and red.

  She cried out through her gag when she saw me, a visceral, frightened sound that seemed to echo inside my head. Without even realising what I was doing, I began rushing towards her.

  "Uh uh," Trey said, stepping into view and pressing the barrel of his gun right up against her temple. "That's far enough."

  Sophia seemed to be trying to tell me something. She'd gone quiet, but her eyes flicked continuously between Trey and the door behind me. I had no idea what it meant. It seemed like all the cards were pretty much on the table at this point.

  I turned my gaze to Trey. My anger reared like a rabid dog in my chest, but I kept it leashed. Focus.

  "You," I said, my voice sharp enough to cut glass.

  He blinked a few times, then gave a shaky little bow. "Me."

  The room was empty, apart from the three of us. Not that it mattered. He was armed and his goons were just a few steps away.

  I studied him for several seconds. He mostly looked like himself. His smile held the same playfulness it always had, but there was something dark seething behind his eyes now too, something off. I had no idea how he'd kept that hidden for so long. "Why?" I asked.

  He grinned. "That's the million dollar question, isn't it?"

  "Million dollar? So it's money you want?"

  "Oh, God no," he replied with a laugh. "Bad choice of phrasing, I guess. No, I may not be worth as much as you, Sebastian, but I'm perfectly comfortable. This is about so much more than that."

  The motive behind the attacks had bothered me constantly. I'd never quite been able to make the pieces fit. "You killed Charlie and Aaron."

  Trey nodded. "Guilty." He didn't show even the slightest sign of remorse.

  "How could you do that? How could you kill your own brothers? We took you in, made you part of the family, and this is how you repay us?"

  Trey's expression darkened. "I was never part of the family, Sebastian. I may have the tattoo, but I never had the respect."

  I gave a sour laugh. "Respect? Seriously, that's what this is about? Poor little Trey is feeling under-appreciated?"

  His jaw tightened. "Even now, you laugh at me." He gave the pistol a little shake. "Not wise to mock a man with a gun."

  For a moment, I thought maybe I'd gone too far, but eventually he relaxed.

  "
You know, my dad used to tell me about you guys, back when I was a kid," he continued. "I know he wasn't supposed to, but he did. He used to tell me the kinds of things you did, the kind of power you had. I used to dream about the day I'd be a part of that. Then you finally invited me to join, and it was the best day of my life. I finally had a chance to prove myself. I spent the next three years busting my ass for the group, but in the end, you know what I had to show for it? The same shitty jobs and cruel jokes as when I started."

  "The group is a lifelong commitment, Trey. Things don't happen overnight. You can't just waltz in and expect to be running the show."

  "You did. You were, what, twenty seven when they invited you to the council? And dad was just twenty five. Not to mention Marcus. You promote that guy over me?" There was something wild in his expression now, something broken. Clearly this wound had been festering for some time. "Dad didn't invite me to the group to be a fucking errand boy. I'm capable of better. I deserve better."

  "Yeah, well your dad would be turning in his grave if he could see you now." The words left my mouth before I realised I'd said them.

  Trey's mouth parted in a snarl and he flung the gun upwards at me, his arm trembling. "You take that back," he hissed. "You take that back! He'd understand. He'd be proud I finally stepped up and did something. He wasn't the sort of man who let other people walk all over him, and neither am I."

  "So what is all this then? Revenge? Kill a few group members and make yourself feel better?"

  The smile returned to Trey's face, but it was off somehow, crooked, like I was looking at a reflection of it in a splintered mirror. "A little, maybe. But there's more to it than that. That's the problem with the group now. You don't think grand enough. Besides, I'm not the one you should really be talking to about revenge."

  I cocked my head. "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "Well, as much as I'd love to take all the credit for everything, I have to confess I didn't do it alone. I had a little help from someone who had a slightly more personal stake in all of this." He raised his voice. "You can come in now, babe."

  My eyes darted to the door just in time to see a woman step through.

  "Hello, Sebastian," she said.

  My jaw dropped. It had been years since I'd seen her, but those perfect features and golden locks were unmistakable.

  Liv.

  For about ten seconds, nobody spoke. She merely smiled, radiating satisfaction while my mouth worked wordlessly. The sight of her made me feel like I was falling, like everything else was zipping past around me. My stomach heaved, my skin prickled, my lungs seemed frozen in my chest. A million thoughts crashed through my head. For a few moments I was actually certain I was dreaming.

  "You're alive," I said finally.

  Liv let out a little giggle. "As observant as ever, I see." She seemed to have actually dressed up for the occasion. Between the long black gown she wore and the elegant clutch under her arm, she looked like she'd come directly from some kind of fancy charity dinner.

  I took a step towards her, my arm twitching forward ever so slightly before I stopped myself. "I saw your body."

  "You saw a body. Some poor girl they found in an alley in The Cross. OD'd, from memory. A bit of decoration, some creative police reporting, courtesy of Trey, and poof," she made a fist then popped it in front of her, "I was dead."

  I felt like my eyes were about to pop out of my head. Turning away, I forced them closed. "Do you know what that did to me?"

  Her voice was impossibly cold. "It hurt, I imagine. I hope it did. After the way you left me, you deserved to hurt." She had the same callousness to her demeanour now that Trey did. It changed her. That feminine allure was still there, but it was hardened, tempered by years of bitterness. Two people with huge chips on their shoulders; in a morbid way, they made the perfect couple.

  "I left to protect you, Liv." I gestured to the room. "To protect you from all of this."

  "I didn't want your protection," she spat. "I wanted you. But apparently that was too much to ask."

  I had no idea how I was supposed to be dealing with this. I'd never been so confused in my life.

  "So now you're with him?" I asked. "You can't have me, so you take this insecure, traitorous little shit instead?"

  Treys snarled and lifted the gun once more, but Liv raised her hand. "Easy, Trey."

  She turned back to me. "Yes, I'm with him. After you left, it felt like the world had ended. I gave up my life for you, Sebastian. My dreams. Everything. And then you dropped me without so much as an explanation. When I ran into Trey one day, I was desperately looking for a friend, and at first, that's exactly what it was. But soon enough it turned into something else. He was there for me when no one else was, and so I was there for him too."

  She shot Trey a smile, but even that seemed to lack true joy. I wondered how much of their relationship was real and how much was simply fuelled by spite. "Unlike you, he's not afraid to be himself with me. He doesn't treat me like a child who can't handle the truth. He told me who he was, who you were, the way you all treated him, and soon it became clear that our goals overlapped. I realised what we had to do."

  I glanced at Sophia, hoping the sight of her would steady me a little. She looked almost as surprised as I felt.

  "Well, it looks like you succeeded," I said heavily. "You've got me. Whatever it is you want, Sophia has nothing to do with it. You can let her go now. This is between you two, me, and the group."

  Sophia let out a high pitched squeal and shook her head rapidly. I loved that she wasn't willing to leave me behind, but I wasn't going to let her throw her life away for my sake. I'd cost her so much already.

  "Well, isn't that touching," Liv replied, her voice dripping with scorn. "Trey told me you two had fallen hard for each other." For the first time, she turned her attention to Sophia. Walking closer, she dipped a hand under her chin, stroking it with one finger. Sophia tried to pull away, but Liv's grip closed around her face, angling her head upwards. Every fibre of my being wanted to stride over there and tear those hands away but, somehow, I restrained myself. We were still poised on a knife's edge. All I could do was watch as Liv appraised Sophia, envy and hatred blazing in her eyes. "To be honest, I'm not sure I see what all the fuss is about."

  She turned back to me. "You want us to let her go? Well, that's entirely up to you. Let's see exactly how much you love her." She nodded to Trey.

  "It's simple really," he said, gesturing to the Alpha computer terminal at the end of the room. "You log me into the system, we release her."

  "I don't understand," I replied. "You want council access to the network?"

  He grinned. "Remember what I said about thinking big? No, council access won't be enough I'm afraid. I want the main international database. My employers want access to everything."

  "Your employers?"

  He spread his hands. "The Syndicate. You don't think we hired all those men ourselves, do you? No, we've had a little support. Once I told them what we could bring to the table, it wasn't difficult to convince them to give me a position in their organisation. A senior position."

  So The Syndicate was involved. I shook my head. The level of betrayal was beyond anything I could have imagined. Trey was quite happy to destroy the entire group, all two thousand years of history, to feed his desperate ego. And Liv, my God. I knew I'd hurt her, but I never dreamed she'd be capable of something like this. Then again, one look at her and it was clear that the woman I'd fallen in love with was nowhere in sight. All that was left was a bitter parody.

  I needed to focus. Something he'd said didn't make sense. "Only the current Archon can give you that kind of access. You know that."

  He gave a little laugh. "This isn't the time to play games, Sebastian. What do you think we've been doing for the last two years? We've been working out who runs the show. We couldn't see the actual orders of course, but you might be aware that Liv is a little handy with a PC. She actually managed to get a few bits of soft
ware piggybacking on your system, while you two were still together, so between that and my basic Alpha access, we've been able to build a pretty accurate picture of the way information in the group flows."

  I felt a glimmer of hope, the tiniest hint of light at the end of the tunnel. "And you think it comes from me?"

  Trey nodded. "Until a few weeks ago, we had it narrowed down to three. You, Simon, or Charlie. At that point we decided it was more effective to just ask. After giving the others a little more... incentive to tell the truth, they still denied it. Which just leaves you. I have to admit, I was pretty pissed off when you managed to find Sophia the first time. That set us back several weeks. Not to mention Ewan's little stunt." He gestured to the room around us and smiled. "But I guess it all worked out in the end, and that's what counts."

  I let my shoulders sag a little, trying to play along. "And what do you get out of all of this?" I asked Liv.

  "Oh, my aspirations aren't nearly as grand," she replied. "Revenge will do me just fine. I'm so glad it turned out to be you. We had our suspicions, even from the start, but we couldn't rely just on those. Now we get to take care of everything all at once. It's so much neater this way."

  "And if I refuse?"

  "Then we kill both of you, drag you over, and swipe your thumb on the scanner anyway." Her voice was ice cold.

  "So why not simply do that to start with?" I asked. "Save yourself all this hassle?"

  Liv's expression twisted even further. "I'd rather you were alive to watch it happen."

  She'd obviously intended to sound like she was talking about the downfall of Alpha, but the way her eyes narrowed fractionally and darted to Sophia as she spoke said it was more than that. I suspected that the moment I gave them what they wanted, Liv was going to have Trey shoot her in front of me and let me watch her die. My group and my girl in one single move. The ultimate payback for the pain I'd caused her.

  Judging by the expression on Sophia's face, she realised the truth as well. Whatever flimsy mask of self-control she'd been maintaining so far had crumpled. She looked absolutely terrified. My mind was madly scrabbling for a way to let her know that we weren't totally out of the game. We were only going to have a tiny window of opportunity and I needed her to be ready, but anything I said would tip our hand. And then it came to me.