Chapter 3

Damien walked in, dressed in full black, slow and deliberate.

He took his place at my side, expression perfectly neutral.

"Apologies. I was preparing a gift for Mr. Harrington. It took longer than expected."

The ceremony proceeded.

When it was my turn, Grandfather broke protocol. "Damien. You join her."

Damien took a candle with me and bowed three times before the memorial portraits.

The instant I placed my candle on the altar, Grandfather rose with a smile.

"Adeline is of age now. Tonight, with all of you as witness, I am proud to announce the engagement of my granddaughter, Adeline Harring—"

A gunshot. The words snapped off mid-syllable.

Something warm sprayed across my face.

The smile on Grandfather's face froze. He pitched forward and hit the floor.

I hadn't fully understood what I was seeing when I felt the barrel of a gun press against the back of my skull.

"Nobody move!"

Damien's voice cracked across the room.

A wall of his men poured in through the doors, sealing everyone inside.

"Adeline. You forced me to do this."

Damien's voice was right at my ear, grinding out each word through clenched teeth.

I didn't hear him. I was staring at Grandfather. At the blood pooling under him.

The pain hit me late, all at once, and I ripped out of Damien's grip and ran to him.

I dropped to my knees beside him, staring into his wide, unseeing eyes, and a scream tore out of my throat.

"Grandfather!"

Damien's eyes narrowed. He hauled me back to my feet, held me from behind, and put two more bullets into Grandfather.

"No—stop it, stop it!"

I fought him with everything I had.

All I got in return was his low, shattered laugh at my ear. "Adeline. So you can feel pain after all."

"I've been preparing this gift for ten years. Do you like it?"

He laughed again. Something warm dripped from his face onto my neck.

Damien's eyes were wet with tears, and the hate in them swept across every person in the room.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to let any of you die too quickly. What the Harringtons owe the Blackwoods won't be settled that easily."

"Blackwood? He's a Blackwood?"

Someone in the crowd clapped a hand over their mouth. "The Blackwoods were wiped out fifteen years ago—"

Crack.

One shot. One dead man.

Damien held the pistol steady. His face had gone completely dark.

The crowd stood frozen for a second, and then the room erupted into chaos.

My Uncle Gerald pushed forward, veins standing out on his neck. "Damien. You treacherous son of a—don't you forget, without this family you would have died in that pit years ago—"

"Uncle Gerald—"

My roar tore out of me as I watched the man who had doted on me since I was a child take a bullet straight through the skull.

Damien had gone beyond reasoning.

His face blank, he looked around at the enraged Harringtons and said, almost carelessly, "Take them all out. Whoever wants vengeance, take it."

Screams rose from the corners of the hall. Women crying, men begging.

I tore my pistol free—only to find the magazine had been quietly slipped out hours ago.

"Boss, this is the bitch who made Vivienne suffer like she did. We can't let her off easy!"

Damien glanced at me. His eyes were arctic.

He turned his back and set the memorial hall on fire.

His men took that as permission. Their eyes lit up as they dragged me toward the corner.

"I've been waiting for this day a long damn time. Let's see just how filthy the great Miss Harrington can get."

The man pinning me down had enormous hands.

Several of them together forced me into a position designed to humiliate.

The moment they tore the front of my dress, I bit down hard and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Shit—this bitch is trying to bite her tongue off!"

The man grabbed my jaw, humiliated and furious, and swung at me.

His hand never landed. Someone kicked him off me.

Damien crouched over me and gripped my face in his hand. His eyes were a tangle of pain.

"Adeline. If you dare die on me, I will take those men apart one bone at a time."

I curled my lip. Blood ran from the corner of my mouth onto him.

Under his startled, furious stare, I bit down on his throat, right over the Adam's apple.

"Damien. I should have let you die in that pit. That was my mistake."

Damien hissed in pain. When he realized his neck was slick, his whole body went rigid.

He dragged his thumb across the tears at the corner of my eye, hard enough to bruise.

"Because of your family, hundreds of Blackwoods were slaughtered. Do you really think you have the right to hate me?"