The Demon King of Lust

Chapter 40

"What??" I ask. "Wha- what is that?"

Kieran hands me the paper and photos and grabs his keys from a nearby shelf.

The Polaroids show a woman with dark hair and eyes, huddled in a corner with her hands and feet bound. She looks like she's in her fifties. She's wearing a beige cardigan and matching top and her hair is tied up in a bun. Her smeared eye makeup and scared expression make my stomach drop.

The paper has a message scrawled in black marker:

Your girl for my girl. You have 3 days. Call me when you're ready.

It's Victor's handwriting. He didn't sign it, but he didn't have to. He knew that Kieran would know who it was from.

"We have to go," Kieran says, taking the papers back and heading out the door. "Now."

He strides toward his car like he's about to burn the world down, but I catch up to him and tug at his shirt. He swivels on his back foot and stares me down. His brows are pinched and his jaw is clenched. To most people, he would look angry, but I can sense everything beneath the surface: he's terrified.

"We have to go to Zane's. Now. He'll... or maybe Finn or... someone will know what to do."

"Okay, but you're not driving," I say, taking the keys from his hand. He looks at his empty palm for a moment, then his eyes meet mine. "You're too worked up, you're not safe to drive."

I walk the rest of the way to his car and open it, jumping inside. My hands are shaky, but at this point I'm definitely the safer driver between the two of us.

"Where are we heading?" I ask, starting the engine.

"You know that restaurant where we met them? They live in the same building."

I nod and pull into the street.

"Call Zane, let him know we're coming. Then call Finn too or whoever else."

He nods and picks up his phone. He calls Zane first but doesn't offer much detail—it's an emergency, we have a problem, Victor has escalated, and we're coming over. Zane seems to get the message and Kieran hangs up and dials Finn. Again, Kieran doesn't really explain the details, but he seems to sound the alarm enough that Finn agrees to meet us there.

*****

After a tense and silent drive downtown, I pull into an underground lot and park. Kieran doesn't say a thing, he just opens his door and heads for the elevator. We ride it to the penthouse level and Kieran doesn't even knock at the door, he just barges in. I follow behind him.

"Bloody hell, mate, you look like shit," Zane says. "What happened?"

Kieran pulls the folded papers out of his pocket and shoves them into Zane's hand.

"Victor," he says.

My stomach clenches at his name. I haven't had a chance to process all of this, but now that we're here, I can't help but realize the weight of the situation. I brought Victor into Kieran's life. If I didn't, Kieran's sister would be okay.

Zane looks them over and his brow furrows. His eyes flicker green for a moment before he looks back up at Kieran.

"Is this... Rosie?" he asks.

Kieran nods.

"Fuckin' bastard."

Ava comes out to the living room in her pajamas with a concerned expression.

"What's going on?" she asks. "Zane said it was an emergency."

"Victor kidnapped Kieran's sister," Zane says with a solemn expression, handing the photos back to Kieran and setting the note on the coffee table as he sits down.