by Ella Miles
“What do you want?”
“Just to let you know, I’ll blow up your wife’s bedroom if you don’t hear me out. You and I have a deal, after all. One that you keep trying to run away from,” Julian says, holding up his phone, showing me a picture of Siren’s room with explosives on the door.
I feel the yacht jolt forward. I’m sure it’s Julian’s doing, trying to separate us from our fleet of men.
I growl, my anger palpating through me as I keep the gun aimed at Julian’s head. “Don’t touch her.”
“I don’t plan to. I have other, more important things, to get from you.”
“Like?”
“You owe me two more sins or truths. But since you’ll never tell me the truth, you can commit a sin,” Julian says.
I frown, not liking this.
“Retrieve the box,” Julian says, looking past me. I feel more people gathering around us on the main deck, and I don’t have to look to know who is standing behind me—Kai and Enzo. Kai is to my left, Enzo my right.
“Welcome, everyone,” Julian says.
I swallow.
“You’re not getting away, not this time,” Kai says.
“You thought your little games could break us up, not going to happen. We fight together,” Enzo says.
“I’m always up for a good fight with my friends,” Langston says.
Langston’s voice gets me to turn. He’s standing next to Enzo. He looks good, although a bit worn down and unshaven. He winks at me when I turn.
I exhale a breath. Everyone who needs to be here is here. We can figure out how to take him down, then hunt down Bishop and do the same to him. This time, they will all end up dead. We all point our guns at Julian.
“It’s over. Let Siren go, and we’ll make your death quick,” I say.
Julian laughs. “I won’t be the one dying tonight. But if I do, Siren will die at the same time.”
I stiffen. He’s holding his phone, showing a countdown until the bomb detonates.
I can’t kill him until the bomb is disarmed.
“Go,” I say to Langston.
And then he’s gone to hopefully disarm the bomb in time.
Julian looks at his watch. “He has three minutes. Do you think he’s fast enough? Because if I don’t enter in the code by then, the bomb will go off.”
“What do you want?”
“You have two sins left. Finish them, and I won’t harm Siren. Finish them, and I’ll let her live.”
Julian is careful with his words. He doesn’t promise me my life, just hers—it’s enough. He knows that. He knows all I care about is making sure that she lives, that our baby lives.
“These last two sins are different than the rest—darker, more dangerous. Requiring more loyalty than you’ve given me so far,” Julian’s eyes seer.
Hurry up, Langston. I need Siren safe.
“Whatever it is, I’ll do it,” I say, no words I’ve ever spoken have been truer.
Julian nods. “Prove it.”
“How?”
I cringe, knowing Kai and Enzo need to run because whatever he’s going to have me do involves them.
“Kill Enzo,” Julian says.
This is about loyalty. And time is ticking down. I turn and shoot, not giving Enzo or myself time to think. I aim for the shoulder, hoping it’s enough to appease Julian.
Julian laughs as Kai shrieks.
“What’s the final sin?” I ask, knowing we’ve already wasted a minute. I only have two minutes left to get this madman to turn off the bomb.
“That wasn’t your sin. Just the test. And you failed.”
“I shot him.”
“I said kill him.”
“If I kill him, that completes one of my two sins,” I say, trying to come up with a way to save Enzo and Siren. An idea forms in my head for how to save Enzo. I don’t love it, but it gives him a fighting chance.
Julian looks behind me. “Fine, kill Enzo Black, the leader of the great Black empire, and you’ll only have one sin left.”
I turn and look at Kai’s pleading eyes as she holds onto the wound in Enzo’s shoulder.
“Disarm the bomb, Julian,” I say.
“Not until Enzo is dead.”
A tear waters my eyes, knowing what I’m about to do. I turn, counting down my final sixty seconds that I have to do something until Siren dies. Julian will kill her this time if I don’t do this, but I’m hoping Langston found a way to stop this before I get to her.
Sixty.
Fifty-nine.
Fifty-eight.
I walk over to Kai, who is leaning over Enzo’s body. I look at her, searching her eyes for any solution that she has. She wants to fight. To shoot Julian and call his bluff. We were supposed to shoot him and Bishop the second we saw them. Well, Bishop isn’t showing himself, and Julian, as always, is one step ahead of us.
Fifty.
Forty-nine.
Forty-eight.
I look down at Enzo, who gives me a tight nod avoiding his wife, knowing she’s not going to let me do what I’m about to do easily. If she’s pissed at Siren for kissing Enzo, she sure as hell will never speak to me again if I kill him.
Thirty.
Twenty-nine.
Twenty-eight.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper to them both. I used to think I would never betray them. I would never choose anyone else above them. I was wrong.
Siren and our baby are the only things that matter to me. I’ll save Kai and Enzo the best I can, but if I have to trade their lives to save Siren’s and my baby, I will.
With a swift punch, I knock Kai back onto her ass, hitting her hard enough to temporarily knock her unconscious. I raise my gun and fire into Enzo, ensuring plenty of blood loss and show for Julian as I hit him in the gut. I pray I don’t hit any vital organs.
Enzo growls as his eyes go to his wife, who is knocked out cold behind me.
“Bastard,” Enzo curses, already weak from blood loss but still caring more about his wife than he does himself. If I survive this fight with Julian, Enzo will kill me himself. Even if Enzo doesn’t survive this, he’ll come back as a ghost to kill me.
I grab Enzo’s hand and pull him to the edge of the yacht.
Twenty.
Nineteen.
Eighteen.
“We always said we’d die for those we love,” I say.
Enzo nods. I push his almost lifeless body into the fast ocean current, much like when I was shot on his yacht and fell into the ocean. I was left to die. To drown.
I was inches away from death before Siren found me. I just hope Enzo doesn’t have to wait as long as I did to be found.
Fifteen.
Fourteen.
Thirteen.
“Enzo’s dead. Now disarm the bomb. Let Siren go.”
Julian tsks. “He’s not dead.”
“Yet,” I finish. “He’s not dead yet, but I thought you’d prefer the great Enzo Black to suffer a long, torturous death. That’s the death he deserves, not a clean bullet to the heart.”
Ten.
Nine.
Eight.
God, please work. If I have to shoot Enzo in the head, though, I will. Just please don’t make me.
Julian lifts his phone, considering.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Julian types in a code and then shows me the phone.
I exhale. He disarmed the bomb. Siren’s safe.
“Now, where is the box? Get me to the box and unlock it, and I’ll never lay a hand on Siren again,” Julian says.
“Alaska, the box is in Alaska,” I say, grateful that Kai told me a location, so I could use it now to save my wife.
Kai sits up, now wide awake. She glares at me as she dives overboard, racing to find Enzo.
“You’re going to take me to Alaska and lead me to that box.”
“I will,” I say, betraying everyone but Siren. This is why I shouldn’t have fallen in love.
Siren is m
y everything. I just ruined years of friendships. I possibly ended my friend’s life. Siren tried to destroy a marriage. All to protect our own love.
I just chose a side. I chose Julian’s. I am no longer loyal to the Black name. I’ll do whatever Julian or Bishop want in order to protect Siren and my baby.
Julian ensured my loyalty, and I’ve never hated myself more.
“I’ll take you to the box. I’ll be loyal to you. But Siren stays here under Langton’s protection. And if you lay a finger on her again, you’ll wish you were dead.”
Julian nods as I march downstairs.
I’m devastated by what I did, and even more wrecked by what I’m about to do.
29
Siren
I’m usually a fighter.
When I’m put in a horrible situation, I fight. But this time, I sit silently. I meditate, I pray, I hope.
I don’t pray for myself.
I don’t meditate for Zeke.
I hope that when we both die, this life inside me finds a way to live, to forgive us for not being enough.
The only way we save each other and this baby is by burning every city, every friend, every person to the ground. We turn them all to ash. Our love is too big. Our sins too great. We were never meant to love each other. I was wrong—I thought finding Zeke in that vast ocean was fate.
I thought it meant that we were meant to be.
That our love was supposed to find each other.
But it wasn’t fate.
It wasn’t destiny.
It was the devil taking a stab in the dark and pushing two people who have just enough darkness in their hearts together and then sitting back and watching the carnage they would inflict evolve.
I may not be able to see the future, but I can see ours. It ends in destruction—of us or our friends.
We’ve chosen us.
Over and over again.
It leaves us alone and in pain. Sure, we have each other. We love each other. But is that enough? Is our love enough to survive on?
No.
But if we choose our friends, can we live without love?
No.
We are at an impasse. We should have never found each other. We should have never have created this life.
I wait, trying to figure out which option Zeke chose—us or them.
I wait for the bomb or the quiet.
The door unlocks, and Zeke appears. He chose us.
My eyes water, not able to imagine the destruction he just caused and is yet to cause.
“I have to go,” he says.
I nod, unable to speak, but agreeing. I break.
“I know,” Zeke says, knowing what’s already in my heart.
“I know, Siren, I know.”
He steps closer.
“I’m sorry,” I say, breaking more inside.
“I’m not.” He lifts me until we are both standing together.
“Our love was never meant to last forever,” Zeke says, his own tears dripping down onto our joined hands.
“But we promised. We vowed. We loved—forever,” I say, my words broken and painful.
“We kept those promises,” Zeke says.
We kiss. One last kiss to last the lifetime never meant to be.
Our rings touch, rings that represent a marriage that was never real. One that was only ever real to us.
He walks toward the door, and it’s then that I realize I don’t know the truth anymore. I don’t know if he’s doing this on his own accord or because Julian demands it. I don’t know if this is a truth, a lie, or a sin?
I’ll find out, though. If there is a chance this is all a sin, then I still have a chance at my happily ever after.
Tears are falling fast now, so painful and real they wreck my entire body, shaking me until I can barely stand.
“I have to go, but you’ll be safe—always and forever. Nothing will ever change that.” Zeke moves his head, and then he’s pushing a man inside my room. “This is my best friend, Langston. He’ll protect you, no matter what.”
I freeze.
I can’t think.
I don’t hear the rest of Zeke’s words.
I can’t process them.
I can’t believe what is happening.
I can’t believe what I’m seeing.
I can’t…
I try to find Zeke. I try to find the words to tell him. To explain to him what is happening. But I can’t.
I fucking can’t.
By the time I do, Zeke is gone. All that is left is Langston—a man I know very well.
A man who isn’t Langston at all.
Langston is dead, at least, his soul is.
Langston is the man who has been haunting my dreams.
He’s the man who can control my thoughts.
Bishop—Langston Bishop—my own personal nightmare.
I run to the door and try to get past him. Zeke couldn’t have gone far.
But Langston Bishop grabs me as I try to move past.
“Zeke!” I yell and cry. He either doesn’t hear my call or chooses not to listen.
My entire body trembles with fear and pain. I’m having a panic attack. I can’t breathe, as Bishop throws me on the bed.
“Zeke’s gone. You’re finally free. Free of love, of pain,” Bishop says.
I don’t feel free at all, though. I feel loss. Zeke just sacrificed everything and left me alone with the one man who hijacked my mind.
My eyes widen at the thought of everything else we’re about to lose.
The End
Thank you so much for reading! Zeke and Siren’s story concludes in Broken Anchor
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Also by Ella Miles
SINFUL TRUTHS:
Sinful Truth #1
Twisted Vow #2
Reckless Fall #3
Tangled Promise #4
Fallen Love #5
Broken Anchor #6
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Taken by Lies #1
Betrayed by Truths #2
Trapped by Lies #3
Stolen by Truths #4
Possessed by Lies #5
Consumed by Truths #6
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About the Author
Ella Miles writes steamy romance, including everything from dark suspense romance that will leave you on the edge of your seat to contemporary romance that will leave you laughing out loud or crying. Most importantly, she wants you to feel everything her characters feel as you read.
Ella is currently living her own happily ever after near the Rocky Mountains with her high school sweetheart husband. Her heart is also taken by her goofy five year old black lab who is scared of everything, including her own shadow.
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