Demand Read Free Page A

the arched wooden door separating our tower from the rest of the castle. Punching the button on the wall next to the door, I watch it lift, and before it’s even at the halfway point I’m under it, exiting to the castle’s center foyer. I expect to find commotion filling the room, and my heart falls when I discover I am alone—and all remnants of Enzo’s emergency, including the carpet he’d bled on, are missing.
    Fearing the worst, I ignore the east tower where Adriel, Marabella, and Giada live, and dash toward the stone stairwell leading to the central tower, where most of The Underground business takes place. I’m two steps from the top when the sound of the east wing’s door begins to hum. I whirl around and watch Giada and Adriel enter the foyer below, Adriel’s big, stocky body dwarfing her petite frame. Both seem to be scowling.
    â€œAdriel, stop walking,” Giada demands, her dark wavy hair bouncing around her face. “Stop and talk to me.” He keeps walking, but she stays with him. “You said you were done with The Underground.” She switches to Italian, as if that might make him listen.
    Seeming to be at his wits’ end, Adriel turns to face off with her, and I have a bad feeling that his choice of all black isn’t about hiding blood. It’s about fighting. It’s about the cartel and war.
    â€œElla.”
    At the sound of Kayden’s voice, I turn to find him standing just at the top of the stairs, and he’s also wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt, with a double shoulder holster, the attire seeming to confirm my concern. This is war.
    â€œWhat’s happening?” I ask, hurrying to the landing to join him, one main worry overtaking all else. “Please tell me Enzo’s not dead.”
    â€œHe’s alive, thanks to you.” Kayden motions down the hallway to his right. “We moved him to a bedroom and Nathan’s working to stabilize him.”
    â€œIf he’s not stable, why was he moved?”
    â€œGallo triggered the alarms, snooping around outside the gates. He can’t get onto the grounds, but the timing is of enough concern that we can’t ignore it.”
    â€œDid he see something when you were rescuing Enzo?”
    â€œNothing that we’re aware of. But where Gallo is concerned anything is possible.”
    â€œDamn you, Adriel!” Giada yells on a sob, and I twist around to watch her march toward the east tower while Adriel walks toward us.
    â€œIt’s time that girl is relocated,” Kayden murmurs irritably. “No matter how Adriel feels about it.”
    I turn back to him. “She’s afraid he’s going to fight and die, like Kevin, her father, and maybe Enzo. Has the cartel found us?”
    â€œIf things go as planned, we won’t be fighting.”
    â€œConsidering you’re heavily armed, I’m not comforted. What does that mean?”
    â€œYou’re safe here now. I contacted the cartel and headed off an attack.”
    â€œYou did what ?”
    â€œI don’t do the sitting-duck routine well, sweetheart. In fact, I don’t do it at all. And as it turns out, Raul’s brother was trying to challenge his role as king. Raul now wants to share an expensive bottle of tequila with me tonight, to celebrate his brother’s death.”
    â€œNo. No, this is a setup. This is a trick. You’ll get there and he will kill you. Tell me you aren’t considering this.”
    â€œWe confirmed the rift between him and his brother. This is a good gamble.”
    â€œGambling is for Vegas, not your life. Do a virtual toast with the man and forget the tequila already.”
    â€œIt’s not that simple, sweetheart. Nothing with these people ever is.”
    â€œAgain, what does that mean ? I’m pulling teeth here! Just tell me everything. I need to know everything, Kayden.”
    â€œThe way Raul sees things, we’ve