Cut chuckled. “There is so much you don’t know, Jaz, and so much you’ll never learn. You’re a failure and no longer a fucking Hawk. The moment I’ve dealt with Nila, I’ll deal with you. What’s good about family if it’s the same family that does everything possible to destroy itself?”

Snapping his fingers, he growled at the brother who’d just arrived.

The man skidded through the doors, breathing hard as if he’d been at war rather than on whatever errands the club did.

My eyes met his. Dark floppy hair and kindness hid beneath ruthless.

Flaw.

My heart leapt, hope unspooling.

I had many enemies in this room but two people I cared about and trusted might be all I needed against Cut and his blade.

“Flaw, take my daughter to the back of the room. She’s to watch from a safe distance and not to leave, understood?”

Flaw glanced at me. Secrets collided in his gaze before looking resolutely away. Nothing in his posture apologised or promised he would try to prevent the future. He merely nodded and clasped his hands around the handles of Jasmine’s wheelchair. “Yes, sir.”

Flaw…?

What had I done to warrant his sudden coolness?

Backing away, he dragged Jasmine with him.

She screeched and jammed on her brakes, leaving large grooves and tyre marks on the elegant floor. “No!”

“Don’t argue, Ms. Hawk.” Flaw dragged her faster toward the border of the room.

I couldn’t believe he’d abandoned me. Wouldn’t he at least try to argue for my life?

Jasmine made eye contact with me, fighting Flaw’s yanking, shaking her head in despair. “Nila…where is he? Why isn’t he stopping this?”

Jethro.

She means Jethro.

I wanted to tell her everything, but there was too much to that question and I had no strength to answer it. She didn’t need to know what happened in Africa. She had her own issues to face once I’d departed this world at the hands of her father.

I shook my head, a sad smile on my lips. “I’m sorry, Jaz. I tried. We both did.”

Tears welled, catching on her eyelashes. “No. This can’t be happening. I won’t let it.” She reached behind her, trying to slap Flaw and scratch his hands from dragging her farther. “Let me go!”

With jerky movements, he bent angrily and hissed something unintelligible in her ear.

She froze.

Flaw used her sudden motionlessness to yank her the rest of the way.

What had he said?

How could he betray us?

My heart stopped. Has he betrayed us or did he make another oath to Kes and Jethro I’m not aware of?

Vexatious questions came faster, battering me with final worry. Was Kestrel awake? Was he alive in the hospital waiting for his brother to visit?

I wish I could say goodbye to him.

My tummy clenched even as I tried to remain strong.

I wish I could kiss Jethro one last time.

Cut spun around, forcing me to do the same. Flaw and Jasmine’s eyes seared brands into the back of my spine. Two brothers dashed forward, gripping the ends of the black sheet hiding the apparatus, looking at Cut for commands.

He snapped his fingers with regality. “Remove it!”

Their hands gathered swaths of material and tugged. The fabric slid like ebony silk, kissing angles and gliding over surfaces, slowly revealing what I’d known existed all along.

The method of my death.

The equipment I’d hoped never to see.

There was no Jethro to stop it.

No Kestrel to fix it.

No Jasmine to ruin it.

Only me, Cut, and the awful gleaming guillotine.

The lights from the chandeliers bounced off the glossy wood of the frame, suspending a single blade ensconced in two pillars of wood. A latch at the top held it in place while the rope dangled down the side, ready to pull aside the barrier and let the blade plummet to its task.

And there…below the chopping block where my head would lay was the basket that would be my final resting place.

Cut kissed my cheek, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and guiding me toward the machine. “Say goodbye, Nila. It’s time to pay the Final Debt.”

I’D BEEN AWAKE for centuries.

I’d travelled thousands of miles. I’d fought hundreds of battles. I’d lived a million lives in a matter of days.

My brain gasped for rest. My eyes screamed for sleep. But my heart pushed relentlessly toward the end.

“Stop here.”

The taxi driver did as I asked, pulling to a halt beside a grass verge a few metres away from the entrance to Hawksridge. As soon as we’d landed, I’d paid the crew for their fast service and hopped into a taxi.

The flight had gone as planned. Once I’d made phone calls for Tex to gather his enforcements, Flaw to sort out the brothers, and Kill to hide on the grounds and watch from a distance, I’d focused on ensuring my body would continue to obey me and the strength I’d need for the future tasks wouldn’t fail.

I’d eaten and tended to my wounds in the airplane bathroom. I’d patched up my gunshot wound as best I could and added a Band-Aid to the cut on my forehead. I asked the flight crew to give me the first-aid kit and took what pills I could to lower my incessant fever and subdue the aches and pains I didn’t have time to deal with.

When we finally traded air for earth, I wasn’t recharged or ready for carnage, but I was better than I’d been a few hours ago.

I had enough energy to finish this…and then…then I would sleep for a fucking eternity and let others worry about the world for a change.