Chapter 4
Gemma
11 min le
“BITCH, IT’S YOU!”
I almost drop my two boxes as I’m hug–tackled by a ball of cotton
candy pink hair, rainbow clothes, and insane energy.
Zina Patel only comes up to my shoulder, but she still crushes all the air out of my lungs as she wraps her arm around me and
squeezes tight.
She pushes me back, and I look down into her big brown eyes
framed by perfect, arching black brows.
She’s fey, so she’s incredibly beautiful. She can use a glamour
to change her appearance when she wants so her hair is always
crazy colors.
Fey can also do nature magic, but Zina is more of a tech girl.
She gives me a once–over then squeezes my biceps and shakes
- me. “Oh, shit! Boxes! You finally bailed on that asshole, didn’t
you?! This is so awesome! Get inside. You’re mine now.”
She ushers me inside and slams the door behind me.
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Aside from her height, everything about Zina is big. Her voice, her presence, and most of all, her personality.
I’m happy to see her, but at the same time, after three years of my cold husband, she’s almost overwhelming.
She takes my boxes and shoves me into the kitchen. It smells like good food and warm spices.
Despite the fact that she’s a little too much, I sigh in gratitude and
sink down in a chair.
She hands me a cup of chai. I hold it in both hands, hoping that its warmth can sink inside me and reach the chill in my heart.
“Thanks,” I say.
“Shut up.” She throws herself into the chair across from me. “Goddess, I can’t believe it took you this long to get rid of him. I thought it would be over two years and eleven months ago and…”
My old friend lets her words trail off as she finally looks at my face and sees my tired, sad expression. She scowls. “Damn it. You’re still head over heels for him, aren’t you?”
I clench my jaw to keep from crying. When the prickling behind my eyes fades, I say, “You were right. You said he’d choose Reyna over me, and he did.”
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Zina curses again. Cussing is like breathing to her. “That slut is
back?”
I give her a flat look, but Zina has never been affected by
anything as subtle as a look. I shrug and say, “Yeah. He said his
‘businesses‘ do better with her around.”
Zina snorts. “Of course. Those underworld mafia brats always stick together.”
I try to imagine someone calling Cassian Blackwell a “mafia brat”
to his face and smile a little.
I’ve done everything I can to keep my married life separate from the secret life I started as a teen during those homeless years to
keep Mom and I afloat, so Cassian and Zina never met.
I have a sudden, vivid vision of her, pink hair and all, sticking out
her hand to Cassian in one of his immaculate black suits and
saying, “Shake or I’ll cut you,” and the disgusted look he’d give
her.
I nearly laugh, but then reality crashes back over me and I cover
my mouth to hide a sob.
I got everything I wanted the night I fled to Cassian’s grandfather for help, but I’ve failed so spectacularly.
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Zina is right.
I still love him, and it hurts..
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“Hey! Stop that.” Zina gets up and bustles around in her kitchen,
then comes back with a plate of cookies and shoves them at me.
“Eat these and knock it off.”
I pick up a cookie, but I don’t really want one.
After sitting there for a solid two minutes in silence while I stare
at the cookie and Zina stares at me, she finally says, “Okay, fine.
Ditch the wedding ring and quit your job and I’ll take you back,
roomie.”
Now I do laugh, humorless and brief. “I left the ring. I want to leave
him…why doesn’t this feel right?”
Zina’s eyes narrow on me, and she looks shrewd. “Maybe you don’t need freedom, maybe you need revenge. You want Cassian or that bitch Reyna dead? Which one? I got you.”
I choke on the cookie that I just barely managed to take a bite of.
“You know a hit man who’d dare take on Cassian Blackwell? He’s
the acting head of the most powerful underworld mafia family in
existence.”
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Zina shrugs. “Then we take out Reyna.”
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I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Got any plans that don’t involve murder?”
“Yeah. If you’re willing to come back. And I don’t mean to be my
roommate.”
Her words make my heart flutter in my chest. “I said I was done
with that.”
Zina rolls her eyes. “Done! Ha! Can a fish be done with water?
Come on. You and me, and we build a new crew.”
She grins at me. “The only reason we don’t run the world right
now is because you needed too much money too fast to save
you and your mom’s necks. But now those debts are paid. Now,
you’ve got time.”
I shudder as the memories come back to me. As a quiet kid, I
discovered my talents early.
While Dad took Reyna on shopping sprees and to parties filled
with glittering, dangerous people, I learned to do something that would give me power in a world where I was powerless.
If the families of the supernatural underworld found out about my
secret life and the things I’d done to them…
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They wouldn’t hesitate to kill me.
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