Page 65 of Temptation
“Skylar.” He nodded. “This isn’t a random killing. Whoever sent this was sending you a message. The Russian Mafia stuffs their victims in suitcases more often than not and sends them with rats to stop people from talking. This isn’t the first time that I’ve seen such a thing.”
“Are you s-saying…” My voice trembled. “Are you saying that the Russian Mafia is threatening me?”
“I’m saying it’s possible. You come from a powerful family, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were trying to scare your father.” I flinched at the mention of Judah, and Agent Herrera’s eyes narrowed at the small action.
“I don’t know,” I repeated. “I don’t know much about my father’s business.” Except that he liked kidnapping and fucking kids. Except that there was an entire world hidden beneath the streets of Winworth.
“Are you—” The door behind him opened, revealing another man dressed the same way, angrily looking toward us.
“Herrera, we need to talk.”
Agent Herrera stood up, and without a second glance toward me, he walked outside, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
Russian Mafia?
The Russian fucking Mafia was after me?
A shudder ran through me, just thinking about the possible scenarios of things that could happen. I lived a privileged life. I never wished for anything because I had everything I needed, and I only ever saw situations like these on crime shows. I never thought they would happen to me. I never thought that I would end up in a police station because somebody sent a body stuffed in a suitcase to my school.
They stuffed her body in a suitcase—with fucking rats.
If that wasn’t a message enough, I had no idea what would be. How was it possible that they did it in the middle of the day? Someone could’ve seen them. Someone would have reported the person who dropped it.
Who would go out of their way, uncaring for the rules of society just to threaten me?
But I already knew who. I already knew how sick and depraved Judah was, and he would stop at nothing in order to keep his position and his status. I could already see the scandal unraveling if his extracurricular activities came out. I wouldn’t even need to mention the Order to destroy him. But why didn’t he try to do all this before?
Why now?
Was it because of the whole wedding ceremony between Dylan and me?
But none of this made any sense. Why would they be after me? I never said a word about Judah and what he did—at least not until the Church, but that was completely different.
He’d been abusing me for two years, and they decided to send their message now?
The door opened, revealing an angry-looking Dylan standing right behind Agent Herrera. My skin became too tight at the murderous look he was directing toward the agent, and I stood up, afraid that he was going to make a scene in the middle of the police station.
“You’re free to go, Ms. Blackwood.” Agent Herrera smiled at me, his dark eyes holding nothing but kindness. But the raging bull standing behind him didn’t see it that way. Dylan took a step forward and I could see his hand twitching next to him.
Nope, no. We were not doing this today.
“Thank you, Agent.” I all but ran around the table and stood in front of him.
“If you remember anything useful, please let me know.” He pulled out his card and handed it over to me. “I proposed having a couple of officers stationed at your house for protection, but your brother refused, mentioning that you have your own security.” Since when?
Dylan’s eyes narrowed, his breathing fastened, and I quickly stuffed the agent’s card in the front pocket of my jeans and stepped between the two of them.
“Don’t worry about me. If there’s anything, I’ll let you know.”
“You do that,” he murmured, but he wasn’t looking at me. He was staring at Dylan, and something dangerous lingered around him. Air between the three of us shifted, and I wasn’t ready to have a front-row seat to a homicide.
I pushed Dylan toward the door leading to the reception area, and I swear I could see steam coming out of his ears.
“What are you doing here?” I hissed, still pushing him away from Agent Herrera. I could feel the agent’s eyes on me and I fought the urge to turn and look back at him. He was nothing but kind toward me, but when he looked at Dylan, that whole innocent facade disappeared. I had the feeling that Dylan wasn’t the only predator in that room.
“Not now, Little One,” Dylan grunted and pushed the door open, leading us to the larger area where several police officers lingered. Nobody looked at us, but when I turned my eyes toward the exit, I could see Rowan and Kane standing there, waiting for us.
Dylan took my hand in his, leading me toward one of the desks where a police officer I didn’t know sat. As soon as he saw us standing there, he pulled a paper out as well as my bag, avoiding looking at Dylan.
