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I explored the suite under the guise ofwas in place, and once I was done, I collapsed on the sofa and ranin the doorway

Knox lurked behind her "I’ll be down the hall if you needlook, Celia shooed the servants away and closed the door behind her, leaving me alone in Lila’s suite

Noin thein, and the onlythat opened was the sh it, I was several stories up, and dropping froht would mean broken bones at the very least, if not a painful death

Looking up at the ceiling, I noticed the opening to a vent in the corner It wasn’t very big, but with soht fit I pushed an end table underneath it and clied to rip

My muscles strained as I pulled myself up and tried not to tip the bookcase over Finally I made it into the vent, which was ly clean More important, it extended past Lila’s suite in either direction

It was a tight squeeze, but no different fros Easier, even, because unlike the concrete, which rubbed and cut my skin, the plas- tic didn’t hurt The vent extended in front ofrates With effort I wriggled through it until I reached the next one, and I peered through the thin slits

Directly below me, Knox sat at a desk, hunched over a folder full of documents Relief washed over me At least now I had a way out if I needed one

I started to slide back to Lila’s suite, but a faint knock stopped me cold "Come in," said Knox, and his door opened and shut He stood and relasses, and I strained to see as there

"Knox So good to see you"

I cringed Daxton

"Sir I hear your hunting trip was successful"

"Ah, so she told you, did she?" I could hear the sness in Daxton’s voice "What else did she say?"

Knox cleared his throat, and I tensed He wouldn’t tell Daxton about my deal with Celia, would he? He couldn’t He’d be incriood reason," said Knox, a hint of annoyance in his voice "You had her already, Daxton You didn’t have to kill that woh "But it was soquite like a bullet to make my point for me, now, is there?"

"There were subtler ways," said Knox "You’re better than that"

"If you insist Do letto report, will you?"

"Don’t expectway, let alone disobey you"

"Good," he said "Peaceful and controlled, just the way I like it" I heard his footsteps as he walked to the door, but before it opened, he paused "No hard feelings about what happened to Lila, yes? It was a shaers of what she was doing So did Celia"

Knox was silent for a long ed," he finally said "Thank you for allowing my father to tell ood oodbye" He paused

"Don’t forget, poker next Thursday"

Knox nodded, and after the door opened and shut, he sank into his chair and buried his face in his hands

He’d known He’d known Lila was going to die, and he hadn’t done a da to stop it Had their entire relationship been for show? Had he been using Lila as h the vent He hadn’t snitched on me That was the important part And Lila-- I forced myself to take a mental step back What could he have done? Lila had one of theher would have been i her would undoubtedly have cost him his life Maybe he had tried anyway Maybe he’d failed I had no way of knohat had really happened

After returning to Lila’s suite, I used one of the pokers next to the fire to rate back to its proper position Once I was done, I pushed the end table back into place and surveyed the corner Even if so was different, they would probably assu out on the sofa, I shut ht it would be, but at least now I kneho my real friends were Daxton could try to secure s I would have never had as a III, but I would never trust him Knox had lied for me I didn’t have to knohat had happened to Lila to feel confident that he wouldn’t let it happen to me

He’d said he wouldn’t make the same mistake twice

Now I understood what he’ddreams I was still spread out on the sofa withme a crick in my neck I rubbed it, and es

I sat up

"Who is it?" I said It was dark now, and all that re euards enteredaway all traces of exhaustion Were they here for ? Had Daxton somehow found out about my deal with Celia?

"You have to coent"

I nodded and sed the lump in my throat Silently I followed the led out of his that I let ain So it wasn’t juston?" I said as the guards surrounded us

My face grew hot when I noticed he earing paja half-naked didn’t seem to bother him

"I don’t know," he said, his brow furrowed "Did you hear the ruh practically anything after sharing a rooirls my entire life