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CIARA STOPPED AT THE safe house and left her phone there. She wouldn’t need it at the Rosslers’ house.
Her clothes were still bloody, but she didn’t have enough time to change. They would have to do. And if everything worked as planned, there would be more blood on them soon.
Henry would hate her. Not that she would mind, as long as he wouldn’t blame himself for whatever was about to happen. Please, I need you. It was his voice echoing in her head as if Henry was right beside her, trying to talk sense to her.
Henry had admitted that he still hadn’t recovered from Ciara’s stabbing. He had told her himself that the image of her lying in a pool of her own blood haunted him.
I can’t go through that again. It was Henry’s voice again.
This time, hopefully, he wouldn’t have to be there to witness it.
Kellan would be angry. Perhaps, if Ciara survived, she would be kicked out of the team. But she didn’t have time to wait for a plan. She had the location.
It was time to act.
Her chances of succeeding were better than her chances of surviving. Ciara hadn’t lost hope for herself, but things didn’t look good.
And she didn’t care as long as she saved Liam and her mother. She was willing to die for them.
She had no way of contacting Theo, and she regretted not having the chance to tell him she loved him, too. But he should have already known. She hoped he also remembered.
And she hoped Liam and her mother knew how much both of them meant to her. She loved Liam, and her mother was everything to her.
As long as the witch hunters didn’t win, it was a victory. Hopefully, the others would understand that, too.
Perhaps they would realise that she had to hurry, so the witch hunters wouldn’t win. So that she would get there before it was too late for her mother and Liam.
Gripping her wand, Ciara was ready to teleport. Just as she was about to, though, someone rushed in.
She refused to let her plan be ruined. Not when it was working so well.
“Ciara!” River yelled.
She was too close to the finish line to let him stop her.
He gave her no choice. Stepping around the corner, she took him by surprise. She twisted his arm and cast a binding spell to tie his wrists and ankles together.
“Ciara, you can’t do this!” Anger and despair mixed in his voice. “It’s suicide to go alone!”
“I’m sorry,” she said, pushing River onto his knees. “This is my fight.”
“Dammit, Ciara! Think about Henry! You—”
Ciara didn’t have time to listen. In any other situation, those words would have torn down her mask. But this time, there was too much to lose and too little time.
River’s eyes were pleading as if the mere look could knock someone sense into her. But she refused to let that affect her.
She stepped back and teleported to the Rosslers’ house.
She appeared in front of the house, far enough not to see anything through the windows. It didn’t matter. The windows were covered with curtains, so she couldn’t see inside either way.
The Rosslers’ house had always been a happy, safe place, but this time there was a certain gloominess in the air. Ciara’s heart thudded against her ribcage, and for once she couldn’t get her nerves under control.
Too much to lose, she thought to herself.
The front door opened, revealing her gagged mother with a knife held to her throat. Theresa held the knife, and Ciara swore to murder Theresa the second she got the chance. Ciara wouldn’t even blink. There would be no mercy for Theresa. Not from her. Not again.
Theresa had already crossed the line when she had killed Josh.
Theresa smirked as she led Ciara’s mother down to the open area at the front of the house. “Hello, Ciara.”
Ciara’s mother—Sarah—had blood on her clothes, but Ciara couldn’t see any big, open wounds. There were also blood stains on her light brown curls.
She had a tan too, and Ciara tried to imagine her at a beach where it was sunny—where she was smiling. Ciara wanted to give that back to her mother.
Her mother deserved happiness and more.
Elliott Hardy would pay for what he had done. All the witch hunters would. Ciara wanted to kill every one of them. If she got the chance, she would. No hesitation.
Her hand clenched into a fist, but she knew losing control wasn’t an option. She eased her muscles as well as she could.
Dragging Liam, who had been beaten and gagged, Jesse appeared in the doorway. Jesse’s eyes stayed on Ciara to see her reaction as he pulled Liam outside. Ciara tried not to give away how worried she was, but her reaction was enough to amuse Jesse. He smirked in a disgustingly pleased way.
Liam looked at Ciara from under the hair that had fallen on his face. He was trying to say something with that look in his eyes. But Ciara didn’t know what it meant. Not when her mind was barely functioning.
She could only focus on the plan. There was no room for errors.
It had to work.
Her gaze moved back to the door. “Come on out!” Elliott Hardy yelled, a wide grin plastered on his face already. He was in charge, and everyone knew it—and he enjoyed that.
Witch hunters popped out of nowhere, forming a large circle around Ciara. Most of them wore black—some hoodies, some leather jackets, and some even cloaks. They blocked her escape, trapping her.
Not that she planned to escape.
She was there to save her mother and Liam. Ciara staying alive would be an unlikely bonus, not a requirement.
“Lover boy would have been beaten to death if you had come even a little later,” Elliott said, shaking his head in disapproval. “I told you to hurry.”
“Your guy wasn’t the chatty type,” Ciara said, her voice void of emotion. Inside she was screaming, thinking about what Elliott had planned to do with Liam—and thinking about the witch hunter’s neck snapping.
She had killed before—but never accidentally because of her magic’s outbursts.
Elliott’s smirk wavered. “Zach?”
Ciara nodded.
“And where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
Elliott’s smirk dropped, and his gaze moved across his followers—the witch hunters who had formed the circle. “Don’t let ideas of vengeance cloud your judgement. Not today.”
That likely didn’t apply to Jesse. At least Elliott didn’t even glance at him.
Jesse’s eyes were glued to Ciara. If he was happy to see her, it was because he was going to try to kill her again. Which was likely, based on the wicked smirk on his lips and the insanity shining in his eyes.
Ciara had once cared about him. Now he held a wand against Liam’s head while dreaming of her murder—or perhaps both hers and Liam’s—and Ciara had never despised someone so much.
She shuddered, fighting the fear and anger.
As long as she kept her emotions in check, there wouldn’t be any outbursts. She had to stay calm and collected until the job was done.
“You made a mistake coming alone, Ciara,” Elliott said.
Ciara turned her attention from Jesse and Liam back to Elliott, sparing a glance at her mother. Her mother—Sarah—looked so worried. Ciara prayed her mother wouldn’t have to see her own daughter die. It would be cruel.
“You hoped I’d come with my team then?” Ciara asked.
“I don’t care, to be honest.” Elliott took a few steps closer to Ciara, but he still left at least eight feet between them. “The end will be the same either way.”
“And what is the end?” Jesse killing her? That was the worst Ciara could think of.
But as far as she was aware, Elliott didn’t want her dead. He wanted something from her first.
That wouldn’t stop Jesse from trying anything, though.
“You do as I say, or your mother dies. Or Liam dies. Or they both die.” Elliott smirked. “It’s a simple game, isn’t it?”
“You told me to hurry. I already did that.” Ciara hated playing a puppet in the sick man’s game. But as long as there were lives to be lost, she would.
Anything to save Liam and her mother.
“And next you’ll help me attack the government. It’s about time they learn what they’re really up against. It’s time they learn their weapons are useless.”
Ciara’s brows furrowed. The witch hunters attacked people, but so far, all individual attacks had been relatively small. The witch hunters had never attacked the government directly. Not even in the States or Canada. They had attacked civilians, wreaking havoc across America and later Britain.
“Wasting your talents by killing you would be insane.” Elliott shook his head. “You’re alive because you will be useful.”
“I’ll help you once you release Liam and my mother.” Ciara glanced at her mother and then at Liam.
Theresa still had a knife pressed against her mother’s throat, and Jesse’s wand was pointed at Liam as it had been before. Ciara couldn’t even try to fight, or at least one of them would die. She had no doubt Jesse would gladly kill Liam the second Elliott would allow it.
Elliott laughed at Ciara’s suggestion. “I’m not going to release anyone. I don’t need to. You’ll help me no matter what I do.”
Ciara’s hand clenched into a fist. “If you hurt either—”
“You’ll still help me.” Elliott’s eyes sparked up. Ciara’s threats excited him.
“You’re insane if you think so.”
“I’m a genius.”
Ciara’s brows furrowed. There had to be something she didn’t know. Something she hadn’t realised when she had come up with the plan. She had planned to give herself in exchange for her mother and Liam. That plan was going to fail, and it could cost more than Ciara’s own life. She wasn’t ready to lose Liam, and especially not her mother.
She needed a new plan. Fast.
Think, think. Fuck!
She regretted running off on her own until her eyes fell on Liam. Elliott had said Jesse would have killed Liam if Ciara had arrived even a little later.
She had made the right call, or so she tried to tell herself.
“You’ll do exactly as I say.” Elliott walked closer to Ciara, leaving two or three feet between them.
She refused to take a step back.
“Everyone,” Elliott said with his gaze locked onto Ciara, “kneel.”
Ciara’s eyes widened, seeing every witch hunter in the circle kneel like a robot. Not out of fear, but loyalty. It was a terrifying sight. Even Jesse and Theresa let go of Liam and Ciara’s mother. The two witch hunters kneeled like the rest of them.
And so did Ciara’s mother.