7th Circle (Hades, #1)

by Tate James

"Write me that letter, and I'll think about it."

The path back into my good graces was going to be paved with broken glass and jagged rocks.

"That he was FBI? I've seen him before. The beard was new, but I recognized him from the team who investigated last year when Archer's wedding got shot up. I didn't expect him to bolt, though. The FBI needs to train their operatives to grow a pair and stand their ground."

"Shit," I breathed, using the toe of my stiletto to roll him over. Foam coated his mouth, bubbling over and dripping down his face as his eyes rolled back in his head. Motherfucker had just taken a poison pill.

He shook his head, a wide grin splitting his face, and quickly flicked his gaze over my outfit. Or lack thereof. I had come straight from bed and was only wearing a pair of red bikini briefs and a loose tank top that did nothing to hide my nipples or generous side boob. In my defense, he'd already seen me naked plenty of times, so this wasn't so scandalous... But Seph didn't know that.

I stumbled out, only making it two steps before the explosion detonated, blowing up 7th Circle and throwing me into the air with all the force of a freight train.

A lightning-fast moment of realization passed through my mind before everything went black. It had been a gas leak. The dizziness, the nausea, the sleepiness... there had been a gas leak. Just like at the Lockhart house the night I killed Chase.

Madison Kate must be a fucking saint to willingly commit her life to three meathead men; I'd probably rather become a celibate nun than inflict self-torture like that.

Or the fact that Special Agent Hanson was the only one who’d known I would be at 7th Circle at that time.

Our plan to collect a DNA sample was pointless. There was no skeleton or decaying corpse inside at all. There was... nothing. "Oh shit," Zed breathed, and I couldn't have agreed more.

"Look, I don't know if this helps, but there has been a recorded case of a woman being shot with a .44 in a drive-by shooting. Somehow, the bullet shattered against her skull, and she barely even needed stitches. So... yeah, I guess it's possible. Likely? Hell no. Impossible? Also no. Nothing is impossible; you guys know that."

"Uh, I dunno," Seph was saying in my ear with a nervous laugh. "Maybe because I left Lucas there while I went out? I know how you feel about security and shit, but, like, I've only been gone ten minutes, max. And you seemed cool with him coming over the other day, so..."

No. No, no, no! The blood in the living room… it was Lucas’s blood.

Whatever else my sister said faded into obscurity as my eyes scanned the note under the engagement ring. The hauntingly familiar engagement ring. What...