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see if he could win me over. After all, it was always about the challenge for the Club’s members, wasn’t it? King was no exception.
    Fuck. And what an ass I’d been.
    Justin floated his hand over my back. “This is my fault. If I hadn’t gotten involved with Vaughn, none of this would have happened.”
    Oh my God. Vaughn… This just kept getting worse. I hadn’t told Justin about the party or the fact that Vaughn attacked me and lost his arm when King tore it off of him.
    “Well,” I said, “if you know how depraved Vaughn is, then you understand my life is over no matter what I do. If I don’t find King, Vaughn plans to take me.” And pick the flesh from my bones, as he’d said. “If I find King, then I end up being his prized toy.”
    Justin looked livid. I felt livid. One man wanted to kill me. The other wanted to own me—inside and out.
    Don’t give up, Mia. Yes, my chances of living if I ended up in Vaughn’s hands were zero. However, my chances of living in King’s hands were good. If King survived, I would, too. That meant I’d also live to find a way out of being “his.”
    Bastard can want me, but he’ll never have me.
    “Justin, you have to tell me,” I pleaded, “anything you know. Anything at all about where to find King.”
    He covered his face and groaned with frustration. “Fuck.”
    “Stop saying that. Tell me what happened with Vaughn. King told me you were planning a trap or something.”
    Justin bobbed his head. “Vaughn had been hunting me for weeks and finally found me. When he did, he made it clear that he’d kill me, you, Mom, and Dad because I welched on our deal and ran with the Artifact. He said all I had to do was call King and set up a meeting and use the Artifact as bait. That was it.”
    “Then what happened?” I asked.
    “Not much. I contacted King and set up the meeting. Later, though, he called and said Mom was sick. He also knew Vaughn was pulling my strings, but promised to ‘take care’ of him.”
    I knew that wasn’t the entire story because with King, there had to be a deal. “What did he want in return?”
    “Not much. He just asked me to deliver the Artifact and continue pretending to work for Vaughn.”
    “And the last time you spoke to King? Did you see him in person?” I asked.
    “No. He called. He told me to drop the Artifact at some address in London, which turned out to be an empty apartment. Then he said to get on a plane home.”
    I scratched my head. “And you’re sure it was King calling you?”
    Justin shrugged. “It sounded like him.”
    “Did you get a look at the Artifact?”
    “Yes. I’m the one who dug it up.”
    “What is it?” I couldn’t believe Justin had actually seen it.
    “A rock.”
    “A rock?” I asked. I guess I’d been expecting an ancient tablet or some sort of holy relic like a grail. But a rock?
    “Actually, I guess it’s more of a stone. About the size of a grape.”
    “What does it do?” I asked.
    Justin shook his head. “I don’t have a fucking clue, but when I held that thing in my hand, it practically burned a hole right through it. And…”
    “What?”
    Justin scratched his head. “I don’t really know how to explain it. It made me see things. Horrible things.”
    “Like what?”
    He stared at his feet for a moment and shrugged. “They were faces of people screaming and crying.”
    I cringed. “What did they say?”
    “I couldn’t understand them, but whatever that rock is, it’s evil. Really evil.”
    I blew out a breath. The Artifact was a rock. An evil rock. “Didn’t Vaughn mention anything?”
    Justin shook his head no. “Not really. He said it was a stupid, worthless piece of crap that only King would be foolish enough to trade his life for. In fact, Vaughn couldn’t understand why I’d run when I found it.”
    “Why did you run?” Because when he had, Vaughn killed Justin’s entire team in retribution.
    Justin shrugged. “I got scared. I knew the Artifact was