Iris Giorgianni is no ordinary girl. She's living a double life: a neglected daughter at home, but a fighter on the streets. As the leader of The Sangue - one of the most wanted and well-known gangs in London - Iris has a reputation to uphold. Only...
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"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."
- Marie Curie
THEY RECEIVED the text as soon as Ember parked the car. Levi, sitting rigid in his seat, clutched his brother's phone, his eyes glued to it as if he was afraid it would disappear.
"What is it?" Iris asked him softly. When he didn't reply, she began to panic. "Levi?"
He swallowed, finally looking up at the others. Ember and Wrench had turned around in their seats, staring at the situation unfolding with wide eyes. "I got a text. It's from Hunter."
There was a moment of terrifying silence. Hunter may have been alive, but it was the look on Levi's face that suggested there was nothing to celebrate yet.
"Levi. It's me." He began to read, his hands shaking. Whilst the light of the phone illuminated his features, it also created shadows in the darker parts of his face. "I don't want to freak you out, even though I know you already will be freaked out, but I need you to think about this properly when you read what I'm gonna tell you. Don't come looking for me. Just don't. They know everything. They know where you are, they know where you're heading, they know who you're with. The address that you found on the text was meant for you to find. It's a fucking trap – all of it. And it's my fault. I was the one who was in on it, for money – because I didn't think it would turn out like this."
Levi closed his eyes, throwing his head back into the chair. His jaw clenched and unclenched, working like cogs trying to piece together everything. At that moment he seemed undeniably delicate, like a man on the verge of breaking down and losing everything. Perhaps he already had.
Instead of pushing him to finish reading, Iris placed her hands in his and took the phone softly, aware that Hunter's words were making him more agitated. Clearing her throat, she carried on. "These people...they're dangerous. They have guns and weapons that I know you won't have. The thing is – you can't be a step ahead of them, because they'll already beat you to it. I don't know much about why they're doing what they're doing. But I know it's not for me, or for you, Levi. It's for Iris."
Now it was Iris' turn to frown. She stared down, reading over the words several times to check that her eyes were seeing properly. Her heart picked up its pace. They knew about her? These people, whoever they were, had something to do with her?
Ember's mouth was parted, one hand clutching the back of her chair so hard that her knuckles were turning white. "What the fuck. What the fuck?"
"But why?" Wrench asked. He shook his head in disbelief. "You sure must have done something bad. Christ, what did you do?"
"I don't know!" She replied. Her voice felt small and weak. She hated being in the dark, not knowing anything. And Hunter was suffering because of it? "I can't think of what could be so bad. Shit, I don't fucking know! Sure, we had fights and stuff with other gangs, but this is far. This is so damn fucking far."
