From Darkness (Hearts & Arrows Book 3)(5)

“You have an unfair advantage,” she muttered to herself in a mocking voice. The fucking nerve.

Artemis made her way in with her chin high and a smirk on her face, and Dita resisted the urge to permanently banish it.

The Goddess of Hunt stopped at the far end of the room with the remote, pointing at the humongous screen as Hermes attempted to thread his way through the crowd to reach her and announce the game. But she didn’t wait for him. His face screwed up with agitation when she turned on the television.

The screen lit up with the image of a woman wearing a look of solid determination as she drove into an alley in New Jersey. Her long red hair was tied up in a tight ponytail, and her big brown eyes were trained on the road in front of her.

Dita recognized her and smiled, catching herself before she laughed out loud. Her plan clicked into place and was set in motion that second, and giddiness bubbled up in her as she realized just how easy winning would be.

“I would like to introduce you all to Josie Campbell,” Artemis said.

And the screen jumped into motion.





Josie pulled into the New Jersey alley late that morning and stopped just down from the bail-jumper’s house. The pavement and grass were slick and shiny from the trickling rain, the sky gray and heavy as she grabbed her cuffs from the passenger seat and stuffed them in her back pocket. She reached into her brown leather jacket and touched the handle of her gun for comfort, though she was sure she wouldn’t have to use it. It was only Chester after all.

Chester was a repeat offender whose favorite pastime was committing acts of indecent exposure. The old man had been nabbed more than a dozen times for exposing himself in public—from malls to movie theaters and everywhere in between. He’d once flashed a woman in the produce department of a grocery store while delivering a choice joke about cucumber and melons along with lewd hip gestures for illustrative purposes. Chester always got out on bail and never showed up when his court date hit the calendar. At that point, his bondsman would call one of the private investigators on their list.

That was where she would come in. Chasing skips was the bread and butter of any private investigation firm, and hers was no exception. It wasn’t the first time she’d been called to bring the old man in for skipping bail, and she was certain it wouldn’t be the last.

The rain hit the pavement in soft pats as Josie slipped through the short gate of the chain-link fence around Chester’s backyard, stepping around tires, beer cans, and tools to make her way up to the back door. She skipped the first step up to the patio. That one always squeaked like crazy.

Josie pressed herself up against the wall next to the screen door and closed her eyes, listening for any sign of him.

Nothing.

He was either asleep or he wasn’t there. She crept around the house to his bedroom window and peered in. The breeze pushed the curtains away, and she saw his rumpled, empty bed. Her lips pinched together as she moved to the living room window, bending into a frown when she didn’t find him on the couch either.

Josie cursed as she hurried to her car, bowing her head against the drizzle. She should have known he wasn’t there. He was well acquainted with how the system worked, though she figured she’d have been irresponsible not to at least check to see if he was home. But Chester wouldn’t wait around for someone to come pick him up and haul him in. Instead, he’d find some dive to get drunk in until someone found him and dragged his ass to jail.

She fired her engine and thought about where he could be, cycling through his favorite haunts. The Grand Duke, she thought, her gut telling her to start there. And so, she did.





Dita sauntered across the theater room until she reached Artemis, holding out her hand for the remote.

Artemis laid it in her waiting palm, looking all too proud of herself.

Dita’s eyes were narrow, but inside, she was all but jumping up and down and giggling. Artemis was too easy to provoke for her plan not to work.

“Since you’re so keen on talking shit,” Dita said, “and since you think all of this is so simple for me, why don’t we up the stakes? For my player, I’ll choose the man Josie despises more than just about anyone—her ex who left her without a word, who dumped her and broke her heart into a million pieces. Would that make it fair enough for you?”

Artemis laughed with a shake of her head. “Impossible. Josie would never fall in love with him again. Not after what he did to her.”

How little you know.

“So is that a yes, Artemis?”

“Yes, this is fair. I accept.”

Artemis looked so very sure of herself, though Dita was sure her own posture didn’t look any less confident.

“Not that I need your permission. This is just to prove to you that I can play this game on your terms and still beat you. And when you hand over a token, you’re going to eat a big, fat slice of humble pie. Deal?”

Artemis smirked. “Deal.”

Dita pointed the remote at the television, and the image switched to a tall, well-built man with dark hair that curled against the collar of his leather jacket. He was stepping out of his Jeep, and Artemis’s eyes went wide when she saw where he was.

“And now,” Dita said to the crowd, “I have the pleasure of introducing you to Jon Landreaux.”

She hit play.