You planned this? My words resounded in my head.
But it was that cold, calculated smile which haunted me.
The smile that said I won.
Goddamn her…GODDAMN HER!
I strode toward my office, slammed the card against the scanner, and pushed in. My hands shook with anger, my jaw was clenched tight as I rounded the desk and yanked out the chair. It had been her…it had all been her. My knuckles ached from the tension as I unfurled them and grabbed the mouse.
Barely three clicks later and I had the video of the night the bombs had detonated on my screen. That night…that failure, was never far from me. It was stuck like a thorn in my fucking side, one that dug a little deeper every goddamn time I watched it. I stared at the black and white image of the corridor minutes before the explosion, watching the timer countdown.
I knew it all.
The silence. The emptiness.
Then the blur of the intruder, wearing a mask.
How many times had I stared at the thief, memorizing that dark, calculated stare the moment they’d seen the camera? A hundred? A thousand? I lifted my hand and pressed the button, playing it one more time.
The seconds counted. The hallway was empty, until it wasn’t. I slowed the playback, watching in slow motion as the gunman appeared, turning to fire their gun. That bullet alone had taken out one of my most trusted men…right before they turned and lifted their gaze.
Dark eyes found the camera a second before they were gone, tearing from the frame. I pressed the button, changing the camera’s view. Blinding white light exploded in the camera. I counted the seconds until there was nothing. Just emptiness…just a giant motherfucking hole, right where that section of the building had been.
It was almost instinct now, east camera 6 finding the intruder again. Only this time, they weren’t alone. Jack Castlemaine’s arms were wrapped across their shoulders as they led him out of the blown-out section of the building and through the forest to where a car was waiting.
I knew now.
It had been her.
I hit the controls, moved back again to the moment those dark, careful eyes had met the camera, and pressed pause, staring at them. They were the same eyes I’d seen the moment I’d punched the brakes and skidded my life out of control. Every glare she’d given me since that moment returned.
All her rage.
All her desire.
All her pain.
Those thick, raised scars on her side returned. Jagged and pink. Remnants from the explosion.
She’d played me.
That woman…she’d fucking played me.
My jaw popped with the strain.
My breath burned, trapped in my belly.
No. She’d played us all.
Crack!
The mouse buckled in my clenched fist, one side now split. Only it wasn’t just rage that consumed me, was it?
I jerked my gaze back to those big brown eyes, and that vehement hunger roared inside me. I wanted her. No, I fucking craved her. I wanted to strangle her and fuck her, tear open her goddamn chest to capture her heart for my own weak fucking needs.
She’d made me feel dangerous.
More than I’d ever felt before.
“I bet that day haunts you.”
I swallowed the flinch, holding still…so fucking still I barely moved, until I slowly turned my head. That same bastard who’d barged into me standing in Hale’s office now stood in mine—right at my back—and I hadn’t heard a thing.
He just looked at the screen in front of me and the still image of Helene as she looked into the camera. A nerve twitched in the corner of my eye. I didn’t like him looking at her. Not. One. Fucking. Bit.
“Come with me,” he demanded, and turned away, heading for the door before he stopped. “Now.”
The fuck?
What was I, some kind of fucking dog they could command to heel?
Yes.
That’s exactly what I was.
I gave a snarl and rose from the seat, hitting the button and ending the video. Gone was the desire, leaving behind the savage craving to tear the goddamn world apart, starting with this asshole. I followed him out of my office and along the corridor, heading toward the Daughters’ rooms.
The moment I pushed through the last set of doors, I heard the screams. Guttural, terrifying roars of the new guards were met with shrill cries from the Daughters. I clenched my jaw at the sounds. We might’ve been fucking cold, controlling bastards, but we weren’t fucking barbarians. Not like those guys.
Walker was the first one I saw when I turned into the corridor. He stood outside the communal bathroom door, his face ashen and his eyes filled with rage. The sickening thud of a fist echoed before the weak, pathetic whimpers turned into low, chilling moans.
They were beating them.
The fucking bastards!
They. Were. Fucking. Beating. Them.
I pushed past Walker and strode into the neon bright bathroom. Memories slammed into me, Ryth Castlemaine standing terrified in a stall while I implied we had her stepbrother hostage. I was a lying, manipulative asshole, that was for sure. I strode in, pushing past Coulter and his three leering scumbags as the guard crowding the cowering Daughter raised his fist once more.
I stared at her green eyes wide and terrified. Her face was bleeding, lip swelling where he’d already hit her. She lifted her hand, trying her best to shield herself from his blows, and for a second, all I saw was Melody.
My pulse boomed. Rage filled me as the guard’s fist clenched tight.
That’s my sister.
The words roared in my head.
THAT’S MY GODDAMN SISTER!
I strode forward and grabbed his fist as it arced through the air. She lifted her gaze to mine and the face of Melody faded. Still, that merciless rage was left behind as I turned to the guard. “Touch her again and I’ll put a bullet in your head.”
He jerked his gaze upwards, bestial fury shining in his eyes.
The Daughter kicked against the cold tiles, curling her naked body even tighter into a ball, if that was possible. He jerked that raging glare behind me to where his leader stood. But I wasn’t budging.
“Malcolm,” Coulter murmured.
There was a curl in the bastard’s lip before he turned that sickening hunger for blood my way. In the corner of my eye, Walker slipped in and slowly lifted his gun. But it wasn’t the Daughter he aimed it at, it was the asshole in front of me.
“Walker,” I said clearly. “You’re to shoot this asshole, and anyone else who raises a fist to these women, do you understand?”
“My fucking pleasure,” he answered.
He would, even if it meant he’d take one in return. We had rules about anyone beating or hurting those we were tasked to protect and train…we had responsibilities.
I swung my gaze to the man responsible, the one who’d just stood there watching this all unfold.
“They have twenty-four hours,” Coulter said, shifting his stare from the cowering Daughter to me. “Twenty-four hours for you to train them.” He took a step closer. “Or they won’t be the only ones I lead down into the basement once more.”
I sucked in hard breaths as he cast that sickening fucking stare at the naked woman behind me before he turned and walked out, taking his men with him. Goosebumps raced down my arms as the piece of shit who liked to beat women stopped behind me.
I waited for a blow to come, craving it almost. Anything to give me a goddamn excuse. That savage hunger burned in my belly as I turned around and met his stare. “Do it,” I urged.
Desperation roared in his stare.
He wanted to.
But one tiny shift from Walker and he gave a smirk before he turned around and walked out, leaving the heavy thud of his steps behind. I inhaled, my mind racing as Coulter’s words hit home. They won’t be the only ones I lead down into the basement once more.
Once more.
Once more.
I scowled, my mind racing, as the Daughter behind me still wept.
“It was them,” I whispered, meeting Walker’s stare. “The kill squad. The basement. It was Coulter.”
He flinched before he shook his head. I saw the disgust and the anger. I saw the rage, then the fear. The fear I was sure was echoed in my stare.
“What the fuck do we do?” he murmured.
I didn’t know. We were outnumbered, even with the paid guards protecting the compound. I knew that and so did he. My gut clenched. Revulsion drove the bitter tang of acid into the back of my throat.
I needed to think. Not only that, I needed to act.
I needed to do something,
Her whimpers called to me, resounding through my head like shards of glass. “Take care of her,” I said to Walker. “See she’s seen by the infirmary. I need to think.”
“Will do.” He took a step, then stopped. “Be careful, Riven. I have a feeling these men aren’t here to play.”
I nodded and left him. I had that feeling too. The same foul stench of death seemed to waft from the basement and spill down the corridor to find me. I’d had my suspicions about who’d done the killing. The moment I’d heard London and his son had found them, I’d come to find them on my own.
There were bodies.
Daughters piled on top of each other.
Some still silently screaming as they’d pleaded for their lives.
It had been them…it had been Coulter.
His men had been the kill squad, the ones Harmon had sent in to clean house. He was still fulfilling those orders, bringing in all the other Daughters from whichever orphanage and secret location they’d been held. But he wanted these trained and sold.
Why?
I pushed through the doors, heading for the one that’d lead me outside, when a chill raced along my spine, stopping me cold. I felt him before I turned, finding the cruel piece of shit who liked the feel of his fists on soft flesh standing on the other side of the double doors in the distance.
He watched me.
Watched me like he was dangerous.
I turned back, pressed my card against the scanner, and strode outside. There were sharks in the water. Sharks circling, desperate for one taste of blood before they attacked. I felt the current battering me against the rocks. One scrape was all it’d take. One tiny cut and I was gone for good.
They won’t be the only ones I lead down into the basement once more.
Those motherfuckers.
Those goddamn motherfuckers.
I strode forward, sinking into the forest, desperate to get out from under their controlling grasp for a second. The moment I sank into the darkness, the door opened behind me and the screams of the cowering Daughter returned in my mind.
We might’ve been savage bastards who controlled them and manipulated them.
But we’d never beaten them.
We never hurt them.
Not physically, at least.
But these…relentless savage bastards were something else.
Thud.
The sound of the door reached me through the trees. But I was already surging forward, desperate for the darkness…and to think. I had to find a way out of this. Not only did I need a plan to find Hale’s black site and our sister, I needed to figure out what to do with the woman hidden in our apartment. The one under Coulter’s nose.
The one who could bring us all down.
With one…shrill…scream.
