Jesus Christ, she was incredible. I stood inside the door of the cafeteria as she stared the bastard down. It took all my goddamn strength not to cross the floor and drive his head into the floor in front of her…until his vacant stare was the one I looked into.
I wanted that…
More than I wanted anything in my life.
I fixed my focus on her, my fists clenched by my sides. One look from him…that’s all it’d take. One goddamn look and I’d burn it all to the ground and him along with it. All I saw was that smirk in my head. That vicious fucking sneer he’d given me after I’d found her last night.
Looks like this one wasn’t worth the two million after all.
His words resounded.
Revulsion spilled like acid into the back of my throat as I focused on the defiance in her eyes. She worked her mouth, then spat, unleashing a glistening wad of spittle onto his cheek. I’d stare at that fire in her eyes all goddamn day if I could, even if it burned. She turned then, not giving the bastard another second, and slowly limped to the vacant seat at one of the Daughters’ tables. It hurt her. Fuck, it hurt her.
Walker stood there, staring the bastard down.
Not worth the two million?
He was so very wrong.
She was worth far more than that.
She was worth everything.
I took a step, drawing Coulter’s focus. His eyes blazed with rage as he swiped the mess on his cheek and I almost wanted to laugh. He thought he’d broken her. He thought he’d won. But he hadn’t come fucking close. I glanced around the room as one of the Daughters rose from her seat, her gaze fixed on Helene, before she jerked a glare to Coulter and the others.
The longer I stared, the more I saw. There wasn’t just one of the Daughters affected by what they’d done to Helene. They’d all seen. Quiet, simmering anger burned in their eyes. To entice and bend with desire was one thing, but violence? That would shatter any connection we’d started.
The programming wasn’t finished, nor would it stay embedded in their minds.
Coulter was about to place a fuckload of ticking timebombs on his truck and deliver those ruined ‘assets’ to Hale.
I. Couldn’t. Fucking. Wait.
I shifted my attention to Helene as she speared a forkful of eggs into her mouth, then ravaged a piece of toast. Eggs she hated, butter she despised. Still, she ate and drank.
Beep.
I scowled and looked down. A chill crept along my spine the moment I saw the H.
My breath caught as I swiped the screen and stared at the message.
“Let’s go, wrap it up.” One of Coulter’s commanders barked.
But I was fixed on the message on the screen.
H: Thanks for doing all the dirty work, Principal.
Chairs scraped and footsteps sounded under the insistent direction of the guards.
“Riven?” Walker called.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I muttered, not really listening.
Thanks for doing all the dirty work?
What the fuck did that mean? My pulse pounded as I focused on those words until they blurred. That chill moved deeper until a splitting spear plunged deeper. Something was happening here, something I was on the verge of understanding.
The message was from Hale.
That I knew.
Or was it?
Goosebumps raced along the back of my neck. That same eerie feeling found me now as it had when the cleaners had come to my apartment. Was this really Hale? I stared at the message as instinct howled, making me swipe out of it and type a message to the only person who could help us now.
I think we’re in trouble. I need help. NOW.
I hit send and waited for a second, but then a red warning light appeared.
Message failed to send.
“What the fuck?” My breaths raced as I pressed the button again…and again…and again.
Each time, the red message glowed.
“Terrible reception we’re having at the moment.”
I jerked my head up as Coulter just smirked and walked past. The cafeteria was empty now, the Daughters long gone. The sight of those empty seats shocked me back to reality. They were gone…they were gone!
I spun around, but found nothing but the fading sound of Coulter’s steps. I yanked my cell upward and stared at the screen, then started walking.
They were blocking the calls and the messages.
But why?
The truck.
The Daughters.
Helene.
I lunged, tearing around the corner as the first set of double doors closed with a click. Coulter glanced over his shoulder, giving me that goddamn smirk as I slammed Walker’s card against the scanner.
Red.
Red.
RED!
“No!” I roared, staring through the glass as that bastard turned back around and kept walking.
I lunged, slammed Walker’s card against the scanner, and again it turned red.
“Fuck!” I punched the goddamn thing and spun, desperately searching for a way through.
The external doors. They were on a different circuit. Maybe they still worked?
I spun around and lunged, driving myself back to the cafeteria. The empty room was terrifying as I raced past the counter and toward the staff.
“GET OUT OF THE WAY!” I roared and shoved past.
Get to the truck.
GET TO THE GODDAMN TRUCK!
I slammed the card against the external door scanner.
Green.
Click.
I punched the handle and barged out into the glaring sun. The light was blinding. I yanked my hand up to shield my eyes as I waited for them to adjust.
“Fuck!” My steps were too goddamn slow as I ran along the length of the building.
The closer I came to the corner, the louder the truck’s engine rumbled. By the time I hurled myself around the corner, the Daughters were already being loaded.
“Wait!” I roared, lifting my gaze to the guards herding them from the loading dock.
She wasn’t there…she wasn’t—WHERE THE FUCK WAS SHE?
I slammed my hand against the platform and leaped, hauling myself upwards. “You need to stop this!” I roared, fighting to be heard over the roar of the rumbling engine.
Coulter just gave a nod to the guard gripping the arm of a Daughter as he pushed her toward the truck’s open loading door.
“You’re making a fucking mistake!” I stepped in front of them and jerked my gaze over my shoulder, scanning the faces already inside, and turned back to Coulter. “They aren’t ready.”
“They’re ready enough.” He muttered as his men moved in, pushing the remaining women into the back.
I jerked my gaze to Kane and Walker, but they were too busy staring at all of Coulter’s guards who seemed to come from nowhere.
Thud!
The rear door slammed closed.
“You ruined them!” I stabbed my finger at the truck, desperate to stop this. “You think Hale’s men are going to pay millions for a woman with her goddamn mind broken?”
Coulter just looked my way. “Hale and his pathetic list of buddies? You think too small, Principal.” He muttered and gave a nod to his man. “That won’t be an issue at all.”
That won’t be an issue?
“Why?” I jerked my gaze to the truck. The hiss of the airbrakes sounded before it pulled away. That icy chill at the back of my neck screamed like a banshee.
Deep down, some part of me knew this was all wrong.
Every.
Goddamn.
Second.
Of.
It.
Bang!
I jerked as a blast came from behind me.
Bang!
Bang!
Walker roared, charging forward as another boom sounded and one of our guards dropped to the concrete floor in front of me. He slammed into Coulter’s man, grabbed his hand, and drove his weapon upwards.
Kane lunged with a roar, slamming into the guard standing behind Thomas…pointing a gun at his head.
The ratchet of a shotgun being loaded sounded as a crack came. The spray of blood was instant, splattering my face as I spun to stare down the barrel of a gun. From the corner of my eye, one more guard dropped at my feet.
“On your knees,” Coulter demanded, meeting my stare.
I shook my head. That screaming in my head was desperate for me to fight and kill…and save her.
Coulter lifted his hand and his man moved in to press the muzzle of his gun at Thomas’s head. “Now.”
There was nothing I could do.
No words to say.
No begging to be had.
Still, I had to know. “They aren’t going to Hale, are they?”
That same ugly fucking smirk found me now. “Now he’s starting to catch on.”
No Hale.
No black site.
No Mel.
I closed my eyes as the loading dock swayed around me.
No Mel and now, no Helene.
“You need us,” Kane croaked, pleading. “We’re important to you or Hale or whoever is running The Order.”
“You’re mistaken.” Coulter answered as the cold, hated edge of steel pressed against my skull. “You were important, but you’re not anymore. We have everything we wanted.”
I opened my eyes to find the desperate stares of my brothers. But it was the faint cloud of dust that demanded my last moments here on earth. Particles of dirt danced in the sun.
I’d failed her…
Again.
My knees trembled, then gave way. I threw out my hands as I hit the hard concrete, and my brothers and Walker followed, dropping beside me.
The booming of my heart muffled the steps of the guards.
Crack!
Walker slumped forward and hit the floor face-first beside me, blood spraying the concrete where he fell. I stared at the body of the man I’d known for the last ten years as that blood spread out.
He was the only man I trusted with my life and with hers, other than my brothers.
“It’s done.” Coulter said behind me as that gun pressed harder against my skull. “You’re out. It was always going to be this way.”
The dust.
That’s all I stared at.
As I whispered. “I’m sorry…”
