Cole rushed up to James. “Sophie went in twenty minutes ago. South entrance. No movement since.”
I barely heard the details over the blood rushing in my ears. My sister was in there. With him.
“Let’s go,” James commanded, then turned to Eric. “You and Andy stay behind.”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” Eric muttered, and in any other situation, I might have appreciated his dry humor.
“I’m coming in, too,” I said, stepping forward. “Mia?—”
Matt turned to me, his expression stern. “As I said, I don’t want Herbert seeing you and?—”
“I don’t give a fuck about Herbert and whether he sees me or not,” I snapped, surprising even myself with the venom in myvoice. “I’m here for my sister. I’m going in to save her with you three whether you like it or not.”
Without waiting for an argument, I marched toward the building. Let them try to stop me. I’d crawl through a damn window if I had to.
“As hotheaded as usual.” Matt sighed behind me.
“Can’t blame him,” James replied. “It’s his sister in there. We’d do the same if we were in his position.”
We approached the warehouse, my heart thundering against my rib cage, gearing up for… for what? A fight? A rescue? Both? The click and snap of magazines and safeties sounded like a morbid orchestra tuning up for a performance.
Mia’s scream cut through the air like a serrated knife. “Let me go, Herbert! Let me go, you bastard!”
My heart stopped, dropped, and shattered all at once. A visceral, primitive sound escaped me, something between a growl and a whimper.
“That was Mia.” The words crawled up my throat like broken glass. “It was Mia. She’s here!”
The warehouse doors surrendered to James’ kick with a screech of rusted metal, and we burst through, guns leading the way—though mine was the weapon of presence alone.
Inside, we stepped into what looked like the reject set from every B-grade horror movie ever made. Trash everywhere, shadows that seemed to breathe, and an overwhelming stench of decay and desperation. If despair had a forwarding address, this would be it. We checked corners, cleared each section with military precision. Except my precision was laced with panic and fueled by adrenaline.
“There’s another building out back,” Matt said, his voice tight with controlled violence.
That’s when we heard them again—Mia and Herbert’s voices tangled together in a din that made my skin try to crawl right offmy bones. James cursed, a sound that promised retribution in languages probably not even invented yet.
The main warehouse door crashed open like the gates of hell themselves, and there she stood. Sophie Wilson. From Mary Poppins to kidnapping accomplice in one week flat. The woman who’d helped that monster take my sister because James Maxwell had wounded her pride.
She startled like a guilty thing, eyes widening when she saw James. Then wider still when she registered Matt, Scott, and finally me. I wanted to introduce her face to the concrete floor, but Matt’s presence behind me kept me grounded. Besides, the look in James’ eyes promised something far worse than anything I could deliver.
“Where’s Mia?” James’ voice could have frozen nitrogen.
Sophie’s hand shook as she pointed toward another door. “There…”
We moved like avenging angels through that warehouse, James leading our dark procession. I followed, ignoring every instinct screaming at me to run the other way. Because Mia was through that door. Mia needed me.
And Herbert was waiting.
Up those stairs, through a corridor where peeling paint and crumbling concrete spoke of decades of neglect. Each step brought us closer to Mia’s voice, each echo of her pain another nail in Herbert’s coffin—though I knew James and Matt would make sure that coffin wouldn’t be needed for quite some time yet.
When James burst through that final door, time did something funny. Not the slow-motion bullshit, but something worse—like reality itself hiccupped, skipped a beat, then slammed back into focus with brutal clarity.
There was my sister—my fierce, beautiful, protective big sister—sprawled naked on a concrete floor. Bruises paintedher skin in watercolors of violence, blood adding macabre highlights. And there was Herbert, looming over her like every nightmare I’d ever had come to life.
The same monster who’d?—
No. Not now. Not here.
I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t do anything but watch as James threw Herbert against the wall with enough force to make the concrete crack. If only that crack had been Herbert’s spine.
