I fucking hate it. I hate myself.
I should be with them.
My knees threaten to cave on me, but I force myself to move forward. I glance up and find a cord that connects to the adjacent building. The window pane has a red handprint against the wood. It’s small.Emery’s.
I press my hand to it and lean against the wood, swaying on my uneasy legs. Gage’s voice booms over the radio.
“Morphine’s down!” Gunfire sounds in the distance and then Gage cries out painfully. Damian shouts before the feed cuts off.
My hands clench the window seal, and I lift my weary head.
“I’m on my way,” I rasp into the mic.
The lieutenant sounds frantic to hear my voice. “Mori?We thought you were dead!” He lets out an anxious laugh. “Get going, soldier.” He expects me to kill everyone once Greg is dead. He’s going to be in for a big surprise. I narrow my eyes with anger. A throb of discomfort ebbs in my arm where Wraith gave me the Series X injection. The black veins are spreading.
I’m not out of the woods yet.I’d better hurry.
I ignore my stiff muscles and grab a bent rod, hooking it over the cord and sailing across the night.
I’m three-quarters of the way there when a sharp throb convulses the muscles in my wounded shoulder, and my hands instinctively release the rod in response. The fourth-floor window will have todo. I cover my face as my body collides through the window. Glass shatters across the floor and I tumble with the momentum.
Alerted voices come from the next room over. I groan as I stand and limp to the door, rifle ready.
I kick the door open and it sends the nearest guard flying back on his ass. Bullets pelt the guy next to him before I land two in him as well.
My eyes drag the room and I instantly stop the second I see her.
Emery’s eyes are dull. She’s tied up. Her throat is coated in blood and haphazardly wrapped with medical tape. Gage and Damian are behind her, gagged and restrained. Both of them beaten rotten.
Greg Mavestelli stands in a sharp navy blue suit. His gold-tipped cane bloodied, and his closest men at his back. Reed stands among them, his features are smoothed to perfection, but I catch a flicker of malice and excitement in his eyes. He’s dressed like one of us. Like a Dark Forces soldier.
Greg Mavestelli’s voice curls through the room. “And here we thought you were dead.”
42
EMERY
Cameron burststhrough the door and the sight of him makes every fiber of my being spark to life.
My father addresses him, but I don’t hear the words, I only see the love of my life standing on exhausted legs, staring at me with soft, knowing eyes.
He’s himself again. He’s alive.
I silently weep, relieved down to my bones that the last image I’ll have of him won’t be his soulless expression.
He’s distracted by the sight of me, and perhaps his head isn’t as clear from all the trauma to his body because he doesn’t seem to take in much of my father’s words either. We just stare at each other with unspoken words passing between our longing gazes.
Two guards jump him, wrestling him down to the floor. Cameron tries to shake them off, but they’re uninjured and both as big as he is.
Greg’s voice is cold and curls in the air. “You’re the reason my daughter has become worthless to me. Well, we can easily correctthat behavior.” He flicks his hand open to the right and Reed places a handgun in my father’s palm. Reed’s gaze meets mine briefly. The corners of his lips barely lift before he smooths his features back into a blank slate.
Please don’t fuck me over.I find myself praying.
Greg tilts back his head and cackles. “Fate must want you dead, Mori.” He lifts his pistol and shoots Cam in his left kneecap. His blood spurts across the floor as he struggles against the guards. His pale hair falls over his brow, and when he looks up, I see the weight of the world in those dreary green eyes.
I fight against my restraints and try shouting for Greg to stop, the gag keeps my plea from coming out, but it gets my father’s attention regardless.
He smiles and his eyes light up as if he forgot I was even here. “I wouldn’t dream of leaving you out of this, Emery.” He nods to his guards and two of them haul me up to my feet, cutting my restraints once they bring me to Greg’s side.
