“You can’t do this,” Brooks sputters and gasps as Helaena undoes my restraints. I haven’t had a proper meal in days, and am feeling a little groggy when I stand. The tile is cold on my bare feet, and the air is chilly on the open back of my hospital gown after laying down for so long.
I eye the clear bag of fluid attached to my IV. “At least it looks like they’ve been keepin’ me hydrated, even if I couldn’t keep the gruel down.”
“They were also giving you enough nutrients so you’d stay strong for the testing,” Helaena explains as she removes the IV from my hand. “You won’t feel one hundred percent, but it’ll be enough that you can do what you need to.”
“Thank you,” I nod, rubbing the slightly sore skin where the port had been.
Kole eyes me as he keeps Brooks restrained. “Are you alright,Lisichka?” he asks me gently. “Aside from the obvious.”
I give a weak smile, feeling exhausted and defeated. “Right as rain, Sugar Bear.”
“You’ve got me—so what?” Brooks spits. “What do you think is going to happen? This facility is crawling with guards. You can’t possibly—”
“Let’s get one thing straight, Doctor Brooks,” I echo his words from earlier, my voice cold. Kole turns Brooks around to face me, one arm around his neck and the other holding his hands behind his back. “I can do whatever the fuck I want. I can take your ass to the feet of the Irish Mafia, and they’ll make what you’ve been doin’ to me here seem like child's play. I can carve you up like a damn turkey, and nobody will say anythin’ to me about it.” Then I getsuperpoetic and give him the same threat he gave me,nearlyword for word. “I can cut your sorry excuse for a dick off and sew it to your forehead, and they willapplaud me for discoverin’ a unicorn species with the smallest horn known to man.” Kole snorts. “So, Doc, get it through your thick head that you’ve already lost. The cavalry is here, and you can try to die with a little bit of dignity, or you can die like the snivelin’, pathetic piece of shit you are.”
Brooks’ face screws up in rage. “You—” A low growl from Kole cuts him off.
I give a saccharine smile. “Now, now, Sugar Bear. I’d like to hear what Doc has to say for himself.”
The doctor’s face contorts in rage as he stares at me. “You’re nothing but a whore! A simpering, useless fool! You think you can win this? This goes so much higher than your miniscule brain could ever comprehend, Josephine.”
I sigh. There he goes with my full name again. He’s gonna have to pay for that, too.
Kole’s lip lifts in disgust as he stares down at the smaller man’s head. I pat the beta’s cheek. “Did you get all your big boy words out?”
He only snarls, so I hold my hand out behind me. “Helaena? Could you please cut off some of that leather strap that was bein’ used to restrain my alpha?”
I hold Brooks’ eyes as I listen to Helaena saw the blade through the thick leather strap. “What you don’t realize, Doctor Brooks, is that you just sold yourself out. Now that I know how muchyouknow, I get to package you up nice and pretty for my big brother to interrogate.”
“You don’t have any brothers.” Brooks’ tone is accusatory. “I’ve scoured your file for what I could use to break you, and you have no blood siblings.”
“Does the name Cian Gallagher ring a bell, Doc?” I ask as Helaena hands me the leather strap. I pass it to Kole, who immediately starts binding the doctor’s wrists behind his back.
Brooks’ face turns pale. Ah, so he has.
“Turns out, he’s my biological father. And the one who killed him? Declan Gallagher? Well, you pissed him right the fuck off when you put me in the Cathedral.”
Brooks shakes his head, at a loss for words. “But you…”
“I see why you’re confused.” I give him an understanding smile. “My mama, who was Declan’s step-mama for a few years, fled when she was pregnant with me. Changed her name and everythin’. Raised me and another omega together like we were twins. She’s why I’m here, actually.”
“You’re here because you murdered thirteen alphas in cold blood!” For the first time Brooks struggles against Kole. “You’re just a heartless psychopath!”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Brooks.” I reach into the pocket of his doctor’s coat and pull out the necklace he stole from me, complete with Lars Devereaux’s canines and FAFO warning and put it back around my neck. “I have too big of a heart. How else do I end up killin’ thirteen alphas, leaving no evidence behind, only to go back when I was ready and plant clues and evidence leading the FBI straight to me?” I smile big and hold my hand out to Helaena. She and I seem to be on the same wavelength today, because she places the scalpel right into my hand. “Every kill, every facility transfer, every violent moment…was just so I could end up right here. So I can save my sister.”
Brooks’ turns pale before he shakes his head, seemingly unable to believe that he’s been outsmarted by a simpering, foolish omega.
“It’s not possible. Nobody can—”
“I did.” I place the scalpel under his chin and tilt my head. “Now, Doctor Brooks, what did I tell you about callin’ me Josephine?”
We trip over ourselves to reach the hall, an unconscious Brooks tossed over Kole’s shoulder. The doctor is now sporting a stab wound in his arm, and a vial of tranquilizer in his blood.
Helaena leads the charge as she navigates us through the hallways, and then finally, we round the corner, only to see a man with a shock of ginger hair drop a guard by snapping his neck.
Declan.
Emotion rises in my chest at the sight of my big brother coming to rescue me, and I let out a shuddering breath as he rushes over, wrapping me in his arms.
