No sooner had I moved out of the closet, Wrage stomped inside and, using his still activated luster, pummeled his fists hard against the bookcase. So hard that the entire thing was ripped off whatever was keeping it in place until the thing caved inward, thrashing down a secret staircase that revealed a hidden basement. Wrage stormed down the stairs and I was quick to follow him. Before we even got to the bottom of the stairs, there was a sharp clicking sound. Suddenly, we were surrounded by a dozen armed men pointing guns at both of us.
The basement, or at least this part of it, was a very small room that had the same flooring as the warehouse above, but without all the oil spills. In the center of the armed men was Hudson, blood streaming down his face from the altercation that must have transpired as soon as he’d entered the warehouse.
Immediately, I put up my hands in defeat, but Wrage wasn’t as quick to mirror my actions. It looked like Hudson was about to speak, his mouth quivering, but one of the men closest to him held a tighter grip on the gun that was pointed directly at Hudson’s temple. The silence grew in the room until a door opened behind us and I watched in devastation as Stacy and Maxim walked into the room. Stacy was shoving Wrex along with her, his arms tied behindhis back as she held up a chrome pistol to Wrex’s head.
My blood roared in my ears. It felt like a thousand needles of different origin were pressing into my eyes, tears trembling at the sight while Stacy and Maxim took their time passing by us to stand in front of the men still aiming their guns at us. Betrayal throbbed harshly in my veins, hurt danced behind my eyelids. But my heart, that’s what was hurting the most. Because seeing Wrex in that precarious position, because of me, made me feel like my entire world was ending.
The only thing I wanted to do was run to him, to tell him how much he meant to me despite both of our positions on what kind of relationship we were looking for. As I watched Stacy push Wrex down to his knees and whip her head in our direction, the tears streaming down my face told me all I needed to about how I felt about Wrex.
Wrage snarled beside me as I tried to reign in my emotions, knowing that I needed to be strong right now. Wrex looked relatively unharmed, but that did nothing to qualm the storm raging within me.
“Well then,” Stacy said, laughing to herself as she looked at Hudson, then around to her men, before settling her eyes on mine. “Let’s get started, shall we?”
Chapter 24
Gettingvisible confirmation that Stacy and Maxim were involved in whatever reason petrylle were going missing was a shot to the heart. I’d bared my soul to these people and now they were having a team of armed men point their guns at me, like at any second I was at risk of having my head blown off.
And not in the way I typically liked.
Stacy had ordered a few of them to leave the room, leaving only three guards as a few of them pried a struggling to breathe Hudson from the floor to take him behind another closed door off to the back of the room. That left one guard for each of us to make sure there was the threat of gun violence literally being nudged against our skulls. The consensus that Stacy was the ring leader in this situation was not lost on me, and I kept trying to lock eyes with Maxim, but he was refusing to look at me. A part of me was glad, because I was irate with him. But the other half thought that maybe if he couldn’t stomach making eye contact with me, that meant he still harbored enough guilt about what he was doing, which meant that there was hope to appeal to him and hopefully end this nonsense.
Each of the guards were standing right next to me, Wrage and Wrex, their guns pressed against our temples, just waiting for the word from Stacy. She nodded toward the one manhandling Wrage as Maxim forced Wrex to his feet.
“Take that one and put him with the rest,” Stacy commented casually, as if she were asking for him to grab her a water from the fridge instead of putting him in with the rest of the captured petrylle. “We’ll deal with him later.”
Nodding, the guard shoved Wrage toward the only other door down here in the basement, walking past Stacy, Maxim, and his brother.
“We’ll get you out of here, Wrex, I promise.” Wrage snarled before he was shoved hard through the door by the guard, the receding sound of a snarl sounding off until the door swung closed with a sharp slam.
Wrex still hadn’t spoken. His hands were still tied behind his back but his mouth wasn’t donning tape or anything else keeping him from speaking. Maybe he’d been with these lunatics long enough to realize that being quiet was the best plan of action.
Now that it was just me, the friends I thought I’d had, and the petrylle I’d been having sex with, this felt way too personal. Maybe I could use that to my advantage, get as much information on what the fuck was going on here.
“What do you want?” I stated, looking straight at Stacy as she rolled her grip on the chrome pistol she was brandishing. “What’s the point of all of this?”
Stacy beamed, relishing in the attention and my lack of knowledge. “This isn’t about you, Wallace.” That was rich, considering she’d specifically taken the one petrylle that meant more to me than most. “At least, not until recently. Wrex here was just to get your attention.”
“Well, you have it. What do you want?” I snarled back, asking the unanswered question again.
“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” Maxim’s voice was barely over a whisper and onlyaudible because of the silence in the room.
Annoyed, Stacy wore a snarl of her own. “How many fucking times do I have to tell you, Maxim? Who’s in charge here?”
Fear flashed across his face. “You are.”
“And who dies if you quit following orders?”
“My parents.” His voice shook with emotion, but he quickly attempted to steel himself when Stacy cut him a glare so dark and twisted that even I flinched at it.
“That’s right.” Stacy chuckled. “So be a good little boy and followfuckingdirections, and no one gets hurt.”
Yearning to ask the question about what was going on burned in my throat, but when I locked eyes with Wrex, it vanished in an instant. The only thing I wanted was to throw my arms around him and assure him that everything was going to be okay. Even if I was starting to have my doubts on that front.
“Stacy, Wallace didn’t do anything.” Maxim nodded. “I know he’s an Orb sympathizer, but he can change his mind. He’s a good guy.”
Without missing a beat, Stacy took the back of her gun and smacked Maxim across the face. He tumbled to the ground, grabbing at his jaw as he writhed in pain on the floor. She sighed, more annoyed than eager to inflict more pain. The guards shifted on their feet, but she waved them in Maxim’s direction.
“Take him elsewhere and tie him up, I’m so over him.” She scoffed.
