Quinn doesn’t have to say it. It can’t be easy to know that once Pierce and Henry are dead, he will be alone in this world aside from Skye. I can’t imagine how torn up inside he must feel right now. I wish I knew what to say to get him through this unscathed, but I don’t think any of us are leaving here without a few more sins tainting our souls.
“Hey, you don’t have to stay here. You can find Lochlan and Lee and help them get everyone from the forest to the ferry using the limo. No judgment,” Lexi interrupts gently. She’s tugging on her red dress nervously. “I know how hard it is to grapple with that part of you who still loves the monster.”
Capri squeezes her hand for support. I reach out and touch her shoulder.
Josh really did a number on us, hiding that dark part of himself over the last year.
Quinn sighs and drops his shoulders, releasing all the pent-up tension there. He looks over at Lexi, reaches into his back pocket, pulls out a key, and hands it to her.
“No judgment?” he asks.
Lexi smiles warmly at him and twirls the key in her fingers. “None at all, loverboy. You go on and keep my new favorite niece safe. We’ll be out in a flash.”
I’ve never loved her as much as I do now. Somehow, she knew what Quinn needed to hear at that moment when words and actions had failed me entirely.
“I’ll do one more quick sweep to ensure Allison got everyone out.” Quinn turns to me and brushes a soft kiss against my lips while taking Paws from me. “Be safe. I’ll be waiting with our tiny furball for you outside the gates.”
Now I know most women would be mad about the man they’re crushing on leaving them alone to deal with his psychopathic family, but I’m not most women. I’m proud of him for knowing and respecting his limits. He may be the only one of us who still has the strength to do so.
Quinn kept my will to live intact during our trial and saved my life multiple times. Taking this hardship on and carrying this weight is the least I can do for him. I watch him disappear down the hall with a stupid smile plastered on my lips, knowing there is so much more for me to fight for still.
“You guys ready for this?” Capri asks, jarring me from my swoony thoughts. “Once that door opens, there’s no going back.”
“I’m ready,” I say, grasping my dagger and blowing my unruly hair out of my face.
Lexi steps forward with the syringe in one hand and the key in the other. “Let’s go show these assholes whatLive, Laugh, Murderis really all about.”
Capri looks to me, and we both stifle a giggle.
“What?” Lexi asks as she shoves the key in the lock and turns it with a loud creak.
“That was so lame,” Capri says. “So, so lame.”
Lexi rolls her eyes. “Hey, if we can’t joke after everything we’ve been through, then I don’t even know who we are anymore.”
Pierce and Henry both go silent. We hear footsteps retreating moments later. They must be running down the stairs. They have another thing coming if they think they can escape us.
I use one of the gas containers we found in the shed to hold the door open. I’m not letting this door shut us in again. We are no longer mice in a cage for this family to torment.
Capri shushes us before I can respond, and the three of us head down the stairs slowly. The red light clicks on, casting us in demonic-looking shadows as we face off with Pierce and Henry.
“Fancy finding you ladies here,” Henry muses, his lips twisting into a menacing grimace.
Pierce looks up at us from the fetal position on the floor, his eyes full of terror as he glances at his father. It looks like Henry gave his precious boy the same treatment he gave Quinn. Pierce’s lip is busted and bleeding freely down his red-tinged skin.
“I’m sorry,” Pierce mumbles. “I’m so sorry.”
I don’t know if he’s talking to us, or to his father, but the smallest kernel of unease tangles my stomach into knots. I risk looking over at Lexi and Capri, and their expressions match mine.
None of us know what to do now.
Chapter forty-one
I’ve never been one to mourn the loss of a man’s power, but watching Pierce scurry away from his old ass father makes me sort of miss the strong, confident man Pierce was.
Sure, he tortured people and put us through literal hell. And yeah, I guess he was about to murder his niece to make a point before taking us all as working hostages.
But watching him turn into this pathetic mess of a coward?
