54
KIERA
I’d hardly cometo terms with what I’d seen last night, and now they expected me to join them? “You have to be joking.”
Spencer shook her head. “We don’t joke about orders.”
“And whose orders are those exactly?”
Leo sighed. “The Oracle’s.”
“Of course they are.” I scoffed. “Well they’re sore out of luck. I don’t know the first thing about motorcycles.”
Leo smirked. “That’s not entirely true, Princess. I’m sure you’ve picked up a thing or two hanging around the shop. Unless something else had you distracted…?”
As I rolled my eyes, Spencer piped in. “It doesn’t matter. We can catch you up. But the bikes, the cars, the garage… That’s only a part of what we do.”
I shifted in my seat at the suggestion. “I don’t want to be implicated in whatever crime ring you guys are running.”
Though, even as the words left my mouth, I knew it was a lost cause. Sure, I hadn’t known what I was walking into at The Gauntlet. But I’d stayed willingly for Fight Night. I’d perused the stalls at The Hollow’s Night Market. I’d been a silent witness to the money laundering at the Glass Cannon. And my DNA,along with every one of my belongings, were littered all over this house.
I was already implicated. An accomplice at the very least.
If I walked out of here and tried to turn them in — if I could even escape — I had no doubt that Dom would spin whatever tale she needed to to drag me down with the rest of the sinking ship.
But honestly, I wasn’t even sure I would get that far. Given what they’d explained to me about The Gauntlet, I wasn’t quite ready to help them, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to get in their way either.
What they were after was a form of justice that reached far beyond what a court would sanction. And after my dad’s death, I’d been cheated by enough dirty lawyers and crooked cops to understand the need for extrajudicial penance.
Tears welled in my eyes, catching me off guard as I locked eyes with Spencer again. “Last night was… I don’t want anything to do with The Gauntlet.”
Spencer reached over the table, resting her fingertips against mine. “You don’t have to do that if you don’t want to, Bunny. But joining… that part isn’t optional. And neither is initiation.”
Leo laid a hand on my shoulder, her voice straining slightly. “I have to warn you: Dom isn’t going to go easy on you just because of the circumstances. If anything, I fear she’ll be harsher. But we have your back. We won’t let her take it past what you can handle.”
I swallowed hard as I let that reality sink in. Dom was getting a promotion from pain-in-my-ass to bonafide torturer. “Fuck me. Why is this happening to me?”
“The things that go on around here aren’t for the uninitiated.” Leo grumbled. “It’s dangerous to have you hanging around clueless about what’s going on. Bringing you into Violence is the best way to protect you.”
I couldn’t imagine why this organization thought I was important enough to hold hostage, let alone induct me into the secret order of rapist-hunters. But given the circumstances, it didn’t seem like the type of offer I could afford to refuse.
Letting out a sigh, I sunk back in my chair. “Fine. I’m stuck here, I’ll join your fucking cult. But if I promise not to run, can I at least get permission to go out on the property? I just need some alone time to clear my head.”
Before my saviors could do the mental math on how much of a flight risk I might be, footsteps thundered down the main staircase. A second later, the dining room door swung open on my captor-in-chief, looking cheery as ever.
If there’s anything I need protection from, it’s that fucker.
The murderous look in her crystal blue eyes confirmed what I’d suspected all along. If Dom was pissed about having me as a houseguest, she was seething at the idea of being my teammate. And she was going to make sure every second I spent here was as miserable as she was, even if it killed her.
55
LEO
When The Oracleordered Kiera’s initiation, Dom had been pissed to say the least. I’d be shocked if she didn’t need a repair crew to come through her room after some of the crashes I’d heard from upstairs. But at least this morning she seemed to have collected herself…somewhat.
Letting the dining room door slam against the wall, she threw herself down in the seat directly across from Kiera, letting the chair legs scrape the hardwood as she got settled.
“Morning, Sunshine.” Spencer quipped, trying to break the obvious tension at the table.
