I climb into the backseat, Elise following promptly behind me. She closes the door and signals for the driver to take off. Just before we leave, she winds down her window.
“Kill her,” she instructs, and I scream, launching myself at her as I hear the distinct ricochet of a gunshot, and I watch my best friend fall to the ground as we speed out of the parking lot.
“You fucking promised,” I snap as my fist connects with her face. I’m dragged back into the chest of someone before the familiar prick pinches my neck.
Elise tsks, “You need to learn how to ask for things, darling daughter. I left her as I said I would. I never promised she’d be alive. Now sit back. We have a long drive ahead of us.”
My body won’t cooperate, my arms feel heavy, and my eyes droop. However, before I give in to the sedative working its way through my system, I mumble, “I’m going to fucking kill you before this is over.”
60
WYATT
“Seriously, I thought there’d be more than this,” I mumble. We’ve been at this for hours, and we’ve only decrypted ten names— all people we’ve known about.
“You can’t rush the process. The scraper we’ve created will decode each change in the encryption,” Coop says through the screen.
A notification sounds and I watch three more names populate.
Sighing, I turn back to my laptop and continue combing through the records I pulled for my dad’s law firm.
“They’re all already dead.” My gaze lifts at the sound of Sebastian’s disgruntled voice. He flips his computer, displaying all the names that were just revealed. “They were discovered in the last round-up the Council oversaw.”
I bring up the log from last week’s mission. Thirteen families betrayed us in their thirst for power. Elise promised them all something she never would give. We didn’t kill them all. Most are sitting in the cells under the Tombs until a decision can be made on what will happen next.
“Was the whole fucking town in on this?” Owen growls, throwing his blade at the wall.
It’s a fair question, given the situation. “Enough of them were,” I reply.
“The Fraternitas needs an overhaul. We can’t keep leading like this— Elise was only able to get where she is because of the arcane rules the Council refuses to see the need to change,” Wes explains.
A ping sounds— another batch of names appear just as all our phones go off.
“Fuck,” Wes shouts.
“I’m going to rip his balls off and feed them to him,” Owen snarls.
I watch as Antonio’s name pops on the screen, and I grab my phone to see my worst fears confirmed. I’m hitting call before I even register the action.
“Ariah’s been taken. Shay and Erik have been rushed to the hospital, and we don’t know if either of them will make it,” my father explains.
“Where?” is my only question, but he understands what I want.
“The Tombs— we leave as soon as you all arrive and gear up,” he replies.
I disconnect the call. “We have to go. Colt, Coop, keep us posted. We have a cunt to murder.”
* * *
The factthat we’re outside another building to get our girl back isn’t lost on us— it just fuels us.
We don’t have time to process the guilt we all feel for leaving her— we’re focused on getting her back. We’ll beg for her forgiveness later. But bringing her home is priority number one.
“You all have your instructions. We know from surveillance and heat signatures there are twenty-four people inside— twenty-three are targets— one’s my daughter,” I watch the moment of anguish in Aaron Bradford’s eyes before it dissolves into determination. “All targets are shoot-to-kill unless you know they can be captured.” Aaron walks down the line of his team as we stand back by the truck, ready to go. Our fathers— also suited up, are like a looming presence behind thetrueleader of the Fraternitas. “I want to make this clear— wedo notleave this building withoutmy daughter,andElise Lockwoodismine!”
I want to say we all agree on this— all of us understanding why he wants this kill. But weallhave reasons for wanting the walking human carcass eviscerated. I turn to Owen— his jaw is clenched. I’m not sure which girl he has strapped to his back. I just know it’s a Katana, and Thelma and Louise are in his hands.
“Let’s go,” Aaron’s voice booms.
