I hit the ground hard, my head bouncing against the pavement. For a moment, I was disoriented, my vision blurry. Then, the pain hit me like a truck. My entire body felt like it was on fire. I tried to move, but my limbs wouldn’t cooperate. Panic set in as I realized I couldn’t get up.
The man I had been chasing was sprawled out a few yards away from me, with a piece of wood stuck through his neck, his unseeing eyes staring up at the sky. When I had the strength to turn my body and look at the house, a terror I’d never felt before ripped me to the core.
“Genevieve!” I screamed, crawling toward the burning house.
Flames licked at the windows, and smoke billowed out in thick, black clouds. I could hear the crackling of the fire and the shattering of glass as it consumed everything in its path.
“Genevieve!” I cried as I got to my feet.
Another explosion burst from the house, and I fell back onto the ground again, the breath expelling from my lungs in a roar. My eyes burned from the heat, and nothing was left when I looked at the house. The roof had collapsed in on itself, and every inch of it was on fire. There was no way Genevieve could’ve survived the blast. That thought sent a chilling spike straight through my heart, piercing me with a pain I’d never experienced before. I was in pure agony when Parker was taken from me, but this was different. It didn’t seem real.
Everything in my body hurt, but I had to get away. I had to let Seth know what his brother did.
The tears falling down my cheeks as I hobbled away from the house felt hotter than the flames behind me. Pushing past the pain, I worked my legs harder until I found myself running toward the gate. There was an SUV parked not far down the road, and I knew it had to belong to Nikolai’s guy.
Sirens blared in the distance, so I ran harder. I had to get away before the police and firefighters showed up.
I reached for the door handle, and thankfully, it was unlocked. As I slid into the driver’s seat, I was prepared to hotwire the car, but the keys were in the center console. Finally, a sense of control amid the chaos. My hands shook as I pressed the ignition button until the SUV roared to life. I paused momentarily, staring at the house that was once Seth’s home. Now, nothing was left but ashes, rubble, and a graveyard. But I couldn’t dwell on that; the pain was too much. I had to focus on the task at hand and grasp onto the hatred that was boiling inside me.
Nothing and no one was going to stand in my way.
I knew where the abandoned warehouse was, and I knew it’d be heavily guarded. Still, it didn’t matter. I had to find Seth and tell him what happened. I pulled out onto the road, the sirens growing louder by the second. Up ahead, the lights were so bright on the emergency vehicles that I had to shield my eyes when they sped past. I wanted to press my foot to the gas and fly at the speed of light, but I couldn’t risk getting pulled over.
My arms were covered in scrapes and blood, and my clothes were ripped and tattered. I could only see my eyes in the rearview mirror, but my face was black from the explosion.
By the time I arrived at the rundown part of the city, I could feel my hatred grow stronger. I could almost taste the revenge I was about to take. The warehouse was just a few blocks away.
When I pulled into the parking lot and drove around to the back, there were a dozen cars and two men standing guard by the rusted metal door leading into the warehouse. They couldn’t see me through the tinted windows, but their guns were drawn as they approached the vehicle. I opened the car door and held up my hands as I got out.
“I’m Wren Langston!” I shouted, not wasting any time for them to lower their guns as I took off for the door.
One of the guys recognized my name and stared at me in shock as I ran past him. Both men quickly lowered their weapons, stepping out of the way so I could enter. The smell of sweat and blood hit me like a wave when I got inside. The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed through the air, and I knew I was in the right place. I made my way through the maze of crates and boxes, following the sickening sounds until I reached the center of the room. There, surrounded by a circle of men, were Seth and Nikolai, both beaten and tinged red with blood. Seth had the upper hand, his arm around Nikolai’s neck with a look of murder on his face. All he had to do was twist and end it all for good. However, I couldn’t let it end so easily like that. Nikolai needed to feel the highest level of excruciating pain imaginable.
“Stop!” I shouted, my voice ringing through the warehouse.
My heart thundered so hard in my chest I could feel it in my throat. The rage was insurmountable; it was so strong inside of me that I wanted to kill, scream, and cry all at the same time. The whole room fell silent, and when Seth focused on me, his eyes blazed even more. He pushed Nikolai to the floor and ran to me, clasping my face with his strong hands. The second he touched me, I felt the wave of all my emotions crashing down around me.
“Wren, what happened?”
I couldn’t hold the tears back any longer. My body hurt like hell, but my heart hurt the worst.
“There was an explosion,” I cried, sucking in a ragged breath. “Diego and Drake were shot. They’re dead.”
I knew what Seth would ask next, but by the torment in his eyes, it was clear he already knew the answer.
“My mother, Wren. Where is she?”
Shaking my head, I closed my eyes and felt the tears burn my cheeks. “She’s dead,” I sobbed, my voice shaky. “She was in the house when it exploded.”
“No!” Nikolai spat. “The stupid cunt is lying. How is that even possible?”
Hearing his voice made my skin prickle like glass shards scraping against me. I hated him with every fiber of my being. In one quick movement, I shifted away from Seth and charged toward Nikolai, but Seth grabbed me around the waist, preventing me from striking out.
“She was there!” I screamed, fighting against Seth. “And you killed her!”
Nikolai’s face turned pale with fear and the silence in the room was deafening. I turned to look at Julian, and his eyes never wavered from Nikolai, his expression blank of all emotion. The other men watched Julian with uncertainty; it was as if they knew he was a ticking time bomb. More tears fell down my face, and I sagged in Seth’s arms.
“I’m going to let you go,” he growled in a low voice. “Don’t move.”
