“Darek Langley,” Kyan greeted, smacking his shoulder back.
Langley . . . as in the Mall?
I couldn’t focus too much on all that. Whirling, I slinked away quickly before Kyan noticed. It took me much less time to get across without him glued to my ass, and I slid through the entrance, following the low chatter. I stopped before the opening where the curtains blocked them inside.
Darius Bourne boomed out a laugh. My heart stuttered from fear. That hadn’t stopped me before. I entered and took everything in quickly.
A rounded couch, a platform where a woman danced, music low enough to hear their chatter, and women scattered all over the place. Only Darius, Nile, and their second Omega were in the room, currently sucking Nile off while a Beta ate her out from behind.
“Another whore!” Darius exclaimed, raking his eyes down my body. “And one I get to unwrap.”
I strutted a few steps forward.
“You got over Lyndsy quickly.” They all stopped moving, like the air was sucked out of the room. “But that makes sense, since you killed her.” I shrugged.
“Who the fuck are you?” Darius murmured, head cocked.
I ripped the mask off my face. “The Omega you framed.” I felt a little dramatic, but I was going to roll with it.
He leaned back with a big smile. “Ah, the reporter girl.” His lips curved even wider. Age lines framed his eyes and his mouth. He smacked the girl’s leg next to him. “Get out. All of you.”
They hesitated, and I recognized the tall girl from the hallway, eyeing me with confusion and question. “Now!”
They moved in unison, but the taller girl from the hall stumbled into my front and pressed something hard into my hand while she kissed my cheek.
“You’re so pretty,” she crowed exaggeratedly as she slurred her words. I took the sharp blade and held it in my palm upwards, to hide it, and flattened my arm to my side.
“Candace!” The shorter girl from the hall grabbed her arm and forced her out and they left me with the three of them. Nile zipped up his pants, and the Omega rolled onto her ass, her eyes glazed to hell. She was high as fuck.
“You really are relentless.” Darius clicked his tongue.
“And you’re a monster,” I spat. “Only a monster does what you’ve done to people.”
Selling them, murdering them, and then getting out of every single charge with money and connections.
“I’m going to enjoy getting rid of this dumb bitch,” Darius drawled, focused on Nile. When he looked at me, his glazed eyes were full of evil. He pulled a gun out from under his coat and leveled it on me.
I gasped, my eyes widening. There weren’t any weapons on them when they entered; Elias had that as a specific order.
“You’re going to disappear, like every single one of them, and no one will care.”
My chest heaved with panic. Should I dive to the floor? Run? Scream?
The gun went off, and I froze. No numbness . . . or burning pain. Was I dead? I pried my eyes open to find Elias’ back in front of me.
“What . . .” Darius started. Blood dripped at Elias’ feet. My hands went limp and the little pocket knife fell to the ground.
I screamed, and chaos exploded. Sinclair burst into the room with Kyan, and they went for the other two, quickly rendering Nile and the Omega unconscious with a blow to the head. Sinclair focused his rage on Darius, throwing his fist into his face.
The gun clattered onto the floor, and I lunged for it, sweeping it up. I pointed it at Darius, waiting for Sinclair to get out of the way, when a hand clasped the top of mine.
“Elias,” I gasped, my grip going limp. He took the gun and shoved it into his waistband. Blood bloomed along his arm. “No.” My hands trembled over the injury.
“It’s a graze, Briar,” he murmured gently.
“He’s okay, baby,” Kyan assured me, cupping my shoulder. My pulse thundered, making it difficult to breathe.
With shaking hands, I sent a copy of the recording to my email and handed Kyan his phone back. “Proof of what they did.”
