“Tell me, was killing Tyler necessary?” she asked, seemingly oblivious to me unwinding the rope. The effortmade it tighter around my wrist, but as it continued to pool in my hand, I knew it’d have to get me somewhere.
I licked my dry lips, remembering the blood spilling from Tyler’s chest. “We should’ve made him hurt longer.”
Her eye twitched. “Do tell why.”
“I already told you, hestolefrom me,” I seethed. “I guess mommy dearest didn’t pay him enough.”
She chuckled, low and full of malicious promise. She wanted to hurt me? Good. It meant she was focused on her hatred of me, rather than my attempt at escaping.
“He received as much as he needed to survive. Men are greedy, and I strived to teach him differently,” she stated confidently.
“So you took your hatred of your ex out on your son,” I surmised.
“I learned, and I applied that to my child. That’s hardly a bad thing,” she defended.
Finally, the pressure on my wrist began to loosen, confirming that this was working. “No, it only led to him stealing from his girlfriend, becoming a cheater, attempting to leave the family business by getting into real estate, and having mommy issues.” I hummed as if I was pondering the severity of the list. “No biggie, though. At least he won’t become a divorced man because he’ll never find a girl willing to put up with his shit long enough for marriage. Oh wait…” I smiled. “He’s dead anyway.”
Her nostrils flared, and without even signaling them, one of the men moved. I didn’t see the fist swinging until it was too late. My head snapped to the side, my eye stinging with the impact of his punch.
“I’m bored of her,” she drawled, shoving off the deskto saunter past me. “Shut her up, then come meet me to finish off the boy.”
All four men closed in on me. I had no time to keep trying; the progress I’d made had to be enough. One of them yanked my head back by my hair, and I took the leverage to yank my arm as hard as I could. The rope snapped, freeing one of my hands. I swung, clipping another man in the jaw. Without hesitation, I reached behind me and found the man’s eye sockets, digging my fingers into the soft parts. He yelled out, and I used my hold on his head to swing him sideways, knocking him into the two other men.
While they righted themselves, I quickly reached down and untied the rope on one of my ankles, freeing my foot. I kicked out at the man approaching from the front, hitting him right in the crotch. He keeled over, cursing as his face turned red and he cupped his balls. His moment of weakness gave me the perfect opportunity to steal his gun.
Bringing it to my still-restrained hand, I cocked it back and fired three shots into the three men aiming to attack. Before I could hit the fourth, the gun flew from my hand, and pain erupted in my wrist. I didn’t have time to cater to the hurt as the man swung with his knife. I leaned hard into the back of the chair, barely missing the tip of the blade.
I bent my free leg to the side, hooking him behind the ankle, and pulled with all my strength. He stood firm, laughing at my attempt. A breath later, he grabbed my neck and squeezed, arching it back at an uncomfortable angle as he spit in my face. “I always told her you were too feral for the job.”
Recognition hit with his voice. It was the man fromClub Fourteen. The one who’d told me to be a good pet and do as I was told.
The realization only made my next move all the more sweeter.
I pulled his gun from his waistband—dumb of him not to use it to begin with, honestly—and pressed the tip into the soft part directly under his jaw.
“Say hi to your friends for me,” I croaked out. And pulled the trigger.
Blood splattered in every direction, his hold on my neck dropping away. I gasped in a breath as his body slumped to the ground with athump.
Fuck, that felt good.
Without sparing him a second glance, I untied the rest of the ropes holding me to the chair and stepped over his body. I didn’t bother surveying the utter chaos I’d left in this room as I headed for the door. My leg pinched in pain with every step—likely an injury from the wreck. I could worry about that later.
I made sure a bullet was in the chamber as I opened the door and stepped into the hall, scanning the dim space. On either side of the hallway, there was a door every ten feet or so. I had no idea where Henley could be, but I didn’t have time to ponder. I’d go in every single one and kill whoever got in my way.
I didn’t allow myself to think twice as I slammed open the first one, fully prepared to shoot whoever was on the other side of the door. I cleared the room, finding nothing inside but a large couch and a TV. What the fuck was this place?
I threw open the second, but stopped myself frompulling the trigger as two women shrieked on the bed in the center. My brows furrowed, finding them nearly naked and in the middle of an intimate moment.
I aimed the gun at one of them as I stood in the doorway. “What is this place?”
“Club Fourteen,” the girl answered, voice shaking. The other one wrapped her arms around her tightly.
I’d never been in this part of the building, but based on the absence of windows, I assumed it might be the basement.
I lowered the gun at the same time as I closed the door. Had they not heard the gunshots? I hesitated in the hall, listening. I got the feeling Tyler’s mother had gone in search of Henley, if her parting words were any indication, so I searched for sounds of a struggle. But I heard nothing. Not even the thumping of music, if the club really was above us.
The whole place had to be soundproof. It made sense, if the rooms were meant for sex or other…things. But that only made it more difficult to find him.
