I shook myself out of the memories and took a deep breath. Back then, killing them was easy, a necessity, and not once did I feel bad about exterminating traffickers or criminals. I was no longer the scared seven-year-old girl forced to kill grown men; I was stronger and a weapon in my own right. Getting myself out of danger is what I do, and I can certainly do this. What I needed was a way to escape, but this room had no windows and only one door. That just so happens to be made of steel. They weren’t idiots. A door like that would be impossible to get through without some major firepower. Scanning the walls, my eyes caught on a sliver of light peeking through the display, only just visible now that it was cleared. Pulling the curtains the rest of the way off, I could see there was a large wooden board screwed into the concrete, which made it easier to drill in the hooks for hanging their toys, and easier for me to get out. I searched through the discarded tools, picking out a thick steel crowbar and using it to pry the wood away. The process took what felt like forever, but I was eventually able to free it, the wood splintering as it finally gave in.
Using the same bar, I slammed it into the small window, the glass shattering after just a few hits. I sighed in defeat, knowing I’d never get it all, so I swiped the edges the best I could, grabbed a few strips of the leather they’d had hanging, and pulled myself up. Glass tore into my skin as I shimmied through, my clothes tearing along with it. I gritted my teeth against the pain but kept quiet, unsure if there were more security guards outside and not willing to give myself away.
Once I’d made it to the gravel of the alley, I maneuvered back into the room just enough to reach the wall. Using my own blood, I scrawled out a quick, ‘Fuck you’ on the cement before crawling away. I looked like a crime scene, and not the fun kind, but there wasn’t much I could do to disguise it other than use my undershirt to bind the bigger cuts. Quickly ripping it in half, I wound strips of the cloth around my thigh and my forearm before taking off.
I stuck to the back alleys as I made the trek home. When I had to pass a busy street, I did so quickly and waited for the people to clear away. The shop was closer, and they’d be less likely to check there first, so I eventually settled on going there, glad I kept extra clothes in my office.
When I finally reached the back entrance, my feet were throbbing, and I was hungry and annoyed beyond reason. I keyed in the code and stepped inside, heading for the alarm and shutting it off before retrieving my extra set of keys to open the front.
My phone was in the triplets’ apartment, so I couldn’t give anyone an update, not that I felt like talking to those assholes anyway. Instead, once I was changed and bandaged and looked like a human and not a member of the undead legion, I opened the store.
Now to see how long it takes them to show up.
Kyrell
“Well, we’re going to have fun fixing all this,” I deadpanned, taking in the ridiculous amount of destruction one woman had left in her wake. I hadn’t expected her to be here, but this was next level insane. God, I love this woman.
“Is that blood?” Killian asked, noticing the broken shards of glass and dried red trail from the window.
“Oh, and a love note,” I teased, Keir barking out a laugh at the scrawled letters on the wall beside it.
“Fuck, she’s perfect,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “Kill, get this fixed. I’m going to find her.”
“I’ll be going with you,” I said dryly, not wanting any part of this disaster.
“Fuck you,” Killian mumbled, but he got to work right away, barking at Carlo to call in a cleanup crew to help him.
“How angry do you think she is?” Keir mused as the elevator closed behind us.
“That blood was dry, so she’s had hours. Our girl is stubborn,” I mused aloud, stepping out of the elevator as soon as it opened. After all of the bad news, I was ready to get back on my kitten’s good side so we could have an uneventful night. Especially now that it looked like we’d be treating some wounds.
“Oh god, don’t look,” Keir warned as soon as we stepped outside, his voice pained. My eyes fell on my poor car, and my heart stuttered at what I saw.
“No! Not my fucking Lexus! Son of a bitch!” I yelled, the sight making me see red. The tires were slashed, windows broken, and in the driver’s seat was Jason’s body… or what was left of it. Guess he was lying after all.
“Joe, security footage outside of our building. Now. We’ve only been back for less than fifteen minutes, and somehow they went undetected by our security,” Keir shouted into the phone as I shifted my jacket in front of my nose and leaned into the broken passenger door window. The smell of rotten flesh permeated the thick cloth I held in front of my nose, making even my stomach turn, and the maggots crawling along my seat and floor didn’t make me feel any better. A folder was in the passenger seat, barely visible under the glass. Stepping away to slide on my gloves, I reached inside and pulled it out, shaking the small bits of glass away before opening it. Instantly, the situation went from bad to worse.
“Keir,” I growled, holding it out with one hand and slamming the other into the frame of my car. The pain that radiated from the force of the hit helped ground me as he took the paper and cursed.
“Let’s grab Kill and another car,” he bit out, already running inside and heading through the back hall to our parking garage. Knowing he wasn’t about to stop, I pulled out my phone and called Killian.
“Get to the garage. Now,” I ordered as soon as he answered, hanging up before he could rant about being interrupted.
“What the fuck is going on?” Killian asked when he climbed in a few minutes later. I just handed over the folder and let out a sigh. “Fuck, we have to find her.”
The folder was filled with pictures of Sana going about her day to day life. Even more alarming were the ones taken in her apartment, meaning someone had been inside. The thought alone made my blood boil, and judging by the hairstyle, they’d been at this stalker bit for a while because she looked completely different. Then there was one of her handing a gun to someone in the back office of Gamester’s Paradise. That one was surprising, though if I thought about it, not out of character for her.
How did we not see it? Could Eros be more involved than she thought? Because she wasn’t even associated with us then.
If so, what does that mean for the Lachs? Because this was clearly them.
“She’s selling weapons?” Keir asked, finally addressing the elephant in the room. “How did we not know?”
“Well, Joe has been looking for the elusive seller. Guess we just didn’t think Gamester’s Paradise would be the location he was trying to sniff out,” Killian said, sounding kind of proud.
“She got angry at us for doing what we do, but she’s still doing shady business on her own time,” Keir added.
“True, but there’s a difference between selling arms and torture,” I argued, giving him a pointed look. Just as we eased into the midday traffic, all three of our phones rang. “I got it.” With that, I hit the speaker on the dashboard screen, the call connecting through the car’s speakers. “You’ve got the three of us.”