Chapter Fifteen
W arner, Rainer and Aiden were the first faces I saw. They stood shoulder to shoulder, a wall of mass waiting for whatever threat they conjured in their heads when the gun went off.
“Lessy?” Aiden breathed in shock, bringing my gaze to him.
I knew they were waiting for answers. Probably wondering why we weren’t sprinting out of here like our lives depended on it, but cause truly, they did. But I couldn’t speak.
Could Aiden see the difference? That I wasn’t his innocent twin sister anymore? Could they see the blood on my hands, the hot and sticky thickness I couldn’t seem to shake?
Rainer approached me softly, as if I was a spooked animal. Gently, his hand wrapped around mine, the one that still held the raised gun. His eyes shifted over my shoulder to the man who was sitting in a pool of his own blood. Blood I had caused.
Prying the gun from my cool fingers, he shifted the weapon into his other hand, his fingers wrapping around mine. The tremors stopped under the force of his touch, his troubled gaze calm for once.
“You did good.” The words were a whisper, only meant for my ears.
But I needed them. I needed the reminder that there had been no other choice. I did good. For them.
“Are we going to get out of here now?” Sasha asked from the back of the room, pushing past the guys and pulling me into a tight but quick hug. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
I smiled tightly and then I hooked the strap of the bags off my shoulders, another weight lifting off of me. Aiden grabbed the bag from me, peeking inside, his brows arching. But he didn’t question it like I had, grabbing one of the weapons for himself, passing the bag off to Warner.
Warner grabbed the second gun, Sasha handling the third. Rainer still held mine in his hand and I had no intention of asking for it back. Maybe that made me a coward. Maybe I was too comfortable having other people fight my battles. But I didn’t care.
Once the four of them were armed, Aiden and Warner led the way out of the room, Mina and me in the middle, while Sasha and Rainer took up the back.
As we stepped around the body on the ground, Mina’s hand found mine, squeezing in reassurance. I turned my head toward hers, her pale face eerie in the dark. But her bright eyes, surrounded by freckles, hadn’t faded. I hadn’t been too late. They hadn’t suffered at the hands of the people here.
We were silent as we trekked up the stairs in a single file, Rainer at my back. His heat pressed against me, his feet nearly clipping my heels.
“Murphy?” He whispered.
I couldn’t think about Murphy right now. Not when the cacophony of gun shots was now gone. Did that mean he was dead? Or had he escaped unscathed?
But Rainer deserved an answer. “He was the distraction.”
Rainer didn’t say anything, but his heat came closer, his hand dropping onto my lower back as we stood on the stairs, waiting for Warner to check that the main level was still empty.
“He’d be proud of you for saving us,” Rainer finally said.
I choked back tears. Would he? I may have saved them, but then why did it feel like I had damned myself?
Warner held up a hand, signaling us all forward. I took a step, Rainer’s hand dropping from my lower back. But his touch wasn’t gone for long, his hand gripping mine until our eyes were level.
Swallowing roughly, he said, “I’m proud of you, Less.” And then he was pushing me up the stairs, urging me to follow the others.
When we all filed into the computer room, the two people from before were no longer there. In fact, the entire building seemed empty. An uneasy feeling swirled in my gut. I had taken two shots, two shots that wouldn’t have been quiet this late at night.
Where were the guards? Shouldn’t they be preventing us from leaving?
Everyone seemed to have the same thoughts, looking around the room in confusion. But we didn’t have to wait for answers for long.
Aiden took a step toward the front door, the door which had been shut behind me at some point. But his foot barely touched the floor when the door swung open, revealing a face I had hoped to never see again.
Vex’s wide smile filled his face the same way he filled our exit. A dozen guards stood at his back. And between all of them, a limp body swung.
Even under the bruises, I recognized him. His soft brown hair was matted with sweat, his hazel eyes barely able to squint open. But when he spotted the six of us standing together, Murphy’s familiar smile lit up his face.
Rainer growled under his breath when he spotted his best friend, taking a stop forward, but I pressed a hand against his chest. We were in an enclosed space. If bullets began flying, there was no telling who would be hit. We couldn’t risk that, not yet.
“Well, step aside. Let me see her,” Vex said, his voice much too light for the circumstance.
Aiden and Warner stood shoulder to shoulder, refusing to budge. But I couldn’t let them get harmed. Not when it was me who Vex wanted. Maybe if I listened to him, followed his instructions, he’d let the rest of them go.
It was wishful thinking, but it was all I had.
Rainer tried to grip my arm, but I ripped the limb from his grasp, stepping forward. Aiden halted my movements, begging me with my eyes not to, but Warner was at his side, moving him away.
He took my brother’s arm, pulling him back as he stepped toward Mina, allowing me to be front and center. I took several steps, putting a gap between me and the others while not allowing myself to be directly in Vex’s vicinity.
Once I was alone, in the middle of the two groups, Vex clapped. “There she is! The one who got away!”
Although I had tried to keep my distance, Vex didn’t care. With four long strides, he was in my space, hovering over me, looking down his nose. “You thought you were clever, didn’t you? Escaping right under my nose.”
He attempted to keep his smile, to keep his jovial tone, but his words fell flat. A frown threatened his lips. This was no longer a game to him. He was angry that a simple girl like me had bested him.
“Clever enough to break in right under your nose as well,” I responded, thankful my voice didn’t shake, even as my body did.
“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong.” His eyes brightened again as my brows furrowed, realizing he had something over me. “Once I realized you weren’t with the first group, I knew I only had to bide my time.”
He circled my body, clucking his tongue. “You were always hovering over those children. Willing to take the beating instead of your brother. Even when you recognized my scientist, you kept your mouth shut.”
He came to the front of me again, leaning down, his face inches from mine, my body trembling with fear. “A protector. You would never leave them here. All I had to do was wait.”
Backing away, he spread his arms wide, a performer on the stage of his creation. “And so I did! You delivered yourself right to me. Now the only question is, what should I do with you all now?”
His gaze scanned behind my back, eyeing the guns in their hands. “You stole important information from me. The only question is, what do you know?”
Vex’s eyes landed on me once again, his grin manic. “You and I both know how much fun we could have finding out exactly what you know.”
I tried to keep my features blank, tried to not show my fear, but my efforts were futile. A shiver wracked my entire body, my mouth falling open in horror. I would rather die than be at the mercy of this man again.
“And this time, I wouldn’t stop until you broke,” Vex whispered against my cheek and I flinched.
A commotion of whispers and shuffling broke out behind me, but I didn’t dare turn to look. I couldn’t give my back to the monster before me.
My eyes were locked with his, his focus entirely on me. But I saw the shock of blonde hair approaching, something Vex was none the wiser to.
As she came closer, I recognized her as the woman who had stitched me up before my escape. The woman who had apologized.
Her steps were quiet as she approached Vex from behind. I saw her movements before Vex had any idea she was in the room. His arrogance, his focus on the woman who had bested him, his downfall.
Her tight fist, a liquid filled syringe inside, jabbed toward Vex’s neck. He spun too late, the needle already piercing his skin. His eyes drooped instantly, his mouth opening to form unspoken words, and then he fell limp to the ground.
I didn’t have a moment to thank the woman. No time for relief to flood my body. Because a voice screamed for me to duck and then bullets were flying through the air.