Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THORNE
The first two days in Valencia went exactly as I’d expected they would—none of them spoke to me, and I avoided them at all costs. I packed up my gear and slipped out earlier than we planned, because at least then, I could take my last breath without any interference.
My hands skimmed over my gear: two utility blades, four pistols, an assault rifle, a sniper rifle, and a belt equipped with enough ammunition to slaughter whoever I pleased.
I’d come here to get this over with, and that’s exactly what I planned to do.
The other three could enjoy their time here as a vacation.
I’d get my hands dirty without their help and, hopefully, be taken out in the process.
I didn’t want to go back to that hellscape, especially when my best friend had turned against me, and Oren would undoubtedly have hatred to express upon my arrival—it was all emotional turbulence I couldn’t handle anymore.
Slipping one of the guns into the holster on my thigh, I glanced up at the clock—22:00.
The plan had been to head to the reported estate at eleven, but I’d slipped into the armory in the mansion they’d placed us in with every intention of being out on the prowl before any of them realized I was gone.
At least on my own, there wasn’t a risk of anyone else getting hurt, and ultimately, I no longer had anything else to lose. It was a combination that was beyond deadly, weaving me into the man General Valens had always wished me to become.
Flipping one of the utility knives from tip to hilt, I slipped it into the sheath beside my pistol before doing the same with the other.
My gloved hands curled around the utility belt, and I swung it around my waist, clipping it with a familiar ease.
Next, I checked the clip on my rifle and slid it back into its home, satisfied to see it ready for use.
With refined movements, I similarly handled the sniper rifle, and once I slid the straps of death over my shoulders, I moved without another thought.
This mission hadn’t been designed to be handled alone; it involved entering an estate filled with well-equipped soldiers and trained men—but I didn’t give a fuck.
Not anymore.
Slipping through the door, I progressed through the basement corridor, making my way to the underground exit on the eastern side.
“And where do you think you’re going?” A silhouette appeared from the shadows, arms crossed over his chest—a matching utility belt already strapped around his waist. He ran a hand through his hair, a satisfied smirk on his face.
“Taking out the trash.” I stepped around him, not offering anything other than an emotionless reply.
“Look,” Matthew said, stepping back into my path. “I might disagree with what you did, Thorne, but we’re brothers. I’m not letting you go out alone.”
“Brothers is a bit much, but I agree,” Simon added as he stepped into the wavering light, his gear lighter than Matt’s and mine.
Liam also appeared, a solid nod his only response.
“I don’t need your sympathy,” I snapped, my boots continuing to drum against the cement floors.
“You all had no issue reminding me how much of a piece of shit I am for leaving Oren behind, about how careless and reckless I am as a leader. It was something I already knew, words that General Valens already said, so save yourself the exertion. I’m going alone—”
“You might be a piece of shit, but shit sticks,” Simon said as he jabbed a finger to his chest. “You’re stuck to us just as much as we are to you.”
“Gross,” Liam muttered, his fingers pressing into the bridge of his nose.
“What? The metaphor works.”
“That’s the metaphor you decided on?” he countered, raising a brow.
Unamused, I ignored their meaningless banter, another display of my lack of importance.
“What Simon is trying to say is that we’re here for you, even when you fuck up. It’s what we do… what we’ve done,” Matt corrected. “You’re our commander, and that’s not going to change.”
“Not anymore,” I replied, not bothering to glance over my shoulder. “You took that title on the flight here. Congratulations on your promotion, Matthew Harveil. I resign after this mission, though I won’t have to, because it’s not something I’m planning to survive.”
“What would Oren say if he found out you planned to kill yourself?” he snapped. “Don’t you remember how devastated he was the first time?”
“Very devastated,” Simon chimed in. “Even brought you flowers and made a cute little card. The artwork was amazing in it.”
“Artwork you told him to add.” Liam shook his head. “I don’t think it was that hard for him to draw a dick.”
“What would Oren say?” I laughed, the sound of a broken man.
“He’d tell me to go through with it. To do him the favor and never come back.
Because a betrayal like this? It’s an unsalvagable wound.
I’m not going back to the U.S. So, if I have any advice, it’s stay the fuck away from me.
I kill everything I touch, and Oren needs the three of you far more than he needs me. ”
“You know that’s a fucking lie.” Simon adjusted his belt.
“I stayed with him in that bathroom stall after you shattered that necklace. He was broken… beyond broken, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t raise his spirits.
You were the only one to bring him back, Thorne.
If you eliminate yourself, nothing will bring him back. Not even the three of us.”
“You think I’m capable of saving him after what I elected to do? After the irreversible mistake, you all wasted no time reminding me of?” My fingers twitched instinctively toward my gun. “There is no saving Oren. Not after this. And my return? My survival? It’ll only taint him further.”
“Bullshit,” Matt snapped, the loudest I’d ever heard him speak to me.
“That kid saved you over and over, Thorne, and you’re going to let one mistake ruin him forever?
He needs you. Not us. You. If you can’t see that, well fuck, maybe the kid was right when he screamed at you that you refuse to listen to him. ”
“Needs me?” I shook my head, my hand closing around the pistol’s grip. “No one needs me. Remember? I left him with his father? Fucked him over beyond repair?”
Freeing the gun, I fired off a round at Simon, a tranquilizer dart landing in his thigh.
He swayed, trying to catch the wall, but it proved useless.
Without a breath of hesitation, I pivoted, catching Matt’s fist before it could meet my face.
Pressing the barrel against the side of his neck, I pulled the trigger, a slew of weakening curse words leaving him as his body hit the ground with a thud of finality.
I turned to Liam, my jaw feathering. “I tried to warn you all to let me go alone. So let this be the lasting mark of my statement. Don’t fucking follow me.”
Firing the pistol, the last dart burrowed itself into his chest.
They couldn’t follow me because if they did, they’d die, and I only had one goal on this mission. It was time I met death, and I had to make sure there was no one there to stop me.