Chapter 20
20
Raze
“ R aze!” A feminine voice calls out from somewhere behind me.
I’m too focused on the path ahead to acknowledge who it is or where it came from, my thoughts swirling in a violent spiral.
The cells were empty.
Not just Sonny’s, but all of them .
I have no clue how she managed to do it. This wasn’t in the plan. She was supposed to get herself out, and let us get the rest of them if we could.
The Syndicate is going to lose their minds when they discover that she’s escaped. They’re going to burn down the whole town when they realize they’ve lost four prisoners while they sat in a meeting a few hundred feet away, debating their fates.
“Hey, slow down,” the voice yells again.
The sound of heels clacking against hardwood floors picks up, and I yank myself far enough out of my thoughts for logic to tell me to turn and see who it is. I can’t have someone following me where I’m headed.
“Abigail,” I practically moan her name in relief, gripping the bridge of my nose to force myself to calm down.
She smiles at my tone, completely misreading the situation. “I haven’t seen you around in a while.”
“I’ve been busy. In fact, I’m on my way somewhere now.” I hook my thumb over my shoulder and take a step back.
It doesn’t take a mind reader to know she’s completely forgiven our past encounter, when I kicked her out of my office to speak with Sonny and started all of this. She’s still stalking after me like a cat in heat.
Perfectly painted lips push out into a pout as she reaches into the space between us and wraps her hands around my coat, then tugs me closer. “Come on, Raze. You can’t chat for a few minutes?” she purrs seductively.
Shaking my head, I pull the fabric out of her grasp. While there’s no denying they’ve been pleasurable in the past, those lips simply don’t do it for me anymore.
With a surprisingly level tone, I tell her, “I’m already late.”
I’m beyond late. Who fucking knows how far Sonny has gotten, or if she followed my directions and went to the cabin?
What if they got caught on their way? What if they got lost?
Fuck, the possibilities of what could have happened in the time I was sitting in that meeting like a useless piece of shit are endless. I was supposed to be there when she found the key.
Abigail scrunches her nose, dropping her hands at her sides. “Are you headed after your TA and all her friends?”
My heart drops into my stomach. “What do you mean?”
“I saw them a little while ago, racing out the back entrance.” Her upper lip curls up in disgust. “They looked like they’d been rolling around in a mud pit. Someone should do a welfare check on them.”
Realizing I have to get a grip on myself or she’s going to realize something is up, I swallow down the list of questions clawing their way out of my throat.
“Who knows what these kids are into these days?” I dismiss, slipping on my usual disinterested mask.
Abigail shrugs, nervously shifting back and forth on her feet as she drops her voice. “I really do miss you, Raze.”
The last thing I need is to make an enemy out of the only person who would be able to tell the Syndicate where my prisoners went. Then, I’d have to kill her, and that’s no fun.
But holy shit, she is wasting precious moments by simply not taking the hint.
“I have to go,” I enunciate every word, keeping my expression frozen to hide the desperation coursing through my veins to get out of this fucking prison of a building.
Maybe I could kill her. I pride myself on not taking the lives of innocent people.
Don’t look at me like that; we’ve all got our own versions of morality. One exception shouldn’t make or break me. A simple snap of her slender little neck would do it. She’d never see it coming. Badda bing, badda boom.
Thankfully, she chases away the temptation by releasing a long, disappointed sigh and takes a step back. “I deserve so much better than how you treat me, Raze Whitlock. I’m not playing this game with you anymore.”
She crosses her arms beneath her breasts, not-so-subtly pushing them up and further out the top of her dress.
“We’re done.”
Do you promise?
The sarcastic remark sits at the tip of my tongue, ready to take a deep dive off before I swallow it back down. We’ve been over for months, but I’ll let her believe it’s all her idea if it means she’ll get out of my way.
My gaze flicks behind her, toward the door that I desperately need to get to.
“I understand,” I say, quickly blinking before she realizes where my attention truly lies.
With a theatrically sad face, she steps forward one more time and pushes up on her toes to place a soft kiss on my cheek.
“Goodbye, Raze,” she mutters before turning around and walking back into her office with her head held high.
Thank-fucking-god.
The instant I hear her office door slip shut, I’m sprinting toward the end of the hall and flinging the door open. The sun has nearly set and I’ve got a long trek in the snow.