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She twirls around, not even waiting for Marcello's reply, and raises an eyebrow at Bianca and Adrian, who've been silently watching the whole thing.

"Don't look at me." B shrugs. "I like you. And I think you're good for him." She motions toward me. "Besides," she continues, "it takes a whole different type of person to deal with his surly ass, so for that alone you have my respect."

"I'm neutral," Adrian is quick to point out and I give him an appreciative nod. At least he knows when to shut up.

"Good." I open my arms, a wide smile on my face since I'm now fully in control of myself. "Now we can leave the family drama behind and go kill some bad guys?"

Sisi twines her arm through mine as we go first, ignoring the groans behind us.

Leaving the dead bodies behind, we continue down another small corridor that finally gives way to a wide tunnel.

"So this is where the action is," I add dryly as I note cages on each side of the tunnel.

Hell, the underground compound seems to take up the entire surface of the island.

The first few cages are empty, but as we advance, we start seeing young children as well as teenagers on both sides.

"Fuck," Marcello curses out when he sees the extent of Miles' depravity.

Bianca too, for all her emotionless demeanor, seems shaken up when she sees the condition they are all held in.

Dirty clothes, dirty, festering wounds, the smell of rotting flesh is ripe in the air.

"What the fuck," Adrian's voice rings out when we stop by one cage where a little boy is sitting on the floor, face down, flies gathered over the entire surface of his body. The smell coming from him confirms that he's been dead a while, and his cellmate, another boy his age, has had to withstand this all along.

Even worse, as I look closer at the boy huddled at the other end of the cell, I realize he's not far behind.

There's a gaping hole in his stomach, leaking yellow and green puss, his mouth bruised, his entire body almost purple.

He sees us stop next to his cage, but he doesn't react—he can't react. Only his eyes move around and indicate that he's still alive.

"Lord," Sisi whispers, her hand tightening on my arm, "this is even worse than upstairs."

I grunt, my lips pursed. Somehow, I doubt this is going to be the worst that we'll see in here.

In true fashion, the images only get grimmer as we move on, and considering the size of the enclosure, we'll have plenty to see.

Raising a finger to my comm, I give Enzo a quick rundown of what to expect here, and to make sure he keeps some of the doctors from the hospital to take care of whoever will survive from here. After letting me know he'll do his best to bring people down here to take the children, I close the connection.

"These are the failures," I say, cringing at my own words.

But the more I look at their dilapidated cages, the rotting flesh and the infected wounds, the more my mind seems to be pushing something at me. Like a memory of sorts, it's there, yet I can't fully grasp it.

"Are you okay?" Sisi asks, her tone worried as she looks up at me. My hand on my temple, I squeeze my eyes shut and give her a firm nod.

"Must be bringing back memories," I mutter, even though nothing I'd remembered so far had been this dire.

Sure, Vanya and I had been living in a tiny mold infested room, but it hadn't beenthisbad.

She nods slowly, even though her eyes tell me she doesn't fully believe me.

40

VLAD

"This must be the place they are sent to die." I change the subject, pointing to another cage housing yet another dead person.

But the more we advance, the more putrid the stench becomes.