Page 104 of King of Cruelty

“Where did you get that?” Maryann broke in, surging forward and making all of their guns fly up. “Have you been recording us? Spying on us?!”

“Get a fucking clue, woman,” Adeline snapped, “and look at where you are?”

“What?” Maryann whipped around. “What does that mean?”

“Take that gag out of my son’s mouth, and I’m sure he’d be happy to tell you.”

“We’re not—”

Eagle Tattoo reached over and pulled the gag out of Bane’s mouth without missing a step.

Bane coughed. Shaking his head, he rose up—shining his beaming smile on the room. “Thank you so much for the assistance. Now, where were we?” He turned on Debra. “Oh, yeah, you were about to get those cuffs and that gag off of Kenzie.”

No one moved.

“Do it, or I won’t tell you why your timer just ran out, but no one put in a single bid in your ridiculous auction.”

Their eyes snapped to the screen. By their blown brows, I knew Bane was right. No one bid for Liam.

Natalya took a step toward me, then stopped.

“Do it,” Bane growled, eyes flashing. “Before I lose my patience.”

Unarmed and handcuffed, but Bane still gave the air of being the most dangerous man in the room.

Slowly, Natalya ungagged and released me. “Don’t move.” She trained her gun between my eyes. “She’s free, but she’s not going anywhere until you tell us what’s going on.”

“I’m sure Kenzie can help you out with that,” River chimed in. “Baby, what’s the first rule when dealing with assassins?”

I blinked. “I... uh... It’s... that you never corner them in their home. Because they’re the only one who knows where all the weapons are hidden.”

“Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!” Sunny sounded off. “What does she win, Bane, other than a vigorous bout of blisteringly hot sex tonight?”

My cheeks caught fire. I knew we had bigger problems right then, but did he have to say these things in front of his parents?!

“I’ll tell you what she wins, brother, she wins that look of utter befuddlement on Debbie’s face, because she still doesn’t get it.”

“Get it?” Debra flicked from him, to the laptop, to the standoff in the middle of the room. “Get what?”

“You don’t get that there is no reason on earth that we’d ever shut down the Fairfield’s security. No reason ever. So if that day ever came, we’d have to be under extreme duress, and that’s the security protocol you automatically triggered when you typed in that shutdown code. Extreme Duress Mode.”

“Ex— Extreme Duress?” she croaked.

“That’s right. Now, I bet your next question is: what is extreme duress mode? And that’s a great question,” he cried, enjoying himself immensely. “I don’t just make weapons. I also dabble a bit in cyber security, and extreme duress mode was a stroke of genius on my part, if you don’t mind the brag.

“When the building is on extreme duress mode, it does turn off all the standard security measures, but it alsoturns onevery hidden camera and speaker stashed in every single room in the building.”

Debra was white as a sheet. “C-camera?” Slowly, achingly, she tipped her head, gazing up at the ceiling fan above her head.

I don’t know if there was a camera in there, but it’d be a great place for one.

“After those cameras and speakers turn on, a link to the live streaming feed is instantly sent to every Merchant—everywhere.”

“We’re worldwide, baby!” Sunny crowed.

“That includes our oldest sisters, our Aunt Gianna and all of our cousins, the whole circus fam, and every one of our trusted friends, family, and allies.” Bane smiled into her blown eyes. “They’ve all seen and heard everything you six have done here since you typed in that code.

“And going by the fact that your auction is bust, and your members have guns pointed at you right now, they shared with them and the rest of the world that you planned to take their money, fake your deaths, and blow them all up.”