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Caroline broke into a jog without another word. I rushed to help guide Abel, who was the third worst off. Jackson guided both Mason and Brody, who was the second worst off.
We limped to the nearest supply closet. We raided it for anything and everything to patch us up. Brody, of course, was the go-to. But Jackson?
He was applying his SEAL training in earnest. It was the first time I’d seen him tending to severe wounds with the efficiency of a, well, a military-trained soldier.
My ass didn’t know shit beyond pouring hydrogen peroxide on a wound.
Ironically, Brody caught me reaching for it.
“No, you fucking idiot!” he barked, making himself wince in pain. “I told your girl, that’s not what you fucking put on shit!”
“Well, what do you use?” I snapped back.
“Don’t worry about it. Help me.”
I did whatever Brody ordered me to do. The five of us worked in tandem to fix up what we could.
After we finished the task, Caroline gripped my sleeve and pulled me out of earshot of the guys.
I put my hands on her hips, beyond relieved she was unhurt. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
Caroline shook her head. She struggled for words, but when she got them out, she was determined as all hell. “We know my father’s coming. He’ll be here any second, whether he hit the spikes or not. I know what I need to do.”
I bared my teeth. “No. We already have a plan. We’re not deviating?—”
“And look how well the first plan worked out.” She jerked her chin at Vane’s body.
I took her chin gently and turned it up toward me, then kissed her. She immediately melted, and I wished we were the only two people on the planet. “You convinced me,” I murmured against her lips.
Caroline smirked, but it was brief. At that moment, Jackson found us.
“What do you propose?”
Caroline’s hand in mine squeezed, the only show of surprise that Jackson acknowledged her without malice. She didn’t hesitate to go into report mode. “My father and the Wolverines are coming, and when they get here, they’re going to be pissed. As soon as Walter sees this, or hears of it, he won’t come inside. We need him inside. If he isn’t closed in, he’s going to escape. History is proof enough that he can get out of any sticky situation.”
“Okay, and?” Jackson said.
“And I’ll lure him inside. Then I’ll step aside when one of you has a clear shot, and we finish him off. Easy.”
Jackson and I weren’t convinced.
She continued. “We’ve already established that today is Walter’s death day. If left alive, he’ll continue to spiral and become an even bigger danger to the people in Reno. He’ll find more Vanes and there’ll be no stopping him.”
Caroline paused, staring into Jackson’s soul. “You deserve to do it, Black Jack—a life for a life.”
The guys limped out of the closet to look at Caroline.
“You don’t want to do it?” Abel asked her. “You’ve got more reason to kill him. I get he’s still your dad, but?—”
“Not anymore.”
I squeezed her hand for support. We could all tell she had more to say.
“When I was sixteen, one of the guys, an older Wolverine named Mick, got drunk and started gloating about what he’d do to me if I weren’t ‘the boss’s girl.’ Said it with a laugh, the despicable, ugly bastard. But then he tried to follow me into the wine cellar of our old house—a big-ass house built from dirty money that doubled as headquarters sometimes.”
Caroline swallowed hard, locking her jaw. It wasn’t out of fear, but fury. None of the guys spoke; they just watched her and listened.
“I told my father about the attempt. I expected him to tear Mick apart for trying to hurt his precious princess. You know what he did?”