Page 74 of Seduce & Destroy

“Sorry.” I whimpered.

“Enough!” The ricochet sound of heavy boots approaching boomed from behind me. A man dressed in tight leather and black straps around his legs walked between Neenan and Novelli, and Laney and me. He looked at Neenan before us. “Sir, get Novelli back to base.”

The young guard tried to protest but before a single word came out his mouth, he was silenced by Grant’s stern face. With the wave of his gun in a haphazard way, Neenan guided the guards with Novelli to a truck that idled to the side of the street. Then, Grant spun to Laney, not daring to meet my eye, but speaking to us both. “And you.” His pointed chin directed at us. “Meet me in my office.”

“How about the hospital?” Laney contended.

“Office. Now.” Then he flicked two fingers in the air and firm hands grabbed my arms pulling them behind my back. The cold of handcuffs clicked around my wrists, the position of my arm grinded into my side, causing a flame of hurt to cascade through my entire body. I groaned as they yanked my body with them to another nondescript van around the corner. Away from Laney and away from Grant. No, Norman. It would take a minute to replace his name in my mind.

Out the corner of my eye I saw their faceoff. But it was less of a faceoff than I expected. He draped an arm around her shoulder and whispered something to her. Her face transformed into shock horror, and she ran with Grant behind her.

A click of a car door distracted me and the rough hands that pulled me into the back of the car had me seeing stars. I couldn’t see the driver but the second the door shut, they pressed on the accelerator so hard, all the air in my lungs left me.

I groaned.

“You alright back there?” A familiar voice made me pause. It couldn’t be. Blood rushed my brain causing my head to droop with the weight. “Cat got your tongue?”

“I think the cat got her tongue.” Another voice confirmed.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. “You can’t be here.” I announced.

“Oh babes, we’ve been here for a while.” Pulling myself into an upright position, I could finally see what I feared.

I shook my head.

“You had a deadline, Kil. Mamma told us to.”

“Goddamn it.” I groaned. And not from my injury. “She couldn’t just trust me.”

“This job has taken you longer than most. Honestly, she was more worried about you. You do like to go MIA.”

“So, she sent both of you?”

“She’s here too!” He said. My jaw was almost on the floor. “Somewhere.”

“What? But she shouldn’t see action. You know this.”

“Have you tried to stop that woman? We gave up.”

“You…gave up?” I was shocked. “Idiots.” I spat under my breath.

“The time is now.” Thing One said. Terrence.

“Isn’t that exciting?” Thing Two responded. Malachi. My brothers.

No, no, no, no. We’re not prepared enough. We’re not prepared enough. “We’re not prepared!” I all but screeched as Terrence hit a curb and my vision flashed. “And slow down!”

“Aw, little sis, you worried about me?”

“You do know I got shot, right?” I peeled my red stained fingers from the wound, showing it to them as proof.

“Looks like just a graze to me.” Malachi butted in with a shrug.

“Ugh. We need more time.”

“No,” Terrence’s tone was serious. “Think about it. This is the right time. It’s everything we’ve been building up to, Kilina. You should be excited, the time has come. The last piece of the puzzle.”

“You’re the crux!”