Page 10 of Carver

“Go.”

“What?” the guard asked.

“Go. I’ll find the way.”

The other man pondered the words for a moment before nodding. “Okay. That’s… that’s good. I didn’t want to do any of this anyway. Fucking hell. I really hope whatever happens next works out for us both.”

He nodded, then watched as the other man took off at a sprint in the direction they were supposed to go. The guard’s footsteps echoed down the hall. As much as he wanted to follow,a wave of nausea tore through him. He leaned back against one of the brick walls to stabilize himself.

When that didn’t work, he slid down the wall until he was on the ground. With his knees to his chest, he buried his face. There wouldn’t be relief anytime soon. He’d have to wait it out.

Just like he intended to wait out the gunshots. Surely once whoever killed the mean lady, they’d want to help everyone she’d trapped.

Maybe he’d finally get the chance to be free.

Though he wasn’t all that sure what free even meant anymore.

Five

After Hex confirmedthere were actually people wearing collars in the mansion, Carver found his second wind. He should have been tired. Should have needed to drop somewhere for a few hours to recharge.

The news had the opposite effect.

He was ready to tear the fucking world apart. The drive back to Mordecai’s destroyed home took almost half as much time without the added passenger. He hadn’t wanted to hurt Archie by driving too fast and loose. Without him though, Carver was free to be as reckless as he pleased.

When he arrived, he threw his helmet at the nearest Angel before taking off to where Slash stood waiting for him. “Hex said you didn’t sound pleased at the news. Why did you call him?”

Instead of me.

The unasked question was something they’d address later. Slash, as second, should have been who Carver called. But he knew the other man was already strapped tight coordinating everything.

Taking down Mordecai had left more destruction behind than any of them had planned. Thankfully Tank had agreed to letting the Angels handle things how they saw fit. Because evenif he hadn’t, there was no way to salvage the place. Burning it to the ground was the only option.

It was also the only way Carver would ever find peace.

Some buildings held darkness within their walls. One could tell from the moment they entered if a place had been home to sinister deeds and unsavory actions. Mordecai’s mansion was one of the worst cases Carver had known. It had taken everything in him not to jump the gun on this one.

He wanted to make it worse. To draw it out and hurt her.

Tank’s favor took that part of the mission away. Finding out there were collars involved made him regret giving the bitch a quick ending. She should have suffered longer for what she’d done.

“Take me to them,” Carver told Slash.

As his second spun to do as he was told, a tremor ran through Carver’s system. There was more to what was happening than they knew. He didn’t know how to explain it. Only that he felt like there were pieces missing.

Slash led him down the hall, past all the bodies, to a set of stairs heading down. Both men kept quiet as they hurried to the nightmare awaiting them. The closer they got to the bottom, the more noise Carver picked up on.

Hex was talking loudly, telling a story about… chickens.No, that couldn’t be it.He couldn’t imagine that being something important to the current situation.

Except when he exited the stairwell, he saw just how wrong he was. Carver had expected to find weeping captives in the basement. He thought they’d be pleading for their lives, worried after the shootout from above.

“He’s been keeping them distracted while we worked upstairs. A lot of them won’t even talk to us. I’m not sure what your plan is with them, but I hope they’re fucking spoiled to pieces after this.”

Carver nodded his agreement. He’d planned on handing everyone over to Royce with strict instructions for the billionaire. There was no doubt that they were the best fit to help these people. It was just a matter of making sure they understood the gravity of the situation.

As he approached the gathered group, several heads turned his way. A few of them were leery until they noticed his leather cut. The Angels insignia on the front had their worried looks shifting to acceptance.

“Hello,” he said to the group.