Page 14

Chapter Fourteen

Davis

The room is dark, the smell of stale water wafting around the space. Reaching to the switch on the wall, I flick on the light, and it illuminates the small basement with the traitor tied to a chair in the centre of the sparse room. He has barely spoken a word since he was captured, an idiot to think he wouldn’t be found.

I pull up a chair and sit in front of him. It must be hard for this fucker to sleep tied to a chair, especially since his face is busted up well from Boston’s last visit. Ex-handler Trace has only asked once to speak to Mr Z, and Mr Z isn’t the type of man to get his hands dirty. Now it’s my turn to see what I can find out. We have all been trained in specific areas to make a flawless team. My skill: I can read almost anyone.

I stand from my chair, removing a pocketknife and cutting his arms free. He is way too weak to beat me; plus, even if he managed to get through me, he wouldn’t make it out of the building alive. Surely, he isn’t that stupid.

I resume my spot in the seat in front of him. He looks up at me and I throw a folder into his lap. Trace eyes it sceptically as he flips through its contents, his jaw growing tense, not liking what he sees.

“I don’t know if the others have mentioned that we don’t need you to tell us where Zircon is. I’ll give it to you... she looks very different to the angel you stole away from us.”

His gaze flicks up to mine, then back down to the damning documents.

“Now I suggest you start talking because for whatever reason, and there has to be one, you tried to hide her. A trained handler doesn’t go rogue without a good one. Mr Z isn’t happy and has instructed us to do whatever is necessary to get answers. Even if that includes breaking her.” I’m lying to gauge his reaction. None of us are capable of breaking her.

The look on his face tells me everything I need to know. That (a) she is who he is protecting, our baby Z; and (b) he wants to hurt me right now.

“How sweet it will be to get her onto our side. Laughn has taken a particular liking to her. I wonder if she is into his sick fantasies? If anyone can break her the fastest, it will definitely be him. One by one, we will use her, tear down her walls, and discard her like the trash she is.”

“You wouldn’t. You sick freaks all loved her.”

“Ah, now you said it yourself—we all loved her, past tense. She is no longer the girl we all loved. You seem to forget how we’re trained. You yourself watched it for years. We have no souls and are trained to take out whoever is in our way. That includes her.”

“Kill me, but leave her out of this. She knows nothing.”

Fuck, he is telling the truth. I wish he was lying; it would have made everything easier. We wouldn’t even hesitate to take them both out—traitors, the lowest form of low. Mr Z has given us everything we have ever needed and more. We’re set for life, with connections in this world that you couldn’t even imagine.

Having gained the information I wanted, I tie the fucker back to his chair for tonight. I need to call a meeting to discuss what I have found out; first I need to inform my team, then Brennan can take it to Mr Z.

I’m afraid this now changes everything.

Boston and Laughn will never let her out of their sight. Case and Marlow are a bit more reserved, but with this information, I suspect Case will cross the line and side with Boston and Laughn. I don’t know where I stand yet. When we were kids, I loved her with all I had, but that was years ago and people change. Hell, I’ve changed. She barely looks like her anymore. They need to tread carefully. Trace was trained by the same people we were, and he could very well have set this up. So technically he isn’t lying, but he may have had help from someone else to train her or brainwash her against us.

I send off a message to everyone to meet me at the usual spot. Replies ping almost instantly.

Walking through the doors of the Myers house, I’m met with total darkness, but I know my way around this place with my eyes closed. I make a beeline for the basement, where Brennan is already waiting.

“Is it safe to talk?” I ask, and Brennan nods.

“Everyone is on their way, except Boston. I’m not sure where he is.”

“He’s upstairs with Jolie.” I only know this because she replied to my message to Boston.

Brennan’s jaw tenses, and his brows furrow while his nostrils flare. He is jealous. Who would have thought that Brennan would have a crush on our girl? I’ll let it slide for now because we have bigger issues to deal with.

Laughn lazily walks in, scratching his head with a yawn. A nod is all we will get from him until he finishes the pile of energy drinks he has in his hands.

“Sup fuckers,” Case greets us with a little too much enthusiasm.

“This better be good. I kicked a fine-ass bitch out of my bed to come here,” whinges Marlow.

“Marlow, you’re ugly as fuck. There is no way the fine bitches are in your bed,” Case jokes, causing Marlow to grumble something under his breath and roll his eyes.

They all take a seat, even Brennan, as Boston strolls through the door. His bare chest and freshly fucked hair scream exactly where he has been.

“Someone got lucky,” Case drawls, chuckling.

“How is Jolie tonight?” Brennan jabs. The comment is beneath him.

This is exactly why I was hoping she was just some random—that we were wrong. We could have fucked her out of our systems and moved on. But now we have a huge issue. Brennan has caught feelings for her, along with Laughn’s obsession, and now Boston has fucked her. Huge fucking issues.

“You fucked her?” Laughn growls, snapping out of his daze. Boston just shrugs.

“Can you all shut the fuck up for a minute?” I bark out. “This is exactly why a chick in any male-based group is stupid. We have Laughn and Boston with some kind of feelings for her, and while on the topic of feelings, Brennan, we will have another meeting in a few days to address yours.”

My words cause Brennan’s head to snap in my direction, as if he can’t fathom what I have just said. “What are you talking about? I have no romantic feelings for Jolie.”

“An issue for another day... Right now, we need to talk about my visit with Trace.”

That shuts them all up. They knew I was going to see him; they just didn’t know when.

“It was a lot easier than I thought. She is Zircon, and while I have to test her, I don’t think she has any knowledge of who she really is. However, I want to make sure I haven’t been played. It seemed like he gave her up too quickly, but I think he may genuinely care about her. We should put him in a cell for a while and try to get him to talk more.”

“Fuck,” Boston snaps with a bang of his fist to the table. “What do we do now? When Mr Z gets her test results, we will have to add her to the trials, and she will be killed.” Boston looks up at his brother. “You need to come up with a plan fast. We’ve only just gotten her back, and I won’t lose her again. Not for you... not for any of you.” He stands and walks towards the door.

I think everyone has refused to believe it’s her, but now that I have confirmed our unspoken thoughts, it’s all a little too real.

“You know now that you fucked her, she’s free game, right?” Laughn asks.

Boston nods and leaves the room.

Brennan made us agree to not screw with her. We all had the same feeling at that time—except Laughn. He really has no standards when it comes to what he will stick his dick in. So, we made our own agreement that if one of us slept with her, she was free game for Laughn.

Now that he knows she is Zircon, he will be relentless.