Page 24 of Misery (Raiders of Valhalla MC: New Blood #7)

"So as far as he knows, you're still his devoted girlfriend."

She catches on quickly. "I go in first. Distract him. You come in while he's focused on me."

"It's dangerous," Magnus warns. "He's unstable. If he suspects—"

"He won't. I'm very good at playing devoted." The bitterness in her voice could etch glass. "Months of practice, remember?"

My phone buzzes.

Text from unknown number:

Tick tock, brother. Every minute you waste strategizing is another minute Ivar bleeds. Did you know he calls for Elfe in his sleep? So touching. So futile.

I show it to Runes.

His face darkens.

"We go now," he decides. "Eleyna, you're sure about this?"

"I've never been more sure of anything."

"Then let's move."

The ride to the meat packing plant feels both endless and too quick.

Eleyna follows in her car—a white BMW that looks absurd among our bikes but fits her cover.

The girlfriend coming to check on her man.

To bring him dinner maybe.

To play the role she's been playing.

The plant looms in the distance, all rust and broken windows.

Perfect for Thiago. Dramatic. Isolated. Controllable.

We stop half a mile out, hidden behind an abandoned gas station.

Eleyna pulls up beside us.

"Remember," I tell her, "he's smart. Paranoid. If anything feels off—"

"I know. I get out." She checks her reflection in the mirror, fixes her makeup to hide the worst of the tear tracks. "How do I look?"

"Like a woman in love."

"Then I'm ready." She pauses. "When this is over, what happens to the girl? Elfe?"

"She goes on with her life. Free from him."

"Lucky her." There's no malice in it, just sadness. "Some of us don't get to be free."

She drives toward the plant.

We follow at a distance, keeping to shadows.

Vanir's voice comes through our earpieces. "She's approaching the main entrance. Two guards outside. They're letting her in."

"Heat signatures?"

"Still eight. No, wait. Nine. Someone just came from the basement level."

"That's where Ivar is," I say with certainty. "Basement. Cold. Isolated."

We position ourselves around the building.

Magnus and Tor at the loading dock.

Dag covering the drainage tunnel.

Me with Kraken at the main entrance, waiting for Eleyna's signal.

Everyone else is scattered, strategically positioned.

"She's inside," Vanir reports. "Moving toward the center of the building."

Then we hear it through Eleyna's phone, which she's left on in her pocket.

"Baby? What are you doing here?" Thiago's voice. Surprised but not suspicious. Yet.

"I was worried. You didn't come home last night." Her voice is perfect. Concerned girlfriend. Slightly needy. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's perfect. After tomorrow, it'll all be over."

"What happens tomorrow?"

"I finally get what's mine. What's always been mine."

There's silence.

Then Eleyna speaks again, voice harder. "Are you thinking about her? That girl you're obsessed with?"

The silence that follows is tense.

Then Thiago's voice, different now. Dangerous. "What are you doing here, Eleyna? I thought I made myself clear."

"You hit me and I left. But I need answers. I deserve that much after the time we’ve been together."

"You deserve nothing. You went through my things. Violated my privacy."

"Privacy? You had a shrine to another woman!"

The sound of movement.

Then Thiago's voice, colder. "And now you're here. Why? Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless you told someone. Unless you're not alone."

It all happens so fast. The sound of impact. Eleyna crying out. Then Thiago's voice, cold as winter.

"You stupid bitch. You couldn't just leave it alone."

"Go!" Runes orders.

We breach simultaneously. I go through the front, dropping both guards before they can react.

Non-lethal shots—we need this quiet until we locate Ivar.

The inside of the plant is a maze of rusted machinery and shadows.

I follow the sound of voices, Thiago still ranting.

"Did you think you mattered? Did you think you were anything more than camouflage?"

I round a corner and see them.

The killing floor, just as Eleyna described.

Thiago has her by the throat, lifted off her feet.

But she's not helpless.

The .380 is in her hand, pressed against his ribs.

"Let her go," I say.

Thiago turns, sees me.

Smiles. Drops Eleyna, who gasps for air on the floor.

"Brother. Right on time."

"Where's Ivar?"

"Safe. For now." He's too calm. This is wrong. "Did you really think I wouldn't know? That I wouldn't see this betrayal coming?"

He holds up a device.

Fuck, it’s a dead man's switch.

"The whole place is wired. I let go, we all go up." His smile widens. "Including daddy downstairs."

"You're bluffing."

"Am I? Would you like to test that theory?" He looks at Eleyna, who's pulled herself to sitting, gun still trained on him. "And you. I actually liked you. You were simple. Uncomplicated. Everything she's not."

"Fuck you." Eleyna spits blood.

"Where's your backup?" Thiago asks me. "Magnus? Tor? The rest of your club? They can come out. This is the end game anyway."

They emerge from their positions, weapons drawn but useless against the dead man's switch.

"Now," Thiago says, "here's what's going to happen. You're going to call Elfe. Tell her to come here. Alone. And then we're going to settle this like it should have been settled. Between her and me."

"Never."

"Then everyone dies. Starting with daddy."

He presses something on his phone with his free hand.

Somewhere below us, Ivar screams.

The sound echoes through the empty plant, primal and agonizing.

"Stop!" I move forward.

"Ah ah. The switch, remember?" Thiago's enjoying this. "Call her. Now."

"I'd rather die."

"But would you rather she lives knowing you could have saved her father and chose not to?"

Another scream from below. Longer. Worse.

"He's strong," Thiago observes clinically. "Most men would have broken by now. But everyone breaks eventually."

Eleyna moves.

Not toward Thiago but toward me, pressing something into my hand.

Her car keys. "The trunk," she whispers. "I brought presents."

Thiago's focused on me, doesn't notice. "You have sixty seconds to decide. Call her or listen to her father die. Your choice, brother."

I look at the keys.

Feel something else attached, a detonator of her own.

"You wired your car?" I whisper.

"I told you. I wanted him to suffer."

"Fifty seconds," Thiago counts.

I make a decision and pull out my phone, dialing Elfe's number.

She answers on the first ring. "Oskar? Did you find him?"

"I found him." I keep my voice steady. "But there's a problem."

"What kind of problem?"

"The kind where you need to stay exactly where you are. No matter what you hear. Promise me."

"Oskar—"

"Promise me."

"I... I promise."

"Good. I love you."

I hang up. Look at Thiago. "She's not coming."

"Then her father dies."

"No," Eleyna says, standing. The .380 steady in her hand. "You die."

She shoots.

The bullet hits Thiago in the shoulder, spins him. The dead man's switch falls from his hand.

Nothing happens.

"You think I'm stupid?" Eleyna laughs. "I disconnected your bombs two hours ago. Before I went to them. You taught me too well, baby. Always have a backup plan."

Thiago's reaching for his weapon, but I'm already moving.

The knife leaves my hand, finds his wrist.

He screams and drops the gun.

"Ivar's in the basement," Eleyna tells Magnus. "Sub-level 2. He's bad. Real bad."

Magnus and Tor run for the stairs while I advance on Thiago.

"You turned her against me," he gasps, holding his shoulder.

"You turned her against yourself."

"This isn't over. I have copies of everything. Videos. Photos. She'll know how long you watched. How you're just like me."

"Maybe. But there's one difference."

"What's that?"

"I'm still breathing."

I don't kill him.

That would be too easy.

Instead, I break his knees.

Both of them.

He screams, but I don't care.

This is for Elfe.

For Ivar.

For every moment of fear he caused.

"Found him!" Magnus' voice through the earpiece. "He's alive but barely. We need medical care now."

"On it," Runes responds.

I look down at Thiago, writhing on the floor. Then, at Eleyna, who's watching with satisfaction.

"Thank you," I tell her.

"Don't thank me. I didn't do it for you." She walks over to Thiago, stands over him. "Months of my life. For what?"

"Eleyna—" he starts.

She shoots him in the other shoulder. "That's for making me feel worthless."

He's screaming now, bleeding from multiple wounds, but still alive.

"We should go," I tell her. "Cops will be coming."

"What about him?"

I look down at Thiago, broken and bleeding but still breathing.

Still a threat.

As long as he lives, Elfe will never be truly safe.

He'll heal.

He'll come back.

He'll never stop.

"I'll handle it."

Eleyna meets my eyes, understands. "I'll wait in the car."

She leaves. It's just me and Thiago now. Like it was always going to be.

"Brother," he wheezes through the pain. "You won't. You can't. Not after everything we've been through."

"You're right. We've been through everything." I pull out my Glock. "That's why it has to be me."

"She'll know. She'll know you murdered me."

"No. She'll know I protected her. That's what I do. I'm the Executioner, Thiago, remember?"

"We're the same—"

"No. We were never the same."

The shot echoes through the empty plant. Clean. Quick. More mercy than he deserved.

I stand over his body for a moment. The boy I grew up with. The brother I chose. The monster he became. All gone now.

"Rest in peace, you twisted fuck."