Page 38 of Monsters Carve Thrones (Crowned Monsters Duet #2)

And that was it. The switch flipped. He sneered, lunging for her like a bull seeing red. His hand shot out, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt, jerking her forward with enough force to make the chains groan.

I strained against my cuffs, my wrists burning. “Laura!”

But she remembered. She didn’t scream. She didn’t make a sound. She played the part just as we were. Good fucking girl.

Even as he shoved her against the wall and fumbled at her waistband like the sick piece of shit he was, she stayed focused. I saw it in her eyes–pure calculation. She twisted, her body a blur, and brought her knee up with brutal accuracy.

His nose cracked with a sickening sound, and blood sprayed down his face. He stumbled back, howling. But not for long. He surged again, angrier now. His fingers curled in her shirt, dragging her forward again, and my stomach dropped.

Don’t hurt her.

Don’t fucking hurt her.

His head turned toward me, sneering. “Gonna make her scream for me, boss. You can listen.”

Nico spat at him. “Hurt her, and I’ll cut your fucking eyes out when I’m free.”

“Whatever,” the guard spat, climbing on top of her. “I’ll just deal with whatever punishment Waleria wants to give me. I’m not passing this up anymore.” His hands yanked at her pants, but she fought like hell. She wasn’t making it easy for him.

I was boiling, chains rattling, breath ragged. “Tell me something,” I said, voice cold, calculated. “You ever wonder what it feels like to be outsmarted by a girl?”

He blinked, confused. And in that moment, Laura struck.

She slammed her forehead into his nose, then followed with a precise kick to his kneecap.

He dropped slightly, cursing, and she moved like lightning.

She yanked the blade from his waistband and jammed it into his throat while covering his mouth.

A wet, gurgling gasp spilled from his lips onto her hand as he dropped to his back, clawing at the blade embedded in his neck. Blood pooled fast. He twitched and shook, then left us in silence.

The chains bit into my wrists as I strained forward, my heart pounding out of rhythm.

She did it.

Laura fucking did it.

She looked back at me, pale, shaking, her chest heaving. Her lip was split. There were bruises forming on her jaw. But her eyes–those eyes were blazing.

“Get the key, Laura, now,” I urged. It was only a matter of time before backup arrived.

She didn’t hesitate. The guard’s twitching body still oozed blood as she crouched beside him, hands slick as she fumbled through his pockets.

Her breath came in harsh, panicked bursts, but she was fast. She snatched a ring of keys from his belt, her fingers trembling as she jammed one into her cuff lock.

Click .

She was free.

“Here,” I growled. “Hurry.”

She scrambled to me, her hands fumbling with the lock. I could see her face up close now. It was bruised, wild-eyed, and smeared with the asshole’s blood. Her hands were shaking so hard she nearly dropped the key.

“Steady,” I said, my voice low. “You’ve got this.”

The lock gave with a hard snap , and the second my wrists were free, I surged forward and caught her before she fell. I only had time to grip her shoulders before–

Shouts and heavy boots pounded down the hallway.

“Get behind me!” I barked.

Three guards burst into the room, guns half-raised and confusion on their faces.

I lunged, slamming into the first one like a freight train, driving him back against the wall.

His gun clattered to the floor. I smashed his face into the concrete until blood and bone pulped beneath my fists. His scream cut off in a gurgle.

Laura tossed a blade she’d pulled from the dead guard’s belt to Kieran.

He caught it and yanked a guard back, teeth bared, wrists still halfway chained.

A second guard tried to shoot, but Nico, now half-free, charged him, slamming his shoulder into the bastard’s chest and sending them both crashing to the ground.

Gunfire cracked and screams split the air.

Laura managed to unlock Kieran completely, tossing him a gun from the second guard’s belt. He rose quickly, aiming and firing. Blood sprayed the wall behind the last man.

Silence fell, broken only by our ragged breathing.

The floor was littered with corpses.

I stood in the center of it all, chest heaving, blood dripping from my fingers, my hair stuck to my forehead.

The room reeked of copper, gunpowder, and sweat.

My body screamed for rest even though I’d been chained for however the fuck long.

My arms were numb, my ribs ached, and I hadn’t eaten in nearly two days–but my mind was stable. I was alive.

Alive and fucking furious.

“I’m going to find Waleria,” I said, my voice hoarse, thick. “She’s in this house somewhere.”

Laura turned to me, panting. Her eyes locked on mine.

“You did good, Laur,” I said softly, stepping closer to her. “I’m so proud of you. I mean that.”

Her lower lip trembled. “I was scared.”

“I know. I was, too.” I reached out and pulled her into me, holding her tight. “But you didn’t let it stop you. She’ll be proud of you, too.”

She clutched the front of my shirt, burying her face in my chest for a breath. I felt her shaking against me. I gave her what I could–a moment of stillness. Then I stepped back, wiped blood from my mouth, and nodded.

“Let’s move.”

We crept through the halls of the massive house.

Concrete gave way to dark wooden floors and narrow corridors lined with flickering sconces.

The structure had an eerie stillness to it, as if it had once been a place of wealth and power that had been slowly eroded from the inside.

I moved like a ghost, gun in hand, heart pounding so hard I could barely hear.

If this was the kind of house Waleria kept, it had to be near the woods. Big, secluded. A predator’s den. Which meant Adela was probably somewhere similar. The thought burned through me like acid.

We paused at a corner, checking both directions. Nico and Kieran followed quietly. Laura flanked me, gun in hand, eyes darting. The air was too still. Somewhere in here, Waleria was hiding. Surely, she heard the commotion downstairs and checked the cameras in the hallway.

I was going to gut her.

We climbed the stairs slowly, my breath getting heavier with each step. My body felt like it had been run over by a train. I was starving. Sick. Exhausted. But I didn’t stop. The idea of Adela kept me moving. I’d carve through hell for her. And tonight… hell was precisely what I planned to unleash.

We found her upstairs, hiding like a rat. Waleria gasped the second she saw me. Sweat slicked her brow, eyes wide, already backing into the corner of the room like the velvet wallpaper would somehow swallow her up. I smiled at her–bloody, wild, high on adrenaline and fury.

Her mouth opened to scream, but I crossed the room faster than she could suck in air.

I slammed her into the floor. Her head cracked against the hardwood with a sound that would echo in my skull for days, and still, it wasn’t enough.

I grabbed her by the ankle when she tried to crawl away and dragged her across the house, down the stairs, through the blood-spattered hall, and into the basement where it all began.

Where she kept me chained like an animal.

Nico and Kieran were at my side, blood on their shirts and blades in their hands, standing over the limp corpses of her guards. The stench of iron and death filled the air like my own fucking vengeance. They moved without hesitation, grabbing her arms while I pried the chains off the wall.

“Your turn,” I growled, yanking her upright by the hair.

She fought. Screamed. Clawed at me like the pathetic bitch she was. But we got her shackled right there, in the exact place I was chained for days. Arms behind her back, her neck twisting around, trying to pretend she was still in control. But she wasn’t.

Not anymore.

“You’re scared,” I said, crouching in front of her. “Huh. Not so smug now, are you?”

“Fuck you,” she spat, but her voice cracked at the edges. Her gaze flicked to the dead men on the floor, to Laura standing behind me with a knife gripped in her hand like she might actually use it again. Her breathing sped up.

Good .

I stood slowly, towering over her. “Give me your phone.”

She hesitated.

Wrong move.

I hit her, just once, a backhand that split her lip and made her cry out. She went limp enough to stop fighting and reached into her pocket, handing it over with shaking fingers.

“Thanks,” I said, unlocking it with her face while she was dazed. “Smile.” I changed the passcode without hesitation. Swiped to silent mode. Looked through her apps until I found the one Waylon used to send those encrypted messages.

She tried to scoff. “He’ll kill you before you even get close to her.”

I smiled. A slow, wolfish smile that made her flinch. “You really don’t know me at all.” I turned to Laura. She was still pale from everything that happened, but her eyes met mine with unwavering focus. “Hold this,” I said, handing her the phone. “I’ll use it in a minute.”

Waleria hissed through her teeth. “You’re all dead. You think he won’t see this coming? You’re not the monster he is. You can’t do what needs to be done.”

I leaned down, cupping her chin so hard she whimpered. “You’re right,” I whispered. “ I’m worse. ” I let go and cracked my knuckles. “Now. Where is he? I’ll kill you quicker if you just tell me.”

She hesitated.

I didn’t. The knife Kieran had tossed me earlier found its way to her thigh. I drove it in slow, twisting just enough to hear her scream. “WHERE. IS. HE?”

“FUCK–okay! He’s just outside of Moscow! The address is the recent one in my maps. The old lodge–he’s been keeping her there. Eastern wing, third floor, it’s reinforced–Jesus FUCK –”

“Thank you,” I said, breathless with fury. I stepped back, motioning for Laura. “Phone.”

She handed it to me. My thumb shook as I pressed record. The red light blinked to life. I raised the phone, staring into the camera with blood crusted along my jaw, my shirt soaked, and my eyes cracked open like a man who hadn’t slept in weeks.

“Hey, Waylon,” I said, voice low. Dead. “Remember me?” I turned the phone, showing Waleria. “Your bitch of a cousin says hi.”

Her scream as I turned it back on me sent chills through the room. I smiled. Eerily calm.

“I’m coming for my wife. By the time you see this, I likely already have you right where I fucking want you. In front of me, bloody, and seconds from death.”

Laura reached out silently, and I handed the phone to her without a word. Still recording.

Then I turned back to Waleria.

She whimpered. “Wait–Rafe, please–”

I drove the knife into her stomach. Deep. Her mouth opened in shock. Gurgling.

Another. Again.

I gripped her chin and stared into her eyes. I wanted to watch this. I wanted my psychotic gaze to be the last thing she saw. “You should’ve killed me when you had the fucking chance.” I twisted the blade, and her body jerked. The light left her eyes, and her head slumped forward.

I stood there, breathing hard, coated in her blood, surrounded by the aftermath of war.

And for the first time since I saw that video, I felt a little closer to Adela. A little closer to home.

***

We stumbled upstairs like soldiers crawling out of a trench, reeking of blood and smoke and death. The kitchen looked almost untouched. Polished granite, fruit in a bowl, bread still soft on the counter. It felt wrong. Like the house hadn’t noticed all the bodies downstairs.

Nico opened the fridge and let out a breath.

“Thank fuck .” Within seconds, we were tearing into leftovers like feral dogs–cold chicken, cheese, apples, some kind of stew I didn’t bother to identify.

I barely chewed, just stuffed food in my mouth like it might disappear if I blinked.

My stomach burned with the shock of real food after days of near-starvation, but I didn’t stop. None of us did.

Laura sat on the edge of the counter, chewing slowly, a smear of blood still dried near her temple. She looked tired. Worn down to the bones. But alive. I was grateful for that. I leaned against the sink, chewing on a roll, and pulled Waleria’s phone from my pocket.

Time to get to work.

I scrolled through her messages with Waylon. She used little punctuation. All lowercase. Short, clipped sentences with too many exclamation marks when she was excited. Casual, bratty.

Noted .

I studied the last few conversations, seeing how she addressed him. “u owe me for this,” “can’t believe u’re doing it there,” and the occasional shit about Adela that made my skin crawl. But also, there was something I could use. She was meant to retrieve something from him. Fucking perfect.

I didn’t want him to suspect a damn thing. Once I had it down, I opened a new message. Me (as Waleria):

hey. sending my guys in the car to grab what we talked about tmrw. don’t shoot them.

Less than thirty seconds later, a reply came through.

Waylon:

gate’ll be open. tell them to pull around the side. east entrance.

My heart slammed into my ribs. That was it. I exited the message thread, my knuckles tight around the phone, and opened the maps app. He’d pinned the damn location. I zoomed in.

A large estate nestled in the woods outside of Moscow. Remote and isolated, with security all around the perimeter.

She was right there.

My chest nearly cracked open. I felt sick with relief and terror all at once. I traced the roads leading up to it, looking for choke points and weaknesses. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.

She was there.

My wife.

“Rafe?” Kieran’s voice broke through the haze. He’d finished eating and was now leaning against the doorway, watching me with wary eyes. His face was bruised from the scuffle earlier, but the fire hadn’t left him. “What do we do now?”

I looked up from the phone, still breathing hard. Then I grinned. Blood crusted at the corners of my mouth. My shirt was stiff with dried violence. I probably looked like hell. But inside, I was sharper than I’d ever been.

The animal inside me was wide awake.

I raised the phone and showed them the map. “There,” I said. “That’s where she is.”

Nico stood beside me now, reading the address. His jaw tightened.

“And the plan?” Kieran asked, arms crossed.

I turned to face them, every bone in my body vibrating. “We’re getting her out. Tomorrow .”

“Sounds good,” Laura murmured.

My grin deepened. “And we’re going to burn that fucking place to the ground.”