Page 80 of Pretty Ruthless Monsters: Complete Series

QUINN

I’ve had guns shoved in my face more times than I can count.

But never like this.

Never by someone I care about.

Cared.

The correction comes quickly in my mind. Because as far as I’m concerned, I no longer give a single, solitary shit about any of the men in front of me—aside from making sure they suffer for what they’ve done to me.

They lied to me. They used me.

So now the Princes of Carnage get to watch their world burn—and unfortunately for them, their whole world was centered in one place. Whatever comes of Nico’s gun in my face, whatever happens next, I’ll have my head held high the whole way through, knowing I did exactly what needed to be done.

As the clubhouse fire rages in the distance, it halos Nico, Killian, and Atlas in the light of its inferno.

It’s downright demonic, the way the blaze frames them, as if it’s revealing the truth about them that I should have known this entire time.

They’re devils, and now they’re no longer in disguise.

The echo of that blaze burns in Nico’s mismatched eyes as he glares down at me.

Even before, when we were enemies the first time around, he never looked at me like this.

It’s hard to tell whether I relish the fact that the burning hatred in his eyes is trained on me now, or if it’s just another painful confirmation that he never felt a single real thing for me from the moment this sham marriage was agreed upon.

As if some furious thought crosses his mind, Nico’s lip curls suddenly, and he shoves the barrel of the gun beneath my chin.

Its cold metal against my bare flesh is a stark contrast to the warm air around us, making me sweat.

My shoulders tense, but I don’t cower. I refuse to let any of these three men see even the tiniest spark of fear in my eyes.

“If you’re going to kill me, then do it. It’s not polite to play with your food,” I bite out, my chest tight.

Killian and Atlas come up closer, properly flanking their leader as a dangerous glint flashes through Nico’s eyes.

“I should kill you,” he murmurs, his voice gruff.

“Should blow your pretty brains all over the fucking ground and leave your body for the crows, because you sure as shit don’t deserve anything better.

” His jaw tightens as he leans closer, his eyes bouncing between mine.

“The only reason you’re alive is because you have some shred of value to someone out there, and I intend to collect on that. ”

My stomach twists, and bile rises in my throat. That’s right. I’m supposedly valuable to someone else—but not to Nico, and not to the two men beside him either. Not anymore.

A dull ache fills my chest at that thought, making it hard to breathe, but I shove the feeling down. Pain at their betrayal is a sensation that I can’t give in to. Not when I’m outnumbered three to one.

Then again, those have always been my odds when dealing with the Princes.

“I have no idea what Silas was talking about,” I say, keeping my voice level. I look Nico right in the eyes as I speak, glaring at the man I once felt proud to call my husband. “He was probably lying, knowing you’d take the fucking bait?—”

Nico makes a sound low in his throat, his free hand gripping the front of my shirt to jerk me closer to his face. My hands curl into fists, my entire body reacting to his proximity. To the threat he now represents.

I’m pissed at the tears that burn in the corners of my eyes, and I blink once, clearing them quickly before he can take note of them.

“You really think we’re going to believe a damn thing you say anymore?”

It’s not Nico, but Atlas who speaks up. His deep voice breaks the tension between me and my husband, and my eyes snap to him.

He’s always been the most traditionally handsome of all three of the men, with his black hair and those arresting brown eyes that turn lighter as they meet his irises.

Once, those eyes looked at me with so much warmth and softness and need in them that it stole my breath.

But now it’s like a shutter has fallen over his soul, blocking out any emotion.

I hate it, and the harsh sound of his voice makes the anger churning in my chest roil even faster.

“You fucking lied too!” I blurt, shaking with fury as Nico keeps the gun pressed tightly beneath my chin. “All of you! I was the only one who went into this arrangement telling the fucking truth!”

Atlas opens his mouth to retort, but before he can speak, a sudden, shuddering crash comes from the direction of the clubhouse.

We all jerk in surprise, our eyes darting over toward the burning building.

Embers and flames shoot up into the sky as another crashing sound fills the air.

Something big must have fallen, or caught flame.

Whatever it is, it’s my way out.

The Princes are momentarily distracted, their anger and agony turned on their precious clubhouse, and that gives me the tiny opening I need.

I jerk backward, ignoring the screaming protest in my arm where I was shot as I break free of Nico’s hold on me, ducking away from the weapon he had pressed under my chin.

Then I bolt in the opposite direction.

“Shit!”

“Get her!”

Their deep voices ring out behind me, but I don’t bother trying to distinguish who’s speaking as I put all of my focus into running as fast as I can without missing a step and going down.

I grit my teeth, a cold sweat breaking out on my skin as I pump my arms, racing through the wooded area that surrounds the once-standing clubhouse.

Branches and dry grass crunch beneath my feet, thin tree limbs catching against my skin and clothes.

My heart pounds against my ribs, my lungs burning from the exertion as I push myself to go faster.

It only took the Princes a second to regroup after I broke out of Nico’s grasp, and I can hear them behind me, hot on my heels.

Unbidden, my mind flashes back to that night.

To the chase through the cemetery, when I became prey to a trio of predators that I welcomed with such ferocity it surprised me to my very core.

What happened between the four of us that night was wild and primal, breaking down the walls I’d tried to put up and forcing me to acknowledge that there was something between us.

But even that was a lie.

No matter how real it felt .

My anger fuels me, spurring me to run faster, harder. My legs burn, and I can’t breathe. But I can’t let them catch me this time. I can’t let the Princes of Carnage destroy what’s left of me—or my heart.

Just like that night though, the odds are three against one.

The sound of cracking twigs and footsteps hitting the earth reach my ears, giving me a rough idea of where the men are.

I’m flanked on either side, with one of them still behind me.

I can’t distinguish who’s where, so I just keep running, flying through the woods.

On my left side, the footsteps get closer before veering away again, and a burst of adrenaline surges through me.

They’re going to catch me.

My heart feels like it’s about to beat out of its cage. Faster, faster, I can’t let them ?—

One hand closes around my wrist, and our momentum sends me and the fucker who grabbed me careening into the ground. My temple smacks against a patch of hard dirt, and I can hear Killian’s distinctive grunt as he goes down on top of me.

Of course it’d be him who got to me first. But unlike the previous times he’s chased me, this time I have no desire to be caught.

And I won’t give in without a fight.

Twisting beneath him, I lash out, managing to land a right hook on his face.

“Fuck!” he grunts, his voice low and intense.

I hate how the sound sends a shiver down my spine.

I spit at him, kick my feet, and headbutt him, causing him to reel back a little. It opens up enough space between us for me to scramble out of his hold—only for another one of them to grab me.

Atlas.

“Still plenty vicious, I see,” Atlas growls, and there isn’t an ounce of affection in the nickname the way there once was.

“Fuck you!” I knee him in the gut just to show him how vicious I can be, and that earns me a hard shove against the tree behind us.

His body anchors me there, and I can’t move. The whole of his broad-shouldered frame pins me down, and as hard as I wriggle and squirm, Atlas isn’t budging.

Unable to use my fists as weapons, I turn my head and I bite into his forearm, sinking my teeth into his flesh so hard that I taste blood.

I’ll show you who’s fucking vicious.

He hisses sharply but doesn’t let me go. He shoves me harder, his arms pressing into my chest until I can barely breathe. The pressure forces my inhales and exhales into pathetic wheezes, but I don’t cry out. The Princes are no longer allowed to see my tears.

“I was hoping we could do this the easy way, mia cara,” Nico says, coming up to stand beside Atlas. His chest is heaving, exertion from hunting me down quickening his breath and making his face shine with sweat. His eyes are dark, his pupils so blown out there’s no color in them anymore.

He looks like a god of death.

And I fucking hate him for it.

Every part of me is on fire, burning with adrenaline or pain or both, and I try to ignore the fact that in another context—in another life—the chase I just led them all on might have ended with a very different outcome.

The Princes were always my weakness, and they exploited the fuck out of that fact.

“There is no easy way,” I tell him, and I swear I can feel the mark of his ring on my chest itching, even though the tattoo has long since healed. “Not anymore. Not between us.”

Something passes through his eyes, a thought or emotion that I can’t quite read. Then he nods.

“You’re right.” His gaze flicks between Atlas and Killian. “Get her tied up. We’re leaving.”