Page 28 of Sadistic Retribution (Rise of Phoenyxx #2)

Phoenyxx

These motherfuckers have pissed me off beyond the point of sanity. Though sanity is highly overrated. I live and breathe for revenge, hate, pain.

I need to get out of here. I can’t stand the sight of those six, and Hunter is just irritating. I don’t want to hurt him—though he does deserve a punch in the face. Or two.

I hear them screaming out there, so I start struggling with the shit they bound me with. The dumbass Ghost didn’t bother to restrain my feet, so I can get up off this bed.

I back myself up towards the wall and slam myself backwards, attempting to loosen the belt around my hands. I seem to be making some headway; the belt seems looser. I keep trying, hoping they actually leave me alone so I can get the fuck out of here.

Purge

We've been back at Harris’s place for a few minutes, but I’m getting increasingly restless. “Hey, I think we should go back to our place. I need access to my computer. We can go over all the pics we took there.”

Harris hesitates, scrunching his brow. “You’re right, but what about Pretty Girl? Do we leave her here?”

Razor snorts. “Dude, she’s not going anywhere. She won’t be able to unlock the door, let alone turn the knob.”

“True,” Harris says slowly. “I can lock her in the bedroom, then lock the apartment door behind us.”

“Let’s go, then. We need to figure this out sooner rather than later,” I tell them.

“Are we telling her we’re leaving?” Ghost asks softly.

“Nope. Just lock her in, and we can leave quietly,” Synn chimes in.

Decision made, I watch Harris take out a key, locking the bedroom door from the outside.

“I didn’t know that was possible,” I say in confusion.

“Only staff apartments have it, I believe.”

“Right. Okay, then, let’s go.”

We all file towards the front door, quietly opening it. We slip out, Harris locking it behind us. Time to catch some lying motherfuckers.

Phoenyxx

I huff a laugh when I hear them all leave. I've managed to get the belt loose enough to slip out of it. I walk to the door, putting my ear to it. All is quiet.

Luckily, I paid attention when the boys picked locks.

I move to Hunter’s closet, grabbing a wire hanger.

I straighten it the best I can, slipping the long end into the lock.

I jiggle it around, turning the knob at the same time.

I fumble with it, waiting to hear or feel something. After a minute, the lock gives.

Free from the bedroom, I go to the front door. Flipping the lock, I slowly open it and poke my head out. No one is around. I make my escape, whistling a tune as I go out the door to the boys’ dorm.

Time to have more fun!

Let's see… who can I fuck with? I glance around, spotting those dickheads who tried me when I first got here—the one I kicked in the dick, and his buddy.

I walk straight towards them, pasting a fake grin on my face. “Hey, guys. Remember me?”

They both give me a onceover, smiling evilly. “Sure do, beautiful,” the blonde says.

I look up from beneath my lashes. “I’m bored. Want to keep me company?” I force a blush to rise to my cheeks.

The blonde moves to my left, the brunette to my right. They each take an arm.

“Where to?” the blonde asks.

“Somewhere... private.”

They hustle me through the courtyard, pulling me into a dark corner next to a shed. The brunette pushes me back against the wall, trailing his hand down my body.

“This is still too public. What about going inside the shed?” I suggest, fluttering my lashes.

They practically push me through the door, and close it behind us. The brunette walks in close, hands feeling up my tits. “So sexy...” he murmurs.

“It’s even better without clothes,” I purr. Waiting for them to both make their move, I giggle inside my head. I'm still armed—a knife still attached to my thigh. The idiot guys didn't find them all when they disarmed me.

The blonde goes to pull my shirt up, and the brunette cups my pussy through my pants. I wait, letting them grope me. I need them occupied so they don’t see my blade.

While they are pawing at me, panting, I easily reach down with the premise of stroking the blonde’s hair, palming my knife.

I whip it upward, grabbing the blonde’s hair, and pulling his head up to me. I hold the blade to his neck, nicking him, blood trickling down his throat.

“Did you really think I’d let you fucking touch me?” I sing-song. “Hey, you! Better pay attention,” I direct to the brunette.

He looks up at me, eyes widening. He steps back from me. I grin, bringing my knee up, connecting hard with the blonde’s head. Dazed, he falls to the floor. Turning to the other one, I stalk towards him.

“W-Wait—” he stutters out. “No need for this—”

“Wrong, asshole!” I stab him fast in the gut before he can comprehend what’s happening. He falls to his knees, and I kick him hard on the back of the neck. He crumples, next to his friend.

I lower myself down, tilting my head. Without another word, I slice both of their throats. I jump back, anticipating the spray and frown when it doesn’t happen. Fuck. Not deep enough. Irritated now, I grip the blonde’s hair, slicing hard, then doing the same to the brunette.

The blood sprays up and out in an arc, coating the walls of the shed. Perfection. I get a few drops on me but am far back enough to not get the full effect.

Their eyes glaze over, the life fading from them. My job finished, I leave the shed and the door standing wide open. I need them to be found. It's so much more satisfying when others can see what I’m capable of.

Purge

I'm salivating at the prospect of bringing down our fathers, and of cracking open this shitshow of a place. I'm parked in front of my monitor; the others crowded around me. We all have our phones on the desk with the pics we took open for us to go through.

“Anyone hear from their mothers yet?” I ask, while my face is buried in information.

They all shake their heads. Fuck. All we can do is keep trying.

Switching focus, I look to Harris. “Harris, when will we know if there’s proof, or not?”

“When I hear back. In the meantime, let’s concentrate on the shit we got from Augustine’s office.”

I nod thoughtfully while I peruse the pictures, looking for patterns. I first look at the files the Director has on our families. It seems to be dossiers of information. Names, ages, family history.

Wait a fucking minute... is this what I think it is? I pick up my phone, zooming in on the page. I point to the top right corner. “See this? There's a tiny number seven in Italian in the top corner. Sette.”

“Okay...so what do you think it means?” Hunter questions.

“The rumored seventh family, maybe?”

“Like what, bro?” Trikk raises his voice, the inflection changing at the end.

“I'll be damned!” Hunter exclaims. “You could be right. Great job, Purge.”

I keep scouring the other documents, moving on from our family files to the one marked Solomon. It appears to be another dossier, but there’s a blank page—maybe a missing one. The last third of it is blacked out.

“The fuck does this mean? What could those old people be hiding? How are they connected to The Retreat?” I muse out loud.

“Let me handle that one,” Harris offers.

Frost curses. “The one on Killer—there are multiple photos of her as a child. On the back of each is the word ‘update’, and a date. Why update the director? What the fuck do they know about her?”

“I bet she hasn’t even seen these,” Synn adds.

“There’s something encrypted in the file of information.

See where it looks like a bar code? I'm going to crack this—right fucking now.” I move to my keyboard, inputting the numbers in, as well as the words “bar” and “code”, as well as “QR”.

I wait while it processes. It only takes a moment before it finds results.

My jaw drops. “Guys! It says, ‘Seven must be contained’!”

Harris pales. “The seventh family—it has to be! What does she have to do with all this, though?”

“I will find the fuck out,” I say with conviction.

“Whoa, what the fuck?” Razor raises his voice. “There are random people blurred in the background of this photo. She looks maybe three or four?”

I snatch up his phone, zooming in as closes I can. “It’s too blurry to detect identity. Harris, can you clear this up?”

“I’ll add it to the pile. And I’ll get my contact on the seventh family angle.”

I sigh, rubbing my eyes. The last thing is the file on Augustine. There's the task list, which we still need to decipher. Dates are at the top and bottom. The bottom one must be time of employment and the top the date the task list was made.

“I’m taking copies of all this and handing them to my contact. There should be answers soon, boys,” Hunter tells us.

“Argh!” Synn complains. “Time is not on our side.”