Page 112 of Silent Schemes

No fear, no joy.

Just inevitability, heavy as the gun at his side.

Blood pools at my feet, a thin layer, stinking of copper and old panic.

The chains digging into my wrists have already bruised the bone.

Will’s a mess next to me.

One eye swollen shut, lips split.

He’s never looked more alive.

He winks the good eye at me, blood threading down his chin. “Told you they’d come for us,” he mumbles, teeth red.

There are three guards behind him, all ex-military, none of them bright.

They have that mercenary look, like they’re only here for the money, not the blood.

One is already sweating through his shirt.

The other two, twins by the look, have matching scars on their jaws.

They stand at the corners of the warehouse, guns out but loose.

Theodore drags a folding chair across the concrete and sits directly in front of me.

Close enough I could spit in his eye if I had the saliva.

He folds his hands, looks me over, slow and savoring. “You know, Varrick, I never understood your father’s obsession with you.” His accent is pure East Coast, old money that thinks it can buy time itself. “You’re just a child playing at war. No real stomach for it.”

I let my voice drop, low and final. “Takes a coward to say that with a dozen guns on me.”

He smiles. “Oh, I’m no coward. Just efficient.” He nods to Will. “You’re going to watch him die. Then you’re going to beg.”

Will laughs, coughs blood onto his shirt. “Only thing I beg for is a better class of opponent.”

Theodore grins at Sienna. “This one’s funny, isn’t he?”

Sienna blinks once.

Nothing else.

Her fingers flex at her side.

I watch the movement, catalog the tempo.

Every muscle in my body tenses.

Even chained, I’m ready.

Theodore stands, chair legs scraping the floor. “Make it slow,” he says to the nearest guard. “Kill them both. I’ll be back for cleanup.”

He turns to Sienna, dropping his voice. “Come with me.”

He glances at me as if I’m a rotting fruit, not worth a second look.

Sienna stands there a moment, then shakes her head. “I’ll watch. Make sure it’s finished.”