Page 12 of The Wicked

His gaze snapped to mine in a second as he blinked his thoughts away. “What the fuck? No. Never—I don’t—it’s not you—” He breathed. “They made us watch. They tied us up and made us watch, and it was fucking torture, not being able to—” He swallowed. “To do anything. It was cruel, Zahra. I can still see, hear, and feel the anger. I hate myself for not seeing this happening and talking us out of going through with the Marino mission—we should have known.”

I shook my head. “No, this isn’t your fault. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. I brought the idea—”

“And I egged you on. I provided the layout; Milk seduced one of the soldiers, and we got electronic access; Upper fucked with their systems and locked them out; Dog and I took the men guarding the Vault House down, one by one. This shit? It’s on all of us.”

“But they’re pissed at me.”

“Because you signed off all our lives to him, Z.”

I blinked. “There was nothing else I could have done, Devil; he could have killed us all—he could have—we wouldn’t be alive right now if it weren’t for me. I did what I fucking had to do. Do you think if it were just me, I would grovel like a fucking pussy? My head, thoughts, mind, and heart were on all of you. I don’t give a fuck about my life; he could put a fucking bullet in my head as long as I know you all are far away from him.”

“I’m not blaming you for it, Zahra; I would have done the same thing.”

“But apparently, those shitheads wouldn’t—fuck this.” I was already getting out of the bed, ignoring how heavy my body felt, and my arm throbbed.

But I was pissed; I was pissed because what the hell weretheyangry about? I was the one who had been tortured; I was the onewho had been baked alive; I was the one who had saved their sorry little fucking asses.

“Zahra, slow down.”

I was already out of the room; hearing their muffled voices, I followed the sound. It didn’t take long before I found myself in a kitchen. “Okay, motherfuckers, let’s hear it. Why whine behind my fucking back when you can say it to my face?”

I was met with silence, but I watched how Dog’s expression turned into a hard glare; he had a cut on his brow that was already stitched up. Upper had a scowl on his face, but I could tell it was only directed at the situation. Milk had a bandage on her arm, but I couldn’t read her emotions because she wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“You wanna pick a fight?” Dog asked. “Cause I’m ready to give it to you; I don’t care if you have a busted arm.”

Devil came up beside me, sighing. “Guys, the last thing we need right now is a baseless disagreement.”

“Baseless? We are fucked—we’re all fucked!” Dog yelled.

“No more American dream.” Milk’s voice was quiet.

“What the fuck else was I supposed to do? He was going to kill you all—I had to do what I had to do, so yes, I spoke for us at that moment.”

“Really? Who the fuck put you in charge? Because last I checked, we don’t have abosson this team,” Dog said, coming closer. “This is your problem, Zahra; you always love to play the hero. It’s probably why they picked you and shot you.”

I scoffed. “We got caught because of me. That’s why they picked meandshot me. I left something behind. They found it.”

After I said that, it went very quiet around us, and I could see them all giving me questioning looks.

“Shit,” Devil said from beside me. “I was wondering where your anklet ran off to.”

“Are you bloody joking!” Upper exclaimed. “We made a mistake?”

“Funny how that’s what you’re worried about when we will never get to see America ever again,” Milk directed at Upper.

Dog groaned. “Would you shut the fuck up about America for one goddamn minute?”

Milk stood upright with a frown. “Don’t tell me to shut up. You’re the one who’s been whining about being chained up.”

“Guys—” Devil tried to cut in.

“How could we have made a mistake? How could we have missed something? That never happens,” Upper mused out loud.

“Miss Hero probably took it off herself so she could sell us all out and keep the prize money for herself,” Dog said.

The accusation slapped me in the face.

“You’resofucking stupid, Dog. I am trapped too! There’s no way I can sneak my way out of this compound without being shot in the head. Besides, why would they leave the money back at the studio? It belongs to them now.”