Page 43 of Unforgiving Queen

“The gun too,” I murmured. “We have to get rid of it.”

Raven’s eyes met mine. “Good thinking. Gun and body to be stashed in the catacombs.”

“Okay, so we slice and dice this man. Then carry him in parts to the catacombs,” Phoenix summarized. “Whose car are we using?”

“Like that’s even a question,” Raven grumbled. “I’m the only one with a car.”

Isla rolled her eyes. “If you can call it a car. It gets us stranded more than actually get us places.”

“We’ll have to enter the catacombs through the unofficial tunnels,” I stated. “They’re not guarded like the section open to visitors. We’ll be in and out.” Everyone nodded. “It’s also illegal,” I pointed out. “If we get caught, we’ll probably be arrested.”

“We’re about to mutilate a man’s body. If we get caught, breaching the illegal entrance into the catacombs will be the least of our concerns,” Athena stated exasperatedly.

“God, I wish I’d had more alcohol at the club,” Isla cried. Her eyes flickered to the dead body before she shook her head. “Like a gallon of something hard core so I wouldn’t remember this shit tomorrow.”

“Sissy,” Raven taunted. “I used to be like that.” The haunted look in her eyes was proof of a story that she had seen something that had left a mark on her.

“But then you grew balls?” Athena said, crossing her arms and jutting a hip out. “We’ll see how that goes when we start your butchering career.”

The word was barely out of her mouth when Isla started gagging. Phoenix, Athena, and I weren’t far behind. Raven seemed to have an iron stomach, although that remained to be proven.

“Okay, so let’s get to work,” the brave one in question announced with a clap of her hands.

“If you start cheering, I swear, I’m outta here,” Athena grumbled.

Isla shuffled to the kitchen sink, kneeling to grab something underneath it. She straightened and handed us all cleaning gloves. “Let’s get to work, then.”

I scrubbed my hands clean before sliding my gloves on, trying not to think about all the shit that’d gone wrong in the past six months. Mere hours ago, I put rubber gloves on for a different reason, ready to bring in the new year with a clean slate. And here I was now, ready to chop up a body.

With my gloves on and looking suspiciously like the female lead inThe Cleaning Lady, I shifted on my feet, unsure where to start.

“Did you know that the bladder and bowel of a person will empty after death?” Athena’s comment startled me and my eyes traveled to her.

“You’re full of useless and disgusting information,” Raven noted, shaking her head. “Why would you say that?”

Athena shrugged. “So you know what to expect when his bowels dump out.”

I stared at her, disbelief constricting my throat and my mind. My heart twisted with the realization that there was no coming back from this. This whole growing-up business was overrated. The criminal career… even more so.

Letting out a heavy sigh, I pondered how we should handle this body. None of us were medical students. Even passing science was a stretch for us. Maybe cutting off his limbs first was a way to go.

“So what do we cut first?” Isla must have read my mind.

“Do we go allSawon him?” Athena questioned. The five of us stood around the body, looking like we were about to perform a surgery.

“Let’s get him into the bathtub first,” I suggested.

We shuddered, but with clenched jaws and a steel spine, each one of us grabbed a part of him, grunting at his weight. Once in the bathroom, we dropped his body into the porcelain tub.

“Thank fuck it’s deep,” Raven grumbled. “He shouldn’t have more blood than the depth of this tub.”

I shot her a look. I didn’t even want to know why she knew that.

“You’re sick,” Isla hissed. “I never noticed it before, but something is seriously wrong with you.”

Raven just flashed her a grin. “Thanks.”

“I don’t think she meant it as a compliment,” Athena pointed out.