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My eyes followed hers, to see four men all wearing different masks. The bone curved around their eyes and nose, allowing their jaws and mouths to remain on display.
I rolled my eyes. “Of course you told them I wasn’t, right?”
Jessika snorted, snatching up a glass near the front of the stage. “Of course. Just don’t know if they bought it…”
“You…” I murmur, searching his expression. “You were all there? Why?” I had hundreds of questions, and although this wasn’t an ideal place to be asking them, I was desperate to hear the answers.
“You trust me?” he asks, tilting his head.
“No. Do you trust me?” I shoot back, inching up onto my elbows.
“Would you two please not start fucking in the middle of a goddamn war!” Keaton yells out just as the shots die out.
“I don’t,” Killian admits. “But I don’t have to trust you to save you.”
“Save me?” I ask, not sure how those words taste on the tip of my tongue. “I’m messed up in the head, Killian. The girl you knew for the past few months is a little different to the one I am now, now that I have my memories back.”
Killian licks his lip. “What you went through, Saskia, it was fucked up. I know that. Just because you were abused, fucking raped and taken advantage of, doesn’t mean shit up against what you mean to Mayhem. Like it or not, we’re your family, and that’s not just because you’re a Dragavei.”
“Why else?” I ask, wanting to know his answer, but subconsciously knowing that again, right now is probably not an ideal time.
“I’m not doing that with you right now.” He pulls me up to my feet, just as my eyes land on Kosta.
“I don’t want to do this,” I whispered as Kosta and the two men he keeps close to him turn on the lights. “It’s going to hurt.”
Kosta smirked, unzipping his pants and walking into the middle of the room. There were cushions set up, scattered everywhere.
“Lay down, Little Doll. I promise it’s not as bad as you think.”
The two other men who were behind him, stalked toward me, too. One was holding a metal object that had two clamps on either side.
“Why?” I asked, because I always asked questions.
“Because this is when your training can start.” He kneeled down to my level, stroking himself through his pants. “This is where your life starts.”
I shake myself out of a blur, reaching for the knife Killian has in his hand, with his gun in the other. “Babe, what are you doing?”
Before I can think about anything else, I rush forward, jumping over the dead body at my feet. Kosta is laughing, watching the pure manic scene that’s unfolding around us. Right now, I don’t care that there are stray bullets flying through the air.
I don’t care.
I just want one thing. One.
I lean up with a scream, launching the tip of the knife right into his chest. I’m shocked at how easy it was to sink it into his body.
His cigar falls to the ground, his face crumpling.
Someone is yelling in the background, but I ignore it. “You needed to die,” I whisper, pushing him backward until he’s falling back into his chair.
Killian’s arms wrap around me as he slings me over his shoulder, everything turning upside down. He draws his gun and shoots one of Kosta’s guards that are near the front door. It’s not until we’re out in the open that he puts me down to my feet.
“I—” I stop talking.
Killian grabs onto my hand and directs me toward a jeep that’s on the outskirts of the property, where it merges into forest land. Kyrin is in the driver’s seat, waiting.
Killian picks me back up and throws me into the back, swinging the passenger’s door open to slide in.
“Kill!” King calls out, ru
“How many did we lose?”
King’s eyes come to mine as he shuffles in his spot. “Two.”
“We’ll be back.”
King bangs on the roof of the car and Kyrin sets off, driving us through a clearing between bushes. We duck and swerve between trees, completely off road.
After maybe ten minutes, Kyrin stops, jumping out of the car as Killian comes around to face me.
“What? You’re going to kill me?” I ask, knowing that that was probably going to happen. I’ve caused a lot of drama. I was a snitch without realizing I was a snitch. They didn’t care about that, though, all they know is that I was a Patience child. I had to go.
“You think we’re going to kill you?” Killian laughs, pulling me out of the Jeep. “I need to show you something.”
Kyrin follows closely behind us as we head through two small trees. A cabin comes into view, wooden walls constructed by rusted metal fittings. There are no visible windows, and an aged rocking chair at the front.
“I know this place. Why am I here?” I scrunch my eyes as if to block out the memory.
“You aren’t the only person who has been fucked up by Patience,” Kyrin mutters behind me, and I turn to face him, shocked at the soft tone he used.
“You?”
Kyrin’s eyes darken, even more than usual. There’s an air of danger that hovers around Kyrin, and I get the feeling that I’m about to finally get my first inhale. He starts walking toward the cabin, and I follow behind him with Kill next to me. I know it looks stupid, and if this was a movie, I know that everyone would be screaming at the stupid girl walking into a random cabin in the woods with two killers, but I do anyway. Is that trust? Who knows.
We all stomp up the stairs, the heavy weight squeaking beneath us as Kyrin opens the front door. He pauses at the threshold. “Haven’t been back here since that day.”
I think over what he’s saying. “I know what they used to use this cabin for. I remember. It was when Mayhem and the Four Fathers thought they got Patience out of Kiznitch, but they didn’t. Kiznitch was so busy looking for their hiding places in Patience that they forgot to look in their own backyard. Patience didn’t shit where they ate. They’d house the people, kids, who were for sale, in here. The kids were always snatched from Mayhem before it shut down. In the bedrooms, there are shackles, beds, old urine stains on the floors…”
Kyrin freezes, and I inch my way in beneath his arm. “I was here once, too.”
“I know.” Kyrin looks up at me from beneath his lashes. “I saw you one day, coming in here and being tied to the table right there.” Kyrin points to an aged dining table with four wooden legs.
“Why am I here!” I yelled, desperate for an answer but unwilling to show any weakness.
“You need to train. Stretch. Your legs. This…” Kosta latched the metal spreader to my upper thighs while co Lilith’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, but she shook it off. Lilith was about as soulless as her father, but I thought she was a friend. “Forty-eight hours later,” I whisper, leaning down and ru I look up at Kyrin as pain flashes through his eyes. Sweat beads down from his temple. “Fucking hate that bitch.” “Who?” I ask softly, standing back to my feet. “Lilith.” I slowly make my way to him, noting how Killian stiffens beside Kyrin. “What did she do?” “Does it matter?” Kyrin murmurs, searching my face and my lips. “The only person who really knows what it feels like—” He pauses, swallows and looks back at me. “Is you, but you hide it well.”