Fourth Debt (Indebted #5)(36)

“Lots to tell you, Threads.” Vaughn came closer. His arms banded around me, squeezing tight.

Tears pricked my eyes.

I hadn’t realised how lonely I’d been, so afraid and on tenterhooks all night.

I accepted his embrace but quickly wriggled out. I couldn’t handle his hug when every part of me was jealous that I hadn’t been the one to help. I couldn’t find comfort in his arms, otherwise I’d burst into waterworks. “Tell me. Tell me everything.”

V let me go. “We stayed as long as we could. We got them there, filled in the paperwork, and waved goodbye as they took them to surgery, but we couldn’t wait any longer to find out the prognosis.”

His stomach growled loudly, shredding the taut atmosphere.

“But they’ll make it?”

His tummy grumbled again. Finally given a task I could perform, I headed to my secret stash in the fabric cupboard.

Vaughn looked at Jaz.

Her face was pinched. Her black hoodie and leggings painted her like a thief in the night. If anyone saw her dressed like that, she’d have a lot of explaining to do. “They were when we left them. But they’re with the experts now. All we can do is hope.”

Unwilling to fall into another pit of despair, I forced my mind to focus on one scenario.

They’ll make it.

Wrenching open the cupboard, I pulled out a box of muesli bars. Glancing at Jaz, I asked, “How did you keep them alive for so long? And where?” Ripping the box open, I tossed a bar to V and one to Jaz. They both caught them.

Jasmine smiled in thanks, tucking hers into the satchel of her wheelchair. V, on the other hand, tore off the wrapper with his teeth and devoured it in a few mouthfuls. “Fuck, I haven’t eaten in forever.”

Hadn’t they fed him? My heart hardened. More daggers of hatred grew toward Cut and Bonnie. I wanted to murder them slowly, painfully—to do to them what they’d done to innocent men and women.

Jasmine replied, “It wasn’t just me. I had help.”

“Damn right you did.” V winked. “Me.”

She smiled, a scowl plaiting with genuine amusement. “No, hotshot.” Her eyes met mine again. “Flaw.”

I froze. I was right.

My mind skipped to our conversation. Something about me not judging him, and how he was a good person. “He helped? How?”

Yesterday in the corridor.

They’d huddled together…discussing Jethro.

Jasmine sighed, “I was a freaking mess when Cut shot them. I’d wanted to walk again ever since I lost the ability, but in that second I’d wanted to fly. To soar across the room and tear out his motherf*cking heart.”

My hands curled around the box of muesli bars. “I know that feeling.”

“Afterward, Bonnie took me upstairs and tried to calm me down. The rest I’m not entirely sure about, but Flaw was given the task of cleaning up.” She swallowed, eyes turning dark. “He noticed they…weren’t dead.”

“They had drips and shit…medical paraphernalia down there.” Vaughn jumped in. “Who did that?”

“Flaw again. He dropped out of medical school after he discovered diamonds were a lot more lucrative than sewing up flesh. We had the equipment, but he didn’t tell anyone. He moved their bodies, set up what they needed, then came to me the minute I was alone. Everything went according to plan, apart from the mishap of shutting the cell door.”

That was happening all while she came to save me from Daniel.

How had she come up with a plan so fast? And why did Cut listen to her demands as oldest child?

My mind raced. “So…Flaw kept them alive?”

She nodded. “If it hadn’t been for him, they would’ve drained out on the carpet.”

I shook my head. “But there was so much blood. They were unconscious.”

Jaz rolled closer. “He performed a miracle, Nila. I’ll be forever grateful for that. But there’s no guarantee they’ll pull through. The doctors tried to be optimistic when we arrived, but…”

Vaughn picked up where she trailed off. “The docs’ faces, Threads. You could tell they didn’t have much hope.”

The joy of knowing Jethro and Kestrel were rescued punctured, deflating like a hot air balloon, crashing faster toward Earth. “So…they might still…” I couldn’t finish.

Jaz smiled tightly, her eyes glittering with unshed tears. “Let’s focus on the positive. They’re away from Hawksridge with people who know what they’re doing. That’s all we have.”

Terrible silence fell, like a curtain already stealing Jethro and Kes from us.

Vaughn finally muttered, “Why keep them down there? It was a f*cking dungeon.”

His train of thought gave me something to focus on.

Jasmine jumped to answer, as if unable to handle the quietness when we couldn’t stop our minds from picking at ‘what if’.

What if they don’t make it?

What if we were too late?

“It’s the only place in Hawksridge that has no cameras. All rooms, bathrooms, cellars—they’re all monitored. We couldn’t run the risk of Cut seeing them.”

I straightened. “What about the cameras last night?”

Her hands dived into her hair. Unpinning the clip, she let her sleek bob fall into place around her chin. “A few months ago, Kes taught me how to upload a virus that put the cameras into hibernation for a few hours. After a time, they reboot as if nothing happened. If anyone attempts to fix them while they’re down, the virus hijacks the hard drive and ruins two months’ worth of data.” She shrugged. “Either no one noticed and will think the lack of recording was a technical fault, or someone did and will put it down to a damaged hard drive.”