Corrupt(93)

I turned around, looking back at the house and seeing the lights inside slowly come on. They were in there.

And once…I was one of them. Once, I ran with them, kept up with them, and stood next to them. I wasn’t their victim, and I had their attention. I’d learned how to fight.

This was on me, and while I wouldn’t make it easy for them, I wouldn’t run.

I would never run.

I was built for this.





Present



“FUCK!” DAMON GROWLED. “I thought you checked her, man!”

“Just get in the kitchen!” Kai barked. “Goddamn it.”

I stood on the upstairs landing, my arms crossed over my chest and my white mask sitting on the small table next me. I looked out the window over the large lawn, watching the small wooden building buried in the trees.

She was there.

I knew she wouldn’t go far. Rika was a smart girl. She was scared and in survival mode, but she wasn’t stupid.

After she’d fled, we’d grabbed Damon off the floor and sat him on a chair. I’d raised the shutters to let in the moonlight again, and then I’d gone upstairs to watch her run.

She’d scurried and fled, disappearing into the trees, but she didn’t leave. There was nothing but cliffs back there and then a huge drop to a beach on the Atlantic Fucking Ocean. She was barefoot, cold, alone, and without a cell phone.

What was she going to do?

And right about now, she was just realizing that.

“I’m going to go get her.” Kai came up to my side, breathing hard.

But I shook my head. “Just leave her. She has nowhere to go.”

“She’d be crazy to come back here!” he burst out. “After we just terrorized her like that?”

“Calm down,” I bit out. “I know her better than you do.”

I could see him shaking his head out of the corner of my eye.

He lowered his voice, but it was still thick with anger. “Michael, she could make it to a phone,” he pointed out, “She could call a friend and eventually get a hold of your mother or father for all we know. The money isn’t a big enough incentive for her to be pliant. We underestimated her.”

I inhaled an aggravated breath and reached behind my head, pulling off my sweatshirt and T-shirt and dropping them to the floor. A layer of sweat covered my back.

“If she doesn’t come back,” I replied, “then keeping the money will have to be big enough incentive for you and the others to accept that we’ve lost. We agreed that she had to agree to this.”

I stared out the window, my heart creeping into my throat and my body growing hotter.

Don’t come back, Rika. I knew she wouldn’t run far, but I wanted her to. I’d f*cked up. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

We were going to make her ours. That was the plan. We’d make her feel what they felt when she destroyed their lives and tore us all apart. She’d be alone and have no control. We’d make her suffer.

But as soon as Damon jumped on her, I was on his back, prying him off.

I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let them have her.

And then when she stabbed him and ran, I let her go, even knowing she wouldn’t really have any place to go. I knew she would realize there was no other way out of this and that was simply the end of round one.

But I held out a small hope that she’d evade us. She’d make it off the property or hide or something until I figured shit out. There was no way I was going to be able to go through with this. She was mine.

“She’ll be back,” I told him.

“How can you be so sure?”

I peered over at him. “Because she can’t say no to a challenge.” And I turned back, looking out the window. “Just go see how bad Damon is hurt.”

He hesitated a moment as if weighing his options and then walked off.

“Son of a bitch!” Damon howled from downstairs, and I heard a crash of dishes.

I didn’t bother holding back my small grin. I couldn’t believe she’d hidden a weapon on us. I was glad we’d given her the dagger, after all.

I closed my eyes and ran my hand over the top of my head. What the hell was I going to do?

How was I going to stop them?

Twisting around, I jogged down the stairs, spotting drops of Damon’s blood on the floor as I walked past, heading toward the kitchen.

“Nothing you take from me will come easily!” a high-pitch shout raged through the

house, and I stopped, recognizing Rika’s voice.

It sounded staticky and distant.

“I won’t come all the way out there to get you,” I heard Will growl as I stood just outside the kitchen.

I clenched my fists. The intercom. He’d found her.

Every room in the house, including the garden shed, had an intercom. He must’ve figured out the same as me. She didn’t have anywhere else to run.

“Oh, yes, you will!” she snarled back, challenging him. “You’re the pack’s dog. Come fetch, little dog!”

I couldn’t help the curl of my lips. Good girl.

“You stupid f*cking bitch!” Will barked. It was clear he was frustrated. Will never got mean.

Until he did.

But then another voice came in, smooth and threatening. “I’ll come to get you,” Damon chimed in. “And I’ll want my blood back.”