Distant screams.
The brothers exchange a look but continue on. Until they make it to the bottom of the stairs. To the locked and closed metal door. To the body that lies just outside of it. A hole in her chest from where she must have been shot.
Darius recognizes the dead woman. Sterling’s officialwife.Maxwell and Rayden’s mother. She had never really been shown to the public, but Darius had crossed paths with her the first time he was taken down here.
Henrietta.
She was just another victim, and a reminder no one was safe here.
A wave of sadness pierces his heart. Followed by crippling anxiety.
Sunday is okay. She’s okay. She has to be.
“Now what?” Axel yells. “The doors are sealed shut! What are we supposed to do? We can’t open–”
And then as if by magic, the metal doors creak and groan as they glide open.
The brothers all step back, unsure of what is on the other side.
But then Luna walks into view.
“You must be the infamous O’Brien brothers.” She lets out a sardonic laugh. “Took you long enough,” she says. “Is the FBI here yet?”
“Where’s Sunday?” Axel blurts.
“Answer me first,” Luna snaps, wobbling on her feet.
“Yes, they’re here,” Darius advises. “Now please, where is she? Is she okay?”
“Go get your girl. She’s in the control room. But there’s no air down here, you need to find her soon. Get us out of these fucking loops!”
She steps aside, using the wall for strength, and gestures for them to continue. Her words hit him, the weight of what they mean, but Darius doesn’t pause to question her, he maneuvers through the crowd of captives before he takes off sprinting.
35
October 7th
Whipping around I come face to face with Mark.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
His lips quirk. “Little innocent Sunday School. What areyoudoing here? Do you know I was in the crowd when Darius fucked you raw?” He takes a menacing step closer, his greasy hair shifting into his eyes. “Listening to your moans.” His hand comes up, but I flinch back.
There isn’t much space in this room. Besides the CCTVs and the table with an array of buttons, there’s only a couple of feet.
He must have been waiting here for me, behind the door.
“I saw you coming,” he confirms. “The Thornes sent me to turn off the air and Maxwell told me to get you. But imagine my surprise when I watched on the cameras as you released all the prisoners. He would understand that I couldn’t retrieve you and I was just about to leave, but then as luck would have it, I saw you heading my way.”
I haven’t ever spoken to Mark before, at least not that I remember. Butheis the one who handed Julia that drink.Heis the one who raped Carrie.Heis the one who sent Axel to prison.
He is at the center of every single horrible instance in my life. And maybe in some ways he isn’t as bad as Maxwell.
But in others?
He’s much,muchworse.
“You’re a monster.” My fingers tighten around the razor as my vision fades in and out around the edges. My chest is heavy as the air is quickly stolen from this room.
