Page 81 of Midnight Torment

“He won’t be happy about this,” he replied.

I had left my comms open so Flynn would hear everything. “I don’t really give a fuck. Lead the way or your brains can paint the wall. I’ll find him either way.”

He slowly brought his hands up and turned to walk out of the room.

“I’m right behind you,” Flynn said.

I unclipped a gun at my thigh and handed it to Megan. Her aim was atrocious, but I doubted anyone would come near her if she waved it in their face. Her fingers closed around it, and she slipped the safety off. She was my tiny, fierce warrior princess. My aim didn’t move from the man in front of me, my arm sliding around Megan to keep her anchored to my side.

We made our way down the staircase, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Flynn take his position on the landing, his weapon trained over the staircase.

“Top floor cleared,” he said into my ear.

I’d only had a few rooms left to clear when I’d discovered Megan. “Last few doors to the right at the top of the stairs to clear,” I replied in a low voice.

He disappeared and I slowed my steps to ensure he had time to return to us. It didn’t take long until I heard, “Middle floor cleared.”

Flynn started to creep down the sweeping staircase behind us, his weapon moving as he continued to check up and down.

“Movement at the rear of the building,” Xavier said. The drones were obviously up and scanning.

“I wouldn’t try anything stupid,” I said to the man in front of us.

He raised his hands higher.

Dante emerged from a room to the left side of the staircase, his gaze moving from the man to me. “How disappointing,” he drawled. “You allowed yourself to be taken hostage.” He pulled a gun from the back of his trousers and shot him.

Well, that was an interesting way to show your annoyance at the staff. Not even Grampa went to those lengths, and he was a cantankerous old fucker with a nasty attitude most days.

“Does that make you feel better?” I asked, kicking the corpse out of my way, my gun coming up to aim at Dante.

“You, on the other hand, have surprised and impressed me. That’s hard to do.” Dante continued to stare at me. I placed Megan behind me against the solid banister.

I shrugged one shoulder. “I would hate to be boring and predictable.”

“We checked her for a tracker,” he continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “We even x-rayed her to see if there were any foreign bodies in her system. Yet, here you are in the one place on Earth no one has been able to find me.”

“I’m sorry, but is this the point when you want me to teach you how to be a bad guy?” I queried. “Keep your fucking hands off what doesn’t belong to you and then people won’t arrive at your door unannounced.”

“My door hasn’t opened all night,” he commented dryly.

“Minor details.” I lifted the gun. “It’s time for us to leave.”

“I’ve activated all my security systems,” Dante replied. “All the doors and windows are now electrified and the automatic weapons outside are online.”

He turned and wandered down the hallway. “Since you’re here, you may as well stay for dinner. Megan has refused to eat anything, and she took a little unwell earlier.”

Megan’s head rested between my shoulder blades, and I felt her tremble.

I fired once and the bullet embedded in the wall beside the door he was about the enter. He stopped walking. “That’s the only warning I intend to give you,” I said. “I advise you to stop playing games. This ends tonight because I will not tolerate any threat against Megan.”

He spun slowly to face me. “You are Horatio’s heir and for that sin alone, you must die. He will know the pain of losing the person he loves the most in the world in punishment for taking that same person from me.”

“Grampa has already suffered a catastrophic loss. He doesn’t need some asshole to create another. Turn off the security systems.”

He folded his arms across his chest, and his nonchalant gesture irked me. “No.”

“Zee,” I said.

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