Page 78 of The Revenge

She looks at me and arches an eyebrow.

“Du Pont is a member of the XXXVII. He has connections. We don’t want to risk him getting out of this if we take him to a hospital or to the police. Once we tell my father the truth, he’ll make sure du Pont is dealt with properly.”

“We should find something to tie him up with. And check that he’s not going to die of blood loss from that bullet wound,” she adds as an afterthought.

How much he hurts is the last thing I care about. If the wound was life-threatening, du Pont wouldn’t have been able to sit around and confess like he had. However, we do need to keep him alive, and he has been losing blood.

Gemini whirls around, grinning like a fucking idiot. “Tying someone up is my specialty.”

He proceeds to pull a roll of duct tape from his pocket and saunters over to du Pont. After kicking him in the side and getting little more than a groan in response, he kneels down beside him.

“Royal, you’re a shit shot. A couple of millimeters to the right, and you’d have missed him altogether. And this fucker is the biggest fucking melodramatic baby. You literally grazed the top of his arm.”

Royal cocks his head, staring incredulously at Gemini. “Like you could have done any better, dickhead. I was fifty feet away, using a Glock, not a rifle. I didn’t hit Tori, and I didn’t kill him. I’d say that was pretty fucking amazing.”

After we finally got our shit together, we spent the last five minutes of the drive coming up with a plan. We had no idea if du Pont was going to be here. I’d assumed he’d leave someone else to do the job instead of getting his hands dirty, so the priority was keeping Tori alive.

We realized it was just du Pont and amended the plan at the last minute. I’d distract du Pont alone, because he would never lower his guard if Royal and Gemini were with me.

I thought he’d done everything because he wanted revenge for his friend.

Right up until I started to walk over, and I heard what he was saying.

After that, Royal and Gemini must have been improvising, too. Royal’s right: it was an amazing shot.

I glance over at Tori. Royal’s standing beside her, his arm wrapped around her, as they both watch Gemini work. Her hair is disheveled, her dress is torn, and she’s covered in mud.

Yet I’ve never seen anyone look as incredible.

Gemini makes short work of wrapping du Pont up in tape, then he stands back, looking pleased with himself. “It’s going to sting like a bitch when they take the tape off that bullet graze.” He frowns. “And it’s going to take two of us to drag him to the car.”

“Fuck that.” I walk over and crouch down beside du Pont. “Wake up, asshole,” I say, loudly, before slapping his face a few times.

Groaning, du Pont opens his eyes, trying to sit up. It takes a couple of seconds before he realizes he’s tied up. “What the fuck are you doing, Keyingham?” He hisses at me. “Release me at once.”

"Sure.” I stand up and make no effort to do as he’s requested. Instead, I reach down and haul him to his feet. “Before you think of doing anything stupid, Royal still has a gun.”

“What do you think you’re going to?” Preston asks. He looks over at Tori, his eyes narrowing before he snorts. “You think you can swap me for her brother? You think that will work?”

"It’s either that, or the Hudson.” I shrug and nod at the water behind us.

This time, Preston laughs. “You really think anyone’s going to let that happen? Do you realize what happens to you if Reynolds goes free? Do you—”

Gemini smacks a piece of tape over du Pont’s mouth. “I knew I should have bought the ball gag with me,” he mutters, actually sounding disappointed.

I grab du Pont’s arm, squeezing just below the tape Gemini used to dress the wound. Smiling in satisfaction at his mumbled moan, I start pulling him. “Either walk yourself or we’ll drag you.”

“Here,” Royal says.

As I glance back, my friend scoops Tori up into his arms.

“What are you doing?” she squeals at him. “Put me down. I can walk.”

“I know you can, but the ground is half frozen dirt and puddles, and you’ve got dainty shoes on.” He glances at the black shoes poking out from under her dress. “Much as I’m impressed, you’re still wearing both of them.”

“Fine.” Tori doesn’t fight him. Instead, she rests her head against his shoulder.

It feels like hours have passed since we left the gala, and yet the night is as dark as it was when we arrived. We make our way back to the car at a slow pace—not for du Pont’s benefit, but so Royal doesn’t stumble.

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