Page 53 of Princess of Vengeance

“She has a plan,” Nico cuts in, even though I’m pretty sure we’re all sharing Killian’s murderous thoughts. “She thinks she can turn the other Syndicate members against Malcolm. Apparently they’re not too happy with how he bends the rules to suit himself.”

I nod along, liking where this is going. “Vicious wants to start an insurrection.”

“Exactly. But it’ll take time.” Nico looks between us, frowning. “We have to be patient and let her work this out her way.”

Patience. There’s that fucking word again.

I’ve only just learned about her plan, and I’m already tired of being patient.

But if anyone can take down Malcolm and the whole fucking Syndicate from the inside, it’s our Quinn. She’s got the brains and the balls for it.

“She’ll leave messages for us at the bar,” Nico continues, his gaze distant like he’s already planning out every detail. “Mickey will help pass them along. It’s not perfect, but it’s something.”

“It’s a lifeline,” Killian says. “It’s a hell of a lot better than the alternative. We’ll just have to be ready when she needs us. Whatever she needs.”

“Exactly.” Nico nods. “In the meantime, we’ll keep building Carnage back up so we’ll be in a better position to help her take that asshole down when the time comes.”

I start to leave the room but stop myself. Where the hell am I gonna go? This house is too fucking small to burn off all the restless energy I have. All I know for sure is that the longer we sit around talking about Quinn, the more I wanna put my fucking fist through a wall.

Instead, I pace back and forth from the living room to the hallway, then to the kitchen before finally giving up and standing still again.

“We’ll get her back,” Nico says, giving my shoulder a squeeze as he passes by on the way to his room. “It’s the only option.”

“Yeah.” I shake my head and try to swallow down the knot in my throat. “Yeah, I know.”

He starts to walk away but I catch his arm, then lean in and inhale without giving a single fuck about how weird it looks. I can smell her on him—and not any sort of perfume or lotion or any of that shit.

I can smell her.

“Did you fuck her?” I ask even though I already know the answer. It’s that scent. It’s too fucking powerful and intoxicating to ignore.

Nico freezes and his eyes go wide for a split-second, but he doesn’t try to pull away or deny what he’s done. All he does is give me a single, simple nod.

“Good.” My reply seems to surprise both of us. It’s not the word I would’ve chosen a few months ago, but a lot has changed since then.

And if I can’t be with her right now, I can at least take some small comfort in knowing she’s being taken care of by one of our own.

He opens his mouth to say something, but the familiar ringtone of his burner phone interrupts him, and he answers before the second ring.

“Yeah?”

I can tell by the booming voice on the other end of the line that it’s Kendrick calling, and I don’t have to strain too hard to hear what they’re talking about. Hell, I’m pretty sure Killian can hear both sides of the conversation pretty fucking clearly from the other side of the living room.

When Nico hangs up, he verifies everything I’ve just heard, and fills in a couple of the gaps. “That was Kendrick. I guess Zoey is asking to meet with us.”

“Fuck her, “ I snarl, feeling a rush of rage at the mention of my ex. “She doesn’t deserve to meet with us. She barely deserves the bullet I’d like to waste on her.”

“She definitely deserves that,” Killian says quietly before turning to face Nico from the couch. “Do we have any idea what she wants?”

“No fucking clue.” Nico shrugs. “I doubt it’s to catch up and shoot the shit about the good old days.”

I can’t help but snort at the mental image that conjures up. “She’s probably just gonna be looking for new ways to fuck us, and that’s assuming the whole thing isn’t some kind of trap to begin with.”

Killian nods. “That sounds pretty accurate to me.”

“It sounds about right to me too,” Nico says. “But I think we should go anyway. We’ll be able to tell a lot more about her operation if we see her face to face. Right now, all we have is Kendrick and a few other guys to keep us updated on the moves she’s making and the amount of loyalty she still commands. And no offense to any of our own guys, but I’d rather see that shit and make that determination myself, you know?”

He’s right and he has a damn good point. If we really are going to rebuild Carnage to what it used to be—or hell, even better than it used to be—we’ll have to deal with Zoey at some point. At least this way we don’t have to go running in blind when the time comes.

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