Page 8 of King of Ruin

“What if he isn’t?” Trick snaps, more to himself than to her, eyeing us over his shoulder. Being head of security, he blames himself for the entire thing. And with Shi being hurt, he’s been a touch moody.

Before anyone can answer him, a nurse barges through the door. Her light blue eyes scan over all of us before settling on the mess Trick made with the glass. Her blonde brows nearly touch in the middle as she steps over the shards and around the bed. “I understand you all may be upset, but for the safety of the patient, pleas–”

“We paid for this entire floor. We paid every nurse and doctor’s annual salary to house our people on said floor. We aren’t going to fucking hur–”

“Trick,” Shi’s voice is soft but firm, her eyes trained on her knotted fingers. She shifts in her seat before smiling widely at the nurse. “We will be more careful. Thank you.”

The woman’s pupils dilate, the soft blue color becoming a thin outline. She seems to be more taken aback by Shi’s eerily calm demeanor than Trick’s outburst. But she doesn’t respond and simply nods, mumbles about getting a janitor, and walks to the door, four pairs of eyes tracking her out.

We aren’t going to get anywhere sitting around, and this small incident will be one of many if we don’t get out of this room. Each second, the walls grow smaller with our lack of a response to what happened. We killed over two dozen of his men. They’re just as wounded as we are and maybe now is the time to act while they’re nursing their own wounds, and we’ve had time to gather our people.

I slap my hands on my bruised knees, standing with a sigh. “Well, this has been fun. You ready, Trick?”

“Hell, yes. Fuck, I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Wait. We can’t–”

“Brother.” Trick holds up a hand and the fire in his eyes is enough to burn down the entire city. It lights my insides up like fireworks, the affirmation sending sparks down my limbs. “They came to our fuckinghome. They blew it up and captured Onyx underourfucking watch. You’d rather have me sit here and wait for who the fuck knows how long while they could be doing anything to her?”

My stomach twists, the deeply buried memories of my stay with the Murphys surfacing like a body I forgot to weigh down in the river. The dark rooms, the drip from the bad plumbing, the twisted laughter of the men–all of it surges into my throat, stained with hot bile.

Death is a mercy where the Murphys are concerned, and something tells me that’s the last thing they plan to offer her.

“Maddy.” Shi’s sudden touch makes me jump, her cold fingers sending shivers up my arm. “We’ve talked about this. We can’t just barge in there. Phineas knows that’s what we’d do, which is why we didn’t do it the other night. He expects us to react with our emotions rather than logic. What good are you to her if you’re dead?” She pauses, her eyes unfocusing for a moment before welling with tears. I know she’s imagining her own life before the boys saved her because I damn sure am.

We are one and the same right now, infected with identical venom left idle in our bloodstream. Without Onyx to damper the effects, it surges through us, robbing us of the women we’ve become under her care. I won’t let the same thing happen to her.

“I can’t sit here and do nothing.” My voice is a borderline plea and my gaze flashes to Trick. His short blond strands are disheveled, his light eyes quivering back and forth with a mix of anger and desperation flickering through them.

Do I really care if I die to save Onyx? Absolutely not. And the fact I’ve wasted nearly forty-eight hours with my tail between my legs seems absurd now. Disrespectful, really. Bonkers, but in the worst way.

I may be utterly mad to think I can face them with only Trick in tow, but I never once claimed to have even an ounce of sanity.

A bubble in my chest pops, a string of high laughter spilling from my lips. Trick turns, a smile on his face matching mine. He holds a hand out to which I grab, threading my fingers between his.

He tugs me toward the door as Trigger and Shi stand in unison.

“What if you getherkilled?” Shi’s words shoot straight into my core, wrapping around my spine and yanking me back.

Trick’s hand tightens around mine. “If they wanted her dead, she would be.”

“Not necessarily,” Trigger says, moving in front of us. He’s a mirror image of his brother, reflecting the same frustration and fear. The blond tips on the top of his head are mussed, while the ones on the side are matted from sweat, and lingering dried blood.

While all of us took quick showers, it’s clear spots were missed; everyone far too worried about relocating, getting our wounded men to the hospital, and attempting to find out what the hell happened.

In that time, I can admit rational thought has dwindled, stolen with every strained breath under the enclosing walls of this room. I just want to get out.Dosomething. And blowing up the entire fucking Murphy Mansion sounded perfect.

Still does. Because although I’m overwhelmed and confused, I know one thing. “She’s not at the mansion. They aren’t that stupid.”

“Correct, but who’s to say theyaren’tholding her there so we don’t bomb it?” Shi brushes back the pink strands from her shoulder and I watch as they disappear under the forest of black ends. “In the event of her…”

She trails off and my heart squeezes, the once unthinkable now so fucking tangible, it’s taken us all by the throats.

“If something were to happen, everything is given to you and me.” She sighs. “We would own it all. And I’m almost certain the phone call will soon be coming with their demands.”

“Why wouldn’t they do to her what was done to her parents?” Trick asks, his voice much more somber now that adrenaline has faded into waves of reality.

“Because.” I unlock my hand from his and collapse into the nearby chair to recount a story we all know. “When they killed the Embros’, they thought they had won. They came for Antonio, foolish in their assumption that he wouldn’t be ready. But he was. He took out their second in command and two dozen soldiers, some of which were actually family members. Not to mention, the local government belongs to Embros. With our people, and the law enforcement, they knew they’d never get through the gates and would have to catch Antonio off the property line to finish the job.”

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