Page 57 of Braxton

Cross was looking down at Ryland then jerked his attention to Grendel. “Patience, Camille. Let’s finish here first.”

Camille pushed Quinn back down into the wobbly chair as Cross grabbed Brax, shoved the gun’s barrel against his head and forced him over to the guillotine.

“On your knees, Pharaoh,” he ordered, grabbing Brax’s shoulder and driving him down to the ground.

Brax’s knees hit the floor hard, but he ignored the shot of pain and watched Grendel gleefully grab a two-liter container, setting it on the floor beside Quinn. Brax clenched his teeth, already fairly certain what was inside.

“You’re going to know the effects of acid in just a minute,” Camille told Quinn, slowly removing her balaclava and revealing what looked like some kind of morbid Halloween mask. Both of her ears were gone, her nose was sunken in. No eyebrows and very little hair remained.

Jesus, no.Brax tightened his hands into fists. He wouldn’t let them dump the acid on Quinn. No fucking way he’d let her end up like the horrific-looking monster who should’ve died that night at the plating company.

The horrible scars on Camille’s face ran deep, and the acid had left discolored pits in her skin with visible irregularities and distortions in its texture. Her skin looked tight, its movement severely limited, and there were craters where the acid had burned especially deep.

“Laser resurfacing and surgical reconstruction can only do so much,” Camille said. “Just don’t make the same mistake I did.”

Brax frowned, not understanding what she meant.

“When I fell into that vat,” Camille continued, “I screamed.”

She opened her mouth to reveal what was left of her destroyed tongue and teeth. It was like something out of a horror movie. First-class special effects that deserved an award.

“I recommend keeping your mouth closed,” she finished.

Quinn leapt up, but Grendel and Camille forced her back down into the chair. Brax had never felt so helpless in his entire life as Cross’ pistol dug into his temple. Quinn’s panicked eyes found his, and his heart sank. All he’d ever wanted to do was protect people, and now he couldn’t even help the woman he loved. Because as hard as he’d tried to forget her, to resist her, to stop loving her, he simply couldn’t.

She was his everything, and the realization overwhelmed him.

It can’t end like this, he thought desperately.

“Q,” he rasped. “I’m so sorry. I believe in you and I love you…I always did.”

“Brax…” Tears filled her pretty sage eyes. Beside her, Grendel picked up the container and began twisting off the cap.

“Enough!” Cross forced Brax’s head down, quickly securing his neck in the pillory.

Clutching onto the edges of the wooden frame, Brax pulled in what he assumed would be his last breath before the angled blade came slicing down.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Oh, God. How had everything led to this?

Braxton had been driven to his knees and Cross was reaching for the rope that would drop the guillotine’s lethal blade. Ignoring Grendel and the acid he was holding, Quinn could only focus on the man she loved.

He couldn’t die. Not when they’d only just reunited. During their years apart, she’d never been able to fully say goodbye to him, and now they were so close to having a future again. And he’d just told her he loved her. She wanted the chance to say it back.

Quinn wasn’t letting him go, absolutely refused to let things end this way.

“Brax!” She struggled to get up, tried to go to him, but one of her wrists was still tied up, and Camille grabbed her shoulder, keeping her pinned down in the chair. “Let him go!”

Cross paused, as though considering her plea. “Maybe you should be first, traitor. My plan was originally for you to die at dinner with the others, but this seems much more fitting. We can let Pharaoh watch what happens when two liters of acid is poured over your head. This time, though, there is no tank ofwater to submerge yourself in. Sorry, Quinn. You’ll just have to deal with the pain.”

“You sick fuck!” she snarled. “You’re not going to get away with this.”

“I think I already have,” he said smugly. Then he nodded to Grendel. “Go ahead. Let him hear her scream.”

Shit.Swallowing hard, Quinn felt Camille release her shoulder and step back, removing herself from the splash zone. The moment Grendel lifted the container with his good arm, Quinn threw all her body weight against the side of the chair, tipping it over, praying the old wood would break when it hit the ground.

She landed with a thud and a loud splintering sound filled the air, but she was still tangled up, trying hard to move fast and get out of harm’s way. Stepping over her, Grendel began to tilt the container and all Quinn could do was try to turn her face away. Mouth tightly closed, she braced herself for the scorching pain to touch her skin.

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