Page 75 of Edge of Desperation

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “You shoved that up his ass, Aurora.”

She glances at the weapon before grinning up at me. “We’ll clean it up, and it’ll be good as new.”

“No, babe,” I groan. “I’ll never look at my gun the same now.”

“I’ll buy you a new one,” she promises.

Hudson spins around. “How’d you know the bullet would come out of his body?”

“I didn’t,” she says nonchalantly. “I guessed.”

Carver howls. “Damn, sis. You give literal meaning to shoving something up someone’s ass.”

“Don’t you forget it,” she sasses as Carver covers his ass and backs away.

We still have no fucking clue who is calling the shots.

“Bennett, Hudson, and Carver, you start clean up,” I order. “Thomas and I are going to do a sweep to make sure there’s no one else in here.”

Aurora glances at me. “You didn’t already do that?”

“We did,” Thomas interjects. “Killed all the guards, but there’s a lot of locked cell doors.”

“The keys are probably in his office or his pants.”

Thomas raises his brow. “How do you know?”

“This is where I was held." She scrunches her nose. "At least, this is a location I remember.”

I check Dmitri’s pants and come up empty. “His keys aren’t here. Can you remember where his office is?” She nods. “Let’s go. The sooner we check the rooms, the faster we can get out of here. Hudson, give me your gun.”

Hudson grins, holding it out for me. “What’s wrong with yours?”

“Everyone’s a fucking comedian today,” I mutter under my breath, taking it from him.

We leave the three of them to start cleaning up the bodies while I, Aurora, and Thomas make our way down a series of hallways until we come to Dmitri’s office. Busting through the door, Aurora stumbles for a moment but catches herself before marching over to his desk and ripping open the top drawer.

She holds up a set of keys. “Got ‘em.”

Turning back the way we came, she leads us down another series of twists and turns, revealing cell doors. She unlocks them; each one is empty. I don’t know if we should be relieved or worried. I text Benson to let him know that Oleg and Dmitri have been sent on a permanent vacation, but we have no idea if any luggage was taken. He responds right away that he and histeam will stay vigilant and keep their eyes open and ears to the ground.

“This is the last room,” Thomas announces. “We cleared the rest that were unlocked.”

Aurora’s hand trembles as she places the key in the lock but doesn’t turn it. “I-I-I don’t know if I can.”

I spin her around and pull her into my chest. “What is it?” I rub my hands up and down her back.

“That’s the room… Where… Senator Briggs,” she sobs.

I look over her head at Thomas. “You don’t have to go in. Thomas and I ca?—”

“No!” she cries. “They don’t get to win. No fucking more, Jaxson. They don’t get to have any more power over me. Ihaveto do this. I’m not weak anymore.”

“You were never weak, baby.” I sway with her in my arms. “Take your time. Whatever you need for as long as you need.”

“Aurora,” Thomas speaks up, and she turns to look at him. “You took back all your power, there’s not a single one of us who ever thought or would ever think you’re weak. No one could ever survive what you, or any other person like you did, and be weak. We’re Marines, and sure we’re tough, but honey, you’re the fucking strongest person out of all of us, and don’t you ever doubt that. It takes so much more to be a survivor. You took back your life, and you made all those fuckers your bitches.”

Thomas opens his arms, and Aurora runs into his embrace. Thomas is a man of little words, but when he speaks, he makes it count. He said exactly what Aurora needed to hear.

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