Page 46 of Veiled Vengeance

Snake Man hands over a cigarette and his lighter. The second man lights up and sighs after his first inhale.

“She still needs some work. Cain isn’t going to give her the green light for a while.”

“Ifhe gives her the green light. She could end up like some of the others—never falls in line, so she ends up with a bullet between the eyes.” Snake Man taps his forehead in imitation of where the bullet hole would be.

The second man stares off with a wistful look. “I have a good feeling about this one, though. She’ll be good at deep throating—I’ll teach her.”

Yeah. They’re both dead.

And looks like we have more guests coming with us.

The second man finishes his cigarette quickly. “I’m going back in. This bitch needs to toughen up. You coming? We can teach her how to take two at once.”

Hijos de putas. Sons of bitches.

Snake Man shakes his head. “Not yet. I’ll be there in a minute. Get her ready for me.”

As soon as the second man disappears into the bedroom, I open the door enough so I can slip out. I creep up right behind him, and he has yet to notice my presence. He places the cigarette back in his mouth for another drag.

Before he can pull it back out, I sheathe one of my knives. My arm wraps around him, and the flat of my palm shoves the cigarette in his mouth completely. The smell of burning flesh invades my nose as he chokes, and I bring my arm around his throat and squeeze, effectively cutting off his air.

“Tell the Devil I say hi,” I speak into his ear. I release my hold on his neck, grab his hair at the crown of his head, and pull, exposing his neck fully. Taking the knife in my other hand, I slice his skin from ear to ear. Blood sprays on the wall in front of us.

At least the wall looks better than it did before.

Snake Man’s hands cover his wound, but I know how deeply I cut him—there’s no stopping the blood flow. He begins to slump, and I use my hands to bring him slowly to the ground so as not to make a sound. By the time his head touches the dirty floor, he’s gone.

I return to the kids’ bedroom and find Dahlia helping Noah out the window. Margaret and August stand to the side, waiting their turn.

“Go slow, and you’ll be fine,” she reassures Noah.

He simply nods and places his foot on the first rung, slowly giving the ladder his weight. Once he has both feet in place, there’s a loud snap, and Noah’s eyes go wide. Margaret and August gasp.

“Fuck,” Dahlia curses.

She and I dive forward for Noah’s hands. We grasp him tightly and heave him up back into the room. Sticking my head out the window, I find the ladder on the ground, broken in key places.

Voices from beneath our feet drift up and through the floor.

“What the hell was that?”

“How am I supposed to know? Go look.”

“Like I’m going walk away so you can get a peek at my cards again.”

“You three shut the fuck up! You all can go check it out.”

A door downstairs scrapes open, and all hell breaks loose. Shots are fired from both sides. The sound used to hurt my ears, but I’m used to it now. Feminine screams reverberate from the other bedrooms.

I turn back to the doorway as the man from earlier exits the room with the half-naked girl. He’s shoving his pathetic dick back into his pants. Without a second thought, I pull out my Glock from its holster and fire. The shot gets him right in theneck, and he goes down quickly. Two more men exit from the other bedrooms.

Pop, pop.

I get each with one shot. They fall on top of the other two men.

Glancing over my shoulder, I find Dahlia with all three kids gathered and ready to go. “On me!” I shout over the noise.

She nods her head once and ushers the kids forward, right behind me.

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