Page 10 of King of Cruelty

“Holy shit,” I cried, clapping a hand over my mouth. “How come I’ve never heard about this?”

“It was before you were born.” Bane ducked around the concession stand, gaze sweeping over stale and ancient candy. “I was three, but I remember that night. Mom came home crying harder than I’d ever seen her. She blamed herself.”

“Why would she blame herself?” I tugged on Sienna’s hand, silently urging her to help with the search.

She didn’t move.

“Because no one was dealing drugs, being threatened, or getting shot when the place was just a run-down apartment building. She tried to help her old neighborhood and instead she kicked off one of its greatest tragedies. Or at least that’s how she saw it.” Bane sighed, backing out from behind the counter. “This place has been closed ever since.”

“I see.” My voice was flat. Dead. “That’s why the Brotherhood chose this place.”

“What do you mean?” Sunny asked, shutting the door on the empty theater.

“This place wasn’t just owned by your parents. It’s also a monument to their failure.” I tossed my head. “Failure by the Brotherhood’s standards. Of course, it wasn’t Adeline’s fault, but I bet in their eyes, this place is proof that everything the Merchants touch turns to ruin. It’s proof they’re bad for the city.”

“Yes, Kenzie.” The shadows released Liam, allowing him to step into the circle of dim light. “And that’s why I should’ve figured it out and raided this place before. Now that we know, it’s so cringingly obvious.”

I could only nod. It was true. Now that I knew the backstory of this theater, it was obvious why the Brotherhood holed up in this place. This hideout, like everything they did, was a fuck-you to the Merchants.

“There are more theaters to check,” Liam continued. “Plus the projection rooms and offices upstairs. The tracker says Genny is in here somewhere, so, Bane, you go with Sienna. Sunny, search with Kenzie. Anything moves, you shoot—”

“No!” Sienna burst out.

I jumped half out of my skin. “Sienna? What’s wrong? What—?”

“This poster is a message.” Sienna launched at it, scrabbling at the sides to pry it open. “Yes, the bad guys inGet Outare a bunch of racist, piece-of-shit pricks who think black bodies are objects for them to use, buy, and trade, but don’t you see?” she cried. “In the Brotherhood’s twisted minds,weare the bad guys!

“The Merchants are the fake, smiling folk who pretend to be nice and harmless, while all the while, they’re gutting innocent people from the inside out and using them as pawns.” Sienna finally found the latch and smashed it with the butt of her gun. “So if we’re the bad guys”—bang—“and they’re the good guys”—bang—“how does our movie end?”

Eyes bulging, I jumped on Sienna’s train of thought. “With us dead and defeated, and the hero escaping the—”

Sienna broke the lock and threw open the case. Tearing off the poster, she revealed its hidden secret in all its horrible glory.

A myriad of green wires connected bits and bobs I couldn’t name, but nestled within them was one thing I could—a tampon. It rested on the bomb, mocking us loud and proudly as the device ticked down the final eight seconds on the clock.

“TRAP!”

A hand, I didn’t know whose, hooked around my waist.

“RUN!”

The world spun as one of the guys threw me over his shoulder. All I could do was scream Sienna’s name as he bolted, racing for the exit.

Stabbing sunlight attacked and blinded me, washing the world in white light. Was Sienna behind us? Was Bane, Liam, or Sunny? Did they get out?!

In a blink we were flying. Crashing down behind Masie, pain jangled through my bones as we hit the ground hard.

“SIEN—!”

BOOM!

Chapter Two

Iheld Sienna tight, squeezing the stuffing out of her. I hadn’t let her go since she grabbed my hand and picked me out of the rubble—both of us crying, shouting, and hugging each other over the ringing in our ears.

An hour later, we were in Sunny’s apartment. There was nothing else to do but leave. The police would be on their way, and the last thing we needed was for them to find us at the site of a bombing.

I held Sienna tighter as my mind flashed back to my sister ripping the covering off a bomb. She was so close.Wewere all so close to being the next tragedy in that dark, gloomy, abandoned place.

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