Page 5 of King of Cruelty

She shoved Madison away, and turned on me. “But still, I can’t have you following us. You’ll tell my brothers where I am, and they’ll bust in with some cowboy shit before I can get my girls out of this.” Genny advanced on me. “I’m sorry, Kenzie.”

“No, Gen, wait— No!”

The last thing I saw was her fist flying at my face.

POPPY, MY BUSTED NOSE, and I trudged out of the elevator. The door flew open as I reached for the knob.

“Yes, Thatcher. She’s here.”

“Sun—”

He grabbed me around the waist, carrying me inside to the waiting horde. Thatcher’s alert went out to the whole building.

“Oh my gosh.”

“Kenzie, are you okay?”

“Who did this to you?” Liam demanded.

“When I get my fucking hands on them,” Sunny barked over Lizzie’s giggling. “I’ll kill them!”

Bane shoved through them both. “What happened?”

“Uh, well.” My voice was barely above a croak. “Good news first: We have a dog now.” I tried for a smile and didn’t get one back. “She’s actually quite friendly, which is good because I didn’t feel right leaving her at a shelter. Plus, she deserves much better than her current owner—”

“Forget about the animal!” Sunny took Poppy and promptly handed her to Elizabeth. The little girl ran off squealing happily. Good. I didn’t want her to hear the bad news. “Who did this?”

I flicked over their heads, landing on Sienna. She raised her brows—questioning. Meeting her gaze, I smiled.

“It worked,” I said, grinning though it hurt something fierce. “The plan worked.”

“What plan?” Fuller asked.

“I should start from the beginning.” I moved around them and eased myself onto the couch. I’d be sore all over in the morning. “Sienna discovered who was putting the trackers in your clothes.”

“Wait. What?” Sunny dropped next to me. “Why am I just now hearing this?”

“Because Genny was grieving and beating herself up. I wanted her to be the first to know it wasn’t all a waste. It turned out to be Madison James. She...” I told them the entire story from the day she handed me that card, to the Forbises and the discovery of the Sunshine Adoption Agency.

“After I told Genny all of this, she finally told me the truth,” I continued. “The Brotherhood stormed Barbarella’s and abducted the Cardinals. Bugsy— I mean, Laura’s death and thehorrible way we found out about it was punishment for not obeying their first order to denounce Vito’s video.”

“Holy shit,” Bane breathed, rubbing his head. “How did we miss this? Why didn’t she tell us?”

“Because your violent, frustrating, wonderful sister does everything to protect the people she cares about. She couldn’t accept that she failed. And I couldn’t either. So, Genny, Sienna, and I came up with a plan—”

“There are many people missing from that list,” Liam said, voice hard. “Three to be exact.”

I shook my head. “Too many things could’ve gone wrong. We agreed not to tell you beforehand in case you behaved like—these are Genny’s words—condescending jackasses.”

Liam, Bane, and Sunny geared up to say something about that until Fuller broke in. “I don’t quite understand. What did you two do? And what happened to your face?”

“Genevieve Hunt happened to my face.” Sienna passed me some tissues. “We had to confront Madison. After the disgusting and horrible ways they punished her for disobeying them, I knew Madison would use the Cardinals to bargain for freedom. I also guessed that if she was clever as she proved she was, she’d realize their little tracking plan was over.

“There’s no way they’d sneak something like that on you guys again, so the Brotherhood needed a new money-printing machine. What better way to control you than by doing exactly what they’re doing to Genny? Holding someone you love hostage.”

Liam held up a hand, his jaw clenching. “Hold on. Are you telling us that Genny is being held captive by the Brotherhood right now? The same people who shot, bombed, and threw her friend’s mangled body at her feet!”

Goodness, when you say it like that.“Yes. That was the plan.”

---