Page 59 of King of Cruelty

“And that’s just guest protocol,” I mused. “On hostile enemy protocol, the elevator would seal itself with the intruder inside, then fill with a toxic gas and kill the fucker.”

“Fucking hell!” she cried. “Wait— Are me, Sienna, and Laurel in the system? Does it knowwearen’t hostile enemies?!”

“Of course it does. Your heights, weight, gait, voices, and even your DNA have all been entered as family. Even the combinations of all of those have been entered,” I said. “So Sienna holding Laurel will come up correct on the sensors. It’ll know the extra weight she’s carrying is our baby girl.”

“Goodness,” she breathed, but I could sense her relaxing. “You guys don’t mess around.”

“We can’t. Our parents raised their children here. Liam is raising Tricky here. You, Sienna, and Laurel live here. Ithastobe safe from our enemies because the one time it wasn’t...” I trailed off, knowing I didn’t need to go on.

Because the one time we let someone that we thought was safe in the same building as Kenzie and Laurel, they were kidnapped and thrown into the hands of a soulless trafficker.

“I understand,” she whispered, “and... thank you.”

“No one is ever going to hurt you, Kenzie. If I’ve got to exterminate the entire human race to ensure it, you will be safe.”

She chuckled. “Now that sounds like something Sunny would say.”

“What can I tell you? The guy gets his best traits from me.”

Now she was full-blown giggling, which put a smile on my face. I loved Kenzie’s laugh more than the smell of gunpowder in the morning.

“But, wait,” she said. “Why are we in guest protocol?”

“Because last night Liam and Sunny led the Brotherhood on a high-speed chase through the streets of Cinco, and then I broke the land-speed record racing Genny here and into the hands of the doctor. All that meant we didn’t have time for a pit stop,” I confessed. “We had to bring the Cardinals, the Sons of Saint, the Scourges, Liam’s crew, and the freed hostages here.”

“Ah, I see. But why are they still there? Is it not safe to leave the building?”

“No, it is not.” My feet carried me away from Genny’s bedroom and over to the window. Peering down, I saw them clear as day—no matter that I was fifty-feet up. “They’re all camped out around the building, Kenzie. In the cars parked on the street. In the cafés across the building. In the street-facing hotel rooms. And even on top of the buildings, with their sniper scopes pointed right at our windows.”

“Snipers?!”

“We’ve counted seven so far. They’ve got all the exits and all of our balconies covered.”

“Fuck’s sake! How— Why— How can they just do that? They can’t do that! Call the police!”

“Reinforcements are on the way,” I chirped. “So no worries about that, but I’m just telling you so you know why River is currently driving to the secret, underground entrance that leads into the building. No one can go through the front door right now.

“But that’s even if you want to. I understand if you’d rather bunk up with River right now.”

Kenzie hesitated. “I know you guys have security covered, but I don’t want to freak out every time Laurel crawls in front of a window. I think we will take a little detour, and then just River and me will meet you at home,” she said. “This will give River a chance to talk to the former hostages. Let them know there’s help and a place to stay if they need it.”

“Cool. See you soon.”

We exchanged our greetings, then hung up. A second later I was pulling up Sunny’s name and sending him a text on my way to Genny’s room.

Me: You got played. Hollywell’s a fucking liar. He’s in the Brotherhood.

Sunny got me back immediately.

Sunny: I never get played. I put a tracker on his phone while he was bawling and throwing himself on the floor. He made an interesting pit stop on the way to work this morning. He’s still there as it happens.

Me: Where?

Sunny: The rooftop of the Overton building. Right across the street.

I tensed, glancing back at the glass doors leading to the balcony. The Fairfield had been outfitted with sniper-proof glass a long time ago. That didn’t make it any less unsettling thatthe man who used to design our clothes was outside with a gun waiting... for us to give him a reason.

KENZIE

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