Page 71 of King of Cruelty

I clutched my arm, just trying to breathe. And think.

“That’s far enough,” Debra said, keeping Bane half in and half out of the doorway. “Tell them.”

Bane’s jaw clenched, his muscles ticcing. Releasing a hard breath, he said, “Thatcher, clear out. You and the whole team.”

“Excuse me?” Thatcher’s deep voice replied. “Why—?”

“Take the back way, but go now. All of you.” Bane’s expression was hard. “Now.”

There was a tense silence in which Bane did not speak, move, or twitch. There was no doubt Thatcher observed that his behavior was odd. And why would Bane be acting weird after coming out of the hall filled with all of the hostages unless—

“Very well.” I heard shuffling, Thatcher giving the same order, and then heavy footfalls.

We waited in tense, pained silence until the back door slammed in the distance for the final time.

“Now, out!” She shoved me, moving the knife to my back. “Walk, and don’t try anything.”

I stumbled out into the lobby, my arm singing with pain.

Debra forced me to the vacated security booth and put the knife back to my neck, strangling me against her.

“Put the brother in the closet,” she ordered. “Adeline left the bum to rot on the streets, so she obviously doesn’t care about him. Keep all your knives on the son.”

River shouted—loudly and profanity-laden—as he was shoved roughly into the cleaning closet. My heart ached as they shoved not one but two front hall couches in front of the door, trapping him in that dark, windowless room.

I wanted to believe there was another secret entrance in there leading to a way out, but the tunnel we came through was solid concrete with only two entrances on both ends—and neither one was in that cupboard.

Task done, all five of the bastards followed their leader’s orders, and pressed their tips in a perfect ring around Bane’s neck.

“Now, here’s what’s going to happen. I know that right now you’ve got the whole family in the building for the big reunion,” Debra crowed. “Everyone except for your oldest sisters, but they’ll be easy enough to track down when this is all over.

“You’re going to call all of them down here right now, and I mean all of them, Genevieve and that little brat, Beth or whatever her name is, included. Unarmed goes without saying. The longer it takes for them to show up”—she stabbed my other arm—“the more time I have to poke holes in your girlfriend.”

“Stop!”

“Ahh,” I cried, tears springing to my eyes. Overwhelming, burning hatred flooded my soul at this scheming, worthless bitch, but amidst that, I only had one thought.

My sister truly is psychic.

Sienna said the safest place for her and Laurel to be today was far away from me, and I thanked every deity from every culture and religion that they both were.

“You don’t need to prove howtoughandseriousyou are by torturing an unarmed, innocent woman,” Bane barked, loading his words with scorn. “I’m not resisting!”

“She’s not fucking innocent!” Debra’s growl assaulted my ear. “No one that has anything to do with your filthy family is, so get on with it!”

Silently, Bane typed out his text and showed it to his captor.

He read it, nodded to Debra, then ordered Bane to hit send.

There were six elevators in the lobby of this apartment building turned family home, and all of them dinged their tune as the most infamous family in Cinco City exited their confines.

Sunny, Liam, and even Genny. Pushed in her brother’s borrowed wheelchair, Genny strained to keep her bandaged head up as one of her fathers wheeled her into the lobby, followed by Adeline, Killian, St. John, and Baris.

“Yumi, Maryann, check them for weapons,” Debra demanded. “If even one of them is packing so much as a paperclip, cut off Alexander’s finger, then— Hold on, where’s the girl?” Debra said, noticing the missing member of the family. “I said everyone!” She positioned the knife perpendicular to my throat. “Bring your daughter down here right fucking now or—”

“There is no place for me tobring her downfrom,” Liam said—tone smooth like honey. “Elizabeth is not in the building. I didn’t want her sitting alone in the apartment while we focused on getting Genny safely home, so I sent her and Fuller off to the beach for the weekend.”

Debra hesitated, sharing a look with her compatriots. “You’re lying. This is some stupid, father’s love attempt to hide her from me, and—”

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