Page 68 of Chaos Crown

“Kinky. I’m not too interested in theyoupart, but put me in the middle of that orgy, and I’ll happily watch it in prison. But I did say that was your last chance to answer, and I don’t want to start this off by lying to you.” I lifted the club, making her shoulders tense, then set it down on the floor. “I’m fortunate now that so many things were left in the barn to rust.”

I reached over her head, and picked something off the fireplace mantle. Quinn’s eyes crossed on the shears I held before her nose.

“One thing that’ll always bother me about that night, and about you, is that even though you were there to do what you did, you dressed up like you were going on a date. It was that important to you to look pretty.” I took a hank of her hair, and cut it off without pause or warning.

Quinn’s scream echoed throughout the acres.

“It does bring me some peace to know after today, you’ll never look pretty again.”

“You bitch! You evil, twisted bitch!” Spittle showered my arm. “You’ll pay for that. I fucking swear, you’ll regret this!”

“Where is Jack Sharpe?”

“I don’t know! I’m not who you think I am. You’ve got everything ass-backwards like the stupid farm hick you are.”

I grabbed another hank.

“No, no, no—”

It separated in my hand. I let go, letting the strands fall on her lap.

“Where is Jack Sharpe?”

Quinn snarled, furious tears gathering on her lids. “You’re going to wish you burned Ruckus night, de Souza. I’ll never forget this.”

“But I forgot. I locked away the truth of what happened to Rainey and you got to live two years on borrowed time. You had to know there was a chance I’d get my memory back,” I said. “You had to know one day we’d end up here. At least quit the act and face me as your true self, because you’re not getting away from me.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Why won’t you listen to me?”

I grasped her ends. She tensed, sucking in a breath. “Are you sure that’s what you want to say? I’ll give you three seconds to come up with a better response.”

Quinn looked at me, jaw grinding, and said nothing.

Her hair joined the rest on the floor. So it went with each question about Sheriff Sharpe. Quinn refused to answer, either by claiming innocence, insulting me, or detailing all the things my guys did to her and would do again when she got them back.

My shears snipped for the last time. Stepping back, I admired Quinn’s new look. An uneven mess that gave the vibe she got her head caught in a lawnmower. The wild thing was, she still looked beautiful.

I picked up the club.I’ll fix that.

“You understand there’s only one way for us to go from here. I don’t have a lot of time, so if your hair wasn’t enough to get you to speak, I’ll see if your kneecaps are.”

Her glare could’ve turned my blood to acid.

“Don’t let it get that far, Quinn.”

I couldn’t help a glance at my watch. I was running out of time. Dante has to know what his pet cop has done by now. He’ll probably put some effort into getting Davidson to let them go, so they can carry out the job he’s too lazy to do, but when that didn’t work, he’d have no reason to keep the sheriff alive.

I bet that’s why Davidson made a scene and arrested them on campus. He wanted the whole town to know they were going down for murder, so it wouldn’t be easy to make it go away.

If they were suddenly released from their holding cell without charges, there’d be questions. Too many questions.

That’s why I needed Jack Sharpe to reappear, tell the world he was kidnapped, and wrestle control away from that shit-covered slime Davidson. See? Cairo didn’t need to worry about me killing his father. Not while I still had need of him.

I stepped to the side, leveling the club with her knee. “Tell me where he is, Quinn.”

“I don’t know where he is. I didn’t even know he was missing. I’m telling you that you have the wrong person. Whatever you do to me, you can’t make me admit to being a part of your deluded fantasies.”

“Just couldn’t resist getting an insult in. Hope it was worth it.” Angling my swing, I drew back and—

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