Page 53 of Vengeful King

I get dressed uneasily an hour later, far before the meeting. I have nothing else to do and I’m full of nervous energy, my heart already racing in my chest. I wish I was home, wish I could just pick up my books or something else to distract me.

But this is it.

Lachlan leads me into the basement and as I follow him, all I can think is that maybe I was wrong. Maybe he’s just going to lock me up again and go himself to find whoever Mr. V is.

But he just leads me into a small room with blue lights and wire racks on the walls, and I almost stop in my tracks at the door.

There are guns everywhere.

I notice them first, but after I start to look, I see everything else. Grenades, knives, things I don’t know but that look like technology. I know this entire room is about his other business—about the mafia. This is the place he goes when he needs to get his hands dirty.

He picks something up from a black case and turns to me. It takes all my strength to stay still when he leans close to me, his hands fitting an earpiece in place.

“I’ll be coaching you,” he says quietly. “I’ll tell you what to say and do.”

I don’t reply. I don’t think he needs me to. I just focus on not giving in, not leaning in to him. I can smell the pine in his shampoo, the heady scent that draws me in.

I’ve been kept just out of reach from him for the last few days. I haven’t been this close to him since I first arrived. Now that we’re this close, all the memories come rushing back, and I’m reminded of how much I wanted him. How much I still do.

He steps back and I try to get myself under control. I watch him go to a sniper rifle—I recognize what it is only by shape, and it sends a chill up my spine to think that he might have used it before.

He works on the gun carefully, but not slowly. His movements are precise. His hands are deft. He adjusts a scope, clicks things in and out of place. I watch him move and remember the way he touched me, the way he made me fall apart.

I’m terrified by how easily he handles the rifle, but at the same time, I’m drawn to the way his hands move. The way he looks right now, coldly determined, touches a part of me that I can’t deny. There might be violence in his persona, but it’s not turned on me at the moment.

And right now, it’s the only thing keeping me safe.

When he’s done, he leads me back up and out the front door. It’s the first time I’ve left since I came here unconscious.

It’s beautiful outside. I’ve seen the backyard from the living room windows; the front of the place is just as green. There are trees enclosing the front of the house, isolating it from everything outside. There’s a drive curving past the front door and into the distance, past trees with hanging leaves that obscure the road.

I get into the car with Lachlan and stay silent as he drives to the club. He doesn’t make an effort to conceal where we are; I don’t know what that means. In my mind, it only means that either he’ll kill me or he trusts that I won’t be able to leak information about any of this. And if he doesn’t think I can tell what I know, he either thinks I’m not smart enough or he knows that I won’t be able to get out from under him.

Maybe he’ll use me the same way Mr. V tried to—as an agent, disposable and forgettable.

I clench my hands on my knees. I can’t think about what might happen in the future. I may not even get that far. I’m still trying to survive what’s happening right now.

Lachlan pulls up to the club, right next to my car. He doesn’t unlock the door immediately and I sit there patiently, my heart pounding as I think about what’s coming next.

“This is going to be simple,” he says. “Follow instructions and you’ll make it through.”

“Okay.”

I don’t know what else to say. I know he doesn’t care about how afraid I am or how much I want to run away. He doesn’t care that my life will be in danger.

He’s doing this for his family. He isn’t going to stop at anything to get what he needs.

The door finally unlocks. I get out and into my car; for a few seconds, I sit there, enjoying the brief relief of being somewhere familiar. I turn the music up, hoping to drown out some of the fear, and then pull away from the club.

The drive isn’t far. I cross through town and follow back roads to the place I need to be, and Lachlan follows me. He’s close enough that I know he’s there, but as we get closer, it’s harder to keep track of him. I know he’s going to get in position while I pull up.

I think about running. I keep seeing signs for the highway, and I’m tempted to turn the steering wheel and just leave. It would be so easy.

But Lachlan wouldn’t hesitate to shoot me, and Mr. V would kill me if I got away. I don’t have time to get to my mother, and I don’t want to leave her behind. It’s impossible.

So I can’t run. All I can do is keep driving to the parking lot I’m supposed to meet Mr. V in.

It’s almost entirely abandoned, save for the single car in the back of the lot. It’s away from the street lights, shadowed, almost invisible at first glance. The windows are so tinted they’re almost black. I can’t see who’s inside, but I watch the window roll down a little and I do the same.

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