Page 4 of Lethal

The mocking laugh spewing from Vander doesn’t help my disposition. He turns and shoves his hands in my face. “Cut me loose.” I do it, begrudgingly. I don’t want his help. But it seems I don’t have a choice. The moment he’s free, he asks, “Where’s the med kit?” I point at the cabinet it’s in and he makes quick work of grabbing it, bringing it over to the couch where he dumps the contents.

After picking through to find what he wants, he returns to drag me to the couch. “Careful, asshole!” I shout as he makes sure to hit my head on every captain’s chair we pass.

“I said I’d help. Not that I wouldn’t make sure you feel every ounce of pain you deserve.”

Jokes on him. Psychopaths don’t experience pain the same way everyone else does. It’s how I’m able to function with a bullet wound in my leg. If it wasn’t for the blood loss…

He tosses me onto the couch and uses a knife to rip open my pants so he can fully see the wound. “It didn’t go through. I’ll need to dig it out.” He doesn’t. That’s a myth. Most bullets can stay in the body, but I won’t correct him. It’s not like it hurts that bad, more of an annoyance. “You’re damn lucky Raven is such a good markswoman. That and every possible variable lined up perfectly for the bullet to miss all the major arteries in your leg.”

The knife glints in the lighting as he picks it up again, dosing it with some kind of antiseptic from the med kit before digging the sharp point into my leg. There’s a little too much joy on his face as he does it.

While I’m one step closer to my sister, time is of the essence. Too much has already been wasted. I squandered years believing she was dead. Now an urgency pulses through my veins, spurring me on, whispering in my ear that she’ll die for real if I don’t move fast enough.

Fury grips me with how long it took to bandage my wound. It stole precious minutes that could’ve been used to find Becca. Everything else takes a back seat as I dive head first into hunting for information. Who runs the club, the member list, and cell phones that pinged from the location. Not only today, but in the past year.

Everything I find gets saved to my hard drive, and I set programs to run in the background to compile even more details based on what I already found. I move on to performing a deep dive into the finances of every person on my list. With every click of my mouse, the suspect pool becomes bigger as the number of sick fucks grows. The innocents better hope to fuck they don’t get in my way, because I don’t give a fuck about them. There won’t be any prisoners in this war. Only blood and death will satiate me now.

My concentration remains firmly fixed on my work. Code flows from my fingers as I hack into security cameras, digging through everything and anything I can.

The skid of tires meeting the landing strip is music to my ears, but it’s muddled when Vander speaks up. “Do you really want to piss her off like this?” he asks again.

Same question, different words. It won’t change my answer, but unlike all the times I ignored him, I finally voice them. “This isn’t about Raven. It’s a personal matter. I have to take care of it before I can focus on shaping her into the little killer she’ll become.”

Vander scoffs. “We’ve all been guiding her. It’s not like it’s a hardship. You know you love it, possibly more than the rest of us.”

It’s my turn to scoff. “Not all of us. Grayson is even more innocent than she was when this all started.”

“But isn’t it fun watching her corrupt him?” he responds, leaning against the couch like his arms aren’t uncomfortably tied behind his back. A bruise is already blooming where I cocked him with my gun. I’m surprised by how well he’s taking the whole situation. It actually pisses me off, if I’m being honest. Misery loves company. And he’s choosing to take the high road. Putting Raven’s desires above his baser instincts.

“I don’t have time for this,” I spit out, as the plane taxis to the hangar. As soon as we stop, I’m speeding to the club. I had arranged for a car to be waiting, and never travel without an arsenal on hand. The weapons are stored behind panels in the bedroom, which I’ve already transferred into a duffle bag for easy transportation. It’s everything I need to take out every mother fucker in my way.

“No offense, man, but you’re not thinking clearly. You need to change your clothes. You’re covered in blood, which is begging for evidence to get left behind.” His gaze trails over me, his expression showing how much he thinks I’m being an idiot right now. “What are the rules we gave Raven to make sure she doesn’t get caught?” He sits forward, leaning toward me with his legs spread to stabilize himself with his hands tied. “You’re doing this alone when you could have backup like she always does. Let me at least come and help you.”

Fuck. He’s not completely wrong.

My jaw clenches, overwhelming anger filling me that he’s the one pointing this out. I’m the one who is always calm, collected, and has his shit together. The mask I show the world has nothing on the man I am underneath.

He’s right. But as stupid as I know it is, I don’t want to admit it. This is my mistake. My sister. I’m the one who needs to find her and protect her. Accepting help would be equal to admitting defeat. And I’ve already taken a deeper blow than I thought was possible.

With a loud scoff, I turn from the insufferable man. I’ve only put up with him because of his connection with my Raven. Because of her infatuation with him. But I don’t need to put up that show when she’s not here.

Chapter 3

Cole

My phone dings with yet another text from Raven. She keeps texting Ravenmaster, wanting an explanation for me leaving. I scroll through them all, not having opened them yet, knowing I needed to keep her at the back of my mind for now.

Raven: Where the fuck do you think you’re going?

Raven: Cole, you better answer me… or else.

Raven: I swear if you don’t wait for me, I’ll shoot you again.

Raven: We’re a family. We do things together now. Not run off alone.

Raven: You wouldn’t let me act this way. What happened to all the rules you gave me?

Raven: Are you really going to ignore me? Hypocrite much?

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