Page 67 of Thrown to the Wolves

“Like the Sokolovs,” I say for some reason.

She gives me a long look. “Like the Sokolovs,” she agrees. “Keep it tight. Watch my back, and I’ll watch yours. Ready?”

I give her the same response she gave me when I asked a few minutes before. “I’m always ready.”

She gives a nod of approval that makes my heart flip over, and we head into the stairwell once more.

CHAPTER 32

Scarlett

Lyssa wasn’t wrong—the stairwell is challenging. There are scores of guards in here, and they really, really want to kill us.

We don’t hit the first wave until about halfway down, and I’m just grateful we’re heading down instead of up, because it gives us the higher ground, and means less physical exertion on our part.

But the men in here are fierce, and they aren’t fucking around. The Sokolovs in the alley were child’s play compared to this.

And making sure that my parents and Mrs. Graves are safe only makes things more difficult.

But Lyssa…

Lyssa moves with a deadly, athletic grace, her strikes powerful but precise. Now that my eyes have been opened, I see exactly why she’s so good—there’s no anger clouding her view. Her cool head lets her see every opportunity, and she takes each one, exploiting it to the full. I start to match her rhythm, our movements not synchronizing, but complementing.

Grandmother’s operatives keep coming, but Lyssa and I make an incredible team. We’re in the zone, and for the first time in a fight, I feel like her equal, as if—as if we were made for this.

I take an acrobatic wall-run, using the narrow confines of the stairwell to my advantage, launching myself off the reinforced concrete to jump down a full flight and take out a gunman before he can even raise his weapon. And Lyssa is right behind me, tucking into a roll over my bent back, using me as a springboard to take down another assailant with a savage knee to the face.

Lyssa smirks, clearly impressed by my skills as I land in a deep crouch beside her. Even streaked with sweat and splattered with blood, she looks…

Intensely formidable and inexplicably beautiful.

“Not bad,” she pants, before ducking a shot. I take out the guy myself with a well-placed chest shot, and glance up behind, hoping my parents didn’t see.

“Don’t worry about them,” Lyssa commands, and then sweep another attacker’s legs out from under him with a bone-cracking kick. “Mrs. G will let us know if anything’s coming down behind us.”

That’s not exactly what I’m worried about, but I shove aside the shame I feel, along with the guilt for dragging my parents and Mrs. Graves through this.

It is my fault, but the only thing I can afford to focus on right now is getting through the onslaught.

Finally, after what feels like an eternity in the choked confines of the stairwell, there are no more guards. No more attacks. We make our way as fast as we can down to the first floor, but Lyssa pauses before opening the door.

“You,” she says, putting a hand in my chest. “You stay here. You don’t exit this door.” She drops her voice. “The Syndicate are out there. If they see you?—”

I take a step back.

She points at my parents. “You two, you’re coming with me. So if you’ve got something to say to your daughter, now’s the time.” She turns away as I embrace them both again, hushing their confused questions.

“I love you both,” I tell them. “And you’re going to be just fine. I’ll be back with you soon, I promise, and I’ll explain everything then.” My lie is convincing enough, it seems, because when Lyssa motions them forward, they go along with her and Mrs. Graves.

Mrs. Graves turns back at the last second, grabs my hand, and mouths, Run.

I just smile at her and squeeze back at her hand. “Go be with your people,” I tell her, and push her out the door.

I watch through the cracked-open door as my parents and Mrs. Graves follow Lyssa across the cavernous, harshly-lit lobby. Then I see them—Hadria Imperioli, tall and black-haired, standing among a knot of Syndicate muscle.

Hadria pushes through them to grab Mrs. Graves in a hug, and then gives a quizzical look at my parents. Lyssa says something brief, and Hadria seems to accept it, giving out an order that has the Syndicate members hustling my parents out of the building with them.

I let the door close, and sit on the steps, heart hammering because I think I know what’s coming next. And I’m ready to let it happen.

---