Page 30 of Vengeance

Shep falls against his door, laughing. “Jesus Christ, we’re all dumb motherfuckers.”

Popping off the door, it becomes apparent why they weren’t able to break down the door. It was replaced with a solid wooden one with boards connecting the doorframes, creating an added barrier. “Does this mean they’re in there with them?” Jace asks, his breathing heavy.

Shep removes his door to reveal the same, and he pushes his weight against the boards. “Get an ax. We need to get in there!”

“No, they’re not in there,” Lex says and sees the small area just big enough for a small man or an average sized woman at the bottom. “They got out.”

Jace, Shep, and Colt are all too large to fit under there. In fact, there are only a handful of men small enough to make it, like Jennings and Tripp. Neither makes a move to slide under, and she shakes her head.

Don’t worry, guys, I’ll do it.

Slipping under the door, she stands and turns on the light to see Melanie pulling at her shackles.

“You know, I used to like being tied up. Completely submissive to Jace as he did whatever the fuck he wanted to me. And I mean anything,” Melanie says as Lex frees her with the key from the same spot on the ground as she saw the key for hers. “If we tried it again, I’m pretty sure I’d lose my fucking mind. For the first time since we’ve been together, I would have to use my safe word.”

What is the point of all of this?

“The fact you have a safe word for sex entertains me,” Lex says, trying to keep Melanie calm.

“Lex, what is that?”

Looking up, she sees writing on the wall. “If we can get to her here...”

“What?” Colt asks as they both climb out from under the boards.

“That was above the door,” Lex says and slips under Shep’s door. Turning on the light, she looks up and swallows the vomit rising into her throat. “We can get her anywhere.”

Heidi looks at Lex as she has each limb freed from the restraints. Just like the other two rooms, there was a key sitting on the floor. Waiting. “Did we all have something?”

“Yep,” Lex says, and Heidi wastes no time sliding under the door.

Yeah, I need something stronger than water right now.

Lex follows her out of Shep’s room and walks back into Colt’s apartment. Something nags at her, and she looks around. Sitting on the top of the desk is a white envelope, and she sees it’s addressed to her in green ink with a shamrock stamp on it.

Gee, I wonder who that’s from.

“What’s that?” Colt asks.

“I don’t know yet,” she says and looks into the hallway to the two women clinging onto their men. “I don’t remember falling asleep. Do you?”

Both shake their heads, and Lex tries to figure out how they pulled this off. None of them woke up, and they had to make noise. The boards on Jace and Shep’s doors were obviously not there when they arrived.

“I’m pretty sure I would’ve woken up to someone chaining me to a fucking bed,” Melanie says. “I’d have to be knocked out, but I don’t have any injuries.”

“Same,” Heidi says and takes a drink of water. “And how would we miss hammering those boards?”

“They were screwed,” VP says and examines Jace’s door. “Still doesn’t explain how the hell this happened.”

“That note written on the walls,” Heidi says. “Was it meant for all of us or one of us?”

Lex shakes her head. “Look how easy it is to get to her. If we can get her here, we can get her anywhere,” she recites and leans against the wall in the hallway. “I think it could mean any of us, but I honestly think it’s for me.”

“How didn’t we notice anything?” Zane asks. “How’d they get in here, make noise, knock them out without touching them, and get out without anyone seeing or hearing them?”

Tess gasps. “Jace, you were dizzy when you left your apartment, weren’t you?”

He shrugs. “Yeah, a little.”

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