Page 47 of Deadliest Throne

“This is why not. The Link we know, the leader of this crew isn’t here right now. He’s long gone. You are blood thirsty, and the only thing you have on your mind is finding Raven and making everyone pay.”

“You should be too!” I shout. “Why the fuck are you so calm?” I look at the others who are just fucking sitting there watching me like I’m some side show freak. “All of you! How are you not fucking destroying every thing in your fucking way to get to her.”

“Don’t,” Hunter shakes his head, pushing himself to his feet. “Don’t fucking act like we don’t care. We’re all fucking dying inside Link. We’re all desperate. But flying off the handle isn’t going to find her any sooner.”

"And, because we don't know where she is," Quinton says. He looks downright devastated. The look on his face is how my heart feels right now. "We can't just go breaking down every door and killing people who don't know anything."

“We sure the fuck can,” I spit.

Hunter sighs. “That's why you're tied up and you're going to stay that way until we get answers.”

“If you don’t fucking let me go, I’m going to kill you next,” I promise.

The fucking asshole ignores me. “We are working endlessly to find out where she is. We’ve called in every favour, every contact. Even the people we have on payroll with the police.”

“It’s not enough!”

“What else do you want us to do, Link!” Hunter yells in my face. “Do you not understand that we love her with every fucking cell in our bodies too! That she’s our reason for living, the air we fucking breathe. You're not the only one who can’t exist without her. This isn’t fucking about you! Our girl, our baby, is out there and we fucking feel useless because we didn’t save her. We didn’t keep her safe like we promised.”

“We shouldn’t have gone to that fucking fair,” I snarl. “We should have stayed right fucking here. She would have been safe. I hate you. I hate you for getting that fucking idea in her head.” His face morphs into pain.

“I hate myself too,” he whispers. Then he stands up and turns around. Quinton does the same.

“Don’t you fucking leave me in here!” I roar, realizing I'm in one of the cells in the basement of the warehouse.

“We have to. Don’t worry, we will find her, and when we know where she is, we will come for you,” he tells me, closing the door. “She’s not just yours to save.”

As soon as the door clicks shut, the sound that leaves me shatters everything inside me. If something happens to her, to our baby, I will bite down on the barrel of my gun and pull the trigger. I don’t want to live in a world that doesn’t have my Little Bird.

Quinton

I FEEL LIKE THERE’S a hole in my chest. A gaping, bleeding wound. I feel like I’m slowly dying from the inside out. And the only reason why I’m even able to keep it together is because I know my Chiaro di luna needs me, needs all of us.

“Damn it!” Hunter roars, throwing the phone across the office. We’ve been making phone calls non stop and no one seems to have any fucking answers for us.

“It has to be him,” I say, clinging to Andrew. When Hunter showed up here, panicked and freaking out, a crying Andrew in his arms, I knew something wasn’t right.

When he handed Andrew off to Andy and told me what happened, my world stopped. I feel what Link feels right now, every single bit of it. Only I know I have to be the level-headed one within a group of killers because otherwise there will be nothing but bloodshed and nothing to show for it.

Failure. That's what this is. We failed her again. For the third fucking time. We did everything we thought we should have, watched her like a fucking hawk and still, it wasn’t enough. It’s never enough. Maybe we’re not the best for her, because we sure as fuck can’t seem to keep her safe.

“You're telling me he’s not dead? Link’s connection said he was fucking dead. Saw him with his own eyes.”

“Do you really not think that a man like Tyrone Benson wouldn’t have the money and connections to fake his own death?” I laugh, shaking my head. “This is what he wanted. To have us, let our guard down, and we played right into his fucking hands.”

“Nope. We’re not doing this. No fucking way,” Hunter dismisses my words. “We can play the blame game and beat ourselves later. Right now, we need to put all our focus on finding Raven.”

“Where the fuck are the twins?” I growl.

“I don’t fucking know!” Hunter shouts back. “They took off after they dumped Link’s ass off and told the crew to tie him up.”

We were already on our way back when we got the call from Taylor about Link. We turned around and found him in the cell, tied to a chair and passed out. It’s the best place for him right now.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear because a few seconds later, Travis and Taylor burst in. They look like hell. Good.

“Well, nice of you to join us,” Hunter snarls. “Where the fuck have you been?”

They look at each other before Travis sighs, running a hand through his shaggy black hair. “We were making some calls.”

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