Page 280 of Heart of Frost and Scars

Why would he kill us after spending all this time collecting us?

I shift my eyes along the row of corpses on the other side of the table.

He’s a serial killer.

If he doesn’t kill us today. He’ll kill us, eventually.

My mind spins, trying to find a way out. I’m not about to make myself vulnerable like that. Not with Frankie’s life hanging by a thread.

I can’t let this happen. We can’t give him what he wants.

Before I can react, Leo reaches for the syringes and passes them down the table. “We’ll do it.”

Kody doesn’t say a word, just grabs a needle and removes the cap. His eyes flick to mine, and in that brief glance, I see something. A message. A plan. But I can’t decipher it. My mind is too clouded by fear, by the fury steaming from my ears.

“We want her to live,” he says. “Trust me.”

“You have two seconds to plunge those needles before I squeeze the trigger.” Rhett meets my eyes.

I’ve never been one to back down, never been one to surrender control.

As I watch a stream of tears track down Frankie’s temple, I know I don’t have a choice. If I don’t do this, she’s dead. We’re all dead.

Trust me.

I trust Kody and Leo with my life. And hers.

My pulse thunders as I snatch the syringe and flick off the cap.

65

Monty

—

I should be the one protecting them, protecting Frankie. Yet here we are, helpless and cornered by a madman.

My fingers tighten around the syringe. I flex my forearm, exposing the veins that lie beneath the skin.

My heart hammers in my chest, each beat echoing in my ears.

I’ve been through a lot of shit in my life, seen things that would make most men crumble. But this? This is fucked up.

This isn’t a fight I can win with brute strength or cunning. This is surrender, pure and simple.

With a deep breath, I bring the needle to my arm, the sharp point hovering over my flesh. I hesitate, my mind screaming to fight back, to do anything but this.

I look at Leo and Kody.

They nod, holding their syringes.

Fuck.

Together, we push the needles into our veins.

The sharp sting barely registers as the drug enters my bloodstream.

A cold, creeping numbness that spreads from the injection site, flowing through my veins like ice water. It’s slow at first, almost gentle.

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