Page 42 of Hell's Fear

“Mac was here?” Nando inquired.

I felt my stomach sink.

“Yes, those men took her away. Told us if we didn’t behave, they’d kill her,” the girl said as tears spilled again.

Nando

I caught Ramirez’s gaze, and he looked stricken.

A heavy feeling settled in my gut, and I knew McKenna wasn’t alright.

“Nando, Davies, go find McKenna,” Ramirez commanded as Clio wrapped her arms around the crying girl.

I was already moving before Ramirez finished giving his order.

Davies, London, and Max rushed out the door with me.

“Check the offices,” I ordered with a lump in my throat.

Images of McKenna laughing and teasing me kept hitting me like bullets. Something warned me McKenna was harmed, worse, destroyed by the Fangs. Deep down, a voice screamed that McKenna would never be the same again.

Still, I prayed I was wrong.

We kicked open every door between the cloakroom and the offices and found no sign of McKenna. As I came to McKenna’s office, I took a deep breath. Scared of what I might find, I swapped a glance with Davies and then turned the handle.

It was obvious immediately there’d been a fight. A lamp had been knocked off a table, and there were folders thrown onto the floor. McKenna’s desk had been emptied, and everything swept to one side. Sadly, I closed his eyes as my gaze lit on clothing that had been torn from someone.

I held up a hand to hold Davies back as he entered the room. Aware of what I was going to find, I stepped around McKenna’s desk, and a cry left my mouth.

“Stay back! And call an ambulance now!” I ordered.

In front of me was an image I’d never burn from my memory. I’d be dying and still see this clearly. Lying naked, curled into a ball and with blood covering her body, was McKenna. There was no doubt she’d been beaten and raped. Blood streaked down her legs, and I heaved.

Urgently, I crouched down and checked for a pulse. It was weak but there.

“Get me that fuckin’ ambulance!” I roared as I tore off my shirt and covered the battered woman in front of me. “Now!”

Epilogue.

Phoenix

As I walked out to my car to go home, I was distracted. I was already thinking of Bonfire Night. Americans didn’t celebrate it, but being English, it was a custom I’d kept up. The kids loved the fireworks, and we always had hamburgers, hotdogs, chilli, and jacket potatoes.

Over time, Rage and Hellfire had come to accept the night as well. It was a weird tradition, celebrating Guy Fawkes, who tried to blow up the British Parliament. A slight smile crossed my lips. The English were perverse, to say the least.

Concentrating on Bonfire Night helped distract me from the fact McKenna was in hospital. A week had passed now. McKenna was alive but unresponsive. She refused to speak or see anyone. Everybody was worried sick, and I knew the guys were beating themselves up. From Rage to RCPD to Hawthorne’s, everybody blamed themselves.

Marissa and Lina were apparently a mess. I’d not seen them, although I’d spoken to them. The girls held a shitload of self-blame. There was a lot of guilt going around. McKenna wasworrying everyone with her shut down. I just hoped, in time, McKenna would recover.

The Fangs had shut down cameras in the Escape Rooms they’d attacked us in. But not in McKenna’s office. Thirteen men had raped that precious girl. Thirteen. They had swept her desk of everything, held her down and pulled a train on her. Drake had seen the footage and had banned any woman from watching it, including Artemis. For five nights now, Drake woke up shouting and sweating.

As I pulled my keys out and pressed them to open the car, a figure stepped out from behind another parked truck.

I caught sight of the twisted serpent on his cut and dug into my bag for my weapon. The guy moved into the light but remained still, with his hands held up clearly.

“Phoenix, I’m not here to hurt you,” he said softly as I dropped the purse and trained my gun steadily on him.

“Then why is a member of the Venomous Fangs confronting me here?”

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