Page 14 of Crown of Lies

Jesus fuck.

I damn near run down the stairs. Quinn is right where I left her this morning, chained up against the wall, thrashing. Meanwhile, Killian stands beside a strange black box that seems to be emitting the sound. He looks entirely unfazed, and I shove his shoulder to get his attention.

“What the fuck?” I demand, raising my voice over the sound.

He looks over, blinking for a moment before flicking a switch on the device to turn it off. When he pulls out a squishy pair of plugs from his ears, I realize that’s why he was so damn calm.

“Sorry,” he mutters. “Was trying out a new toy.”

“What the fuck is that thing?” I frown, not knowing if I should be impressed or concerned.

“White noise emitter,” he explains simply. “Volume cranked up real high.”

My eyebrows rise, and he shrugs, turning his attention back to Quinn. My eyes follow too.

She’s got dark circles under her eyes—not like she’s getting anything that resembles beauty sleep down here—and there’s a slightly wild look in her gray irises, as if the sound has been driving her a bit mad. We’ve given her chances to lie down at night, binding both her hands and feet, but she spends her days cuffed to the same pipe on the wall overhead that we chained her to when we first brought her back here.

Unbidden, my gaze drops to the stitches Killian put in her arm, which are healing up fairly well. She’s barefoot now, still in just a bra and pants, her tattooed shoulders and stomach on full display. The marks and bruises on her body from the night of Silas’s attack are still there, but no new ones have been added, despite the work all three of us have been doing to get her to talk.

She could be much worse off.

It’s a strange thought that hits me. If it were anyone else who had betrayed us the way she did, I’d be reaming into Killian and Atlas for taking it too easy on her. I’ve seen their work. They can both go harder, and Killian especially has never had an issue breaking someone before.

So what’s different about Quinn?

It’s not just that she’s a woman. A traitor is a traitor, and although Carnage would never stoop so low as to traffic women or target them for attacks, just having a set of ovaries and a pair of tits won’t save you from retribution in our world. Killian, more than anyone, can stomach dishing out the worst on anyone dumb enough to cross us.

But could I stomach what he couldreallydo to Quinn? Could he?

“Nico?”

I tear my gaze away from Quinn’s wan, defiant face and look to Killian. His expression is mostly unreadable, but I wonder if the confusion hidden just behind his eyes is the same as mine—if he’s asking himself, why can’t I hurt her more?

“We’ll give the noise machine a break,” I say, clearing my throat as I shake off that thought. “You can take a break too. I’ll take over down here for a bit.”

Killian nods, saying nothing as he shoots one last sidelong glance at Quinn and then heads up the stairs, his footsteps as surprisingly quiet as always for a man his size.

When the basement door closes behind him, I turn my attention back to Quinn.

If she was anywhere close to breaking with Killian and his white noise machine, she doesn’t show it. Her eyes are hard as she glares at me, like she’s challenging me to do my worst. I imagine she’s given that exact same look to both Killian andAtlas—a challenge neither of them have been able to rise to for some reason.

Fucking hell.

I grit my teeth, closing my eyes for a moment.

No. It’s not forsome reason.

And it’s not just them who can’t seem to bring themselves to truly hurt Quinn. I’m as guilty of that weakness as they are, even though I’ve barely been able to admit it to myself.

But with Emmett already poking around and getting suspicious, we don’t have all the time in the world to try to figure out the mystery of what The Saint wants with Quinn.

So maybe it’s time to change tactics.

Opening my eyes, I step forward to stand in front of her.

“Your friend Emmett just came by,” I tell her, my voice level.

Quinn narrows her eyes. “You planning on tying him up in my basement too?” she asks bitterly.

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