Page 137 of King of the Cage

“Who do you think you’re talking to? Of course I can,” I said, my snappy comeback muted by worry over who was coming for us.

I stepped to the elevator and inspected the panel in the wall, then lifted my foot and kicked it in until it busted open.

I reached my hand in and messed with the cables. After a few seconds, I knew I’d hit pay dirt.

“We need to rip all this shit out,” I said and looked to Bran.

He gazed around the hall and spied a wall sconce with a hooked arm. That was off the wall and ready to use in a heartbeat. Bran handed me the sconce, and I snagged the cables inside the wall around the curved metal arm.

“If I get electrocuted, just remember, I love you,” I told Bran.

“Giada,” he warned, reaching for me just as I started to tug.

With an almighty pull, I ripped the cables from the wall, threatening the electricity supply to the top floor. The remaining lights flickered and went out.

The door beeped behind us, the electronic keypad compromised by the failed electricity supply. There might be a battery as a backup, there might not be.

“That’s your way of opening the door?” Bran asked, his voice filled with amusement despite our situation.

“Yeah, ask any IT guy… if in doubt, unplug that motherfucker.” I grinned at him, making him laugh.

Best of all, cutting the electricity had stopped the old elevator and left it hanging somewhere between the floors. Unfortunately, the sound of voices came from up the shaft. Whoever was in there had lucked out and and been able to get out on a lower floor.

They’d come to the stairs next.

Bran stared toward the stairs, clearly having the same thought.

“You go now, get into the apartment. I’ll see to things here.”

“You can’t! You’re hurt,” I reminded Bran. His shoulder bled freely.

Bran shrugged. It was a perfect display of his devil-may-care attitude.

“I’ll be fine, selkie. My fate is to annoy you until the end of our days. I’ll be fine,” he repeated. He went to a console table, artfully arranged with heavy candlesticks and a huge vase. He dumped the flowers out and hefted the vase. “I’m good. Don’t worry about me.”

I hesitated for a second, scared to leave him after I’d just found him again.

“Finish this, Giada. We were meant to finish this. I need to finish this and do something good with my life… to deserve you, selkie,” he said firmly.

He was so fucking brave and good. A man of his convictions in one breath, and a little boy still believing he needed to do something to deserve love in the next.

“No, you don’t need to do anything. I’ll love you anyway, always,” I said to him. “No matter what.”

He stilled, those deep-green eyes telling me things words could never capture. “And I’ll love you more, always, no matter what,” he murmured.

Just then, sounds of a commotion came to us, and the doors from the stairs burst open.

41

GIADA

Inside the apartment it was quiet. I moved down the long hallway, trying to figure out where the hell Regina might be hiding. Not only that, but I’d love to get my hands on her laptop, or computer, whatever she used to keep track of her drug formulas and production locations.

I passed through the living room where I’d first seen Alice and been injected. Her bedroom seemed like a long shot, so instead I looked for a study of some kind.

I found it halfway along the hall toward the kitchen. The handle of the door turned easily under my hand, and I stepped in. I took my trusty knife from a garter on my thigh. Thanks to Aldo and his little power play, I hadn’t had to pass through the metal detectors earlier. When I’d put it on, I’d had no idea there would be scanners. Regina had taken that information away from me, but now, I had it back.

And that bitch was going to pay.

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