Page 199 of Bad for Me

I can get through this.

Cruz comes back onto the screen and gives me a smile. “You’re in luck. The Duke is about an hour away with her team. Trey pinged your location and sent it to her. Don’t worry, help is on the way. Sit tight, okay? The girls send their love.”

“Thank you,” I say. “If we can ever return the favor?—”

“We’ll let you know. Good luck, Dolly.” The screen goes blank, and I tuck the phone back in my pocket. All I can do now is wait.

* * *

I hearthem before I see them. A dark-gray helicopter appears in the distance, and I head back through the gates and stand on the grass, covering my eyes with my hand as it comes closer. The force of the wind makes me brace, the vibrations running through me and making me tremble.

It lands about two hundred feet from me, and once the blades stop whirring, a woman jumps out of the front and strides toward me. She has long blonde hair and wears all-black military-style clothing. A coiled whip wraps around her shoulder, and she walks like a fucking boss.

I nearly snap to attention and salute her. Thank God I stop myself at the last second.

Six men tumble out of the back of the helicopter and join us. They, too, are dressed all in black, and I’m relieved to see them packing guns, knives, and what looks like gas canisters.

“Dolly? I’m The Duke. I hear you’re in need of help. Can you tell me the situation?”

“I don’t know. My…boyfriend, Sinister, has been missing for almost two days. His phone goes straight to voicemail, and when I arrived here, I found the guard dead at his post.” I point toward the gate. “Oh, and the gate was left open. I can’t say for sure he’s inside, or if he is, who else is in there. I-I don’t even know if he’s alive,” I finish with a whisper.

“How was the guard killed?”

“Gun.”

“Do you know how many people are normally inside?” I shake my head. It wasn’t something we had discussed, and I hadn’t been inside the compound often enough to notice.

The Duke taps her hand against her thigh and blows out a breath. “Okay, I want two of you around the back, one at each side, and two at the front. Mask up, vest up. There are possible civilians inside, so we’ll use the gas and rubber bullets. Dolly, you’ll be with me.” She leads us back to the helicopter, where I’m fitted with a bulletproof vest, thigh pads, and a gas mask.

“Do you know how to use a gun?” The Duke asks.

“No, I’m more of a knife kind of girl.”

“Ah, you’re like Tessa and Rebecca, then. Here.” She hands me two military knives and helps me strap them to my vest. “All right, boys, there’s nothing stealthy about this. No one inside that building missed the sound of the copter touching down. Let’s do this.”

As one, we race across the lawn. Prickles of sweat dot my brow, and I can’t help but feel a surge of hope. If Sinister’s alive, we’re going to get him out.

When we near the compound, our group splits up according to The Duke’s instructions. We pull our masks on and run up the stairs, exchanging looks at the wide-open doors. One man stops at the threshold and throws a canister in. It slides across the floor, emitting a cloud of gas.

We step inside, but the foyer is suspiciously quiet. No one is at the reception desk, but the walls are covered in dried-blood splatter.Fuck.What the hell happened here? The Duke points two fingers, and the two men with us split off, one going right, one left.

“Where are Sinister’s rooms?” she asks, her voice muffled by her mask. I gesture toward the stairs, and The Duke pushes me behind her and heads up first, gun trained and sweeping back and forth. Once we hit the landing, I’m again astonished at the silence. At least there’s no blood up here.

We take our masks off and attach them to our vests. The Duke pulls to a stop and presses a finger to her ear. “Got it,” she replies. “Dolly, they found people locked in the basement. Eight dead, seventeen alive. Sinister wasn’t among them.”

I give a jerky nod and fist my trembling hands.Stay calm. Breathe.

The Duke sweeps each room we pass but appears to let her guard down when they continue to turn up empty. I pull to a stop outside Aidan’s room, a slither of premonition locking my muscles. My head shakes back and forth, then I squeeze my eyes closed and push the door open.

My knees give out, and I fall to the floor, gasping for air. The nurse lies sprawled on the floor with a bullet in her head. And Aidan…fuck. His sightless eyes stare at the ceiling, while the jagged slash in his neck mocks me with a crimson grin.

The Duke grabs my arm and hauls me to my feet. I stumble into the room, coming to a stop by his bed. I take his icy hand in mine and whisper, “Go in peace, Aidan. Thank you for keeping him safe for me.”

Shock and sorrow morph into anger, and my chest burns with the need for blood. Whoever did this is a dead man. And if they hurt Sinister, I’m going to make it as painful as possible.

I storm out of the room and head toward Sinister’s apartment, pulling out the knives as I go. The Duke follows me silently, keeping her own counsel.Calm down. Don’t lose it. Stay alert.Fuck that.

I hurl myself at his door and tumble through it like the Tasmanian Devil on steroids. The living room is empty, so I carry on toward the bedroom. The moment I enter the hallway, I see him through the open door. Someone strapped him to his bed, gagged him, and he sports shallow-looking slashes all over his bare chest.

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