Page 36 of Brutal Empire

She didn’t even flinch. She brought down her weapon, cool as a fucking cucumber.

“They were trying to kill you,” she said as if that made all the sense in the world.

“We were outnumbered,” I bit back.

“You’d rather I let you die?” She cocked a brow, confused as to why I was angry. “You said we had to be ready to die.”

“I didn’t fucking mean by some stupid shit.”

Before she could say more, we got interrupted.

“Trouble in paradise?” Lobo asked.

We didn’t reply.

“Come on, let’s go,” I told her.

Cam slid off the bike with ease. When we were facing Lobo, he motioned for us to give him our bags. Once I gave him mine, Cam reluctantly followed.

“Will we get them back?” she asked me low enough so only I could hear.

“Yeah,” I let her know.

That seemed to appease her, and once again, I felt like a dick because the last thing she should do was feel safe around me.

SIXTEEN

We werein the car for hours. By the time they told us we were close to our destination, it was dusk. The scenery changed from dirt and palm trees to luscious green and humid climate. I was sure it was a jungle that we were nearing, and I was also convinced we weren’t supposed to go off-road into it, but I wasn’t surprised when they did it anyway.

The deeper we navigated inside, the more secluded it became. I kept playing with my fingers, my nails digging into my palms, letting the pain remind me that it would all be okay.

Just as I was beginning to feel a bit calm, censored lights turned on, revealing a house right in the middle of it all. It was vast, with two floors and a beautiful roof made from adobe.

The men in front got out first; they opened the door for us since they had child-locked us in the car. Instead of going out my door, where one of the men was smirking at me, I went out the same door Bastian had exited. When he extended his hand for me to take it, I didn’t hesitate, and it wasn’t until my feet touched the floor that I realized I wasn’t as scared of him anymore.

The guy Bastian had called Lobo began to speak to us once more.

“Julian comes back tomorrow night. In the meantime, make yourself at home,” he told Bastian as he eyed me.

“She’s off-limits,” Bas told him with an edge to his voice.

The guy smirked.

“You’ll kill me over pussy?” he mocked.

“No, I will,” I replied.

He found this amusing.

“You cult bitches sure are crazy,” he mumbled as he walked away.

Okay, so he was going to leave us here without showing us around? That was bullshit. It didn’t seem to matter because Bastian began walking toward the front door and just opened it as if it were his house. Since I wasn’t stupid, I followed closely behind him.

The house was beautiful and vibrant. If I had not lived with Xander for all those years, I would have been amazed for someone like Julian to have a place like this, but I learned that powerful, corrupt men loved to be surrounded by beautiful things.

I followed Bastian to the left side, and he went to a corridor and down a set of stairs. The air felt a little moist. The lower we descended, the more unease I began to feel. The last door he opened was dark, and I gulped.

What if he had promised them something for his life, and that something was me?

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