Page 89 of Diamond Kisses

The hollowness of my stomach ached with so many empty clenches. My arms shook as I took the gun, finding it far heavier than I should.

I wasn’t in a fit state to fight.

But that wouldn’t stop me from slaughtering every-fucking-one.

“Thanks.” I nodded and broke into a swaying jog.

Ily.

The moment I found her,thenI could focus on the rest of the war. I’d be useless if I didn’t know she was okay.

Ben ran beside me, keeping pace easily, all while I panted from the strain my body had endured for so long.

I didn’t question why he’d partnered up with me. I didn’t ask where Stewart was or Abby and Pen. My mind only had one thought.

Ily.

I’m coming, little nightmare.

Hold on.

Groaning, I forced my trembly legs to cover more ground. We ran past hedgerows and fountains all while screams sounded in different parts of the estate.

An explosion made us duck as another room of Victor’s castle imploded. Windows careened outward in a twinkling glass curtain.

Ben raked a hand through his hair, giving me a look. “We were going to wait till Christmas like the original plan, but…watching Vic try to kill Ily tonight. God, we…we couldn’t do it. It had to be now. We were just lucky everyone already knew their roles and could pivot.”

I swallowed hard.

The memory of Vic cutting Ily’s throat.

The blood rolling beneath her collar and down her clavicle.

I shook my head, erasing just how close he came. “You have my thanks. Truly.”

“You’re welcome.” He sniffed. “Also…you should probably know, along with planning this little party without you, Stew and I also requested outside help.”

I scowled but kept running. “I don’t know what that means.”

“It means we’ve wanted to bring in outside help for years, but like most people on this damn island, we have no idea where we are.”

I shot him a look. This was not the time for conversation. “Look, I’m grateful. More than you’ll ever know. And I will repay you by whatever means necessary, but—”

“We might have done something.”

I huffed. “Not in the mood to chat, Ben.”

He gave me a sheepish glance, continuing anyway. “We were there that morning Victor brought out the TV and showed you on camera trying to help Ily. When you were accused of being a cop, we thought fucking finally! The FBI or Interpol hasfinallyinfiltrated this wretched place—our own demise included—but no…you proved you were one of them by giving up your own flesh and blood.”

I slammed to a stop. “What the fuck does that have to do with—”

“I’m getting there. Give me a sec.” Rubbing a hand over his mouth, he rushed, “You mentioned you had a pair of cufflinks that had a tracker in them. Obviously, they would never work here. You could throw them a kilometre out to sea, and they still wouldn’t work. That’s how good a scrambler net Victor has around this place.”

My heart sank even though I no longer pinned any hope on those stupid cufflinks. “I…don’t understand. How would you know that?”

He grinned. “I know because that’s how we met Victor. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re not exactly his usual type. We met because he found us on the dark web almost two decades ago. Stew and I were a few years out of college and trying to earn some money for a tech start-up. We put our gifts for coding up for hire. Mentioned we could make anyone disappear. Prevent any Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and other signal waves from ever being broadcast. He hired us to make a net. A net that he uploaded to a fucking satellite.” He shook his head. “We were young and impressionable. We figured he must’ve been some sort of big league if he had his own satellite. He never gave us the location we were scrambling, only the size he wanted covered. He also had a bunch of other hackers go over our code to ensure we didn’t install backdoor access. Because we delivered a good product and didn’t try to scam him, he kept in touch every now and again, asking for updates and improvements. That’s how we earned a personal invitation. He opened his home to us but never told us where that home was. We would’ve stopped coming, but…then we met Abby and Pen, and well…we couldn’t leave them here.”

“I don’t have time for this.” I broke back into a jog. “Speak if you must, but I’m not standing around. I need to find Vic.”

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