Page 111 of Haunted Prey

“We go in my way,” Micheal said calmly. “Make sure we get the others out and destroy the labs. Kennedy and the others can be handled after.”

“By what? Hoping you’ll be able to expose everything? Maybe just have him thrown into jail if we don’t catch him the first time?”

“Yes.” Micheal said. “If you want the honest truth.”

She shook her head in enraged disbelief. “Micheal the fucking saint. They don’t deserve to live!”

“Maybe not. But we don’t need that blood on our hands if we can avoid it.”

“There’s no avoiding it!” Cassidy’s eyes darted around the room before landing on Dom, who shook his head. Then her gaze locked on Emery.

“I know you want them dead. It’s the only way to stop this,” she said, stepping closer to him. “Are you really going to let Kennedy walk free after what he did to Eve?” Her voice sharpened as she closed the distance between them. “I know that bloodlust is still in you. You and I both know they need to pay. Let those killer instincts loose, and they’ll all be gone for good.”

She tilted her head slightly, her voice dropping to a near whisper. “It could be you who finishes it, Emery.”

Emery was quiet. I felt my heart sink and my stomach twist at the thought of him massacring again. Even if it was those who needed to be stopped. I studied his face, unable to hide my fear when he didn’t say no right away.

“Emery…” I said softly.

“I’ll do it…Micheal’s way,” he said in a low, quiet voice. A dark fire burned behind his eyes. He squeezed my hand. “There’s enough blood on my hands already. I’ll do what I must, to get theothers out but I won’t start a massacre if I can avoid it. As much as I want to make them pay...I won’t do that to Eve.”

Cassidy glared at each of us.

“If you want to be our distraction, Cass, I won’t stop you,” Micheal said after a pause. “You and Lez can start the fire, keep eyes on you while we get the victims out.”

A tight smile grew on Cassidy's face. “You do what you have to.” She turned down the hallway toward her room. “And I’ll do what needs to be done.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The next day, Micheal refined his plan to perfection, focusing on every detail. First, he outlined how to snag the keycard from the nurse’s apartment. Then, he walked everyone through the operation, step by step, for their move on Severfalls.

Using a map, he pointed out the key entry points—doors to use, hallways to navigate, and the rooms where the women were likely being held, based on my memory. He also outlined multiple ways into the medical wing, where the exam rooms were located.

I stood by Emery’s side watching. Dom sat opposite, writing down his thoughts. Leslie had left to grab whatever he was preparing to make for a “distraction”. The more they started hashing out each step, the more I wanted to pull Emery away and tell him not to go. To change his mind.

“We won’t move in on Severfalls until we are absolutely ready,” Micheal said. “We’ll grab the key tonight and should be good for at least a few days before the nurse comes back and notices it gone. That should give us time to prepare and make sure everyone is in place. Tonight, Dom will watch the streets inside the complex on his feed while Emery and I go to the apartment. It shouldn’t take us long.”

That part sounded safe enough. It was the next part that bothered me. I told myself they’d help Rebecca, Adrien, and the others, get them the hell out of there and destroy everything in their wake. A part of me wanted it. But another part of me didn’t want Emery anywhere near that place.

My dreams had been more chaotic than ever, visions of Emery back on a metal slab as doctors cut into him, cracked open his skull and looked inside to see where they’d gone wrong. Then burning the remains. I felt sick when I woke, and when I headed for the bathroom, I saw my phantom smiling at me in the full-length mirror.

You’re so close, Evee.Behind him, the others appeared, Cassidy, Micheal, Leslie, and Dom hidden by their own masks.

And you’ll understand. You’ll be one of us too.

Soon.

My stomach turned and I almost didn’t make it to the bathroom before I was retching into the toilet.

No. I didn’t want him to go.

He was going to die. They’d move in too quickly. I knew he’d keep going till the last breath. He’d lose himself at the sight of blood, at the need for revenge.

Just another thing I hadn’t wanted to think about until it was too late.

Now I couldn’t stand the thought of losing him again. Not again.

As they sat over the map talking, I decided I was going to tell him. I’d let him grab the key since I could see taking any action now excited him. But I was going to tell him.

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