Page 71 of Darkness Falls

"I don't care. I'm going in first." She pushes the door of the car open before I can engage the lock and starts walking toward the front door.

"Stop," I say as I push my door open and run up to her to grab her arm.

She pulls it free from me and glares at me. "You have to trust me on this. Let me go in first, you next, and then Barrett and Ky. I'm the heir to Rogue. Nobody is going to hurt me if I walk through those doors because everyone knows who I am, even if I don’t know them."

"She does kind of have a point," Kyler says.

"This isn't the time or place for you to be a pushover and defend her, Ky," I say, determined to get her back in the car. This isn't going down the way it's supposed to. It's too risky, and someone is going to end up hurt. I can't lose any of them.

While I'm focused on Kyler, I turn back to see Callie walk off and is now only a few feet away from the front door.I try to close the distance, but she reaches the handle and turns it, pushing the door open before I can get to her.

I have no choice but to follow her lead, staying right next to her with my gun drawn and Barrett and Ky close behind. We step inside and hear people talking upstairs. I shake my head at Callie, warning her to not be stupid and draw attention to us. Like the brat she is, she doesn't listen.

"Hello," she calls out, not moving further than just inside the door.

I glance around, and the guys freeze behind me, completely shocked that she just alerted them to our presence. My heart slams in my chest, and all I can do is watch as three men make their way down the staircase in front of us. Callie asked me to trust her, and while I didn't want to, I have no choice now. If I start shooting, I have no clue how many other people will come running to aid them.

The men stop at the bottom of the staircase and eye us up. A set of eyes land on the gun I have outstretched, and I tense. What are they waiting for? Why aren't they fighting us?

"Mrs. Michaels?" one of them asks her tentatively, and I don't miss the way her body tenses up.

"Please, call me Callie." She smiles.

"Mrs. Michaels," the dickhead says, ignoring her request. I don't know why she thought this was a good idea. "Why are you here? We were under the impression that the only person who knows the location of this cabin outside of the team who stays here is the leader of Rogue."

She straightens her spine and looks straight into the eyes of the guy who is challenging her. "I believe I told you to call me Callie, and I will not be disrespected. I'm here because my father is dead. You are aware that I am his successor? I'm here for a reason, and I'm fairly certain you all already know what that is."

The men look at one another quizzingly as though they can hardly believe she's telling the truth. I know the doubt they have is likely due to the fact that she is a woman. Rogue has never had a woman as a leader, and they still don't, but with any luck, they will go along with her story, and these fucks won't know the difference before we kill them.

"Callie," another man says hesitantly, "if it were true that your father is dead, we would have been notified. There are procedures that must be followed. You can't just show up here like this, and with guns pointed at us, nonetheless. Who are these men with you?"

Callie turns to look at me, silently asking me to continue following her lead. "Sebastian, lower your gun." I hesitate before reluctantly listening. "This is my personal team," she continues. "As you are aware from my father, you never know who you can and cannot trust. Sebastian and Kyler are my bodyguards. Barrett has his own specific skill set, one that Soren shared. With Soren missing, I had to replace him."

"Mrs. Micha-" the dickhead tries again.

"If you disrespect me again, I will shoot you right between those beady eyes. I'm not going to repeat myself." She pulls a gun out of her waistband and points it directly at his forehead.

Whothe fuck gave her a gun? The dickhead’s eyes go wide, and he holds up his hands in defense.

"Barrett, pull up the video of my father in the basement," she says, not even bothering to look back at him.

Within seconds, he places the phone in her hand with the image of Gabriel strung up and Damien standing in front of him, holding the knife that he picked up off the floor. These men don't know Damien simply picked up the knife. To anyone who wasn't there to experience the glorious death of Gabriel themselves, it would look as though Damien was the one standing there torturing him.

"My father, your previous leader, was brutally murdered by the man you keep referring to as my husband. Rogue is mine. This cabin is mine. You are under my strict order now, and I am here to acquire what my father placed here to ensure things stay on track."

I have to give her credit for how smart she's playing this. She is going off of the pure fact that these men have been here at the cabin and have no idea what's going on at Rogue outside of the fact that she was married. She told us the wedding was a mandatory event. Everyone would have been in attendance, these men likely included. If their sole job is to watch whatever is in this cabin, they would have left immediately after the wedding to come back here and await instruction. Clearly, they were never notified of Gabriel's death or funeral, which would make sense if their orders came directly from Gabriel.

The men hesitate again and look at one another, questioning whether or not they can trust her. She decides enough is enough. The gun she holds moves quickly to the right, and before any of us have time to react, she shoots one of the three men in the kneecap. He screams and falls to the ground, gripping his wound.

That was the hottest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. I raise my gun to back her up, and Barrett and Kyler quickly follow suit. The remaining two uninjured men reach into their waistbands and pull out their own guns, pointing them in our direction while the third cries out in pain on the ground. Nobody else comes out at the sound of the gunshot, which is a good thing. At least we know there are only three of them here for now.

"Put your fucking guns down. If I wanted him dead, I would have aimed higher," she grits out, and they slowly lower their weapons. "Are we done with the theatrics now?"

"Yes, ma'am," the dickhead says, quickly changing tune.

"Well then, you know what I'm here for," she challenges.

I have to hold back the urge to laugh. She doesn't even know what she's here for, but she is sure as fuck playing it off differently. I'm not sure if I'm going to punish her or reward her once all is said and done for going directly against what we had planned.

---