Page 98 of Wicked Little Nightmare

"I've been tracking Chimera's movements, gathering intel," Sarah continued. "I couldn't intervene directly without risking everything, but I've been there, in the shadows."

Cam's hand found mine, squeezing hard enough to bruise. I welcomed the pain, grounding myself in his touch as my world tilted on its axis.

"Bullshit," I hissed, but my voice lacked conviction. "If you cared so fucking much, where were you when—"

"When they took Cam to prison?" Sarah cut in, her face contorting with anguish. “I tried, Lakey, I really tried. They wanted to see if he could survive. The things that happened to him in there”

Cam’s eyes flashed. “You shut the fuck up right now!”

I looked up at him with a frown. “You’ve never said anything.”

He looked down at me, bending to kiss my forehead. “Because it doesn’t matter. I survived. I made it out. I made it back to you. That was my goal from day one. So don’t you speak another fucking word, Sarah, or Chimera will be the least of your concerns.”

At least Sarah had the decency to nod before looking over at Rose, who had been quietly observing all of this, her face paling. “Hello.” Sarah said, her face softening as she regarded our little flower.

Rose didn’t reply. None of us said anything for a while and it was getting weird.

“So, uh, how do you know Rose?” I made the fatal mistake of using her name when I spoke, internally chastising myself at the fuck-up.

“Rose.” Sarah said, almost reverently. “That’s such a pretty name.”

I blinked. “I’m sorry, how the fuck do you know her?”

“I don’t. Well, not directly at least. Rose is part of a special project that my husband and I have been tracking. It’s a next gen tech that developed because of you and Cam. But you were both too unstable. Too unpredictable to test it on. They had decided to keep you as they’d originally designed you.” She looked sad as she spoke. As if she didn’t want to relive whatever was playing out in her head.

I felt a sudden, unexpected kinship with Sarah. Her eyes held the same haunted look I'd seen in my own. She was damaged, just like us. For a moment, I let my murderous mask slip.

"We need to protect her," I said softly, my usual playful tone replaced by raw determination.

She nodded, a ghost of a smile touching her lips. "That's why I'm here. To help. Not just… Rose. But you and Cam as well. There’s so much you don’t know, but we don’t have a lot of time."

The tension in the room shifted, a fragile trust forming between us. But before I could respond, a harsh laugh cut through the air.

"How touching," Beaver sneered from his place on the table. "A reunion of traitors."

I'd almost forgotten about our captive. My eyes snapped to him, narrowing dangerously. "Shut your fucking mouth before I shut it for you."

Sarah stepped forward, her face hardening as she addressed him. "Hello, Christian. Still Chimera's loyal lapdog, I see."

Christian's eyes widened in recognition, then narrowed with pure hatred. "Sarah fucking Miller. I should've known you weren't dead. Always were a sneaky bitch."

I watched, fascinated, as Sarah's calm demeanor cracked. There was history here, ugly and raw.

"You don't know the half of it," Sarah spat. "And if you had an ounce of humanity left, you'd help us take Chimera down."

Christian's laugh was all venom. "Help you? I'd rather die. And when Chimera finds you — all of you — you'll wish you had."

I felt my fingers twitch, itching to wrap around his throat. But as I looked at Sarah, seeing the pain and determination in her eyes, I realized we had bigger problems than this asshole.

"Well," I chirped, plastering on my sweetest smile, "looks like we've got ourselves a party. I’m pretty much done with him; Cam should we toss him off the cliff?"

The tension in the room was thick enough to choke on. I glanced at Cam, seeing the wheels turning behind those dark eyes of his. He was probably calculating how many ways we could make Christian scream before he'd spill his guts – literally and figuratively.

"Lakey," Sarah's voice cut through my thoughts, "think before you do anything rash. Chimera's reach is vast, and Christian here will be missed. That being said, he also can’t know I’m alive. Sorry, Chris, the only way out of here isn’t going to be on your feet. You’re going to have to dispose of him in a way that no one can find him. And fast. Judging by the mess in his head, you disabled his tracker, and someone will notice soon.” She paused, tilting her head, “Well done on that, by the way. It took my husband a while to figure out how to get mine offline.”

I cocked my head, studying her. "Oh, you'd be surprised what a little creativity can accomplish. I've got a whole toolbox of fun just itching to be used."

Christian sneered from the table. "Go ahead, you psychotic bitch. I've been trained to withstand anything you could possibly dish out. You just peeled the skin off my scalp and if you let me off this table, I’d still be able to gut you like the hog you are."

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