Page 158 of Breaker

“What you want to show me is in the basement?” I ask as he pulls keys from his pocket and unlocks the door, then opens it.

He casts me a look. I don’t even need to see his face to tell he’s annoyed.

My eyes dart to the dark stairwell. “You’ve threatened to lock me down here,” I remind him. “Excuse me if I’m hesitant.”

“Kitten, I’ve had you tied up, legs spread open, and the worst thing I did to you was make you beg.”

Scarlet. That’s the color that flames over my cheeks.

Without another word, Reaper heads down the stairs. A light pops on, flooding the stairwell with light, and he disappears from my view.

My heart hammering, I take the stairs slowly, telling myself that there’s nothing to be scared of down hereotherthan Reaper. When I reach the bottom, I find him a few feet down the hall, waiting with arms crossed next to a door.

“What’s down here?” I ask, eyeing the row of metal doors lining the hall that looks a little too much like jail cells. “Is this where you bring people? When you do your missions?”

“And what is it you think we do?” he asks, cocking his head to the side.

My lip pulls down into a frown. “Kidnap people for one. Kill innocent guards for another.” I tilt sideways, looking past him down the dim hall. “Also stalk and organize a secret revenge plot to murder a bloodthirsty billionaire.”

“You’re forgetting torture, impersonation, and assassination.”

My eyes widen. “Seriously?”

He chuckles darkly, then opens the door motioning for me to enter ahead of him. My hesitation has him gripping my arm and shoving me through the door. I’m not sure what I expected, but a dull room with nothing but a scratched up wooden table with four chairs and a laptop wasn’t it.

“All the espionage equipment and torture devices are in the next room,” Reaper says, pulling out a chair for me to sit.

My hesitation at taking the seat he’s gesturing to has nothing to do with fear, or concern over my well-being. It’s because I can’t tell if he’s joking with me. I’m not sure what’s more shocking, that he may not be, or that Reaper actually has a sense of humor.

This man, who’s still,still, hiding his identity, who has scared the daylights out of me, chased me, spanked me, held me down on several occasions, and given me the best sex of my life after informing me I belong to him and his brothers, and I’m just now finding out he has a warped sense of humor, which makes me reexamine every single interaction I’ve had with him.

“Then stand,” he says, leaning over to open the laptop.

It looks small in his hands, and I wonder if that’s what I look like next to him. Small. Breakable. I wonder too if he’s broken me. If it’s going to take years of therapy to untangle the mess in my head. If I’m fixable.

That’s if they let me go after I’ve done what they want.

If I even want to leave them.

“This is the lodge,” Reaper says and my gaze darts to the laptop.

I need to focus.

This is for Cora. For the innocent people Rune’s killed. For the lives that will be saved once he’s stopped.

I lean forward and examine the screen. It’s a blueprint of the lodge, detailing every room, every building, and the distance between them. It looks like a compound with several buildings, creating a semi-circle around a large open space. Reaper brings up another image, an aerial view of the lodge, surrounded by dense trees. I’ve seen photos of Rune’s lodge but haven’t ever been there in person. It’s massive.

Reaper taps the screen over a small building detached from the main lodge, sitting a few yards away with what looks like a covered walkway attaching them. “We need in here,” he says. “This is Rune’s private quarters. Where he keeps everything.”

My brows knit.

He taps the screen again. “The problem is gaining access.”

“To his room?” I ask, questions swirling in my head. “Why don’t you just storm the place and take them all out when he plans his next visit?”

Reaper shakes his head. “We tried. It didn’t work.” He takes a deep breath. “Rune is the only person who can access his private rooms. Our source has confirmed that Rune has a security system set up that will only allow him entry and no one else.”

“What do you need me to do?” I ask, my heart hammering. Dread settles in my gut, making my stomach churn.

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