Page 237 of Heartless Legacy

Pax croaks out, “Thea.”

“You had no right to touch him! No right to hurt him. His repentance doesn’t belong to you. It’s mine. He’s. Mine!”

“Nem.” His voice is rough and hoarse. He might’ve been enduring in silence when I got here, but I can tell he’d been yelling at some point before. “Let go. Nem. You’re gonna. Kill her. Let go.”

Glaring up at him, I say, “She deserves it. They all deserve it.”

He winces as he swallows and says, “Yes, but you don’t. You don’t deserve to have it on your conscious.”

Jerking her closer, I lean back, lifting her off the floor by her neck, and ask, “What conscience?”

She makes a rasping sound, then her body goes slack. I release my hold on her, letting her fall to the floor, and slam my foot against her wrist until I hear it snap. Then do the same with the second one.

Pax is staring at me with a look of hope, fear and confusion that I’m sure I’ve worn after a session in the quack’s chair. “I’m real.” I say, as I untie him from the cross. I take a step back while he gets his feet under him. “I’m real, Pax. I’m not a hallucination.”

Through swollen eyes, he nods and says, “I know, but why are you here?”

“Me? What are you doing here?”

“LJ. You were supposed to stay in the gauntlet to rescue her.” Shaking his head, he says, “You shouldn’t be wasting time with me. Go and rescue your friend. She needs you.”

“LJ’s not here, Pax.”

“Felix has her. I saw photos.”

Walking over to him, I gently place my hand on his chest and say, “Hehadher, but she’s safe and has been since the first round of bidding started.”

“How? How did you free her? I saw you in the gauntlet.”

Nodding towards the door, I ask, “We’ll talk about that later. Can you fight? Because there are still a lot of guards running around.”

“Yeah, I can fight.” He says as he weaves on his feet.

“Okay, then.” Moving towards the door, I say, “Let’s get out of here.”

He looks unsure about following me. “Pax, I promise I understand how you feel right now, but we don’t have time for you to second guess me. I am. Real. Iamrescuing you. Just trust me. Okay, Big Guy?”

He hesitates, before agreeing, “Okay.”

Meeting up with Terrance at the end of the hall, he hands me an earpiece, and says, “Put this on before you go running off again.” Looking at Pax, he asks, “Is he good?”

“He’ll make it. You got the teams sweeping the rest of this building?”

“We do.” He holds up his finger and says, “Copy that.” To me he says, “Lazarro’s been spotted. He and his guards escaped in a vehicle at the back end of the property.”

“What about the doctor?”

“I’m sorry, Snowflake. He’s not here either.”

“Don’t call me Snowflake.” I mutter as my earpiece clicks on.

Another voice says, “I’d never call you Snowflake, Sweetness. Reckless and impulsive, sure. The woman who is determined to give me a heart attack or a murder charge. Definitely. But never Snowflake.”

I glare at Terrance. “You little snitch.”

He smirks as he turns and leads us back towards the stairs. To Wolfe, I say, “You can save the lecture. We’re in the middle of a carefully coordinated rescue. How are things back in town?”

“You turning yourself over to a psychopath to facilitate this rescue is precisely the reason I need to give you a lecture. But, you’re right, now is not the time. As for things back here, The League called an emergency session, which started two hours ago. My guess is they’ve already worked out that you’re not coming. I haven’t heard from anyone, so I don’t know what penalties are being discussed.”

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