Page 132 of Bonds of Obsession

“Good. Then we’ll kill them all at once.”

Atlas grabs my arm. “This isn’t a game, vicious. If this goes wrong?—”

“Then I’ll die on my feet instead of waiting for him to pick us off one by one.” I meet his eyes. “I won’t live like this anymore. I can’t. We can’t.”

I turn back to Emmett and take a few more seconds to savor the look of fear in his eyes. His unbroken fingers twitch against the chair’s arms, knuckles white where they grip the metal.

“Looks like you’re finally going to earn your keep.” I lean down until we’re eye to eye. “You’re going to help me get to Ambrose.”

“Please,” he whispers. “He’ll kill me.”

“That’s not my problem. Your only concern right now is doing exactly what I tell you, exactly how I tell you to do it. Because if you don’t…” I straighten up and gesture to Killian. “You’ll wish for whatever death Ambrose might have given you.”

Behind me, I hear Atlas exhale sharply. But when I glance back, he gives me a tight nod. Nico’s jaw is clenched, but he nods too—ready to back my play. Killian’s eyes never leave Emmett, and his stillness is more threatening than any motion could be.

“Here’s what’s going to happen.” I turn back to Emmett. “You’re going to contact Ambrose. Tell him you’ve found a way to get to me, and that you know exactly where I’ll be, and when I’ll be the most vulnerable.”

“But—”

“I wasn’t asking.” I grab a fistful of his hair and tighten my grip until he winces. “You’ll tell him exactly what I say, when I say it. You’ll set up the meeting exactly how I specify.”

Sweat rolls down his temple as he swallows hard. “What if he doesn’t believe me?”

“Then you’d better be very convincing.” I release his hair and straighten up. “Because your pathetic life depends on making this work.”

41

QUINN

My jaw keeps clenching asI lean against the wall, watching Killian’s eyes stay locked on my one-time second as he sits tied to the chair. Emmett hasn’t moved much in the past few hours. That’s the first smart thing he’s done in a while. Killian would love any excuse to gut him like a fish, and we all know it.

And honestly? I’d have a hard time stopping him at this point.

“Let’s run through it one more time,” Nico says in a low voice. We’ve been going over this plan for hours now, but I don’t mind. This has to work. We can’t afford to fuck it up.

Atlas scratches at his chest where the new tattoo I gave him is still healing. “We let this rat deliver her to Ambrose, but we stay close enough to move in when we hear the gunshot.”

“Not too close though,” I remind them. “That fucker is paranoid as hell. If he catches even a whiff of you guys, he’ll bolt.”

Killian nods. “We hang back until the shooting starts, then we rush in to provide cover and backup.”

I can feel Emmett’s eyes on me as we talk, burning into my skin. Every time I glance over, I catch that bitter fucking look.Like somehow I’m the one who betrayed him. Like I owed him something just because he wanted in my pants.

“What the fuck are you looking at?” I snap at him.

“Nothing,” he mutters, but his eyes tell a different story.

Killian must catch the look because he steps closer to Emmett, towering over him with that deadly stillness that makes even my skin prickle. “Keep staring at her like that. Give me a goddamn reason.”

“I told you I’m not doing anything,” Emmett protests weakly.

“And don’t fucking try anything either,” Killian growls.

Emmett’s eyes drop to the floor. Fucking coward. Always has been, I guess. I just didn’t see it before. Or maybe I just didn’t want to admit that my own judgment could have been so horribly wrong.

It’s painfully obvious now though.

Princess winds herself around my ankles, and I reach down to scratch behind her ears. It’s soothing to touch something soft when everything else about this night has been sharp edges and violence waiting to happen.

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