Page 99 of Kings of Cruelty

I haven’t forgotten that Yuri had tried to kill Kyran.

“Yeah.” Yuri looks like he wants to say something, but Kyran gets out and pounds on the door.

“Come on, Sierra,” Kyran says.

I blow out a breath, then get out of the car. “You could be patient for ten seconds,” I gripe at him.

“I want to get this over with,” Kyran tells me. His gaze flicks past me to Yuri. “I remember you.”

Yuri shrugs, but I notice him tensing. “Yeah. I am memorable.” He grabs my wrist and pulls me toward the entrance. “Let us find this hidden stash.”

The last guy they sent, the large Middle Eastern man named Knives, follows behind us. He’s quiet and alert.

I’m fully aware that if Kyran and Knives wanted to, they could overpower me and Yuri.

The first thing I notice when I step into the slaughterhouse is the stench. It’s musty and old, rust with a hint of something deeply unpleasant.

Yuri’s nose wrinkles. “How many people did you kill here?”

Kyran shrugs. “I didn’t keep count,” he says evasively.

I don’t think I want to ruminate on that. Instead, I shake my head and think back to the blueprints of the large slaughterhouse. “Okay, so the basement is going to be… somewhere to our left,” I say.

I notice Kyran tensing up, but I don’t think I want to know what he’s thinking about.

Probably all of the dead bodies he had to dump after visits here.

Jesus Christ, what was my family doing when I was too young and naive to see it?

We walk past the conveyor belt, and endless rows of rusty hooks. The dirt and grime have seeped into the walls, and I wonder if it was ever clean here.

At some point, cattle were slaughtered here, specifically for human consumption. I hope the conditions were better back then.

I bite back a laugh. Yeah, it was a cleaner environment when used for slaughtering cattle than people.

“I think it was past the courtyard,” I say, leading us across an overgrown outdoor space. They would have herded cattlethrough here. The dumb beasts wouldn’t know that this was where they’d meet their end.

I feel like one of those dumb beasts now, with Kyran and Knives looming behind us.

We get to a room that once would have been an office. There’s only an old desk and an uncomfortable looking chair in here.

“There’s a hidden hatch,” I say, looking around the room.

Yuri steps inside and looks around. “I don’t see anything.”

“That’s why it’s ahiddenhatch,” I snap back, the tension getting to me.

I hate this place.

Yuri, Kyran, and Knives start looking around. I want to help them, but a sudden wave of exhaustion hits me. I reach down to touch my belly, and I realize I’ve been running around most of the day. My feet are sore and I haven’t had a real meal in hours.

“Here,” Yuri suddenly says. His fingers push something at the bottom of the baseboard, and the floorboards lift up. They reveal a metal hatch, one which Yuri lifts with a grunt.

The three men stare down into the dark pit.

“Those stairs look flimsy,” Knives comments.

“I’ll go,” Kyran says. “Sierra, you stay up here.”

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