Page 91 of Brutal Savior

Her voice is pure, sickly-sweet poison.

“But I know you do love your grandad. Always had a special bond, haven’t you? I think you could murder someone in cold blood right in front of him, and he’d help you bury the fucking body.”

Bitterness oozes from every syllable, and I can feel the raw hurt behind it, the pain of being an unloved child, the one he gave up.

She doesn’t know Ruth is safe.

It’s a splash of cold water through the red haze. Brackis hasn’t told her that. And she hasn’t mentioned Quinn, either. What else doesn’t she know? I bet he hasn’t told her the extent of the Brotherhood’s power. The superior tech we have.

Ruth is safe. And with one word from me, Grandad could be too.

My mind goes still as I turn the possibility over. I can save him right now. Just one word. Can I trust her? Maybe not, but she’s created this game, and I think she’ll play by her own rules. She wants to force me to kill one of my family. Killing them both anyway would remove the agonizing guilt.

I could do it. One word.

It’s right there.

Marlowe.

I hear the word in Quinn’s voice. If I save Grandad, I kill her. There’s no other way to look at it, and I wouldn’t just be killing Marlowe. I’d be destroying Quinn, too, taking the light from her eyes forever.

Not to mention all the innocent hospital staff. If I condemn them to death, I’m a fucking monster. Grandad wouldn’t want that. If he found out I approved a massacre to give him a few more years of life, he’d fucking kill me.

But the idea of giving the order to kill him rips a hole the size of a football in my chest. I couldn’t live with it. It’d eat at me every waking moment. I can’t do it. I can’t.

“I’ll give you ten minutes to decide. If you don’t choose, they both die.”

The line goes dead. I stare at the phone, hand frozen into a claw. That bitch. That evil fucking bitch.

I need to move. Contact the Compound and see if they can track the call. Find a way inside the hospital. Order a search of the grounds to find Grandad before it’s too late.

But it’s already too late. I know it, deep in the marrow of my bones. Ten minutes isn’t long enough to do anything, and it’s already ticking away.

When the phone rings, I almost drop it. This time, it isn’t Quinn. It’s Kendrick.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Quinn

One phone call fromEve to Gabriel is all it takes to get everyone moving. Within minutes, Kendrick and some Gilda soldiers are snapping questions at me. When did I last see Grandad? Did he mention he was going anywhere? Was he behaving oddly?

Kendrick orders a full-scale search of the Compound, every available soldier to take part.

Gabriel arrives, Sebastian on his heels, and we all crowd around Kendrick in Jacob’s lab while his assistant watches nervously. Kendrick pulls out his phone. “I’ll let Jacob know.”

“I already called him, he’s not—”

“Hello? Jacob, I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

He answered. That bastard answered Kendrick after ghosting my calls.

Stop it.That’s not important right now.

“Yes.” Kendrick pulls the phone from his ear and presses a button.

Jacob’s voice fills the silent lab. “Sir, can you and the Gilda hear me?”

“Yes. Some others also.”

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