Page 85 of Property of Spike

I lost my son because of her.

How fuckingdareshe side with those bastard Shadows, knowing damn well how much I hate them? How hard I’ve fought to dismantle that fucking club.

By the time I’m done with her, she’ll wish she never betrayed me.

“Clean this mess up,” I tell the remaining officer. “Leave the cage unlocked when you’re done. They’ll think the last dumbass on shift forgot to lock it, and she escaped.”

“Got it, boss,” he nods.

I rub my hands together as I make my way to my cruiser. I hope the bitch is awake when I get there. I’ve got something new I want to try.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Spike

“What do you mean she’s not here?” My voice is calm, but the fury behind it is barely contained. “I was told she’d be released this morning. So tell me. Why thefuckdid you move her? And where thefuckdid you take her?”

The officer in front of me swallows hard, his hands twitching at his sides. “Uhm, s-see, here’s the th-thing…”

I step closer, towering over him. “Spit it out.”

“She…she must have escaped,” he stammers.

Silence.

Then, slowly, I repeat, “Escaped?”

Another officer jumps in, clearing his throat. “She wasn’t in her cell this morning. We went in to bring her breakfast, and she was gone. The cage was wide open.”

My blood turns ice cold.

Bullshit.

If Riley somehow escaped, she would have come to the compound.

“How long ago did sheescape?” Bones demands.

The officer hesitates before answering. “When we checked two hours ago, she wasn’t there.”

Bones turns to me, his expression hard. “That’s plenty of time for her to get to the compound. Even if she walked.”

I nod, but every instinct in me is screaming that something isveryfucking wrong.

“I want to see your security feed,” I growl.

The officer rubs the back of his neck, looking anywhere but at me. “It’s, uh… well, it was offline until about thirty minutes ago. We had to have someone come in and reboot the whole system.”

Bones lets out a low, dangerous chuckle. “So what you’re saying is your security systemconvenientlystopped working at the exact same time one of your prisonersescaped?”

Neither officer answers.

“Take us to her cell.Right. Fucking. Now.”

After a moment of hesitation, the second officer nods and leads us through several doors. Inside, there are three unoccupied cells.

I take one look at the empty space and feel my pulse hammer in my skull. “Why was she in here?” I demand. “We passed several cages out there packed with women in each one.”

“The Commissioner requested she be isolated,” the officer answers, shifting on his feet. “Said she was violent.”

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