Page 78 of The Devil We Know

I smile, knowing the truth behind those words.

But I didn’t necessarily choose this life. I try not to think about this fact as I contemplate how I might handle the loss of the man I just got back.

“Stop that,” Antoinette’s voice breaks through. “Never think about how you might survive without them.”

I meet her eyes briefly before returning my focus to the floor as I nod, swallowing the lump in my throat.

A door opens from across the room, and I glance over to see Kaian walking through the doorway. Camilla is a few paces behind him, and he looks over his shoulder, shaking his head and muttering something that has her grinning rather deviously.

I frown, glancing at Antoinette, whose expression mirrors mine. She looks at me, and we both raise our brows at each other and shrug.

At least that might be a story for another day.

The two of them join us at the workstation, and then Antoinette says, “There’s still no movement, so I’m starting to wonder if they’re just going to keep them in the facility they’re at.”

“It’s likely they will,” Lilith responds. “Any dirty work they want to do can easily be done from there. Moving them would actually cause more problems than anything else.”

“They may be concerned about another breach, though,” Camilla responds. “I’m sure they have no idea how we all ended up getting in there.”

“Do you think they’re going to question my father?” I ask.

Lilith speaks up, “Doubtful. Some of them may want to, but I don’t think that’s a hornet’s nest they’re willing to poke just yet.”

“And all the boys will give them is trick answers and jokes and likely get themselves punched a few more times than necessary,” Antoinette says.

I turn to Kaian and ask, “Do you think they’ve noticed you’re gone?”

He shrugs, then replies, “Hard to say. It may take them a while to do a full headcount, given all the bullshit that’s gone on recently.”

“So, worst case, you might be able to sneak back in?”

He pauses, obviously contemplating my question before answering, “Probably. The difficulty will be me getting back out in order to relay any messages to you.”

“What are the odds they’ll be able to escape on their own?”

Kaian gives me an incredulous look, but it’s Lilith who answers, “Nil. The boys are pretty wily, but the odds of them giving them even the tiniest chance to escape is none.”

I sigh, worry twisting in my guts at the thought that they’re locked up and being tortured. I may have been out of the life for quite a bit of time, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten how it works. I also know while my father might have done something to help me, it’s highly unlikely he’ll step up and help anyone else.

“So, we have to go get them then,” I state. “We can’t just leave them there.”

“We’re definitely going to have to go get them,” Lilith says. “First, we need to take a moment to go over a game plan, decide if we’re going to try to sneak in under the radar, incognito, or just go in as our true selves and blow shit up.”

Kaian laughs and says, “Blowing shit up is probably the right thing to do.”

Lilith smiles. “Abso-fucking-lutely. The key is timing all that blowing shit up to not blow ourselves up or anyone else we don’t want dead.”

Antoinette adds, “And not knowing exactly what we’re going to run into when we get there means that timing could easily be fucked.”

“So, you need to run on a timer instead of a detonator?” Kaian asks.

“Yes, timers are more foolproof in the sense that sometimes, detonators are faulty, or whoever holds the detonator ends up dead and can’t push the button. A timer is a timer. You set it and eventually, it goes boom.”

“So, you want to blow up the entire facility?” I ask.

Kaian and Lilith both nod emphatically. Antoinette says, “We’ll try to send someone in ahead of time to give a heads up to the few people in there who we would prefer to escape.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Lilith asks. “Sometimes, a heads up means the wrong people live.”

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