Can we do this?
My chest is tight.
If we’re caught, what would Vinnie do to us?
No one knows that we’re here.
Vinnie could kill Laurent and me.
But we knew that risk. We both agreed to it.
River used his keys to allow us out, however, breaking the Battle pack rule.
If we don’t discover useful info and pull this off, and Vinnie simply finds out what we’ve done and tells Dad, then River will be screwed.
Dad will know that River is the one who opened the cage.
The one who drugged the guards.
The one who stole the thumb drive from Lionzio’s office for us.
What the hell will Dad do to River?
He could whip, imprison, or throw him into the pits for entertainment.
I take a deep breath.
I can’t imagine any of that happening to the Beta who has brought the sunshine into my life for years.
This plan has to work.
Has to.
I’m shaking, intently watching the closed study door.
I can hear my own heartbeat in my ears. “How much longer?”
Laurent doesn’t look away from the screen. “A couple of minutes.”
Every second feels like an eternity.
To my terror, the door suddenly creaks open.
My eyes widen.
Shit, shit, shit.
Someone else is coming into the study.
I crouch into a fighting stance in front of the desk in order to shield Laurent, but it’s too late to hide.
Not that there is anywhere to hide in here, unless we tried to dive under the desk together.
Yet the desk would probably collapse on top of us.
Laurent doesn’t even stop working.
I blink, when the man enters stealthily, closing the door behind him, as if he shouldn’t be in here either.