Page 102 of Devious Secrets

He’s at the stairwell, listening.

I fall to my knees beside the young girl. The bullet hit her in the neck, and I push my hand over the wound, trying to stop the blood from pouring out. It seeps between my fingers. It feels hopeless.

Pale-blue eyes look up at me, blinking away tears.

“Fuck! Please, help us!” I scream. It can’t end like this for her. Not when she’s so close to getting free of these monsters.

Cheryl stares down at what she’s done and pales.

Oleg curses, looks back at us, then runs up the stairs. Men’s shouts echo when he opens the door at the top. A shot rings out, then another.

“Oh no.” Cheryl looks at the gun in her hand. “No, no, no.” Turning on her designer heels too quickly, she trips a little, catching herself on the wall as she makes her way to the stairs.

More shouts, more shots.

“You’re going to be okay. It’s okay.” I remove my hand from her neck so I can pull off the blouse I bought only hours before. Balling it up, I press it against the wound. “It’s okay.”

I have no idea if I’m right. If she’ll survive this.

She’s so young.

“Please be okay,” I whisper to myself.

“What’s that?” Her voice is strained when she asks as another shot goes off.

I smile down at her as a tear rolls off my cheek.

“He brought an army.”

“Where the fuck is my wife?” I shove a man against the wall of the living room, putting the barrel of my gun against his neck. “Where is she?”

He pisses himself.

“You fucking pussy.” I step back as his piss streams out of his pants and pools near my shoe. “Where is she?”

“W-which one is your wife?” he questions with terror in his eyes. This man isn’t a member of the DeAngelo family. He’s just one of their fucking customers.

Low-life pieces of shit that come here and pay Michael for the use of whatever women he’s keeping in his stables. Rage fills me. If one of these motherfuckers have so much as looked at Megan, I’ll have their eyes.

And then I’ll have them skinned and left to wallow in pain until they finally die.

“Black hair with two white stripes.” I press my gun harder into his throat. “Where?”

“Fuck,” he winces. “I don’t know. She hasn’t been up here.”

Men scream in another room just before shots ring out and bodies drop. These assholes deserve slower deaths than what they’re getting.

“Where’s Michael? Marco!” I continue my interrogation.

“Not here. I swear.” A bead of sweat rolls down the side of his red face. “I swear, I don’t know where they are. They’re not here.”

“Alexander! Here!” Kaz yells from somewhere near the back of the house.

The man I’m holding pales. He may not have touched mine, but he’s in a house of depravity even I can’t defend. And if he’d had the chance, he would have done whatever he wanted to Megan.

For that, he dies.

Releasing him, I step back and deliver one single shot to his throat. His eyes go wide with surprise as he grabs at the wound, already gurgling and trying to find air.

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