Page 90 of Savage Daddies

“Bullwhip?” I snap again.

He looks at me with uncertainty.

What the fuck is there to be uncertain about?

“Just leave it,” he murmurs. “It’s pointless.”

I toss him a questioning glance.

“He’s too powerful. We’re never gonna beat him. Even if we kill him, he’ll find a way to win.”

I narrow my eyes. Bullwhip’s seen something. He was in that office for anhour.What exactly did he uncover?

Poet and I share a glance.

“Glad to hear one third of you are waking up,” laughs Felix. He pushes off the wall, a shadow elongating in front of him. The light perfectly outlines his lopsided face. This man is truly the face of evil.

And then Bullwhip and Felix exchange a glance that stirs worry through me.

Did they talk?

“Come on out, Zoe, no point hiding back there anymore,” Felix chuckles. “In life, you must own up to your mistakes and face the music. That is the consequence of sin, unfortunately.”

This catches Bullwhip’s attention.

Zoe, unballing herself from the closet, stands on two feet and stares her so-called husband dead in the eye. He kills more of her every single day. She tenses her jaw to stop the quivering, but I see the shakes. The face behind the mask. Credits to her, she puts on a brave face—the media has taught her well—but cracks of her true, petrified self slip through. Felix warned Zoe that if she saw us again, her sister would bear the consequences.

We told her we’d never let that happen.

But now I worry it might…

I side-eye Bullwhip and examine the placement of his hands—they rest by his side. If he’s not gonna pull the trigger and save Zoe, then I’m left with no choice but to do so myself.

I launch myself onto Felix, sliding a hand into his leather jacket and wrapping my hand around his weapon just as I receive a kick to the head that plummets me to the floor of Zoe’s bedroom.

Poet dives next, but reaches the same fate.

I look up and see Felix towering over me. Scrambling up, I ask, “What’s going on?”

“Do that again, and you might leave here with a malfunctioning brain.” Felix cross-examines me. “That isifyou’re lucky enough to leave.” He turns around and heads toward the door. “You know,” he says, “if you wanted to pay my wife a visit, all you needed to do is ask.” His hand clutches the doorknob, and he steps out into the corridor. “You keep leaving dirty marks on my sandstone wall every time you climb up.”

He closes the door behind him, leaving all four of us in silence.

“What the fuck?”Zoe mouths as the tension loosens from our shoulders.

“Bullwhip?!” I grab him by the jacket, and he turns my way with eyes sharper than a machete knife. “What wasthat?”

“What was what?”

Poet folds his arms. “You could’ve ended it.”

“Don’t you want to save Zoe?” I ask.

“Like I said before.” He keeps his voice monotone. “There’s no way.”

“You were optimistic before. What changed?” Poet asks.

“Everything’s changed.”

---