Page 64 of Sadist

“Theo,” she said quietly. “You are going to turn around and walk out of here.”

Helena barked a laugh. “Oh no, she isn’t.”

“And so am I,” Octavia continued, raising her eyes to Erryn. Behind her, the screens blinked back to life as they began rebooting. “The software has been removed, as you requested.”

Erryn’s shoulder drooped slightly. The only outward sign of relief she would give.

“Prove it.”

Octavia tilted her head, leaned back, and pressed a few keys, bringing up the home page now set to the prior system.

“See?”

Erryn crossed to her laptop, tapping something into it, her eyes tracking across the screen, then closed her eyes for a moment, and sighed.

“It’s done.” Erryn looked at me with an apology clear in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

The world slowed as she raised her gun toward Octavia. I lunged, swinging my elbow back to connect with Helena’s ribs as I caught her wrist, wrenching it down onto my shoulder and knocking the gun from her grip. Erryn moved, her gun now trained on me as my knife twirled in my hand, and I sent Helena to the ground, following her down as I put my full weight behind the blade.

Octavia screamed at the crack of gunfire, and my shoulder exploded in agony. I was thrown back; the breath knocked from my lungs.

“Stop!” It was Octavia’s voice. I struggled to get my bearings, my right arm limp against my side as I searched for her.

“Either of us dies, and it’s over, Erryn!”

Octavia was standing in front of me, and I groaned, trying to suck air in past the pain of my shoulder, and I peered down to see a jagged bullet hole in my jacket. From the feel of it, it had gone clean through. I blinked, pulling myself to my knees and trying to make sense of what I was looking at.

Erryn was kneeling on the floor, her arms around Helena in a growing pool of blood, my knife protruding from the downed woman’s abdomen.

“Let me take her to the medic!” There was panic in Erryn’s voice, and I looked up to see Octavia pointing Erryn’s own gun at her, though Erryn didn’t appear to notice as she fumbled with Helena’s shirt, ripping it open to reveal the wound.

She pushed the hair back from Helena’s face. “Lena,” she murmured. “Please. Not now. Open your eyes for me.”

“Theo and I walk out of here,” Octavia said, her voice shaking. “You don’t come after us. You don’t come after her. I have sent an encrypted copy of every file in the database offshore, and I have to enter a code into it every three months to ensure it stays locked. If I die…If anything happens to Theo, I will not only leak the files that you have been so concerned about, I will tear down this corporation from the inside, leak the personal details of all three Chairs to the NSA, and ensure that you spend the rest of your life behind bars. Do I make myself clear?”

I pushed myself to my feet, swaying slightly, and Octavia stepped closer, slipping an arm around my waist.

“What did you do?” Erryn’s face was a mask of rage as she glared at Octavia.

“Took a leaf out of daddy’s notebook,” Octavia replied. “All I want is for Octavia Vanguard to stay dead, Erryn. Ellie Lancaster walks out of here today. Your files are safe if we are.”

Helena groaned, her eyelids fluttering, and Erryn looked at her.

“Yes. Just…She’s losing blood. Let me get her a medic.”

Octavia lowered the gun slowly and nodded, Erryn fumbling in her pocket for her phone. She pulled it out and punched in a few numbers before holding it to her ear.

“Code one. Main floor, state office. Hurry!” she snapped into the phone, before raising her gaze to both of us. “Get the fuck out of my office,” she said coldly.

23

OCTAVIA

“Theo, stop wriggling for fuck’s sake,” I murmured, cleaning the small, puckered wound in her shoulder. I swiped the gauze around the clean skin, drying it before carefully applying a fresh bandage.

“It itches,” she grumbled, scowling at me when I slapped her hand away as she tried to scratch it.

“If you pull these stitches, I’m taping bandages onto your hands and you will have gauze paws for the foreseeable future,” I warned, raising a brow at her. “You really are theworstpatient.”

---