Page 110 of Mortify

"Choose your next wordsverycarefully," Kraken warns, and there's death in his voice.

Dylan's mouth snaps shut, but the damage is done.

Any chance he had—not that there was much—just evaporated.

"You want to know what I think?" Magnus steps forward. "I think you're a pathetic little man who got in over his head. Thought you were smart, playing all sides. But you're just another rat who got fat off other people's misery."

"I did what I had to do to survive," Dylan protests.

"No," Runes says calmly. "You did what was easy. What was profitable. And now you're here, trying to profit again off the pain you caused."

"Here's what's going to happen," Fenrir announces. "You're going to turn around. You're going to run. And you're going to pray we don't catch you."

"But my deal?—"

"There is no deal. There was never going to be a deal." Runes steps closer. "You think we'd trust the word of a rat? A man who betrayed his own woman? Who sold poison to kids?"

"I had no choice! The Patriot?—"

"Always a choice," Rio says. "You chose wrong."

Dylan's eyes dart between us, finally understanding.

He came here thinking he held cards, but the game was over before he showed up.

"This is a mistake," Dylan says, backing toward his car. "You're making a huge mistake. When those photos hit the news?—"

"Twenty-four hours," Fenrir interrupts. "That's what you've got. Use them wisely."

"Twenty-four hours for what?"

"To disappear. To run. To find a hole so deep we might not bother digging you out of it."

"And if I don't?"

Silence answers him.

Heavy, promising silence that says everything.

"You're bluffing," Dylan tries one more time. "You wouldn't risk the exposure. Your families, your businesses?—"

"Our families are exactly why we would," Kraken says. "You threatened my son. Terrorized my daughter. You think some photos mean shit compared to that?"

"I wasn't going to actually hurt the kid," Dylan backpedals. "It was just talk, trying to keep Everly in line?—"

"Keep talking," Emil suggests. "Keep admitting to threatening children. See how that works out for you."

Dylan's face goes through several expressions—fear, anger, desperation—before settling on ugly defiance.

"You're all going to regret this," he spits. "When the cops come knocking, when your businesses get shut down, when your kids?—"

"Our kids what?" Oskar asks, voice deadly quiet.

"Nothing. I just meant?—"

"You just meant to threaten children again," Magnus observes. "Real smart, Mitchell. Real fuckin’ smart."

"Fuck all of you," Dylan explodes, the mask finally dropping completely. "Especially that whore Everly. I should have?—"

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