Page 168 of Happily Never After

As Claire ripped at Bri’s bindings, she glanced around the room. Charlie bounced on the balls of her toes, sending jabs and right hooks at the four attempted escapees. She had attended a kickboxing class twice a week for the last four years. Whoever crossed her was going to be sorry. Luke was still shouting at the other half of the cowards.

They had actually done it. They had trapped the head honchos of ESA in one room. If they could just hold on until the FBI arrived, justice would finally be served. These men were cowards. They would roll over and release their member rosters. Victory was nigh.

Tears streamed down Brianna’s cheeks. The second Claire freed her hands, she threw them around her.

“Thank you,” she whispered hoarsely in Claire’s ear.

“I’m so sorry this happened to you. They’re going to pay, I promise you.”

“Do you smell smoke?” Brianna croaked.

Oh, shit. The candle.

“Luke—” Claire called out.

“I know.” He gestured behind her. One of the drapes had caught fire.

“Shit. We need this house—it can’t burn down. Can you help them watch the group so they don’t escape? I’m going to find an extinguisher.”

She slashed the bindings around Brianna’s feet with Big Z’s knife and crunched across the carpet of broken glass. Her heart was in her throat as she fled up the stairs to the kitchen.

“Come on,” she said, ripping open cabinets. The smoke smell was getting stronger. Where the hell were the police?

Pounding came from the front door. She abandoned her quest and ran for it.

“Dad!” She called out when his familiar face greeted her. Shit, she always called him Jack. Roy was “Dad.” There was time to worry about that later. “We need a fire extinguisher,” she called to the agent behind him. He turned on his heel and ran in the direction of the street.

Sirens wailed in the distance. Red and blue lights flashed off the underside of the palm trees in the front yard, and for a moment sheer panic gripped Claire. It was just like the night Barney had kidnapped her.

“Basement,” she said, snapping back to reality. She pointed to the open set of doors. Jack drew his gun and ran down the steps, Claire just a beat behind him.

He swung his gun from left to right as they entered the basement. He cast one glance at Trent on the floor before following the smoke and panicked yelling. He kicked open the observation room door and revealed Luke, Charlie, and Bri making a human wall in front of the room exits.

The room stank of sweat and desperation. The fire was bigger now. The naked men lurched forward, sweat beading down their bodies. Charlie’s right fist came out like lightning, and one of them hit the floor.

“FBI, on the ground now!” Jack barked.

The group of men looked at each other and panicked. One vaulted over Charlie’s outstretched arm and came through the broken window. The professor dodged around Luke and opened the door. He was out in the basement before they could blink. He was fast for an old naked misogynist.

“He’s mine.” Claire pulled a mystery tool from the dildo wardrobe and chased after him. Glass crunched in her shoes,and her feet slipped inside. A trail of blood led up the stairs. Agonized grunts soon led her to the man’s position. He staggered across Big Z’s foyer, blood dripping from the cuts on his feet. One wrinkly, liver-spotted hand rested on the doorknob.

He was not going to leave this house. Claire threw her weapon overhand at him without bothering to check what it was. There was a mightythwack, and a dildo stuck to the front door like a dart finding a bullseye. It trembled from the impact.

“Going somewhere, professor?” she asked.

He turned and faced her. His face was contorted in hatred. There was malice in his eyes.

“I should have killed you when I was slamming your idiot roommate,” he hissed at her. He took one step toward her.

“Please.” Claire crossed her arms. “You’ve been trying to kill me for like a year and a half now because Barney couldn’t do his job. You blew up my car and my warehouse, threatened my family. Tried to set a mountain lion on my clients. But I’m still here. How do you think this is going to end for you? I’m curious.” She tilted her head. If she could just waste another few seconds, police would come stampeding through that door.

“You arenothing,” he yelled. “A pathetic training exercise. Not worth the blood that runs through your veins.”

Claire pretended to ponder for a moment. “If I’m so useless, why is it that I’ve evaded every attempt your pathetic frat boys have made on my life? Isn’t this kind of your job? Other than being a shitty professor, anyway. I guess it makes sense that your eradicators are as poorly organized as your course syllabus.”

The look in his eyes sent a chill down her spine. “You won’t win. We will never stop. Not until you’re all dead.”

Claire scoffed. “Look around. I’ve already won.”

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