Page 36 of Deviant

On the floor ahead, I can see one guard lying in a pool of blood. I can hear screams before they turn silent and for a moment, I fear it’s Paitlyn, that someone has killed her.

If they’ve done that, I don’t know what I’ll do. I can hardly tell Devin that she’s gone. I can hardly hide it either.

I rush through the carnage, it looks like a bomb has gone off, and a guard stumbles into me, with half his face hanging off.

He cries out, murmuring something I can’t understand, and I push him away, because he is not my priority.

Guthrie is lying face down, his massive bulk taking up half the corridor. He’s not moving which tells me that he’s dead, so I guess that extra five million won’t be his after all. I don’t bother looking for the girl, the new one, I don’t give a fuck if she’s alive or dead.

Ahead, movement catches my eyes. I can see figures, two men and something else being dragged along.

It’s them, it’s her. Fucking Paitlyn. Someone is either trying to help her or steal her.

I raise my gun, pulling the trigger and shoot right into the spine of the man on the left. He crumples, landing in a heap. The man on the right turns to face me, yanking that chain to force Paitlyn’s body into his as if she’s a human shield, as if I wouldn’t hurt her if it was necessary.

I let out a laugh, barely hesitating, before pulling the trigger once more.

He falls, pulling her down with him and she jerks, trying to get away as if this moment here is her opportunity for freedom.

“Not so fast,” I spit, yanking her up by her greasy hair.

She whimpers, and then her eyes go wide as she realises exactly who has her.

“Dev, Dev, Dev.”

With one hard blow I pistol whip her face with the handle of the gun, knocking one of her teeth out and sending a spurt of blood from her mouth.

“Keep my brother’s name out of your mouth, whore.” I snarl. As if she thinks she has a right to even speak it. In all honesty, I’m surprised she still has the mental capacity to even remember him, to remember any of it. You think she’d be smarter, though; you think she’d play dumb considering her past.

She sobs harder, shaking more violently in my grasp. “I need him.” She cries. “I have to tell him…”

I don’t wait to hear anymore. She can say all she wants, beg all she wants when she’s kneeling at his feet. I don’t need to witness it.

I wrap my hands around her throat, tightening enough to restrict her airflow. She jerks, she gasps, she claws at me with her jagged, broken nails like she believes this is the end. Like she’s convinced she’d have as pain-free and easy a death as mere strangulation.

When she passes out, I sling her over my shoulder, but as I turn back and truly see the carnage before me, I realise that she can’t stay here. She can’t stay in Oblivion.

Oh, she may have a life sentence, but it’s not technically official by Brethren standards. Guthrie and I did a deal behind closed doors, we came to an agreement to ensure nobody knew what happened that night. Though it benefitted Paitlyn, it spared her life, it wasn’t her I gave a damn about. It was my brother, Devin. I did it for him, I kept my mouth shut and hid the truth, risking my entire family’s destruction in the process.

As I stand here now, though, I wonder if the secret is out, if that skeleton is about to come crawling out of the closet. But surely not; surely, it’s too late for such a thing?

Hair prickles at the back of my neck. Consequences I long thought null and void seem to suddenly haunt me.

Someone got in, someone got a bomb past our security and very nearly got their hands on a very valuable bargaining chip. At the very least we have a breech. I’d be a damned fool to leave her here knowing that face.

With a snarl, I storm back up to my office, tossing the damned girl onto the floor where she lays, immobile, and still passed out.

When I left, my brother was here, fuck knows where he’s run off to in my absence.

“Conrad,” I growl as he picks up his phone.

“What is it?”

“I have a task for you.”

He sighs as if he has far more important things to do than aid his family.

“Get here.” I order. “I need you to watch over something for us.”

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