Page 94 of Scarlet Mark
“More like ambushed in a stairwell,” he replied dryly.
His friend nodded slowly, his amusement palpable. “Good thing I came to your rescue.”
“Yes, clearly I needed it. Oh wait, your little explosion show almost took down the house while we were in the basement dungeon.”
“Dungeon?” he repeated, his interest flaring. “Show me.”
“It’s a shit show; you wouldn’t be amused. Their supplies date back to, like, the nineteenth century. Which helped us out, but it’s a total clusterfuck down there.” Killian sounded so appalled, while all I could think about was what happened down there.
Malcom’s flogger hitting my flesh.
His demands that I obey.
His friends laughing.
I shuddered, the too-fresh memory overtaking my mind and melting into what I’d done to them. How good it felt to slide the blade across that asshole’s throat. I’d channeled Killian with that move, having seen him do it at the masquerade ball. But Malcom’s death had been all me. He wanted me to suck things? Well, I returned the favor in kind.
He’s dead.
The reminder empowered me until I glanced at the papers on the desk.
This had all been a setup, Amir’s fucked-up way of training me for a position in management. What did he expect me to do? Slide right in and play the part of the new Madam? No. Hell no. I refused. I wanted to free all the women from their lives of agony and burn this fucking place to the ground.
And I can, I realized.Because it’s mine.
“We’re going to destroy it,” I whispered, my gaze landing on Killian. “I want to burn this fucking house to the ground.” He’d been in the middle of saying something to his friend, but I didn’t care. “Get all the girls outside. Then we’re burning this place down,” I told them both.
“Bonfire,” his buddy replied, sounding intrigued. “It’ll please the cleanup crew.”
“Are you sure, Amara?” Killian asked, his brow creasing.
“Do you think I want to keep this place?” Because if he did, then he clearly didn’t know me as well as I thought.
“No. But you could reorganize it, turn it into a place of good.”
“There is no good here. It’s pure evil. And I want to demolish it.” Every damn inch needed to be cleansed, and this was the only way. “It’ll send a clear message to Amir that I’m not interested in playing a role in his fucked-up game. I want out.”
He studied me for a long moment, then nodded. “If that’s what you want, that’s what we’ll do.” He stepped closer, his palm catching the back of my neck to hold me before him. “But I have two conditions.” When I opened my mouth to argue, he pressed his thumb to my lips. “First, all those documents come with us. You may want to destroy them and run from this, but there’s a history there that might one day save your life. We need them.”
“And your second?” I mumbled against his thumb.
“It’s going to take over an hour to clear the house, so while Nikolai works on that, you and I will find a shower and some clothes to change into.”
“When did I volunteer for that?” Nikolai asked from behind Killian.
“You volunteered the second you took Arthur’s assignment.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Besides, we both know you have a soft spot for trafficking victims, Nik.”
His friend merely shrugged. “I’ll call Ava for some recommendations. Meet me out front in sixty and we’ll light her up.” He disappeared, leaving me alone with Killian.
And the dead bodies.
And the papers.
Killian’s dark eyes returned to mine, his gaze searching. “We’re going to find him, kitten.”
“Amir?”
He nodded. “He may be your father, but what he did to you can’t go unpunished.” His brows crinkled, his pupils studying mine intently. “You know that, right?”
