Page 89 of Dollhouse

We’ve shared women before, but we never nicknamed or branded them. Not even Stephanie received that treatment.

Tate did.

Still, this doesn’t stop me from wanting to find her and make her tell me everything before I paint the walls with her blood.

We’re sitting in silence when King’s phone beeps with a text. Grumbling, he sits up from the couch and grabs it from the coffee table. His eyes scan the screen and then he’s laughing maniacally, holding the phone out to Eli.

Eli takes the phone; I watch as his features harden before he passes it to me so I can read the text message.

Fuck.

Unknown:How well she played the role I needed her to play. Next time think with your head and not your dick, it makes you weak. I’ll be seeing you.

I handthe phone back to King, my attention turning toward Eli.

“Check her phone. She must’ve contacted this person, maybe we can get a name or a number.”

He nods, grabbing his laptop from the table and sitting beside King on the couch, setting the laptop on his thighs, his fingers flying over the keyboard. “I’m going to fucking kill her,” he says through gritted teeth. “We’re going to find her, and I’m going to fucking kill her.” He turns his screen around and sure enough, there are text messages in her inbox from the same unknown sender.

Unknown:Where are you? I’m waiting where we discussed.

Tate:They’re with me. How can I get out?

Unknown:Bathroom window. Throw your phone away.

Tate:I need a distraction.

Unknown:Handled. Five minutes.

It wasa damn good thing that Eli installed the security on her phone.

The tracker showed her location at the club, proving that she left her phone behind before she ran off into the fucking sunset with this fuck.

“Fuck!” My anger is boiling over. “Why?! Why the fuck would she do this?” I roar, standing from the chair to pace the living room. “That’s what makes no fucking sense! She didn’t gain anything by being part of this… whatever the fuck this is!” I spread my arms out, my blood boiling in anger.

“Someone wanted her to get close to us. Learn our secrets,” King says with a shrug.

“But she didn’t learn anything! She never even asked questions about our business. She’s lived here nine months, and we’ve been the ones watching her, not the other way around. Was anything about her suspicious during the time we were watching her?” I yell, pacing the room.

Eli and King look at each other with hesitant sighs.

“Exactly,” I say, hanging my head down in defeat.

I throw myself into the chair, placing my elbows on my knees and burying my head into my hands.

“She’s innocent,” King says, but I don’t bother looking up at him.

If she’s innocent, then that means this fucker has her and now she’s weak and may die because King shot her.

My blood begins boiling again.

In a flash I am standing toe to toe with him, and we are both exchanging punches with each other.

“You fucking shot her!” I yell, catching him with a right hook.

“That’s enough!” Eli shoves me away, standing between us. “Fighting each other isn’t going to solve shit. We don’t know anything for a fact.”

“Then when we find her, we need to listen to her side of the fucking story. She’s been honest from the fucking beginning.” We jumped to conclusions, and now she’s gone. If anything happens to her, it’ll be on us. We’re the ones that failed to protect her and didn’t bother listening to her side of the story.

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