Page 101 of Never Again

“Hurt him and I’ll destroy everything,” Bailey said as she pulled her trembling hand away from her arm and placed her fingertips on the keyboard.

“You’re not going to do that,” Jess said with a smug little smile playing on her lips.

“You have no idea what I’m willing to do,” Bailey bit out coldly as she slowly tapped her fingertips against the keyboard, all while she glared straight ahead.

Jess studied her for a moment before she said, “Get against the wall,” when Nathan stepped into the room, only to release a curse and was forced to grab hold of Casey and pull her back when the small woman moved to beat the shit out of Jess.

“Quinn?” Casey mumbled softly, putting everything into that one word and letting him know just how fucking terrified she was as she took in the blood trickling down Bailey’s arm. With a slight nod, Quinn shifted his weight to his left leg and watched Jess, waiting for her to fuck up, hesitate, any-fucking thing that would give him a chance to put a stop to this before it was too late.

Looking really fucking amused for some reason, Jess watched Bailey for a moment before she said, “You put a trigger password on the account.”

“And if I hit return, it will destroy everything,” Bailey promised as she shifted one trembling finger to the right side of the keyboard and left it hovering there.

“Are you really willing to risk your life over a game?” Jess drawled, sounding nervous for the first time since he’d entered the room.

“According to you, I’ll be dead as soon as I give you what you want, so what do I have to lose?” Bailey said, shrugging it off like she wasn’t scaring the hell out of him right now.

Slowly nodding, Jess seemed to think that over before she asked, “How about your sister?”

“I don’t have a sister,” Bailey said as Jess reached down and pulled an aged envelope out of her bag.

“Don’t,” Casey said, moving to break free from Nathan only to go still when Jess shifted the gun slightly to the left so that it was once again pointed at Bailey’s chest.

“Read it,” Jess said, tossing the envelope to her.

After a slight hesitation, Bailey reached for it, making sure to keep her finger hovering above the button that would end everything. It took a few minutes, but she eventually managed to pull the letter from the envelope with one hand while Quinn was forced to watch as blood continued trickling down her arm and slowly pooled on the carpet beneath her. He was going to fucking kill Jess, Quinn thought as he watched Bailey read the letter only to frown seconds before she swallowed hard.

“This is fake,” Bailey said hollowly.

“Is it? Maybe we should ask your sister?” Jess asked, sounding thoughtful as she glanced at Casey.

“Pam?” Bailey asked hoarsely, keeping her gaze locked on Jess.

“I believe she goes by Casey,” Jess said as she suddenly moved the gun in Casey’s direction. “How about it? Will the long-lost sister be enough incentive to get you to do what I want or would you prefer the brother that adores you?”

“How about me?” came the question from the doorway, drawing their attention just in time to watch Kelly walk into the room and-

“Shit!”

-tossed a gun in Tristan’s direction as Jess swung her arm to cover the move while Nathan grabbed Casey and turned around, taking her to the floor just as the first gunshot went off, hitting the wall right above their heads.

Within seconds, Tristan had the gun aimed at Jess as Quinn moved his ass. He was across the room in seconds, taking Jess out as she moved to turn the gun on him and fired, barely missing him as another gunshot went off. She released a pained cry as he took her to the floor, and just like that, it was all over.

He pulled the gun from her limp hand and tossed it aside, absently noting the gunshot wound to her left shoulder before he rolled her over onto her stomach and yanked her arms behind her back. When Tristan moved to take over, Quinn released his hold on her and quickly shifted his focus to Bailey only to fucking sigh when he spotted her sitting at the table, typing away, the rest of the world completely forgotten. She really was a pain in his ass, Quinn thought, sighing heavily as he took a knee by her side so that he could take a closer look at her arm.

“I’m fine,” Bailey said, not bothering to look up as she absently grabbed the Coke off the table and took a sip before she went back to typing.

“Where’s her phone?” Casey asked as she quickly made her way across the room and grabbed Jess’s backpack.

“No clue, but we need to figure out how she’s jamming everything,” Bailey said, taking another sip of Coke. “I’m assuming that it was your program that protected Haven Technologies?”

“She left herself wide open with that delivery system,” Casey said with a pitying shake of her head as she searched through Jess’s backpack.

“How soon before you can get us back online?” Tristan asked as he finished securing Jess’s hands behind her back and pulled her off to the side while Nathan made his way to his sister’s side and-

“I’m fine,” Bailey said, earning a glare.

“You really are a pain in my ass,” Nathan said, sighing heavily as Quinn ran his fingertips beneath the wound, noting that it was just a flesh wound and would probably only need a few stitches.

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