Page 27 of Wreaking Havoc on my Heart

“Do you know where E is?” she whispers, so only I can hear. I’m concerned there’s surveillance in the room so I just give her a slight nod of my head. “Something’s not right here.”

I move into a big stretch, looking around for any cameras.

“There are a few cameras but no sound. Donna did a full search when we got here.”

I keep my head down, leaning into another pose as I respond to avoid the cameras from seeing my lips. One thing Adrik is exceptionally good at is reading lips.

“She’s hiding. Plotting to get back at him.”

“Good. You know, when I accepted this job, I knew some of the men here would be bad. But, Havoc, almost all of them are.”

I already know this. I’ve been encouraging Adrik to implement tighter restrictions on The Shades enlistment for years. He stopped vetting men fully and if they had enough skills, they were allowed in despite the fact that they could be rapists or had gone to prison for mass murder that had no real reasoning behind it. Too many of the men that make up the organization now are psychopaths.

While that’s great for their intuitive planning skills and lack of empathy, it’s also a disaster for the same reason.

“There are a few good seeds here. Right now, I’m trying to help E. I’m going to give you an untraceable number, and I need you to message me anytime you know anything. Find the good ones here and get them out when I tell you to move.”

I believe E has an amazing plan, of that I have zero doubts. But I also know that most of the organization will turn on her once it’s completed. We need as many people on our side as we can get.

“Is she okay?”

“She’s loved and protected, which is as good as it gets in this world.”

Silence stretches out and for a few minutes, I actually worry she’s just going to say fuck it. But she surprises me.

“We will fight for her and with her, every time.”

It’s exactly what I wanted to hear, but I also need to know her motivations to be able to really trust her with this.

“Why?”

Lizz bends over, getting in a cat-cow pose to continue avoiding her lips from the cameras.

“She saved all of us. We all had the experience necessary to be here, but we were all running from something as well. She knew that and brought us here and believed in us. E is one of the few of us that’s left worth fighting for.”

For the first time since I saw E in that hospital bed, I feel like I can breathe. Everything is coming together, and it’s looking like we will have the upper hand for once.

We just have to hope we can keep the veil in front of his eyes in the meantime.

Chapter 11

Now that we are back on Elysium, I’m settling into the new room Alexi gave me in their mini mansion. He had our stuff moved, but I needed to clean and set up my toy chests. I’m just wrapping up when a knock sounds at the door. It’s already open, so when I look up to see Arrow in the doorway, I can’t help but smile.

“Hey there, stranger.”

I get up from the floor, where I was just organizing some of the ropes I have, and reach out for him.

“What are you doing?” he asks as he pulls me into a hug.

“I just finished cleaning them, and now I’m letting them dry before I fold them back up.”

“Why do you clean them? They’re just ropes.” He moves to sit on my bed as I wrinkle my nose.

“First, ew. They are ropes used during a time of heightened hormones, which makes us sweat, and it makes that sweat even more potent. Second, they are ropes that are used when bodily fluids are all around. They deserve to be cleaned and respected just like all of my toys.”

He narrows his eyes at me. “How many people have used those?”

I smile, not wanting to give him that information. I like tying people up and I also love tying harnesses on myself. It’s a stress reliever for me. Something about the knots and the pressure makes the weight of the world feel a little less heavy.

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