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Leaning down, I grab his feet and lift them up, his legs feeling like sandbags. I position his feet, pinning his ankles between my arm and my side, and begin to drag him along the ground. It takes most of my strength to move his dead weight, but I’m able to get him down the hall and to the last room on the right—the one right next to the exit out of here.
It’s the last room the fire will reach. Even though it doesn’t have all the supplies we need to do this properly and cover our tracks, it doesn’t fucking matter at this point. The fire is going to swallow this place whole, and if we don’t get out of here soon, it’s likely to take us down with it.
As I pass the room that we were originally set up in, I stop and grab one of the packs that has zip ties in it. This is going to be rushed and we’ll have to improvise, but it is what it is. It’s all part of evolving. You must be open and adaptable, ready to change on the fly without second-guessing yourself.
Selene and I are the apex predators. This is what we do. We have to evolve to stay at the top of the food chain.
I drag Abel into the room and push the door shut behind me. A metal chair sits in the corner, and his feet thud against the concrete floor as I head across the room to grab it. It’s a struggle, but I manage to lift him into the chair and secure him to the metal structure with the zip ties.
His head bobs, rolling as his chin brushes against his sternum. I must have gotten him good—that and the smoke inhalation—because he’s still passed out. I swallow hard and thrust my fingers under his jawline, feeling for his pulse. It’s thready and weak, but it’s there. I let out a breath of relief as I realize that I didn’t kill him.
I reach into the pack, pull out a rag and wrap it around my fist as I head over to the windows. The room isn’t completely filled with smoke yet, but it won’t be long before it looks like the rest of the building. Clenching my hand into a ball, I thrust it through the glass, shattering it as I break each window open.
The cold air from outside rushes in and I inhale deeply, feeling the contrast between the fresh air and the toxins we’ve been breathing in. I glance down at the watch on my wrist. Selene has two minutes before I fucking end this shit.
Just as the thought crosses my mind, the door bounces open, letting in a rush of smoke as Selene strides in and shoves it closed behind her. Her face is dirty and her hair is a fucking mess, but I’ve never seen anything quite as majestic as her—especially in this moment, with bloodlust coursing through her veins with such force.
“You switched rooms on me.” She scowls, brushing her hair out of her face. “I went outside to catch my breath and when I came back in, you weren’t there.”
I shrug, a smirk forming on my lips as her attitude sends s rush of blood straight to my balls. “We’re pressed for time. Unless we want to burn in this fucking place, we needed to be as close to an exit as possible.”
Selene raises an eyebrow as she motions to the broken windows behind me. “Pretty sure the other room had those too. Looks like the same thing as a door to me.”
“Okay, Selene. Next time, I’ll let you fucking handle everything.” I roll my eyes, brushing past her as I stride over to her brother. “Now, if you're done throwing your little temper tantrum, can we please take care of this shit?”
Selene walks over beside me, stopping in front of her unconscious brother as we both stare down at him. “I should have killed him when I had the chance.”
“If I remember correctly, you tried.”
She glances over at me, her eyes blank, before turning back to him and slapping him across the face. “Wake up.” Her voice is stern, but he doesn’t move as she glares down at him. Selene spins on her heel and marches over to the pack I brought from the other room. She reaches inside, then walks back over, cracking the smelling salts in between her fingertips before holding them under her brother’s nose.
It takes a few moments and a couple shallow breathes before he lifts his head in a rush. His eyes are wide and bloodshot as he inhales sharply, glancing around the room as his surroundings come back into focus. “What the fu—” His voice stops short as his eyes land on Selene.
A ghost of a sinister smile plays on her lips as the darkness creeps into her blank stare. “Hello, little brother.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
SELENE
“It has been a long time, hasn’t it?” I ask Abel, staring down into his hazel eyes that mirror mine. There’s only one difference though. While mine are blank and void of any emotion, his are filled with terror. “It looks like you’ve gotten yourself into quite the predicament here, huh?”
“Fuck you, Selene,” he spits at me. “I don’t know how you’re my blood. You don’t know how badly I wished while growing up that I was adopted—that it wasn’t true, that my father wasn’t a notorious serial killer and my sister wasn’t a total fucking psychopath.”
I watch Onyx from the corner of my eye as he yawns. This is about as boring to him as watching a reality TV show. Listening to my brother drone on about his sad, pathetic childhood, it sounds like a damn reality show.
“You know, if you wouldn’t have called the cops, nothing about your life would have changed,” I remind him, sliding my hands into the front pockets of my pants, wrapping my fingers around my knife. “You would have never known about what was going on with dad and we wouldn’t be in this position.”
Abel stares back at me, his eyes wide with disbelief. “Are you that delusional, Selene? You can’t honestly believe that hewouldn’t have eventually gotten caught. I was doing the world a fucking favor by getting him locked away on death row.”
I click my tongue, shaking my head at him with a frown forming on my lips. “No one would have known a thing if you had just minded your own business and not gone looking where you didn’t belong.”
“Jesus Christ,” Abel lets out an exaggerated breath, his eyes glancing at Onyx. “Can you please talk some goddamn sense into her warped head?”
I tilt my head, looking over at Onyx with an amused grin. A low chuckle rumbles in his chest as he looks back at me. “Do it.”
I watch as a sinister smirk pulls on Onyx’s lips, and he nods at me. He’s encouraging but I know he’s ready for this shit to be over. Winking at him, I pull the knife from my pocket, flicking the blade open as I turn back to Abel.
He inhales sharply, his body wiggling in the chair as he fights against his restraints, as if he’s going to break free. “What? No. Come on, Selene.”
