Page 293 of Wicked Brutal

“No.”

“Fuck.” He drags a hand through his hair. “Penny’s getting G and Alice.”

Headlights sweep across the windows. Then another set. Then another. Nobody’s far. Nobody wastes time.

The front door barely closes behind X before it opens again. Kaid comes through first, Cat right behind him with Callum, Saoirse, and Thomas.

“Anything?” Kaid asks.

“No.”

Cat comes straight to me. “All three?” I nod. “Jane too?”

“Yeah.”

Her eyes widen slightly. “What happened?”

“I don’t know.”

She looks toward the house next door, then back at me. “Okay.”

That’s all. No questions I can’t answer. No wasting time.

Penny comes through next with Gideon and Alice. She spots X, still standing there sweaty as hell. “You ran here?”

“I was already running.”

“You didn’t go home first?”

He looks at her like it’s the stupidest question he’s ever heard. “Why would I?”

Penny doesn’t answer. She just goes to him.

More headlights. More doors. Danny comes in with Clifford, Louise, and Delilah. Becca’s right there with Katya and Theodore.

Danny finds me immediately. “She answer?”

“No.”

His jaw clenches. “Did she say anything besides the code?”

“Nothing.”

Becca takes his hand. Then another car turns into the drive. Iz is out before it fully stops. Arthur comes around the other side with Darla. Finally.

I meet him halfway across the foyer. “What do you know?”

Arthur’s expression tells me enough to make my stomach drop. “More than I knew ten minutes ago.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“Alison contacted me before she contacted you.”

I stop. “What?”

The conversations behind us die.

“What did she say?”