Forbidden (Blood Ties #7)

Desperation roared in his stare.

He wanted to.

But one tiny shift from Walker and he gave a smirk before he turned around and walked out, leaving the heavy thud of his steps behind. I inhaled, my mind racing as Coulter’s words hit home.They won’t be the only ones I lead down into the basement once more.

Once more.

Once more.

I scowled, my mind racing, as the Daughter behind me still wept.

“It was them,” I whispered, meeting Walker’s stare. “The kill squad. The basement. It was Coulter.”

He flinched before he shook his head. I saw the disgust and the anger. I saw the rage, then the fear. The fear I was sure was echoed in my stare.

“What the fuck do we do?” he murmured.

I didn’t know. We were outnumbered, even with the paid guards protecting the compound. I knew that and so did he. My gut clenched. Revulsion drove the bitter tang of acid into the back of my throat.

I needed to think. Not only that, I needed to act.

I needed to dosomething,

Her whimpers called to me, resounding through my head like shards of glass. “Take care of her,” I said to Walker. “See she’s seen by the infirmary. I need to think.”

“Will do.” He took a step, then stopped. “Be careful, Riven. I have a feeling these men aren’t here to play.”

I nodded and left him. I had that feeling too. The same foul stench of death seemed to waft from the basement and spill down the corridor to find me. I’d had my suspicions about who’d done the killing. The moment I’d heard London and his son had found them, I’d come to find them on my own.

There were bodies.

Daughters piled on top of each other.

Some still silently screaming as they’d pleaded for their lives.

It had been them…it had beenCoulter.

His men had been the kill squad, the ones Harmon had sent in to clean house. He was still fulfilling those orders, bringing in all the other Daughters from whichever orphanage and secret location they’d been held. But he wanted these trained and sold.

Why?

I pushed through the doors, heading for the one that’d lead me outside, when a chill raced along my spine, stopping me cold. I felt him before I turned, finding the cruel piece of shit who liked the feel of his fists on soft flesh standing on the other side of the double doors in the distance.

He watched me.

Watched me like he was dangerous.

I turned back, pressed my card against the scanner, and strode outside. There were sharks in the water. Sharks circling, desperate for one taste of blood before they attacked. I felt the current battering me against the rocks. One scrape was all it’d take. One tiny cut and I was gone for good.

They won’t be the only ones I lead down into the basement once more.

Those motherfuckers.

Thosegoddamnmotherfuckers.

I strode forward, sinking into the forest, desperate to get out from under their controlling grasp for a second. The moment I sank into the darkness, the door opened behind me and the screams of the cowering Daughter returned in my mind.

We might’ve been savage bastards who controlled them and manipulated them.