Seduce & Destroy - Page 75

“What are you so chipper about, Malachi? I’m bleeding out here, shut the fuck up.”

“Someone doesn’t like my optimism.”

“Malachi,” Terrence said in jest. “She’s bleeding in l-o-v-e.”

“Oh yeah, Mama mentioned a girlfriend.”

“A cute one, apparently.”

“Terrence.” I sat up too fast at the same moment the car hit a speed bump. “Shut the fuck up. And drive better!”

I laid back down on the back seat. My side was bleeding less now, I had to stomach the scene at the estate yet. I wasn’t done yet. The pitfalls of the Ravencroft security haven’t been addressed yet. I took out their main defences by undercutting their alliance with the Novelli dynasty and we cut the head off the Ravencroft snake, fracturing leadership. God knew Richard was useless.

My mission was to play reconnaissance on the Ravencroft Estate and kill him too. But once I saw Laney again I couldn’t anymore. Her only parent and without her grandfather? I’d lead her into a chamber with no air holes, and I’d have to leave her in her complete solitude, just to watch her struggle to breath. Mamma always told me to be ruthless. Father taught me how to.

Father is going to be so mad when he sees that I’ve failed.

But that’s when it hit me.

What was striking to me most of all was who was missing through this entire ordeal.

Richard Ravencroft was absent.

Chapter 27

LANEY

As the van approached the estate, thick clouds blocked the sunlight, casting a perpetual darkness upon us like that which had fallen on my heart. When our manor house came into view, its aged brick walls covered in a thick layer of winding ivy, I began to feel somewhat at peace. As if I could leave all the trauma at the gates and return home like nothing happened. But that’s not what happened.

Father was shot in the chest. The shock of the impact sent him into cardiac arrest. Dr Borley was at his side now, in this van we all piled into, but the grave expression that marred his face had not shifted in twenty minutes.

I felt in the way. There wasn’t much space at the back of the van, so I tucked myself in the corner away from it all. My anxiety hasn’t come down this entire ride home. But I was thankful I wasn’t crying.

And when we arrived, the situation went from dire to worse. The place was crawling with guards, all in small groups, pacing back and forth. Some groups were led by other guards. This is too many guards. I thought. I was one second away from spiralling.

“Did the Novelli men actually arrive?” I whispered to Neenan in the front seat who was also staring out the window. I knew something wasn’t right when his bewilderment matched mine.

All he did was shake his head, and we exchanged looks of dread. I didn’t understand. It seemed that all the drama was in town, why was there commotion here? For all I knew, we were the first to return.

“Who are these people?” I asked.

“I don’t know.”

It was strange. We didn’t hire that many new cadets, did we? The plentiful guards were marching with authority, organised, and I struggled to find a face I recognised amongst them.

“Look, it’s Grant!” I rested my finger on the window pointing to his frame as he traversed the circular driveway like a man on a mission. He stopped in front of a group of our guards, conversing sternly, but calm.

I knocked on the window to try and get his attention. It would be good to have some help transferring my father’s body from this van into the medical room. God knows, Neenan and I couldn’t share the weight between us. We were strong, but not that strong. When the knock didn’t work, I waved my hand. If not a sound, maybe the movement could catch his eye.

Instead, he pulled out two guns from his holster, one in each hand and pointed one to each man’s head. I didn’t hear the shot, just saw their bodies crumple in on themselves.

A wretched noise erupted from my throat.

Out. In. Out. In. Out. Oh my god.

Neenan slapped a hand over my mouth and pushed me down by the shoulders, out of view of the window. “Calm down.”

All it did was make me spiral more.