RI

ODETTE’S ALIVE.

I barely remember or understand what part I played in it all, even after Odette told me the truth.

I didn’t kill Odette despite what everyone in this room thought. I didn’t harm her. I helped her, although Beckett might see that as just as much of a betrayal.

It’s not a betrayal I deserve to die for, and yet he was going to kill me for killing his wife. He didn’t give me a chance to explain myself. He didn’t even try to figure out why I would have done such a thing.

Nothing.

He just dragged me here in front of everyone and was about to shoot me dead tied to a pole, even after I saved his life.

It didn’t matter.

It didn’t matter that I loved him or that I thought he loved me.

None of it mattered—for Beckett, it was always her. He loved her more than anything, even when he found out she was lying to him. I wasn’t allowed such luxuries.

Because of her.

Odette is currently gripping his hand like she never left. Like she’s loved him the entire time she’s been lying to him.

Beckett doesn’t bat her hand away. He holds hers right back. He still loves her. He’d die for her.

She just left him.

She’s not worthy of his love, but I’m not going to be the one to explain that to him. If he’s too big of an idiot to see how she’s playing him, then that’s on him. They deserve each other.

The only problem is my heart—my stupid fucking heart. It fell in love with a man who loved another woman. A man who would never love me no matter what. A man who used me to find her. A man who would have killed me to get what he wanted.

I stare at their joined hands—thump, thump, thump— and my heart still beats for him. Still yearns for him. Still has a sliver of hope that I’m missing something. He couldn’t have possibly planned on killing me, right?

My brain reminds me—I’m still tied to this pole, and she has him.

I don’t know what happens next. One minute I’m tied to the post, stupidly yearning for a man I can never have— the wrong man—and the next, chaos erupts all around us.

I can’t understand what the crowd is shouting or why they’re all rushing the stage.

I don’t look at Beckett. I can’t look at him, but I do look at the rest of the guys. Hayes, Lennox, and Gage all have their weapons drawn. Caius’s jaw is on the floor as he stares at his sister—alive.

A bullet flies past my cheek.

Fuck.

I have no time to sit here and wallow in self—pity. I have to get free of these chains, or I’m going to end up dead.

I tug on the metal clasps, but they’re solid. I’m not strong enough to break them.

I push my hands up the pole until I can reach my head. Digging around in my nest of hair, I desperately search for a bobby pin—the most useful of hair accessories. I almost always have a pin stuck in my hair for these very situations. Luckily, I find one quickly.

I push the bobby pin into the lock, twisting it around until I feel the chains drop away. I’m free, although I don’t have much chance of getting out of here alive.

I don’t have any weapons. Even though Odette is alive, I don’t trust that no one here still wants to kill me. With the fighting all around me, a rift in the organization has clearly exploded with lots of battling opinions and goals.

My only hope is to slip out of here undetected.

I’m about to jump off the stage when I hear Gage say,

“This way, Princess.” Is he talking to me?

I flip my head over my shoulder as I crouch on the edge of the stage, about to run in the opposite direction. I don’t trust Gage. I don’t trust any of them. They brought me here. They tied me to the pole. They were going to watch while Beckett killed me.

Gage frowns when he sees my expression. Hayes looks heartbroken. Even Lennox looks disgusted with himself as he watches me.

“I don’t trust you—any of you!” I scream at them.

Gage tosses me a gun, and I catch it in midair. I cock my head and stare at him.

He doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t beg me to trust him. He offers me a choice completely my own—jump off the stage and fight my own way out or take the help he and the others are offering.

Another bullet flies by. I don’t have time to think through my decision, so I go with my gut and follow Gage.

Gage holds out his hand to help me off the stage, but I don’t take it. I jump down behind him, landing hard on my feet.

Hayes and Lennox follow after, each with their gun out and flanking me like they will shoot anyone who comes close to us.

I’m not sure I believe them. This is their family, after all. Most of the people here belong to the Retribution Kings. The guys grew up with these people, vowed to protect them. They wouldn’t shoot their family to protect me.

Gage pushes through the crowd, and I follow tightly after, hoping no one will notice us making our escape. I’m also praying I wasn’t a fool, and Gage isn’t just leading me somewhere for Beckett to finish me off after the fighting is over.

A man’s eyes widen instantly as we pass.

He notices me.

I hold my breath. I don’t have a great angle to shoot him, but I lift my gun anyway, hoping to kill him before he shoots me.

A shot from behind me beats us both, and I watch the man fall to the ground. I turn my head in time to see Lennox lowering his gun. Lennox shot him—a

Retribution King—to save me.

I gape at Lennox, stumbling to a stop.

“Keep moving, Princess,” Lennox says with a smirk. His eyes twinkle with amusement, enjoying proving me wrong.

“This doesn’t mean I trust you—any of you,” I say.

“We know, but that’s just because we kept you in the dark of our real plan,” Hayes says.

Real plan?

I glare as I search Hayes’s eyes for an answer. “What do you mean?”

“Enough,” Gage says sternly. “We have to keep moving.

We aren’t safe yet.” He’s right.

There will be a time for questions later.

Now we have to get somewhere safe.

Our pulses race as we move through the crowd as quietly and discreetly as possible. Thankfully, there is enough fighting and gunfire that no one else seems to notice us as we weave through the mass of people.

Hayes suddenly hisses from behind us.

I stop, turning toward him to find a red gash appear on his cheek.

“Keep moving! Don’t stop,” Hayes says.

We move faster, trying to avoid any more stray bullets as we run through the auditorium.

“This way!” Gage shouts back at us.

He ducks into a corridor, and we all follow. The sound of gunfire immediately softens as we enter a tunnel.

There’s a door at the end of the tunnel that leads outside, but Gage doesn’t lead us that way. Instead, he runs his hand along the wall as we walk. He stops suddenly, popping a door in the wall open.

“Where does that lead?” I ask, stopping suddenly.

“To your safety,” Gage answers vaguely.

I frown at him as I stare down the dark tunnel. Do I go down this hidden tunnel or out the main exit?

I hear the crowd getting louder, and I know they are headed this way. I need to decide.

I take a step toward the tunnel, but none of the guys move to follow. “Are you guys not coming with me?”

Gage shakes his head. “You’ll pop out in an abandoned house. There’s a car there that can take you anywhere you want, but we have to stay here. We can’t be seen with you.”

He rubs the back of his head. “Not right now, at least.” I nod slowly, understanding.

“Thank you for getting me this far.”

“It was the least we could do,” Lennox says.

I look to Hayes, his cheek now covered in blood. “Get that looked at.”

He smiles brightly. “Of course, Princess. Now get the hell out of here. We’ll see you soon enough.”

I smile back and am about to step into the tunnel when a voice rings down the hallway.

“Fighter, wait!”

Beckett is running down the corridor toward us. I don’t see Odette, but I assume she’s right behind him. His eyes are big with concern, and he’s clearly out of breath. There’s blood on his shirt, but I don’t care.

At least, that’s what I tell myself—I. Don’t. Care. About.

Beckett.

He keeps running down the corridor. “Wait!” My heart skips a beat.

I want to wait.

I want to hear him out.

I want to know what the hell happened back there.

I want to give him the benefit of the doubt.

But I can’t.

I just can’t.

I can’t go there with him again.

He fucked up.

I’m done.

I’m in this for myself from now on.

I look to Gage, trying to figure out if he’s going to let me pass when his boss is running toward us, yelling for me to wait.

He gives the slightest of nods, and I know he won’t let Beckett come after me. I don’t know why, though. I don’t understand any of their loyalties, not anymore, but I don’t hesitate.

I run through the secret door and into the hidden tunnel. I hear the door snap behind me as I run, descending into darkness.

With each step, I wait to hear sounds of the door opening, of footsteps following, of Beckett catching up to me.

The sounds never come.

I’m free, at least for the moment. I should take the opportunity to run, to escape this world and completely disappear. But I don’t want to spend my life running.

I’ll stay and fight. But for now, I need one night away from all of this, and I know exactly where I’m going.