Queen of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #4) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,4

that wasn't going to be my fate, because I refused to even consider the idea of it being hers.

I was terrified at the thought of her being taken from this world and while that could have been crippling, it was actually liberating. I had no limits left on me now. There were no depths I wouldn't stoop to. Nothing I wouldn't do and nothing I wouldn't sacrifice for her. So now that fear was my fuel, I was going to use every last drop of it in the quest for her safe return to us.

"Is everyone in position?" Saint's cool, level voice came through the earpiece as I looked towards the innocuous building we’d surrounded.

Unlike me with my emotions untethered and the constant edge I balanced on, Saint had lost every scrap of emotion since it had happened. He was a cold, hard machine of a man with one single goal only and I had no doubt that he would achieve it.

"I'm at the rear entrance," Monroe confirmed, his voice gruff and low. "It's locked up tight by the looks of things."

"Fire escape looks the same," Blake confirmed.

"On it," I growled, rolling the ski mask I had perched on top of my head down to obscure my features.

I didn't really give a shit about being seen and I'd told Saint as much, but he'd insisted we keep our identities hidden, not wanting his asshole of a father to realise that we were the ones on the hunt. We'd covered up our break ins to the other four labs and hospitals owned by Serenity Pharmaceuticals under the guise of stealing medicines. We’d also paid off contacts via my family to break into other similar places around the city to make it seem like a widespread series of attacks based on a need for antibiotics and the like in the face of the Hades Virus. Saint didn't want it getting out that we were the ones orchestrating it until it was too late and we'd rescued our girl.

I'd argued at first, having no reservations at all over the idea of letting Troy Memphis know that a member of the biggest and most ruthless crime family in the state was hunting him like the dog he was, but Saint had disagreed. He wanted us to use the element of surprise and keep our plan smart. If he hadn't pointed out the fact that his father could easily move Tatum out of the state or even out of the country at the slightest hint of a rescue attempt, then I'd have been more inclined to argue my point. As it was, I trusted Saint to know the best way to go up against his crazy fuck of a father, and if he was sure that this was it then I wasn't going to argue.

But my temper was running very thin. I wasn't coping. I knew for a fact that I was unravelling fast. On the days that I was forced to spend waiting for Saint to come up with our next target to hit, I was drinking heavily and chain smoking and basically falling into a pattern of self-destruction which I had no reason to fight against. But tonight wasn't like the others where I roared my agony and the loss of my girl to the sky and drowned my sorrows in a bottle of Jack until I passed out, murmuring apologies to the girl I was failing. No, tonight was one of the few nights where I could actually do something to help her.

In fact, I felt certain I was about to find her at last and pull her into the safety of my arms, never to let go again.

There wasn't a drop of liquor in my system. There wasn't a single, errant, distracting thought in my mind. I was embodying the monster I'd been raised to be. Every fucked up, horrific moment of my childhood had been specifically designed to mould me into the perfect kind of beast to get this job done. I was lethal, bloodthirsty and entirely focused on one goal.

I was getting my girl back. Come hell or high water she would be returned to my arms by the time the sun rose, and I'd worship her for the rest of my days like only a demon knew how.

I tugged the pair of black gloves on, concealing the last of my flesh within the dark fabric and flexing my fingers to make sure I could still use my hands