Page 13 of Bound By Blood and Lies

Quinn screams again, so much higher this time that it sounds raw and animalistic. Her body spasms hard enough that the bolted chair even rattles against the floor and tears stream down her bloodshot face as her mouth opens helplessly.

“Stop!” she chokes as her voice splinters. “Stop?—"

“You can make it stop,” I reply evenly. “You just need to tell me why Fisher wanted you to trap Fae.”

Her jaw trembles. Her body jerks once more as a violent ripple runs through her limbs before the resistance shatters completely.

“He said…” she gasps, sobbing through the pain, “…that his boss gave him the green light.”

The words spill out of her in a rush. Her breathing remains ragged but the convulsions ease and the tension bleeds from her frame now that she’s surrendered the truth. Her eyes are wide and terrified. Not of us, I realise... Of what her own body just did to her.

“Who is the boss?” I demand.

“I don’t know,” she answers. “I don’t know. He never said.”

My pulse spikes. It’s the same answer Tyler gave me. The same invisible hand. The same “boss.” I grind my teeth. The need to find Fisher sharpens, no longer is it just about pulling Fae back from whatever hell she’s in, but about tearing the curtain back on whoever thinks they can operate above us. Above me. Whoever this “boss” is, they’re playing a dangerous game.

And I don’t lose games.

“What was your role?” Felix asks behind me and I gulp in a deep breath of oxygen.

“To lure Fae out,” she whispers as tears slide down her temples. “He told me where to meet her. Even said she would meet me,” Quinn chokes out a watery laugh. “The only time she has ever spoken to me on her own and she was drugged and taken. What are the chances, hey? It’s like he knew her mindset before she even did. I had to drive her car to East London and abandon it and make it look like she ran.”

I search her face for hesitation. For some lie buried beneath it all but there is none. In the back of my mind I know the serum doesn’t allow it, but I can’t help but trust my own instincts more than a chemical compound.

“That’s everything?” I ask.

“Yes,” she chokes. “That’s everything,” she winces slightly and my eyes zone in on the action as I run through all the questions. My stomach drops as I grab her cheek and force her glare up towards me.

“Where’s Fisher?” I murmur.

“I don’t kno— AHHH” she screams as the serum attacks her again. “Wait, I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you,”She wails and her breathing comes out in short sharp gasps.

“Where is Fisher…”

“He has a cottage in Sudbury,” she stammers.

“Give us the address,” Felix bellows from behind me.

“Rosebank Cottage, Melford Road,” Quinn whispers, as her head drops forward and tears spill down her face.

Something inside me comes alive. After weeks of nothing but smoke and dead ends, we finally have something solid. A place I can drive to. A door I can kick in. A man I can break. The room falls quiet again, save for the absurd brightness of Marvin. I rise slowly to my feet as Quinn’s breathing is ragged.

“You can’t kill me,” she pleads in a voice that has been stripped of every ounce of arrogance. “My father… we can fix this. I can help you. I can?—”

“I can do whatever the fuck I like,” I say calmly, cutting off her ramble. “You promised me loyalty, Quinn. Or did you forget?”

The blade slides free from my pocket, the whisper of metal against leather barely audible in the cavernous room.

“You bound yourself to me in blood,” I continue, stepping closer as my shadow swallows her where she sits. “It feels fitting to end it the same way.”

“Well. That’s my evening sorted then.” Riggs sighs, already pushing off the wall knowing what is coming.

“No,” she cries, shaking her head. “No, please Roman, I am so sorry.”

Quinn’s eyes widen as I move behind her. I fist my hand in her hair and tilt her head back, exposing the pale line of her throat beneath the harsh white light. She screams again, high and fractured, as the sound echoes off concrete. For the briefest second, I register that this will be the first woman I’ve ever killed like this.

Then the thought dissolves.