Page 95 of Deadfall

“Little storm?” She wrinkled her nose, her eyes narrowed as she turned over the nickname in her thoughts. “I can’t decide if that’s an insult or not.”

I shrugged. It had just slipped out, but I wasn’t about to take it back. “It’s not.”

A massive sigh escaped her. “I guess I’ve been called worse.”

I was going to reply, but I watched her eyes close and decided letting her fall asleep was better. Her eyes didn’t open again, and I leaned against the bars and watched her breath even out as sleep finally claimed her. She was even more striking in sleep when the harsh lines of violence softened. Yeah, I was fucked—I wanted to go to her, to wrap her up in my arms so she knew beyond a doubt nothing bad could reach her. But, for now, I settled with watching over her from afar.

43

GABRIEL

We didn’t leave Emersyn alone again. For the next two days, Seven and I relentlessly guarded her and pissed everyone off in the process. If we weren’t negotiating to switch shifts, we threatened or coerced until we got what we wanted. We knew we would catch shit for it eventually; Mahoney was too controlling and calculating to let something like this go, but I was beyond caring. Any day now, Rune would break through and we’d be able to coordinate exfil and get off the island. Until then, Emersyn wasn’t leaving my fucking sight.

Despite still being a bit haunted by whatever she’d been forced to endure with Mahoney, Emersyn seemed to have steadied her mental state. I watched her from the entrance of the guardhouse as she paced around the enclosure. Occasionally she made eye contact, but I could never read what thoughts ran through her mind. Her beautiful grey-blue stare was back to being expressionless and stoic. We didn’t interact with her much besides the occasional food delivery because we didn’t want to risk being caught on camera any more than we already were.

The tablet on the wall of the guardhouse pinged and Seven got up to read the message.

“Mandatory meeting in the Great Hall,” he said.

Every instinct I had screamed that this was going to be the meeting Mahoney laid it all out.

I looked over my shoulder. “Well.”

Seven sighed. “Yeah.”

The open door of the guardhouse darkened and Brooks appeared with five additional guards flanking him.

“Mandatory meeting,” he said.

“We saw,” I muttered.

“Well, get going then.”

“What about her?” I asked.

“She’s coming too, Casanova, don’t worry,” Brooks sneered.

That didn’t bode well. He moved off to Emersyn’s enclosure, a syringe in hand, while the other five men stood around him monitoring everything. My jaw clenched but Seven put a hand on my shoulder.

“Come on, we have to choose our battles.”

I hated that he was right.

We arrived at the Great Hall and everyone milled about in small groups. Mahoney had his hands thrust into his pockets in the center of the room. All of the guards and household staff were in attendance so it was something big. I saw Angel a few yards away where he stood with Marcello. Angel didn’t look happy, but Marcello looked positively gleeful. That was concerning. Movement near the doors pulled my attention and Emersyn was escorted in with her hands cuffed behind her back, and the glazed look of someone mildly sedated.

“Fuck,” Seven muttered.

“Ah, there you are,” Mahoney gestured for the guards to bring Emersyn to his side. “Now—we’re all gathered. Brooks—” He turned to his head of security who stepped forward.

“Griffin!” Brooks bellowed.

Here we go.

I made my way through the crowd with Seven on my heels.

“Step forward, Griffin,” Mahoney said.

I could practically feel Seven’s anxiety, but I took a large step forward and separated myself from the rest of the guards. I clasped my hands in front of me and stared directly at Mahoney. His face was a mask of indifference hiding the rage that clutched his jaw and made a vein stand out on his neck. He was very obviously pissed off, but was trying to hide it.