AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She shrugs her shoulders. “Maybe it was, but I went down for a chance at a real family, and that’s something you’ll never get.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I murmur. “Family is so much more than the people you share blood with. Family is a choice. The boys are my family and no matter what you do or how hard you try, you will never feel that kind of connection.”
“You’re a real bitch, you know that?”
“Maybe I am,” I mutter, taking a breath and moving back a step. “Once you walk out of this cell, you’re going to have nothing, no place in Dynasty, no home, and no friends to have your back. So I’m going to give you one last shot to make the right decision.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Once Paris is found, I will allow you out of this cell on one condition. You go back home to your adoptive parents and forget that Dynasty ever existed. Forget me, forget Paris, and forget everything that went on here. I will offer you a clean slate provided that you never attempt to step into my world again.”
“And if I won’t accept that?”
A darkness comes over me and I’m forced to take another step back, hating just how heavy I feel. “If you keep your loyalty to your mother and continue aiding her in her attempts on my life, you will be treated as a traitor to the people of Dynasty and sentenced to life behind my bars for the role you have played against us.”
Ember’s eyes soften and her hands lower on the bars, and just when I think she’s going to take me up on my offer, a sick, twisted grin tears across her face. “If only it was that easy,” she says just as a loud BANG sounds throughout the underground cells, the echo going on for miles.
My eyes bug out of my head as Ember howls with laughter and I snap my gaze back at the guys who instantly start running toward me. “WINTER!”
I look back at Ember, quickly backing up. “What was th—”
Another BANG cuts off my question and the walls tremble. My heart thunders, the sound of my pulse nearly deafening in my ears. “WINTER. RUN.”
I don’t wait to find out what’s going on as I bolt back toward the guys, but as I do, another loud BANG roars through the cells, this one a million times louder. Before the sound has even stopped echoing through the long hallway, a military-grade truck slams through the brick wall and crashes right into Ember’s cell, making an absolute joke of the metal bars.
I have no choice but to launch myself through the air to avoid being struck by the debris, and just as my body crashes to the ground, King and Carver are there, desperately trying to pull me to my feet.
I can’t help but look back over my shoulder as Ember makes her move, scrambling over the bars, bricks, and rubble before climbing through the open side passenger window of the truck.
As Ember’s ass hits the seat, she looks out the window and meets my shocked stare, laughing as the driver of the truck kicks it into reverse. The tires screech against the floor and just as quickly as it came, the truck disappears, leaving nothing but devastation behind.
The walls stop shaking and the boys continue dragging me through the hallway, getting me as far away as they possibly can, unsure how the integrity of the underground cells will hold up now that there’s a massive gaping hole in the side.
“How … how did that … even happen?” I pant, tripping over my own damn feet as the shock tears through my system. I mean, what the fuck even was that? We’re in an underground world. There’s no way in here apart from the main entrance which has heavy security. There’s no way that a military-grade truck was approved for access, not to mention all the concrete rooms and structure that the truck would have had to get past in order to get enough speed to tear through the fucking cell walls like that.
My mind whirls with the possibilities as I try to piece together a mental map of the underground world, trying to figure out what rooms that truck would have just smashed its way through when Carver puts my mind at ease. “Tunnels,” he explains, sending me straight back in time to the night we raced out of the ball through the tunnels while our world crumbled to dust around us. “There are fucking underground tunnels all through Ravenwood Heights. I was planning the same damn thing when you were locked down here.”
We finally reach the main reception area of the underground world and the boys slow their pace, allowing me a moment to actually breathe. “What do you mean tunnels? I thought this was all Dynasty down here.”
