Page 29 of Screwed

“I’m going to find the missing girl, fromyourmistake.” It wasn’t really his mistake, but I needed him scared enough to listen to what I said without question. And in the Kingsnakes, cockiness was power.

“You can’t go up there!” He shook his head frantically. “The cops will be here any minute, and they only like to see Brother Brutus upstairs!” I paused with my foot on the bottom step, creaking beneath my weight.

“Either I go up there and find the girl, and possibly get myself in trouble, or they find the girl first and we’re all screwed. Which would you rather?” The young brother was quiet, so I turned and jogged up the rest of the stairs.

Fucking Mila.I hoped she had at least hidden herself somewhere and wasn’t attempting to take on the entire police force by herself. I wouldn’t put it past her to try. I unlatched the door, peeking out into the common room.

So far it looked like just Luke was in the room, sitting at one of the old melamine tables. I stepped out into the light, closing the door behind me.

Luke turned with the sound of the latch, frowning at me through his mask. “What the hell are you doing up here?”

I met his eyes with a steady gaze. “One of the women is unaccounted for. We need to find her before the cops do.”

Luke drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “It’s my own damn fault for thinking we could handle more than fifteen women at a time. Sloppy of me, really.” I didn’t respond, seeing as he was mostly talking to himself. Finally he picked his head up to look at me again.

“Find her. Hide with her until the cops are gone, and then deal with her. We can’t have loose ends like this and risk our entire livelihood. There’s too much at stake.”

Deal with her?Surely he couldn’t mean to kill her. Right? “But, Luk– Brutus, it’s...” Luke waved his hand in the air to dismiss me. “I don’t care who it is. Whoever it is can’t follow a simple direction for her own benefit. If she can’t do that, why would I want her to bear our children?” He rolled his eyes, as if this idea was common knowledge.

“I’ll send Tybalt after the cops leave. You can either take her body to the woods for the animals, or bury her in the back. I don’t care which, just get it done. When the girls ask where she went, we can use her as an example to keep the rest of them in line. Fear works better than bullets on this lot.”He wanted me to kill Mila.

How the hell was I going to get her out of this one? I couldn’t very well blame the missing woman on someone else and watch them suffer a senseless death. But I wasn’t about to kill Mila either. And with Tybalt watching my actions, there wouldn’t be a chance for her to escape either.

Shit. “Why are you still standing there? Go find her.” Luke shook his head, as if he couldn’t comprehend my hesitation.

Which in all reality, he probably couldn’t. To him, this was a calling as much as it was a business. And people who got in his way were unacceptable.

“Just thinking of where to start first. Good luck with the cops.” I darted out of the room, leaving Luke sitting at his table – prince of a kingdom filled with snakes.

I wouldn’t bother with the upstairs. Not yet at least. If I were Mila, I would be staying downstairs, somewhere close to an exit. The main floor was a mirror of the top floor where we kept the women, but usually the rooms were unoccupied.

We kept a couple made up in case a brother needed to crash, but other than that, they were empty. I opened the doors quickly, poking my head into each room, all the while keeping an ear out for the cops’ arrival.

So far, they hadn’t shown up, but each empty room I opened crushed me a little more. I was almost absolutely certain there was no way she could’ve snuck outside without someone seeing her.

I had two doors left, and I crossed my fingers as I opened each. No Mila. But the last bedroom held an unboarded window, and I raced over. She could’ve escaped easily. But beneath the window was nothing but fall mud, with no traces of footprints. Which meant either she hadn’t noticed the window, or she had noticed and chosen not to escape.

I couldn’t decide which was more likely.

Regardless, she wasn’t in here, or outside.

So where the hell was she?

My heart was beating so loudly I could barely make out the sounds of the cops arriving, greeting Luke, and beginning their rounds. I was going to wring her neck when I found her, watching the color drain from her face.

She’d probably look at me and smile. Her cocky smile would forever be my undoing, Collapse or no Collapse. I would do whatever it took to make her smile at me like that forever. I just had to find her first.

I stepped out of the last room to see Luke round the corner – alone. He locked eyes with me, and nodded his head to the side. “And here are the main floor rooms. Usually it’s just brothers who stay here if they’re hard up,” Luke announced to whoever was behind him. I took his signal to mean “get the hell out of here” and I ran around the corner as fast as I could, the voices of cops following me.

I was in the custodian’s corridor now, a narrow hall lined with small closets and the laundry room. At the end of the hallway was another door to the kitchen. The closets were too small for Mila to hide in, but I opened them methodically anyways, listening to the voices of Luke and the cops catching up to me.

“Mila,” I hissed, trying to stay calm and quiet. Nearly impossible given the situation. “Mila, this has gone on long enough.” The cops were in one of the last bedrooms, and I knew I had only moments before they turned the corner. I flung open the door to the dark laundry room, the old washers and dryers judging me with their lone glass eyes.Look what you’ve done, they said. I ignored them, looking around the tight space for Mila.

“Mila,” I whispered. “You have approximately two seconds before we get both our asses handed to us.”

Nothing. Silence. The dead machines stared, and for a moment I thought maybe we both deserved this. The idea passed as quickly as it came – a second of weakness, brought on by circumstances neither of us merited. I turned to leave and scope out the kitchen in a last-ditch effort.

Just as my foot passed the threshold, I heard it. A small intake of breath, too big for a rodent. More like someone trying to breathe quietly. I stepped back into the room, letting the door swing shut behind me. As it closed, I could clearly see the space between the wall and the cupboard in the dim light. The space where Mila had wedged herself, giving me a look that would’ve rivaled the devil himself.

“You are in so much trouble,” I muttered.

I wasn’t sure if I was more relieved to find her alive, or pissed that she had tried to sneak off.

She tipped her chin up toward me, defiant and proud. “And what do you think you’re going to do about it, Ray? You already told me you owned me for a month. Could it really get any worse than that?” Fury took over relief, simmering beneath the surface of my skin. “You have no idea, babydoll.” I snatched her wrist, pulling her out from her hiding space, fully intent on dragging her back down the stairs to relative safety. But I heard the cops in the hallway before I got a chance to open the door, so instead of dragging Mila through the kitchen, I pushed her against the wall.

She gasped. “What the hell?” I pressed my hand against her mouth. “Make a single sound and we’re both dead.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com