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The open quad, the common areas, the study halls... all of them stood empty like a ghost town. My gut twisted like I was going to be sick. Even the Fathers’ office and bedrooms were deserted.
What if they’d been caught in the crossfire? What if they were hurt?
Pushing away the rising fear, I forced myself to think about how to find Louise. If I were a crazy girl, where would I go? All the usual places, like the kitchen and the study rooms, came up empty.
With nowhere else to look and worry gnawing at my insides like a ravenous beast, I made my way back to the basement. As I neared the thick wooden door, a male’s thunderous voice came reverberating from inside.
I froze, the voice unfamiliar and gruff. Holding my breath, I listened because they sure as hell didn’t sound like one of my three men.
My heart dropped to my stomach as the harsh voice barked orders at the girls, telling them to quiet down or else. The fear in their whimpers broke me as I suspected the gangsters had found the girls easily from how loudly they were talking when I slipped out of the basement earlier. The threat was clear.
Jonas and his men had invaded our sanctuary, and they’d taken the girls hostage.
A constant, painful reminder of the danger we were in tightened around my throat. I wanted to burst in there to save my friends—the dumbest thought I’d ever had.
Then I heard the approaching footsteps coming up the steps from inside the basement… heavy, deliberate, too close. Panic shot through me as I spun on my heel, my heart in my throat, and ran. The walls of the corridor blurred as I fled. The only thing clear in my mind was to find Mason, Bridge, and Logan.
I careened around the corner, crashing right into someone without warning, and the momentum sent me sprawling to the cold, hard floor. A muffled cry escaped me as the wind was knocked out of my lungs. I glanced up, half-expecting to see one of Jonas’ men, but found myself staring into the wide, shocked eyes of Louise.
She was on the floor in front of me, also knocked onto her ass from our collision. For a moment, we just stared at each other.
“What the hell, Kat? Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you, running around the place like a lunatic. You could have killed me,” she sputtered, scrambling to sit up, her expression twisted into a hateful frown aimed at me.
I kept throwing glances over my shoulder, each creak, each sound, making me jumpy.
“Keep your damn voice down, Louise,” I hissed through gritted teeth, but my warning was met with a scoff.
“Don’t you dare tell me what to do. You’re not my friend, remember?” Her voice dripped with bitterness.
“Are you even aware of the danger we’re in?” I shot back, my patience wearing thin. “Why didn’t you go to the basement with everyone else?”
She let out a derisive laugh. “Like I’d listen to you and your delusional lies.”
I grit my teeth. “Keep your voice down,” I warned again, but she laughed louder, the sound bouncing off the walls, filling the quiet halls with an unnerving echo.
Cringing that we were an easy target now, I contemplated ditching her, searching for the Fathers on my own, when a figure appeared around the corner.
I skidded to a stop, my heart lurching in my chest at the sight of my stepdad. My shoulders shot back, my feet glued to the floor.
“W-what are you doing here?” I rasped the words, my eyes flipping from him to a smug-looking Louise. A sour realization started to dawn on me.
“I’ve been hearing some unpleasant rumors about you and the priests in this place,” he sneered, his eyes hard and fixed on me. “So, I’ve come to take you home where you’ll be safer. This place is about to shut down very soon with a quick phone call, and you don’t want to be caught up in that mess.”
I was shell-shocked, my gaze snapping to Louise. She had called him, leading him here and telling him the lies she made up about Father Logan and me. My hands squeezed into fists as I shook with anger. Her betrayal was like fire singeing my skin.
“You bitch!” I spat, seething. The sickening thought of leaving with my stepdad was enough to push me to the brink. “You have no idea what you’ve done!”
“Oh, I know.” She grinned, pushing her straw-like hair out of her face. “With you out of here, the Fathers will no longer be drooling over you. Everyone in the institute will blame you for everything.”
“And back home, we can try to be a family again,” my stepdad piped in.
Close to screaming, I couldn’t even form words at first, then they came pouring out.
“A family? You think you’re a family?” I hurled at my stepdad. “You’re nothing but a greedy parasite, latching onto my mom’s wealth. You’re not interested in saving me. You just want the cops off your back!” I turned my fury onto Louise, my voice shaking with suppressed rage. “And you... I’ve never met a more spineless, bottom-feeding, desperate, and pathetic creature. I hope the gang that’s about to raid this institute takes you. You belong with them.”
Louise blanched, exchanging a glance with my stepdad.
“What gang?” they blurted almost in unison.
