But it was Claire’s look of outrage that did me in. “Mason, we are getting her out of here. It’s not optional!”
“She is the reason Daniel took you!” I shouted back.
“She did what she had to survive. She helped us when she could, and we are not leaving her here. This is a deal-breaker, Mason.”
“How the fuck do you suggest we move her, considering none of us are in great shape?” I bit out.
“Roll her onto a sheet and fucking drag her,” Mila suggested, and fuck if it wasn’t a better idea than I had.
“She might hurt and get a few more bruises on the stairs, but she'll live.” I agreed. Mila ran out of the room and returned with a blanket, perhaps from one of the couches in the neighboring sitting room. The three of us rolled her onto the blanket. The effort caused my wounds to bleed more quickly, and I felt light-headed.
“You’re done helping, Mason. We’ve got this.” Claire tried to slap my hands away from them.
“You’re both in terrible shape.”
“Neither of us is actively bleeding. Now, lead the way, Mase!”
I shook my head as I turned and led them out, “Come on!”
The path to my father's office was exactly as I remembered. The pain I felt now wasn't all that different than the pain when I would stumble back to my room after a thorough beating. The idea that he was dead didn't sit right, and I wasn't sure I'd believe it without seeing a body. He always seemed like something too large to kill, and the idea that he had already died was enough to take me off my feet. The injuries were also enough to put me on my ass, yet I had one goal, get us out of there.
The best way I could think to do that was through the hidden walk-out and panic room in the back of my father’s office. With any luck, my father and Daniel’s men would be distracted long enough for us to slip by, or our men would be nearby. If not, I would have to think fast.
I leaned against the wall as I walked, needing support. Blood smeared across the white paint as I went. I couldn’t help but think of my mother, and I laughed at the thought of her lamenting over the blood on the walls. I should have realized I’d lost a lot of blood at that point, but I couldn’t think of anything other than getting Claire out of there. I grumbled about leaving the woman behind and how she was slowing us down multiple times, but neither of them acted as if they heard me.
When we came to the stairs, Claire and Mila did their best to hold up the ends of the blanket. Despite their best efforts, the woman still banged against the stairs. I dropped onto my ass on the bottom step, needing just a minute to rest while they dragged her down the stairs. I looked up and noticed the smoke billowing into the stairwell; they got close enough to set the place on fire.
“Now!” I screamed, grabbing a handful of the blanket and yanking the woman the rest of the way down. Her body thumped against the ground as Claire and Mila lost their grips, but we didn't have time to be gentle or wait.
We came to my father's office. Thankfully, he hadn't updated in recent years and still had a simple keypad entry lock. I typed in his and my mother's anniversary, and the door opened. It was funny how he abused and killed the woman and still seemed to care for her. It made me wonder what David Sharp might have said to me had I faced him.
The office was just as I remembered it, not even a speck of dust marring the space. When did my father die, and who came here to clean this out? Was he that close before he died?
I didn't waste my time looking at the details of the desk and the paintings I knew by heart. From there, there was only one thing I wanted, and I snatched a small picture frame that held a picture of my mom and me off a bookshelf.
“We're almost out.” The girls were panting, sweating, and struggling to drag the woman. I grabbed the blanket, tugging along with them, entirely ignoring Claire's protests. The building was on fire, and we were too fucking close to turn back now.
The wooden floor turned into concrete flooring, and there was the exit. I dropped the blanket and pushed ahead, making sure to be the first one out.
“Let me make sure it’s safe.”
I couldn’t hear the gunfire as I could earlier, but the heat was growing, hazy smoke filled the air, and there was an ambient roar from upstairs as the flames consumed the building. I threw the door open, gripping the gun I’d taken from Dan tightly in my hand.
I expected a battle, or maybe no one. But I didn't expect to find Officer Barns with a group of other officers and a small team of EMTs, standing about three hundred feet away, watching the house burn.
Chapter 28
Mason
Igaspedinthefrigid air, sucking it deeply into my lungs. I struggled to catch my breath, with my injuries becoming more painful by the second. The day was bright, filled with clear winter light that's hard for your eyes to adjust to, especially after the comparative darkness of the stairwell and my father's office. I heard the pop of a single gunshot in the distance and then silence.
Claire looked up, noticing the first responders standing along the tree line with their vehicles on the curb. “Who are they?” Claire asked as she and Mila dragged the unconscious woman across the snow. The sight of her in the daylight was even more gruesome than I believed. The wound on her head was still red, raw, and open, with dried blood crusted along the edges and her curly hair matted down on either side.
“Ithinkthey’re here to help us,” I wanted to tell her not to worry, but I didn’t want to lie to her, and I wasn’t sure yet whether or not weneededto worry.
“I'm not sure we have much choice but to let them try,” Mila said as she dropped her corner of the blanket and sank to the ground, “I can't keep pulling her.”
“Neither can I,” Claire agreed, though she stayed on her feet. The woman was still unconscious. In the light of day, I almost felt bad for her. Daniel had not only beaten her today but clearly abused and cut her many, many times. That's what didn't sit right with me earlier. I knew exactly how my father treated his whores, as Daniel insinuated, like happy well-kept pets until he was ready to kill them. As sick and fucked up as he was, I never saw him dothat.