“Fuck,” I groaned when I woke. Refusing to open my eyes, I squeezed them further shut when pain shot through my skull.

“Elsie?”

Snapping open my eyes, they widened in shock when I found Euan secured to two metal rings fixed into the brick wall behind him. Confusion bore deeper until I looked around the room.

“Shit!”

“Where the fuck are we?” Euan asked. His teeth gnawed on his bottom lip as he stared at me, waiting for an answer.

“I thought this was you.”

“What was me?” His previous stare turned to a glare, and he shook his head angrily.

“Who took me out.”

His sigh was heavy and frustrated. “Nope. Well if it was, it bounced back and took me with it.”

A feeling was niggling in my gut, a feeling I didn’t want to accept. My mouth was so dry I struggled to form words. “Who knew you were at Benny’s?”

He shrugged and narrowed his eyes. “No one. What are you thinking?”

I shook my head, refusing to give him access to my doubts – hell, even I didn’t want access to them.

“We’re at Three Blades.”

He looked around the room as if my information made him see the four walls differently. “I always thought this place was a myth.”

I scoffed. “Unfortunately not.”

“So, you’re one of the famous Weapons?”

I smirked when I watched wonder and admiration flicker in his eyes, the nickname for the Three Blades’ assassins known worldwide, although often never believed to exist until encountering one – much like Euan right at that moment. “Yep.”

He paused, weighing up his thoughts as I rattled the chains securing me to the two rings of my own. There was no way to get free of them, I knew that much.

“Is there any way out?” he asked, fiddling with his own binds.

“Yes.” He seemed surprised by my answer, until I added, “Dead.”

There was a long silence as we both contemplated every single idea of how we could get out; they were wasted thoughts, but instinctively human. I found it ironic that I found us both in this particular room. It had once been my training room, the steel rings I was currently attached to being the ‘maypole’ for the many ‘ribbons’ that had caused me great pain, and many tears.

My eyes dropped to the floor, and I winced, the stone slabs still exhibiting the stains from my initiation pursuits many years ago. Ghosts tugged at my mind, and I shook my head, dispersing them.

“So, my grandfather.” Small talk would be the only thing to keep us sane, that was until Frank decided to start his new game. “What’s he like?”

Euan hesitated, making me lift an eyebrow in interest.

“I take it by your lack of gushing sentiments that he’s an arsehole.”

“Oh, he’s definitely an arsehole, Elsie. In fact, he’s one of the best arseholes I’ve had the displeasure of knowing. Does the name Peter O’Keefe mean anything to you?”

My gasp gave him his answer.

“Yeah,” he continued with a heavy sigh. “I almost feel sorry for you.”

Peter O’Keefe was a multi-billionaire. PO Enterprises consisted of various businesses, from chains of restaurants and shopping centres, to airlines and music companies. It had been implied though that all these companies were just a front for Peter’s more darker trades. The Intel Three Blades received about Peter O’Keefe specified that as well as worldwide heroin distributions he was also selling child sex slaves. Of course, no one had ever been good enough to find evidence to prove all this. Up until now, I had never actually taken much more of an interest in him. Now, however, I wasn’t sure how I felt about, not only newly acquiring a grandfather, but said grandfather being Peter O’Keefe.

“I’d been assigned the task of finding you eight months ago. I do my homework, Elsie, I don’t like surprises, so I made sure to know who my client was intermediary for. I was a little shocked, but then not really. Peter O’Keefe is ruthless, and he always gets what he wants.”

“Me included it seems.” Clicking my tongue, I asked, “Is he my mother’s father, or my dad’s?”

“Your mother’s. She died a year ago. I’m sorry, Elsie.”

I nodded. “That’s okay; she’s been dead to me for a while now, this news isn’t new news to me.”

He winced, catching on to my lie, but nodded anyway. “Your grandfather only found out about you just after your mother’s death. When your mum was seventeen, she and Peter had a huge fight, I don’t know what about, but your mother left. Peter attempted to find her, many times and failed many times. It wasn’t until…”

“Go on,” I pressed when he hesitated.

Taking a breath, he grimaced. “Your mother was found dead in a crack house.”

“Wow,” I breathed out. “Turns out my family should have their own reality show.”

He scoffed. “She was an unknown, and the only way to identify her was from dental records. That’s when they were finally able to tell Peter O’Keefe what happened to his daughter. He learnt about you and Sally, and hired the best to find you.”

“Sally is here,” I informed him.

He nodded, the look of sympathy in his eyes contradictory to the coldness that was ever present. “I gathered.”

I frowned, the many thoughts in my head making the pain in my head worsen by the minute. “I didn’t even know I had a sister until yesterday.”

My revelation seemed to stun him for a moment. “How long has Sally been at Three Blades?”

I blew out a breath, thinking of the timid little girl and how scared she must be. “A couple of days.”

His head shook as confusion covered his face. “But she’s been missing for nearly six months.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. When Frank ‘obtains’ a new one, they are brought to Three Blades immediately so their training can begin.”

“Maybe someone else took her and Frank saved her from them?” he posed, shrugging at his own suggestion.

When I laughed bitterly, his forehead creased with further bafflement. “I thought Weapons were nurtured to be the best.”

“Oh, we’re trained to be the best,” I divulged. “But we’re definitely not nurtured. Not in any way.” I sighed, growing frustrated the more Frank dragged out his sport. He was a master at manipulation, and he knew the longer he made me wait, the more heated I would become.

Euan’s stomach growled, his hunger expressed loudly. I pitied him, for a moment. He had no idea how Frank worked, and if he was hungry now, he’d be eating his own tongue by the time Frank decided to make an entrance.

Weapons were taught how to endure this kind of situation, specially trained to give and receive torture, so we never gave in and supplied information, even in the most extreme cases of persecution. Euan, however, wasn’t, and even though he had pressed the tip of a blade into my flesh, I was concerned how far he would be able to go before insanity started to creep in.

“Euan.”

He looked over at me, rolling his head around his already aching neck.

“You do realise we could be here for some time, don’t you?”

He smirked, confounding me. “Your concern is quite sweet, Miss Grey. Very touching.”

“And now your sarcasm will make me smile when your mockery is exchanged for suffering.”

He chuckled, and I shook my head. He had no idea at the level of torture he would soon have to endure.

We both looked at the door when we heard the lock disengage, and bracing myself for the beginning of Frank’s wrath, I sucked in a long steadying breath and forced my heartbeat to regulate.

However, when Ebony hurried into the room, my composure wasn’t so cool.

“What the fuck, Eb?”

She rushed towards me, glancing over her shoulder towards the door. “We need to get you out of here. Quickly!”

My mouth dried but a rush of relief that my best friend hadn’t jack-knifed me, after all, had me licking my lips with guilt.

“How did you get the key?” I asked her as I rubbed my sore wrists, the chaffing from the metal making me hiss.

She grimaced and glanced towards the door again. “I did what I had to to get you out.”

Euan gave her a grateful smile when she released him from his steel loops.

Grabbing my arm, Ebony steered me towards the door. Billy, one of Frank’s top guys, was laid across the threshold, the perfect round hole in his forehead a signature of Ebony’s perfect shot.

“He’s moved Sally,” Ebony whispered with a look of pain. “I tried to find her, but she’s gone. I don’t know where.”

I skidded to a stop, my heart in my mouth. “What the fuck? Then I need…”

“Frank’s not here either, Els. He took her with him.”

Her disclosure injected every cell cruising through my body with rage. Frank had kept her from me for a reason, and, still, he was risking so much by keeping her away.

“Eb, what the hell is going on?”

She shrugged and gave me a pained look, before hurrying along the corridor and coming to a stop at the corner. Throwing me a Glock she held a finger to her lips, silencing me. A quick nudge of her head told me to take cover.

Giving her a nod, she winked at me, and then flung herself around the edge of the wall, dropping to the floor at the same time. Two shots and she was back, grinning.

“Come on,” she coaxed as she slipped through a side door.

Following her, I hugged Felicity and Tehni when they stood ready for us. Tehni threw me a duffel bag as her gaze slid to Euan. “You trust him?”

“Yes.” It was a quick but truthful answer.

Felicity nodded and tossed him a compact Browning. “You prove her wrong; I’ll cut you down in two easy steps.”

“How come two? I’d have taken you for a one-shot-wonder,” Euan taunted as he checked the ammo in the gun and took off the safety.

Felicity smirked as she placed her hand on the door handle and waited for my acknowledgement to exit. “Oh, it would only take me one shot to kill you, but where’s the fun in that? You have two lungs, two knees, two balls, two eyes. I just haven’t decided which I’m going for yet.”

“May I suggest the bollocks?” Tehni interjected with a grin. “I love to see men drop to their knees, holding their fucking testicles like cum-sacks are worth so much more than the ability to breathe.”

“I agree,” Ebony laughed. “So sad. See, this is why I go for the pussy every time, so much more manly at the end of the day.”

“Like that makes any fucking sense, Eb!” Felicity bickered, screwing up her face with incredulity.

Rolling my eyes at Euan when he stared at my friends with amazement, their banter always as entertaining as it was frustrating, I scowled at Felicity. “Shut the fuck up with the girl chat, and let’s get the hell out of here. I need to find my sister!”

All three girls saluted me, Ebony with two fingers and a pout.

“On it, Sister! I have a contact already lined up, but first, we need to hole-up somewhere safe. We can’t risk being gung-ho, Els.”

I nodded, agreeing with Ebony. “Sally is our priority.”

“Agreed,” Felicity and Tehni declared in unison.

“We’ll find them, Els,” Ebony promised with a quick squeeze of my arm and a soft smile.

“We have to,” Euan added. “Mr O’Keefe is expecting both his grand-daughters. And I never fail to deliver.”

Quirking an eyebrow at him, I regarded him. “You’re in?”

“Yes, I’m fucking in.” He sounded angry, and that confused me. “I was so damn close after eight months. Both you girls need a family. That’s a given. But I’m also being selfish. This is a well-paid job.” He smirked. “And I’m a greedy man, Elsie. In every way.”

My eyebrow lifted even higher, his choice of words both amusing and arousing me.

Shaking myself, I looked back to my friends. “Okay, let’s get out of here.”

“Time to kick ass, and shoot some fucking bullets!” Tehni declared.

“Or,” Ebony chuckled, “Shoot some ass and kiss some bullets.” When we all stared at her, she huffed and shook her head. “You’re all dead to me.”

“You’ll get used to them,” I told Euan when he gaped at Ebony.

“You know, I very much doubt that,” he laughed as he followed me out into the darkness. “But what the hell, spending the next few days with four hot women, it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”

Rolling my eyes, I sighed. “Four Weapons, Mr Sinclair,” I corrected. “Four very deadly Weapons.”

He nodded, the movement only just caught in the dim light. “I may need those balls after all.”

“I’m sure we can lend you some.”

He didn’t reply, but even in the darkness I just knew he was grinning.