The Gender Game 2 by Bella Forrest (audio ebook reader .TXT) 📕

wavering. Ms. Dale slowly reached behind her back, and pulled out the gun. She pinched it between two fingers, and passed it over to me.

Once the gun was in my hand, I aimed it at her, and took a few steps back. It was more a stagger than a walk, but it was better than I could ever hope for, given my current state.

“What took you so long?” I asked Violet as I stared at Ms. Dale.

I caught a shadow of a smile cut across her lips. “I had to make you wait so you would appreciate it more,” she replied.

“Consider me appreciative.”

“Are you two quite done flirting?” Ms. Dale asked, her voice frosty.

“You do not get to speak to me,” Violet hissed, her grip tightening on the gun. “Not after what I’ve seen.”

I heard the rage behind Violet’s voice, and I looked at her, concerned.

She shook her head, her hands starting to tremble. “I ought to shoot you right now. Did you know?”

“What?” Ms. Dale asked.

Violet’s jaw clenched, her face hard and unrelenting. I had never seen her like this before. The joking Violet was gone, replaced by a creature of rage. I could practically feel the room heating up from her fury.

“Violet,” I said, keeping my tone even. Her gray eyes flitted to me and I raised my eyebrows at her. “What did you see?”

Violet took a shaky breath. “I found them,” she grated out. “I found the boys who failed the test.”

I blinked as I absorbed the information, quickly analyzing the implications of it. For her to be this angry meant that how she had found them was less than pleasant.

Ms. Dale shifted, and I glanced over at her. Her face looked pale and her mouth was pinched in a small frown. I catalogued her reaction, but turned my focus on Violet. Ms. Dale could wait, for the time being.

“How bad?”

Tears were glittering in her eyes as she stared down the barrel at Ms. Dale. “Bad,” she whispered.

I nodded, hesitating over the next question. “Are they dead?”

She shook her head, unable to articulate. “Worse.”

I took a step toward her, and she flinched away. For a second, I thought she was going to point the gun at me, but she just looked at me, her face promising violence.

“Violet,” I said softly.

“What?” she snapped.

I let out a slow breath. “Where is your brother?”

Tears finally spilled onto her cheeks, and she lowered the gun a little. “I don’t know,” she admitted in a croak.

“Okay. Let’s go find him,” I urged her.

She was wavering, her instincts warring within her. I knew what she was feeling in that moment—I felt it myself after my wife had been hung. It was a deep resentment, a need to punish those responsible for the pain and injustice that had been suffered. She was teetering on the brink of darkness. I had faced that same evil from within, and I hadn’t given in.

I knew Violet would win. It never crossed my mind that she would pull that trigger. She was capable—we all were—but at her core, Violet didn’t want vengeance, she wanted her brother back. She wanted peace.

My relief was almost palpable when she finally lowered the gun. “Cuff her. She’s coming with us.”

I nodded, and aimed my gun at Ms. Dale. The older woman gave an irritated sigh, and then grabbed one set of cuffs.

“Is this really necessary?” she asked, indicating her shoulder.

“In front of you, so you can keep the sling on,” I suggested with a smile.

Her mouth pinched in disdain and annoyance. I kept my eyes and gun on her while I moved to Violet, taking her in my arm.

She pressed her face against my shoulder. “Are you okay?” she whispered.

“Of course,” I lied.

“Who are they, and why are they unconscious?” she asked, indicating the two women.

“Oh, yeah. Violet, meet Selina and Marina, third and fourth in line of succession.”

Violet’s eyes took in the two women at the floor. “Did they faint at the sight of your face?”

I chuckled, and then gave a grunt of pain as my ribs protested. I was relieved, however, to see a spark of the old Violet.

“Actually, they decided they wanted to improve upon my good looks.”

Ms. Dale watched our exchange as she slipped the handcuffs over her wrists, her face contemplative. I didn’t like the look there, but now wasn’t the time.

“What’s the plan?” I asked.

“Cuff these two and head downstairs,” Violet replied as she stepped over Selina’s legs. She stooped and quickly snapped cuffs over the twin’s wrists.

“Violet—” I said, intending on warning her about their super strength.

She flashed me a look so cold and dangerous, I half expected to start bleeding from a cut. “What?” she snapped.

I grimaced. She had every right to be upset, but I wasn’t going to allow her to take it out on me. I walked over to her and gripped her hard by the shoulders.

“First of all, you need to calm down—you are getting angry with me, and I’m on your side.”

Ms. Dale scoffed, but I ignored her, focusing my attention on Violet. Her eyes were wide and wet, and her bottom lip was quivering.

“What’s the second thing?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

I sighed. I wanted to tell her that it wouldn’t do any good, but she had too much on her plate at the moment. I could see the strain in her, and the urgency in which she wanted to head back downstairs was palpable.

So instead, I pulled her tight to my chest and hugged her. It took her a few seconds, but then she returned the hug, wrapping her arms around me gently. It still hurt—but I held it back from her. She was hurting more than both of us—my wounds were physical and would heal. Hers were emotional and would scar heavily. She had enough on her plate—I couldn’t add to it at that moment by telling her about the twins.

Especially given her state of mind. She might kill them, something I knew my Violet