“Alex.” Rafe shook my shoulders, and my attention snapped to him. “That’s it. Look at me.” But his worried gaze swerved toward the back of the room.

I turned and found Jax fingering one of the oversized portraits of his mother. He lowered his arm, glanced at Cleft, and his face went pale.

“He deserved it.” His jaw slackened, as if he couldn’t believe he’d pulled the trigger.

“Jax!” Rafe shouted as footsteps thundered from the tunnel. “Punch in the fucking code!”

Blinking with a jolt, Jax dragged his gaze from Cleft and hurried to the door that stood between us and freedom. His fingers trembled as he entered a string of numbers, but nothing happened. “Fuck!” He rested his head against the door, closed his eyes for a few moments, then tried again.

Someone banged on the door leading to the hall. “What’s going on in there? Cleft?”

Rafe and I exchanged a glance, and his fingers threaded through mine. The doorknob jiggled.

“Hurry,” Rafe told Jax in a loud whisper.

More beeping. More cursing. More footsteps.

“Open up!” That sounded like Brock, and the consequent body-slam that shook the door supported my suspicion. I jumped, and Rafe and I backed toward Jax, who wrenched the heavy door open. We scrambled up the darkened staircase, but Jax stalled at the bottom to close and lock the entrance.

“Can they get through there?” Rafe asked.

“No. Door’s made of steel and no one but me and Cleft knows the code…knew the code.” He slumped toward the bottom step. “I killed him…”

“Get the fuck up,” Rafe said, taking a step downward. “You can have a pity party later.”

Jax’s features hardened in determination, and he began climbing the stairs. He squeezed past us and opened another door. The three of us entered what must be the basement of the house. Decades worth of furniture and art cluttered the space between the slab walls.

Rafe slid the hood off his head and shrugged out of the jacket. “Can you get that fucking thing off her neck now?”

As I pulled the hoodie on, covering my breasts, Jax shuffled through several keys until he found the one he was looking for. I tilted my head back, baring my neck. The lock clicked over and the choker fell free, dropping to the floor where the chain pooled around the collar.

I drew in a deep breath, but it didn’t quite fill my lungs. “Can we get out of here now?” I wouldn’t be satisfied until this place was behind us. I didn’t know if I could handle getting this far just to have Lucas toss us back into that tunnel. I thought about the women still trapped down there and shuddered.

“What about the others?” Rafe asked, as if he’d read my mind.