Psycho (The Line Walkers #2)

34. Chapter 34 – Maddox

Chapter 34 – Maddox

I drove through the city, with my tablet propped up on my dash, running a scan every few hundred yards, hoping and praying that something would come up on the tracker in that damn bracelet.

But with every passing city block, my anger soared higher at the lack of even a blip on the screen.

My phone lit up with a number I recognized as one I never answered willingly. Seconds away from declining, I cursed myself and hit the accept button.

“Feel like dying today?” I asked in place of a greeting.

Tamen’s cocky chuckle flowed through my truck’s speakers, annoying me before he even spoke. “Funny, coming from the man who lost everything worth living for yesterday.”

My blood thickened to lava as my heart rate slowed, preparing my body for battle against Dane’s kid brother. He was the only person on this earth that I allowed to walk away from a sure death. That was years ago, and he made me regret it every time we interacted.

“What do you know?” I asked menacingly.

“Well—” He started, but a feminine cry burned my ears, and I instantly recognized it as Liv’s pained voice. “I have Olivia.”

“Where?” I barked, “Put her on!” Another cry from her lips flowed through my speakers and I slammed on the brakes, sliding to a stop in the middle of the street as Tamen spoke to her, telling her to be quiet. “Tamen!”

“Calm down, big guy. She’s in labor. And we’re out of time. Get to Fifty First and Tallman St. Abandoned mercantile factory on the south side of the intersection. Don’t be seen and text me when you’re here.”

“Wait.” Liv’s breathy voice called out and there was a small scuffle on the phone before her voice came through the speakers at full volume. “Madd?”

“I’m here.” My voice broke as I heard her pained one, I already turned my truck around and aimed it in that direction, only a few blocks away from my home. “I’m right here, Storm.”

“Mack is with Damon. She played you.”

“It doesn’t matter.” I shook my head, imagining Liv in pain and in Damon’s clutches.

“It does.” She hissed and moaned in pain again. “They drugged me, Madd. They induced my labor to sell our baby into God only knows what. I’m in labor, and the contractions are so close and so painful.” She cried, gasping for breath, “He’s going to take our daughter, Madd.”

“Over my fucking dead body.” I promised with lethal calmness as I slid into the role of predator, ready to strike to save her. “I’m almost there, hold on for me.” No one was going to touch my daughter or the love of my life.

“Tamen is The Duke. Yesterday, he said he was going to kill you. I don’t know who to trust.” She hissed, and whimpered, “Fuck, it hurts.”

“I’m coming, Storm. I’m right around the corner. I love you.”

She groaned something in response and then her cries got louder as Tamen took the phone back.

“On the Tallman Street side of the building, there’s a loading dock. Come in through there, we’re on the fourth floor. I’ll bring her down the west stairwell.”

“Anything happens to her, that free pass gets rescinded.”

“Game on.” His smirk was audible, and I wanted to blow his head off his shoulders for the fucking fun of it.

I parked closer to the building than I should have, but with Liv in labor, she wouldn’t be able to walk far. I ditched my truck in a dark alley two buildings away from the one she was in, well aware that it could be a trap set by Tamen. But I couldn’t sit by and not try.

As I walked through the darkness toward the boarded-up building, I called Dane, getting straight to the point as soon as he answered.

“Tamen has Liv. He’s the Duke. He called, they’re a few blocks away from the loft. Damon induced her, and she’s in active labor. He plans to take my daughter.”

“Like hell.” Dane growled.

“Agreed. But it’s possible that Tamen set a trap.

“No,” Dane stated firmly. “There’s little in this life that my brother cares for, but he cares for Peyton. He wouldn’t betray her that way.”

“He already did!” I barked in a hushed tone as I was nearing the building. “He had Liv and didn’t fucking call until now.”

“There must be a reason. We’ll figure it out later. I’m on my way. Give me five minutes.”

The hospital was across town, but I knew Dane would make it in five either way. But I couldn’t wait another second. “Tamen said the Tallman St entrance to the old mercantile building on the corner of Fifty-First and Tallman. Loading dock. You can make your way to us when you get here.”

“Fuck!” He roared, and I heard his car rev in the background. “Okay, go.”

I hung up as I jumped up onto the black dock and pushed the steel door open. I finally had an outlet for all the rage and fear that had been burning in my gut for over twenty-four hours.

Heaven help the souls that I met on my way to Liv, because they were about to experience pain like no other.

I moved methodically, meeting undertrained Hell Eaters on my way and ripping their throats out with my bare hands for the fun of it as I moved up, floor by floor.

Damon never popped his head out of any of the rooms, but I was sure he knew I was there. Death had a way of calling to men like us, announcing its presence and testing which side of it you would fall on.

On the killer side, or on the deceased side.

I heard Liv’s hushed cries of pain on the third floor, and I barreled toward it, finding her in the center of chaos as a swarm of Hell Eaters, Damon included, attacked Tamen.

Tamen was a skilled killer, better than even me in ways. But he had Liv behind him, tucked against the wall as he fought off a dozen different men.

And my vision turned red as I bellowed out in rage, tearing men to pieces on my way to her.