Chapter 32
Bridger
“Man, this is fucking depressing,” Chase muttered against the motel door. “There’s beaches in Chicago, you know? Shitty beaches, but still.”
I laughed from my spot on the bed. It’d be mine and Juliette’s spot tonight before we left the city forever. It was a small motel room. Basic. Bed, TV, little bathroom. Just a place to stop along the way before the real journey started.
All the hard shit was over and done with.
Almost all the hard shit was over and done with.
Burying Gordon, all the dumb discussions with cops, the bullshit grieving time.
Juliette had to go to her place today and hand over the keys.
It wasn’t her home anymore. Hell, it never was.
Our home was always a place we’d have together. Just me and her.
She had insisted on coming back to the motel on her own.
It’d look too suspicious to have my car—or one of the guys’ cars—lingering around the area post murder.
So, she was getting a cab back, and I couldn’t help but feel anxious, my foot tapping against the bed, all jittery and uneasy.
After everything she had been through, I just wanted her safe. I wanted our baby safe.
“I know,” I said, pushing a hand through my hair. “But that’s not what she wants, and what she wants…”
“She gets.” Chase finished the sentence for me. “I guess we can’t stop you.”
“As soon as we got into that house and I saw the way you were looking at her, I knew something like this was gonna happen,” Chase said. “I mean, I didn’t think you’d be moving to goddamn North Carolina, but I knew something was up.”
I sighed. “Just because I’m moving to North Carolina doesn’t mean we’ll never see each other again. You guys can come down and visit. You’re all gonna be uncles soon, anyway.”
“I can’t believe you’re gonna be a dad,” Bennett said, head shaking a little as he leaned against the bathroom doorway. “That’s crazy. Everything that’s happened the last few months has been crazy…”
“Yeah, we’re supposed to be breaking into homes and robbing rich assholes,” Chase said. “When did that get so fuckin’ complicated?”
I snorted, eyes darting to the door, and then to the clock, and then back to the door. I wanted Juliette back and in my arms.
“What’s so good about the Outer Banks, anyway?” Chase asked. “I’ve never even been down there. What’s the status on the rich folk? Maybe me and Bennett can have a little field trip down there.”
I chuckled. “Speaking of… You guys ready for tonight?”
“Yes, but what happened to not wanting to risk it all?” Bennett asked. “You can’t be over that already.”
I frowned for a second. “I’m not. But this is just one last thing I need to do before I leave Chicago.”
One last thing meaning one last kill. Gordon was long gone, but there was still the matter of the man who sold his daughter off, and I wasn’t leaving the city until I knew Walter Ashford was dead. That was the price he was about to pay for what he had done to Juliette.
It’d be easy enough to break into his house even though it had been a long time since I had been in it.
All those long, late nights where I snuck into Juliette’s bedroom were memories I’d never forget.
But tonight? Tonight was about revenge. We’d make it look like our usual gig.
The guys would steal shit, and I’d be busy putting a bullet into her dad’s head.
“You have to kill Juliette’s dad?” Bennett asked.
“I know he kept you away from Juliette and he did all that shit, but is she gonna forgive you if you do something like this?” Chase asked. “Killing her husband was one thing, but her dad?”
“He knew about Gordon,” I explained. “He knew everything. He was there from the start. He was the one who sold Juliette off to Gordon and made sure she couldn’t get out. He had every chance to stop it. He didn’t. He let it happen, so he’s gonna die.”
“And… is Juliette okay with this?” Bennett asked, voice a tiny bit hesitant.
I smiled. “She’s the one who asked me to do it.”
Chase snorted. “You two are meant for each other.”
“I got lucky,” I said. “So, we good for tonight? I don’t want him breathing for another day.”
Bennett nodded. “Yeah, you can count me in.”
“This is why I love you boys,” I said, “and this is why I’m gonna miss you.”
“Oh, she’s here,” Chase said, peering through the motel room blinds.
“Well, don’t spy on her,” I said, getting off the bed and shoving him away from the window. “You’re gonna freak her out.” Pulling open the door, I let Juliette quickly sneak inside.
“Hi,” Juliette said, eyes darting between me and the guys. She had a little duffel bag in hand. That was her whole life, stuffed into one bag. “It’s a party.”
I laughed, pulling the bag out of her hand and letting it hit the floor. Then I wrapped an arm against her waist and brought her to me, loving the way she fit right up against me. How she fit so damn well.
“Are you guys sure about tonight?” she asked, voice a little timid. “I don’t want you to get caught…”
“That’s offensive,” I muttered. “We know how to avoid that.”
She smiled, pressing her face to my chest. “I just meant… I don’t want anything bad to happen to the three of you. You’re putting a lot on the line tonight. You’re risking so much.”
“We know what we’re doing,” Bennett said. “We can make it look like a robbery gone wrong—and as you know, we have a lot of experience with them.”
“Yeah, I know.” Her brows rose. “So… how are you gonna… you know?”
“We won’t touch your mom if that’s what your worried about,” I said. “But we’ll tie her up and make her open the safe or something. Grab whatever cash and jewelry they have. Bennett or Chase can keep her busy with that while I kill your dad.”
Eyes widening a little, she gave me a shocked sounding laugh. “You say it so casually…”
“I guess we’re used to this kinda thing.” I shrugged before turning to the guys. “You boys ready? One last night on the town. You good to go?”
Bennett and Chase gave each other a nod, and that was when I felt Juliette’s fingers nervously tapping against my chest. Her soft fingers tugged at my T-shirt a little, pulling at the material with nervous twists.
“Be careful,” she whispered, hazel eyes blinking my way. “Come back to me, Bridger.”
I swiped a thumb across her bottom lip. “Always.”
* * *
“This is so bittersweet,” Bennett said, looking over his shoulder at me, only his lips and eyes on show thanks to his balaclava. “I can’t believe this is our last ever job…”
“We can’t have a heart to heart now,” I said, tugging my own mask down a tiny bit, making sure it was tight and secure. “We’ll do that in the car.”
“I know, but… You guys are like my brothers.” Bennett sighed, his hand on the door handle. “It’ll feel weird with one of us gone.”
“We’ll all mope about this later, because right now, we’ve got something else to take care of…” I gave Bennett’s shoulder a friendly slap, nodding towards the door.
A serious look took over his eyes before he turned back around and pushed the door open. I always waited for that shrill, obnoxious noise of an alarm going off—just in case. All I heard was silence, though. Like always, Bennett knew what he was doing.
“This is it, boys,” I said. “One last house for old times’ sake.”
“Let’s do it,” Bennett said, voice suddenly a lot more steady. “Twenty minutes, in and out.”
Bennett opened the door further, allowing us full access to the foyer. The foyer I hadn’t seen in so long. Even in the dark, I could tell it still looked the same. Just like Gordon’s place. Cold and clinical. Zero warmth.
I found the long, winding staircase, my footsteps light as I made my way up them. Around the corner, down the hall. We went past Juliette’s old room and I quickly looked over at it, the door closed. I wondered what they had done to it. If they kept any part of her in the house.
We went by her dad’s office and a few other bedrooms and bathrooms until we got right to the end of the hall, to our target: her parents’ bedroom.
“I got him. Bennett, you get her,” I reminded them, but we had gone over the plan at least ten times now. We all knew what our roles were.
The room was dark as I kept my flashlight on the bed, letting it run from top to bottom, until I could see just enough of Juliette’s sleeping parents. Walter and Angelica.
I pounced, hand tangling in her father’s hair, yanking him off the bed and thoroughly enjoying the pained groan he gave me as I threw him right to the floor. Angelica gasped, but that sound only lasted a second, because Chase quickly spoke and cut her off.
“No running, no screaming, no crying,” Chase said, flicking on the lights.
It gave me a much better chance to see him. To see the man who kept me away from his daughter, the man who made sure I was sent away for a crime I wouldn’t ever think about committing. Most importantly, he sat back and twiddled his thumbs while that fucker abused his daughter.
His gray hair was all messy, his eyes looking back at me as I kept him pinned to the carpet. I could see terror in his eyes as I shoved my gun into his neck, a pathetic whimper escaping his lips. Oh, I was gonna have so much fun killing him.
“Do you have a safe?” Chase asked.
“I… I… Yes,” Walter finally said. “We have a safe. You can have everything inside. We have lots of money. Plenty of it. Take whatever you want!”
“If you wanna do the honors,” Bennett said, nodding at me as he guided Angelica off the bed. “Show us your safe, your watches, and your jewelry. We won’t hurt you if you cooperate.”
Honors meant dragging Walter off to another room and killing him. A plan I intended to follow through with. Digging my fingers into the thin strands of his hair, I hauled him up, lodged my gun into his back, and shoved him out of the room and down the hallway.
“Where are you taking me?” he asked, voice panicked. “All the expensive stuff is in the bedroom back there.”
But I didn’t want his stuff. I wanted his life.