Chapter Twenty-Eight #2
Do they have other men here and if they do, where are they? I don’t think they can circle around behind us, not fast enough. The place is a fucking maze. There is no chance they would send three men to save me. The Devil’s Chaos is a family, and they fight as a family.
“I’m going to kill her, unless someone tells me where my wife is.”
Dominic’s jaw clenches. He might have already put two and two together but hearing it confirmed has enraged him. I’m desperate to ask if Eli is okay.
“Where is she? Where are the people who took her?”
I run my hand along my waist band and towards the pocket of my pants. He is preoccupied fending off the men who came to save me so doesn’t notice what I’m doing.
Dad does. His eyes narrow when he sees the glint of the knife as I pull it from my pocket.
It’s a paring knife. The one I used to kill the other asshole, small but sharp as fuck.
When he was dragging me across the floor, I managed to grab it and shove it into the pocket, before he punched me in the face and knocked me out.
It was the first thing I checked when I woke up. Luckily, I hadn’t stabbed myself with it when he was moving me around. Dad’s head shake is imperceptible but I don’t see any other way out of this. I struggle a bit and he grabs me tighter, the gun slips away from my temple as he tries to control me.
This is really fucking stupid of me, and if I make it through, they’ll all be so pissed.
Everything happens in slow motion. I can’t stop to think about it, I reach up with the arm away from where he is holding the gun, pushing it across the front of my body and ram the knife under his chin, pushing upward.
“Cassie!” Dominic screams.
“Drop!” Dad’s booming voice is louder than anyone else’s and I don’t question it, falling to the floor, a spray of blood following and splashing over my shoulder.
Two gunshots ring out but I’ve crouched with my hands over my head, clutching the knife. A gurgling sound is coming from behind me as Hudson and Dominic run over. They both go to the man behind me, his legs are kicking about and he’s moaning.
I keep my eyes on dad as he walks toward us. A gun goes off again, and the man stops moving. Dad crouches down in front of me and carefully takes the knife from me. He pockets it and crushes my hand in his, not enough to hurt, to show me he’s glad I’m not dead.
“Don’t ever tell your mother you did that.”
I can’t help it, I start to laugh. His lip hitches up but before I can say anything more, Dominic is pulling me up and wrapping his arms around me. Then he holds me at arms length and looks me over, seeing all the blood, dried and fresh.
I’m trying not to think about that.
“Are you hurt?” he asks.
I squeeze my lips together and shake my head. Our eyes lock and he reads what I can’t say. What he means to me, how thankful I am that he came for me. And the one other thing that matters to me, to both of us.
“He’s alive. He’s at the Sussex compound, Doc has him.”
I fall against his chest and he cups the back of my head, pressing his cheek against the crown.
“We have to go.”
Hudson waves a hand and two more men come out of nowhere. One of them is the Reaper for the club. Without a second thought or even pause, he bends and lifts the dead man, throwing him over his shoulder and disappears the way he came. No one will ever know what happened to him.
“I don’t think anyone heard but we shouldn’t take any chances,” War comes over. “You good Cass.”
“I want to get out of here.”
Dominic bends his knees and picks me up. “I can walk.” I slap his shoulder.
He leans close and kisses me, then pulls back. “I don’t care.”
“Ass,” I mutter and behind me I hear War laugh.
They don’t waste any time. The bikes are parked in a lot near to a one story building, along with a van which Dominic opens and sets me on the passenger seat.
He runs around and gets in the drivers side, while everyone else gets on their bike.
I watch my dad through the windshield, he nods at Dominic and waves him ahead.
“I need to see him,” I say as Dominic pulls my seatbelt over me.
He starts driving after Hudson and War.
“That was fucking stupid what you did there.”
“Yell at me later.”
“I’m not going to yell at you.” I glance at him and see the fear still lingering in his eyes. “I’ll let Eli do that.”
A small laugh escapes, but I lose the smile as we drive away from the port. I don’t know how they managed to get in and out so fast and with no one stopping us but even if I did ask, they wouldn’t tell me. All that matters is that they showed up.
“How did you know?” I ask once we’re on the highway.
“Eli hit the SOS app on your phone.”
I quieten as I think about that. A few weeks ago I’d been planning to delete that app. It’s only that I didn’t want the hassle I’d get from my family if I did, that I left it installed. It’s the reason Eli is alive and I’m safe.
I reach a hand toward Dominic. He lets go of the wheel and takes my hand, holding it against his thigh, his quiet strength stopping me from losing it.
“You’re okay,” he reassures me.
“Who was he?”
“His name is Bernard Singer. He runs a smuggling operation through the port. I recently started working with him, that was where I was the other night.”
I won’t tell Dominic he said he was using him to get to us and find out where his wife had gone. I sit back and watch the world passing by, thinking about his wife, what she must have gone through.
Everything changed for her when she found out she was pregnant. That’s how it happens sometimes. Women put up with so much but as soon as a child becomes a possibility they have to escape, to protect their child.
Dominic can fill me in properly later, right now, I just want his quiet strength, the firm, warmth of his hand wrapped around mine, and the knowledge that Eli is safe. One man I’ve fallen hard for is bringing me to the other.
If that isn’t some soap opera shit, I don’t know what is.