19. Chapter Eighteen
(While Holly is napping)
Leaving her in the bedroom alone aches more than I thought it would. I want nothing more than to slide in next to her, wrap my arms around her, pull her close, and nestle my face in the silk of her wings.
I stop at the desk, staring at the mess Rhett left. Papers are scattered everywhere. I can’t even see the keyboard to the computer.
“Wild, Rhett. You know better,” I tsk, gathering the papers to look for the order book he needed. “I can’t find shit in this mess. This is why I need to oversee the desk. How does he work like this?” I grumble, finally finding the book.
It’s under a stack of papers under the damn keyboard. “How do you manage this, Rhett? No, we need to hire someone to manage the desk. This is not okay.” He scratched ‘order book’ on the front of the cover with his talons.
A sticker would have worked. A marker.
But no, he had to use his talons.
I don’t flip through the book or become nosey. I trust Rhett with what he has to do for the business. I toss the book in the driver’s seat of the van and begin looking for all the places the VIN is. I’ll need to do a VIN clone. I’ll worry about the title and registration later.
Luckily, I know a guy, but I want to do as much as I can with everything I have here at the shop.
Obviously, the primary place for the VIN is the lower left corner of the windshield but there are a few other locations where it could be too. Engine bay, driver’s door frame, trunk floor, and a few other places. It also depends on the make and model and since I don’t know this year of Volkswagen van very well, I’m just going to look in every single nook and cranny.
I’m going to start with the easiest place. All I need to do is heat-up the VIN sticker and use the tip of a razor blade to peel it back.
“Where is that damn hair dryer?” I mumble to myself.
It’s right in front of my face.
Like everything is when I’m fucking looking for it.
I get to work, heating the sticker while peeling it back with a razor blade. I’m not sure how long it takes. I’m not keeping track of time, but a shadow catches my attention out of my peripheral vision.
Turning off the loud hum of the dryer, I look up, rolling my damn eyes when I see no other than my mom and dad standing in the entryway of the garage door.
“You two are either the most persistent people or the stupidest. You know,” I shake my finger at them, setting down the dryer. “I’m going to go with stupidest.”
“Is that how you speak to your mother now?” She feigns being emotionally hurt.
“Please, Mom. You and I both know you aren’t capable of actual feelings. No need to pretend.”
“Don’t speak to your mother that way,” Dad harrumphs, reaching for the garage door to close it.
“You stopped being my parents the moment you beat me to near death. You stopped being my mom when you did nothing but allow Dad’s abuse. You stopped being my parents when you threatened Heather at sixteen. You aren’t my parents and even if I did have any love for you, I wouldn’t respect you. Just like I don’t respect you now. What the hell are you doing here? I don’t think I could get any more clear about the business. I’m not fucking interested.”
“Fitsgerald, is that a tattoo? How dare you ruin your body—”
“—We aren’t talking about me. What do you want?”
“This is your last chance to come work for the company,” my dad threatens. “We need you there. I know you have a trust fund. We need that money for the business.”
“Not my problem you don’t know how to manage your fortune. Your problem isn’t my problem.”
“Remember you have to, or I will go after your sister.”
I toss my head back and laugh. “No, you won’t. You don’t know where she is. Do you really think I was stupid enough to leave her without knowing she would be safe from you? You underestimate me.” I wipe my hands out of habit on a stained rag. “You always have, and I’ve always proved you wrong.”
“Wallsworth Candy won’t fail because of you.”
“No, it failed because of you. You. Not me. I wasn’t part of this. You two—” I point at them, “are a disease. Do you hear me? You’re a fucking waste of space. The more you stand in front of me, the more I hate you. You are so selfish. You are incapable of seeing the problem you caused and want to point fingers at everyone else. You are incapable of accepting your mistakes. You want others to fix them. You’re willing to force me to do something I don’t want to do. You went as far as pulling Heather and Elijah into this.” I take a step back so I’m close to a few items that can be used as a weapon.
I don’t have my gun on me. I left it at home.
I thought the threat of violence was over for the day after thing one and two circled like vultures around Holly’s house.
“Get out before I call the cops.”
“You won’t be calling anyone anymore.”
To my surprise, Dad pulls a gun on me, aiming it directly at my chest.
“Really? You’re going to shoot me? How would you get the trust fund then, Dad? If I die, all my money goes to Heather and Elijah. That’s how I have it set up.”
“I’ll kill them too.”
“You’re a monster,” I sneer.
“No, they are monsters.” He swings the gun from left to right.
Three other shadows flank me. I turn my head from one side to the other, confused about how my dad knows anything about monster DNA experiments.
All of them have the skin of a snake and reptilian eyes. They remind me of Rhett.
“What the fuck is going on?” I do my best to keep calm. My heart is racing. The air is thick with the promise of war and looking at the five-to-one odds, I’m a goner.
My mom won’t do anything to me. She is all bark and no bite, but my dad and his monster cronies? I’m done for. I can’t fight for my life when the fight is already over before it even begins.
I can’t let him know I know about the DNA experiments. He’d latch onto that bit of information and want to know who my friends are. I can’t do that to Rhett or Creed. And I will die before I ever say Holly’s name to this man.
My family’s money issues start clicking in my head. All the details start forming a picture. All the puzzle pieces slide together with no issue. Wallsworth Candy is having money issues because they funded the monster DNA experiments.
It’s my family that tortured the ones I love.
The information has my head spinning. Guilt is a burden weighing on my heart, twisting my stomach into knots.
Dad strolls up to me with confidence, his pristine suit unwrinkled. For a guy complaining about money, he doesn’t seem to mind paying for brand-name clothes.
He stops in front of me, the barrel of the gun touching the middle of my chest.
“Either you work for me, or I’ll let these monsters have their way with you. Aren’t they wonderful? So unique, so special. They will make me millions when we can get the testing correct.”
Rage has my fingers curling into my palms. My teeth tighten together until they hurt. Anger flushes my entire body with heat.
I can’t stop myself. It’s as if I’m having an out-of-body experience because I’m not a violent guy. I consider myself a lover, not a fighter.
I’ll always choose to die fighting for who has never left me feeling lonely.
I wrap my hand around the gun, my father's clammy hand dampening my skin. We struggle for dominance, yanking and pulling on the gun. His elbow hits me in my nose, blood pouring from my nostrils and down my lips.
One of his monster bodyguards steps forward but Dad stops them.
“Don’t. This is between me and my son.”
“I am not your son,” I growl, slamming my steel-toed boot down on his Italian-leather covered feet.
He shouts from the pain and yet it isn’t enough for him to let go of the weapon.
Something sharp and quick snaps in the air, slicing the back of my knees. A growl echoes in the shop’s chamber, and a long tail riddled with spikes drags across the floor. It scrapes deep divots into the concrete. The monster ignored the order from my father, and he is staring at me with the intent to kill.
Every single tooth he shows is sharp and pointed. He’s ready to tear me limb from limb.
I drop to my knees from the pain. Blood drips down my legs, soaking my jeans. Even with the agony, I refuse to let go of the gun. Nothing will stop me except death.
“Stop doing this to yourself, Fitz. Stop fighting me.”
“Listen to your father, Fitz!” Mom yells.
It’s my turn. I slam my elbow against his groin and that causes him to crumble. Rearing my head back, I smash it against his nose. The bone crushes beneath my forehead. His blood spatters against my face. My ears ring and a violent electric pain zaps through my skull.
I’m dizzy. My vision is out of focus. I try to shake it off, kicking my dad in the stomach when the gun goes off.
If I thought my ears were ringing before, it’s nothing compared to now. Even the monsters cover their ears. I groan, my hold weakening on the gun.
I refuse to relent.
The glass window that allows us to see into the office shatters. Holly flies through the space, her eyes glowing yellow, and her fangs drop to show her stance.
She’s coming to save me.
Isn’t that wild? I’m the damsel in distress and I don’t mind one fucking bit.
Her tail wraps around one monster’s neck, snapping it like a twig. He drops to the ground. His limp body is dead weight and his head smacks against the ground. The beasts' lifeless reptilian eyes view me in death.
Holly roars, ramming her horns through the skull of another. She yanks her head, the horns tearing through bone. Brain matter and blood fly through the air, landing on the ground next to me.
She’s so damn sexy when she is protecting me. I’ll need to put myself in these positions more often.
It leaves one beast left and my dad.
“You’re fucking sick.” I finally rip the gun away from him, aiming it at his chest, gasping for breath from our fight. My head is killing me. Warmth drips from my left ear and I wipe it away. Glancing down, I rub the liquid between my fingers.
Blood.
Holly screeches, her wings spread out in fury, and her talons rip through the last creature’s eyes. She claws at his face, ripping it to shreds until it is unrecognized.
Black blood gurgles and sprays from his face. Grabbing his head with her hands, she twists it, tossing his body next to the others.
She marches over to my mom next, drenched in the enemy's blood. Her blue hair is red, and the beautiful white of her feathers is splattered with it too.
There’s never been a prettier sight.
Mom is lying on the ground, hands over her stomach. When the gun went off, she must have been shot.
“Do you even care that your mother is dying?” The man who used to be my father shouts at me, spit flying everywhere.
“No. I stopped caring about the two of you a long time ago.”
“She’s already dead,” Holly hisses, sauntering over to my side.
There’s a small pain rippling through my heart. She was my mom. There will always be a part of me that will wish things were different.
“Do you care she’s dead?”
His eyes swim with tears. “Of course. She was my partner. I loved her. And you took her from me!” He reaches for me, and I cock the gun.
“How many other facilities are there? How many?” I yell, shoving the gun against his forehead.
A serpentine grin spreads across his evil face. “So many I’ve lost count.”
I don’t think. I don’t hesitate.
I pull the trigger.
His head jerks back, a river of blood rolling down the bridge of his broken nose.
And he falls.
I’m still trying to wrap my mind around what just happened as I look around. Blood is everywhere. There are five dead bodies. I’m sure the cops will be here soon.
“Are you okay?” Holly checks me all over for any wounds, snarling when she sees the cuts on the back of my legs. Her tongue licks the wounds, and they begin to heal.
“Oh, am I interrupting?” Lorcan stands in the middle of the massacre. He rubs his temples. “You two are keeping me busy and stressing me out. Come on. How dare you have a party without me? I thought we were friends. This is rude. You’re rude.” He points his fingers at us. “I’ll be back for next time.”
He snaps his fingers again, taking the bodies with him and leaving us to clean up our mess.
I stumble backward, the van catching me before I fall over. “I killed my dad.”
“I can go to Purgatory to see if he is there and kill him again.”
I tug Holly to me; uncaring how dirty we are with blood. “You’d do that? How would you even get there?”
“Lorcan is a friend. I know him from when I was in Purgatory. I’m sure I can hitch a ride. I’ll find both of your parents and kill their souls, so they no longer exist in this universe.”
“Would that take me and my sister from existence?” I wonder.
The wind is sucked from her sails. “I’m not willing to risk that.”
“I love you Wild.” I hold her close to me, needing her touch, her scent, and the way she holds me as if she never wants to let me go.
Like I’ll never be alone again.
“I love you too, Doe Eyes.”
She’s my Wild.