Jethro #2
She smoothed the blanket over her useless legs. Legs that’d been payment for me. Disability given by our father who would now answer for his crimes.
Tonight was the night everything ended.
Cut’s life was the full stop on his terrible reign.
Jaz nodded, too. Wordlessly giving me permission and strength. Her eyes narrowed on Cut. “I tried to be the daughter you wanted, but I was never good enough. I hope that thought alone haunts you for eternity.”
Cut’s chest rose with an influx of breath, repentance bright in his gaze.
She didn’t give him forgiveness like Nila had. She’d suffered too much at his hand to be so selfless.
Her switch of fear for me and need for retribution drenched her. She wanted me to do this. She urged me to do this.
Good enough for me.
Cut swallowed, his face glowing, filling with things addressed to his daughter. The scramble of emotions from him smothered me and I deliberated removing his gag to say farewell to Jasmine.
However, my sister decided for me. Her fists wrapped around her wheels, shoving backward and granting space for Killian to move forward.
“Take him.” Her voice hissed. “I don’t want to see him anymore.” Grabbing Nila’s hand, she kept her anchored as Kill stormed forward, carting Cut toward the exit.
Nila’s gaze met mine. I sent a silent message. You understand why?
Her lips twisted, but she nodded. Yes.
“I’ll come find you when it’s done.” Turning my back on Nila’s family and a room full of carnage, I stalked past Kill and snapped my fingers for him to follow.
I didn’t stop to give directions. I trusted the biker president of Pure Corruption would obey. Whatever hierarchy existed, we were on equal footing. Kill knew the terms when he came to help me. I would pay him back for his help. I would honour the agreement we’d made.
Besides, his task was almost over.
While mine is just beginning.
Leaving the room of men, I sucked in a breath. The oxygen helped cleanse my system of thoughts and pain. I did my best to shut out Cut, but I couldn’t completely ignore him.
We were bound together until the end. Blood to blood. Pain to pain. There would be no separating my mind from his until he was dead.
“Jethro—” Nila gave chase, following us out the exit, leaving the guillotine behind.
I spun around just in time for her to launch into my arms. Her black hair glistened like a raven wing. The afternoon sunshine mocked us after the darkness that’d happened in the ballroom.
Kill continued onward, dragging Cut away and granting a small oasis of silence. My arms wrapped around her tightly even though I wanted to push her away.
Her chest rose and fell, her embrace one-armed with her other dangling painfully by her side. “Please, Kite...just stop for a moment and—”
“Nila, you promised.”
“I know, but—” Her eyes met mine, glossing with angry tears. “I’m not going to stop you. I understand. I really do. I just. I needed to—I need...”
My heart overflowed, and I grabbed her. My forehead nudged hers as I bowed over her. “I know what you need.”
My mouth claimed hers and she sighed, melted, positively submitted to my kiss. Her tongue instantly met mine in a tangle of hot desire, invoking pleasure and pain and undeniable passion.
This kiss deleted the last one we’d shared in the mine as she was dragged away.
That kiss had been a goodbye. This kiss was a hello.
An acknowledgment we soon wouldn’t have to fear tomorrow.
That the future was no longer our enemy but our friend.
We could be together. Our promise to get married could come true. Our heartbeats unnumbered now we’d won.
Pulling away, I kissed the tip of her nose, her eyelids, her hair. “I’ll be back soon.”
She arched in my hold, peppering my rough cheeks with affection. “I’ll be waiting for you.”
“I know.”
Slipping from my embrace, her gaze travelled past me to Cut. “Do you mind?”
I stiffened but didn’t stop her. “By all means.”
If it granted her closure, who was I to stop her saying goodbye? Cut was no threat. Even if he wasn’t bound and gagged and held by Kill, he wouldn’t run. I knew he’d accepted his fate and would stand regal and defiant until the end.
His almost royal bearing made me proud for a moment. Proud that I came from such strong stock, even if madness ran in his veins. If my condition had prevented me from inheriting his drive for perfection, regardless of what sins he committed, then I was glad.
I wasn’t like my family.
I was unique.
I was me.
And I’d never been more fucking grateful.
Nila padded over to Cut, her bare feet disappearing into the long grass. Kill didn’t speak as she stopped in front of my father. The wind whipped her hair around her jaw, slicing and slicking, looking like oil in the breeze.
“I said before that I forgive you.”
Cut shifted, rolling his shoulders in Kill’s grip.
“I’m not here to take that forgiveness back.
I don’t even know why I’m here.” She rubbed her face, trying to re-centre herself.
“I guess I wanted to say...be thankful. Your crimes have caught up with you...and I’m there to see it.
” Her voice lowered as she looked back up.
“I’m here to see you one last time. To know you’re just human.
That you were doing what you thought was right, but now you have to pay.
We all have to pay, Cut. Nothing is free in this world, and you’ve taken enough from my family that from now on, we’ve paid our dues and deserve happiness.
I won’t celebrate your death. I won’t think of you with hate or cruelty.
But I will be free of you, and I’ll be happy you’re no longer there to terrorize my lineage. ”
Shuffling away, she smiled softly. “May God have mercy on your soul, Bryan Hawk, and for you to find redemption in whatever awaits you.”
Looking at me one last time, she moved back toward the Hall.
V and Tex hugged her, kissed her, then let her go.
Flaw appeared from the exit, jogging over to Nila and slinging an arm over her shoulders, joining her family. His possession didn’t spark jealousy; if anything, it granted peace knowing she would be cared for and protected while I was gone.
“Thank you, Flaw.” My voice travelled on the gentle wind to the Black Diamond brother.
I didn’t know how much war had gone on before our arrival, but he’d managed to enlist over three-quarters of the brothers to fight on our side.
I would have to debrief and investigate each member and have them swear new allegiance to me, but for now, Flaw was in charge.
He saluted me casually. “No problem.”
V guarded her while Tex looked dotingly at his children.
Switching his grip on Nila, Flaw relinquished her shoulders in favour of her hand. “I’ll take her to her quarters and make sure she’s fed and rested. Don’t worry about her.”
I smiled in gratitude.
Nila didn’t say a word as Flaw guided her around Hawksridge, leading her toward another entrance and avoiding the nastiness of the ballroom. Tex and V followed, smearing bloody hands on their black trousers.
I would never know if Flaw’s loyalty was because he trusted me or because of his steadfast friendship with Kes. Either way, he was a good man. And his actions today had prevented yet more deaths and helped those injured with his medical help.
Turning my back on the Hall, I moved alongside Kill as he shoved Cut forward, leading us away from prying eyes and looming buildings.
We didn’t talk as we traversed the lawn, circumnavigated the maintenance shed where Cut had given me the salt shaker and told me it was time for the Second Debt, and entered the woods.
Our shoes snapped twigs as we moved deeper into forest darkness.
“You sure you want to do this, Hawk?” Kill’s voice grabbed my attention. He fisted Cut around the back of his neck, shoving him forward. Two of Kill’s men flanked us, morphing from the trees where they’d been watching the Hall.
I appreciated the back-up, but I didn’t want an audience. The minute we arrived at our destination, I would send them away.
I needed to be alone in this.
Looking at the Florida-born president, I nodded. “I know what I’ll have to pay in order to get retribution. But yes, I’m sure.”
Kill grinned. “When the day comes for me to claim vengeance on my own father, I’m taking it. I don’t care how hard it will be to kill flesh and blood or how fucked-up I am afterward. I need closure. I understand you completely.”
I didn’t reply. I had no reason to. He lived the same predicament, and his approval helped fortify my resolve.
In shared brotherhood, we made our way down animal tracks and through clearings, moving ever deeper into the treeline.
The outbuilding I’d decided on existed the furthest from the Hall.
This one was hidden—alone with its horrible secrets.
A place I’d never been able to enter after what happened to Jasmine, no matter what Cut did to me as a child.
No matter the threats and corrections. No matter the curses and pain.
I’d never stepped foot into the torture chamber again, boycotting its hateful memories.
Our clothing dappled with leaf stencils, trading sunshine for shadows as we traipsed deeper and deeper. The outbuilding nestled in the woods—swallowed whole by trees doing their best to delete the terrible atrocities.
We kept moving.
Cut didn’t struggle, his breathing loud and uneven around the gag.
More flickering hallucinations played havoc with my vision. Leaves danced, turning briefly into wolves. Bracken crunched, morphing into badgers.
Goddammit, I need to rest.
My hand went to my side. The fever I’d had ever since heading to Africa hadn’t broken or grown worse.
If anything, it granted a heightened sense of everything, muddying outside influences, letting me focus entirely on what I wanted.
What I needed. But it came with a price. A price of withering energy and health.
Soon.
Soon, I can rest.
Breaking through a final thicket, we stepped into a small glen.
The building loomed tall and ancient. Two stories high with oaks and pine surrounding it in their morbid cage. The double barn doors remained locked with a large padlock.
The key was hidden.
“Wait here.” Leaving the men, I ducked into the woods and searched for the tree I needed.
Cut had taken me the night he’d told me of my birthday present and inheritance of Nila.
He’d marched me through the darkness, filling my head with tales of what would happen and how proud he was that soon I would show him how worthy I was and finally take the place I was born for.
My eyes searched the green gloom.
Where is it?
It took longer than I wanted, but finally, my strained eyes caught sight of the symbol of a diamond and an outline of hawk wings signalling I’d found the right one.
Climbing a few feet up the coarse bark using gnarly roots and limbs, I found the knot left behind after a branch fell away and reached inside for the packet. Jumping down, I undid the fastening and tossed out the key into my palm.
A few others jangled free, landing with a hint of rusty metal. The extras operated parts of the machinery inside. Machinery I had no intention of using or ever switching on again.
Fisting them, I turned on my heel and stomped out of the brush past Cut, Kill, and his men and toward the brittle barn doors.
My breathing turned harsh as I inserted the key into the tarnished padlock.
The mechanism turned as smoothly as the day the lock was bought, the doors creaking on their frame as I shoved open one partition. The stench of dead rodents and rotting foliage mixed with time-stale dust hit my nose.
Barring the entry with my body, I turned to face Kill.
The biker came forward, delivering my father.
I held out my arm. “Give him to me.”
“You sure?”
“Very sure. I want to be alone for the next part.”
Kill passed over my father without another word. He didn’t try to talk me out of this. He didn’t have any obligation to remind me that this was murder, not revenge. That I would become as bad as those I hated if I went through with this.
Kill was not my brother or my conscience. He’d done all he needed to. His obligations were complete.
Cut didn’t struggle as I latched my fingers around his bound wrists. However, his eyes glowed with golden rage. His emotions poured forth, swamping with hatred and killable fury.
“Are we done?” Kill asked, crossing his arms over his leather jacket. “Will you be okay with your own men or do you want back-up?”
Shoving Cut into the barn, I ran a hand through my hair. “No. That’s it. Your task is finished. You’re free to return home, and I’ll make sure to repay the favour whenever you need.” Holding out my hand, Kill shook it.
“We’ll wait until you’re done. I’ll station my men at the forest edge, just in case. Once they know you’ve finished, they’ll leave.” He cocked his head, eyeing the building. “How long will you need?”
His question weighted with hidden curiosities he wouldn’t get answers to. What will you do? What’s in there? How badly will he die?
I swallowed, dreading what my night would entail. “Until dark. I need until dark.”
Kill grinned. “Six hours, it is.” Moving away, his large boots created indents in the soft woodland. “Pleasure knowing you, Hawk. I doubt we’ll see each other face-to-face again, but we’ll stay in touch.”
We’d come together for mutual advancement, and now, we would go our separate ways. It was for the best.
I waited for Kill and his men to disappear from the clearing before turning my back and entering the barn.
The moment I traded trees for tomb, I shed all resemblance of who I was.
I left behind my humanity.
I tore Nila from my heart.
I embraced the motherfucking ice my father had taught me.
This would kill me.
But it had to be done.
I stepped into the darkness and prepared to murder.