48. Rhett
I’m hardly containing the rage that wants me to wrap my hands around the guy’s throat in front of me. There are two others following, but I’m confident I can take them out too. What stops me is the need to see Allie before I lose my shit completely.
I’m haunted the moment I step inside the small lounge area. Allie is tied up and gagged, her stunning face tearstained and terrified. When she sees me she sobs hard, yet I contain a wrecking ball inside me. Micah is across the room, relishing in her fear. I don’t see the months of torture at his hands when I look at him; all I see is what he did to my Ana. I’ve never wanted to kill a person as much as I do him. Not even Alistair. I can’t explain the type of stilling, calm fury that ripples over every inch of me. It’s not explosive anymore; it’s pure, calculated, murderous.
“We’ve been waiting for you, haven’t we, Alyra?”
“You’re a dead man fucking walking,” I say, low and promising.
“I take it you heard about the taste I got of Anastasia. She’s absolutely delicious. Feisty too. I do love it when they fight back.”
I breathe. Focusing on it. One. Two. Three. If I don’t, I feel like I could become something dark and bloody.
“Where’s Alistair?” I ask.
“Watching.”
“What game is this?”
“First, hand over your weapons, Kaiser.”
When I don’t move, Micah produces a gun, aiming it at Allie. Her eyes scrunch shut, and she cries with a new wave of panic.
“Allie, it’s going to be okay. I promise you,” I say with all the gentleness I can muster.
“You shouldn’t lie,” Micah sings sinisterly.
My vision sways at those words. I’ve heard them before, when I held Sarah Carter’s lifeless body. I lied to her.
I untuck my gun from my waistband and a guy takes it from me. Then I reach under my jacket and pull another from a holder at my ribs.
“Only two? I thought you’d come more prepared than that,” Micah says.
I hold my hands up with my lethal stare on Micah as someone pats me down. The two guns are all I had, but I am more prepared than that.
“Fine. Let’s get this thing going. I’ve been looking forward to it all day.”
Behind me someone else is brought in. My teeth clench at the sight of the boy. He has to be a preteen. Then more commotion, and I feel nothing at seeing Forthson thrown in front of me like a sack of wheat.
“Jacob!” the young boy cries.
Confusion drags my sight down, and Jacob’s head snaps up in horror, but he winces with the pain from all his beatings.
“You son of bitch,” Jacob grits out, but he’s scared. Terrified.
Then it hits me that this is Jacob’s younger brother—the one Alistair discovered.
“He knows nothing about any of this and has nothing to do with it,” Jacob spits, getting awkwardly to his knees with his hands bound behind him.
The boy is made to sit in a chair near Allie, behind a desk. Then Micah steps forward, placing a gun on it. Dread sinks me as I’m flashed back to the hell I escaped from. Having to point that gun and not knowing if I would kill an innocent kid or not.
“Remember this game? Except this time, you get to choose where to aim.”
“You sick motherfucker,” I seethe.
“It’s always been Lanshall’s brilliant idea. You have ten minutes before I come back and shoot them both, then you,” Micah says. He stalks over to me, stopping by my side. “He’s always owned you, Everett.”
Everyone working for Lanshall leaves, so I don’t have the chance to fire at any of them.
“Jacob.” The boy whimpers for his brother.
“Hey, Mark. It’s all right, buddy,” Jacob says.
I despise him. Jacob ranks third on my list of people to kill, but I can’t deny I have a stupid fucking heartstring in this situation for his kid brother. This is the most human I’ve ever seen or heard the bastard.
“Kaiser, man, he’s just a kid,” Jacob pleads.
“I can fucking see that,” I snap.
“He doesn’t know anything about this.”
“It’s your damn fault he’s here anyway.”
“I know, I know. Just please.You don’t owe me shit, but you can’t kill him.”
“Don’t tell me what I can’t do, Forthson,” I warn.
I make my way around to Allie and undo the gag tied at the back of her head.
“Rhett! They came out of nowhere. We were in this small town for months. Liam’s house is so remote, I-I don’t know how they found us?—”
“Shh. It doesn’t matter. Fuck, am I glad to see you’re all right.”
I untie her arms, and the moment I do, they’re clamped around my neck, and she sobs. I hold her tight, letting her release what she needs to before I get stern with her.
“Is Liam still alive?” she whispers.
“Yes. He’s with Ana.”
That breaks new sobs, and I peel her arms from around me.
“I need you to be brave, Allie. Can you do that for me?”
She sniffs and nods. Then she takes a deep breath of composure. “You know, I imagined being part of the action with you someday. I think I’ll stick to being intel in your ear though,” she says, pulling on a mask of calm.
I smile, smoothing down her hair. “You’re best at that.”
When I turn, I find Jacob on his feet, twisting awkwardly, trying to reach for the gun on the table with his hands bound behind his back. I snatch it up in a surge of rage.
Grabbing the fucking desk, I whirl around it and my fist flies across his jaw. Jacob hits the ground, coughing blood. I’m surprised he’s still conscious.
The soft sniffles of his brother are grating on me. He’s an innocent despite his vile brother, and I don’t wish him to see this violence. It will scar him.
“Kill me,” Jacob wheezes, withering in pain on his back.
I don’t expect him to give up so easily. Until I flick my sight up to the boy quivering in the corner, who looks so much like a young version of Jacob—blond hair and green eyes—and I understand why. Jacob has a corrupted mind and a thirst for power and violence, but he loves his brother like anyone else would.
Jacob says, “He said you get to choose where to aim. Aim for me, Kaiser. It seems to be over for me regardless. But I have one request. Make sure he gets home, please. Keep them all safe. They’re victims of it all, just like those you swear to protect.”
I don’t know how much longer I have left to choose, but his offering seems like the perfect solution.
So why am I hesitating?
“You tried to force Ana to marry you,” I hiss through my teeth.
“I did.”
His consciousness is only half-here. Jacob’s eyes flutter, pinned on the ceiling.
“You would have hurt her.”
“She would have kept resisting.”
My hand tightens on the gun to keep from shaking. “You would have raped her.”
“Probably.”
My hand rises to aim for his head.
“Don’t let him watch,” Jacob whispers. His eyes close.
I flick a look to see Allie has the kid, holding his head to muffle his ears between her chest and her hand. She meets my stare with desolate eyes. Then she gives a small nod, accepting what I’m about to do.
“You trafficked many women and children who are living the worst hell, and their families are suffering without them. You would have continued to put a price tag on flesh for many years if you weren’t stopped.”
With no regret in my chest, I pull the trigger once. Blank. Twice. Blank. The third ...
It kills him instantly, through his right temple.
I’m completely numb to the death, only focused on what is next. And next. And next, until we’re out of this nightmare and I have Ana by my side.
I cross to the kid, kneeling down and peeling him from Allie. His face is too young to look so distraught, but I can’t explain the desperation in me at seeing him as a second chance for Jacob.
“Listen to me. You’re going to grow up with this shit trying to twist and turn you. You’re going to feel rage, even guilt, as if there was something you could have done to save your brother. He might not be with you now, but there is a way to save him, you hear me? Be. Fucking. Better. A better man. Be good, help people. Vengeance is lonely and maddening. That’s not the life you live.”
I’m harsh with my tone, tight with my hold, but I think he understands in his timid nod.
“Whatever you do, don’t look down,” I say.
The door swings open, and Micah whistles low. “Of course I saw that coming. So I’m here to set you up with round two.”
I don’t immediately stand. Mark’s small frame covers me enough as I click out the barrel of the revolver.
“I have to say, it was rather anticlimactic though. I expected more of that rage to come out before you put the bullet through his head,” Micah says arrogantly.
They checked me for guns and knives, but they didn’t feel the single bullet I have tucked away in my jacket. I slide it into the barrel, set it back, and don’t waste a breath as I aim it at Micah’s chest.
It fires, and he cries out, slamming into the back wall. Then I’m moving on rage and instinct. Two guys enter, and I grip the first guy’s wrist, snapping it back, and his piercing wail only irritates me more. I take his gun, firing into his skull, and then my next two bullets enter the chest of his buddy before he can lift his own gun. With them down, I storm to Micah, who’s slumped in a pool of his own blood, but still alive like I hoped.
“You want to see my violence, you piece of shit?” I snarl, then I hit. Again and again and again. He becomes limp meat beneath me, but I can’t stop.
“This is for touching my fucking wife.”
When I slam his head to the stone I think it’s over. I can hardly stand to look at the mess of him, but even then, it still doesn’t feel like enough for what he did to Ana.
“Rhett ...” Allie says my name tentatively.
I’m gathering my breath as I push up, blinking myself back to reality with my violent adrenaline dwindling. Allie doesn’t look down; she holds Mark, keeping him from looking at any of the bodies either.
“Let’s go,” I say, reeling myself back and realizing what I did in front of her. I wouldn’t blame her for wanting nothing more to do with me. Knowing about what we do is one thing; seeing it is a whole other bloody clarity.
I’m alert as a hawk for any sign of Alistair’s men, who could ambush us and take Allie around a back exit. As soon as we’re outside I spot Rix and Adam by the trees at the back of the property.
“Stay with them—I’ll be right back,” I say to Allie.
“Please get Liam out,” she croaks.
I nod, and it’s a relief to finally be certain he didn’t cause her harm. He somehow managed to save her from being taken and kept her away from it all for months. I’m indebted to the guy.
I don’t have time to linger with Ana still in there. Taking a new gun from Rix, I run back inside and straight to Alistair’s office. Something doesn’t feel right. Sound right. It’s too hot, and before I can place what it is, an impact slams into me.
My head pounds from the force, but I get up, blinking away the disorientation. To my horror, I’m staring right into Alistair’s office through a blasted hole in the wall. The side of the building has blown through too, opening out to the back lawn.
Through it, I spy Alistair fucking Lanshall hobbling toward the trees. I step through the wall despite the blaze and the smoke choking my lungs. I’m about to chase after him when I scan the room for Ana, hoping to god I don’t find her.
The form on the ground slams me. My relief is wrapped in crushing guilt because it’s not Ana, but I grit my teeth, letting Alistair get further away as I scramble over debris to Kenna.
For a second, fear grips me that she’s dead, but her chest moves, and these fluctuating emotions are going to be the death of me.
“Shit,” a voice hisses.
Looking up, I don’t have the capacity to care that Silas is here. I’m livid over what he did, but all that matters is that he came for Kenna.
“Get her out of here,” I snarl.
He cuts me a glare as he takes her into his arms. “This place is going to blow in minutes, Kaiser. You’d better run fucking fast.”
I don’t really register what he means when I’m already jumping through the wall and racing after Lanshall. There’s no way in hell he’s getting away from this, even if I have to go down with him.
He didn’t get far into the woods, shuffling on one leg and clutching his abdomen. The moment I catch up to him I lose myself. Slamming him into a tree, I shake violently with rage, but also ... so much sadness it unexpectedly drowns me.
“Why me?” I yell in his face. “Why did you have to make me this way?”
He doesn’t respond. I don’t know if he can, or if he’s even fully conscious, as his eyes can barely stay open.
I punch him across the face, and he falls. Barrels of agony pour over me, and I brace on my thighs to fucking breathe. I can’t fucking breathe.
“I didn’t deserve it,” I say, shaking my head. “I didn’t want it, but you kept sharpening me. I was a fucking child, and you wanted a weapon.”
When he doesn’t speak again I kick him. Once. Twice. Then I lose count, because I can hardly see through the infuriating blurriness.
I kneel over him, gripping his coat and pulling his limp body off the ground. He groans, still holding onto the threads of his life.
“I was just a kid. You thought you saw yourself, but I will never be anything like you. I had a life, and you could have just let me fucking be.I loved, and you took that. I was good, and you corrupted that. I’m not your nephew. I’m your fucking victim.”
I break. In every way a person can be broken. But I’ve found a person who can mend what’s left of me. If I didn’t have Ana, I don’t think I’d have the strength to keep the pieces of me from shattering to the point of no redemption.
“Rhett—”
Her quiet voice is a reach toward salvation before it’s stolen from both of us.
The blast is endless yet short. I can hardly move with my consciousness struggling to hold on, but I remember her voice, my name made of her beautiful voice, and I fight harder.
The world is smoke and ash and embers. Then the treetops peek through, and I roll. I have to find Ana. I have to reach Ana. I drag myself through forest debris, trying to blink a clear visual. Pushing myself up, I find her. She’s hurt, but she’s finding the strength to push herself up too.
“I’m coming, baby.” I barely get those words out in a breath, but I’m coming to, more and more.
When a gunshot fires I think I must be in hell. Or I wish to be fucking dead, and this a horrific nightmare.
One I’ve lived before.
I’m on my feet now, knowing nothing but her. No agony. No emotions. Nothing.
Alistair falls back, his hand goes limp, but I rip the gun from him and fire into his chest, then his skull. I drop the gun the moment it’s over and crash to my knees next to Ana.
This can’t be happening. Not again. She’s pale and panicked, and I can’t let myself go back there, to when Sarah wore that look.
“Rhett?”
“Yes, baby?”
“I . . . I love you.”
“I loved you first, Ana. I promise you that. I’ll love you every day of our forever. So you can’t sleep, baby, okay?”
“I’m ... I’m trying not to.”
“Good,” I say, lifting her into my arms. My teeth grit at the pain roaring through every bone and muscle in my body. Her cries of pain mix with my sounds as I strain to my feet.
“Stay with me, Ana.”
Her eyes flutter, trying so hard to stay open.
So brave. So fucking brave.
“It’s really c-cold.”
I don’t have anything else, so I hug her tight. If I could give her the flesh off my back, I would. I’m praying to anything that will listen as I try to walk more than a shuffle, but it feels impossible.
“Rhett!” Rix calls in the distance.
Thank fuck. Thank fuck. Thank fuck.
“You’re going to be okay,” I say, but I’m tormented with the fear it’s a lie.
She doesn’t respond, and I look down at her beautiful face, needing to pause.
“Ana,” I plead. She’s so deceptively peaceful, and I turn hauntingly desperate. “Ana!” I shake her, and my heart tumbles from my fucking chest when her eyes flutter open.
“Rhett?” she whispers, not fully conscious.
Her face blurs, but I can’t miss a flicker of her. “I’ve got you. Always.”
Rix and the others find us.
“Shit, I hoped you’d made it far enough away,” Rix says, examining us.
“She’s been shot,” I rasp.
Liam comes up to me. “Let me take her. We need to move fast, and you don’t look like you can.”
I have to concede, but I lean my forehead to Ana’s. “You stay awake for me, okay? I still have the world to give you.”
“Okay,” she says weakly.
I let go, having no choice but to let the buzz of people take her from me. I follow like a ghost as Rix hooks my arm around his shoulders to try to keep up with Liam and Ana. Allie is here too, keeping Ana awake by talking to her and trying to find out where the shot hit.
The journey to the front of the house feels too helplessly long, but a car comes speeding down the wrecked driveway. Adam is in the driver’s seat.
I get in the back. Liam passes Ana to me, and though her sounds of pain tear through me, her silence would end me, so I’m grateful she’s keeping awake at least. Allie slips in on the other side, scooting into the middle with Ana’s legs over her and leaning over to put pressure on Ana’s collar. Liam gets in beside her, and Rix gets in the passenger seat. Adam speeds off.
“The best we can hope for is it that it didn’t puncture a lung. How’s her breathing?” Allie asks.
I try to listen. “A bit fast.”
“Shit, I don’t know. I don’t?—”
“You’re not a doctor, love,” Liam says gently at Allie’s helplessness. He comforts her with a hand stroking her thigh. “We’ll be at the hospital soon.”
There’s so much to find out about what happened after my phone call with Allie when she was taken months ago. Later. I’ll find out later.
“I’m still awake,” Ana says tiredly. “And I still really, really hurt.”
I kiss her head. They’re good signs, and she’s so damn brave.
“Good girl. Keep telling me that, please?”
She nods against me weakly.
“Rhett?”
“Yes, baby?”
“It’s over.”
I’m overwhelmed by those two words, wanting to believe them so badly, but I can’t. Not until Ana is in full health and Alistair is in ashes will I believe it.
I’m numb, ready to follow her wherever she decides to go. This life, another. There’s no me without her.