85. Zayne
CHAPTER 85
Zayne
“ C onfess to Zayne how you dragged me into your office and showed me the pictures of him and me.” Delaney scowls at Richard, her arms folded over her chest.
“You mean these ones, minx?” Her mouth hangs open in shock, and her eyes widen as I step forward with the folder.
“How did you get those?”
“I was sneaking out of your cabin. Something hit the floor. I went to the bookcase to pick up whatever it was and saw these.” He flips through them. “Whoever took these captured our young love well, don’t you think?”
“Quite beautifully.” Her smile is radiant, her eyes brimming with love and devotion.
I don’t fucking deserve her, but I’m not kicking a gift horse in the mouth. She’s my salvation, the light to my darkness, the red heart to my black one. Her soul is tarnished from the evil around her, but it can’t penetrate deeply enough to extinguish the light that shines from her. She’s a kaleidoscope of colors. My heaven on this earth.
As if she can read my mind, she presses her lips against mine. “Fate brought us back together. We were destined to belong to one another.”
“Yes, we are. You’re my destiny.”
My gaze hardens, moving to Richard’s bloody, broken body, seething with rage. “He hurt you, the woman I love. His bullshit ruined my family and destroyed us, keeping us apart for fifteen years.” I hand the folder with our photos to Delaney before turning back to Richard.
My fist flies against his face, bone splintering beneath my knuckles. “I want every fucking detail.”
It takes him a while to spit out the gory story. Between crying, gasping, howling, and pissing himself from the extreme pain he’s in, he’s a broken, pathetic excuse of the vile monster he once was.
And that’s only from Delaney’s beatings.
I haven’t started yet.
Delaney forces the final confession she needs from him, pressing a blow torch to his balls to get it. Richard admits he was responsible for Lindsey’s accident, providing all the details.
Grabbing her mom’s drawing, Delaney holds it up, explaining the clues and the horrific beatings she suffered that led to her having these secret excursions with her mom that ended in ice cream or a toy of some kind.
There’s not a dry eye in the room when she’s finished.
Despite the tears running down her beautiful face, she holds up the contents from the safe deposit box, showing all the damning evidence Lindsey Warner collected over the years of Richard’s drug and sex trafficking empire. Not only does it implicate Richard, but also the three worthless fuckers dead on the concrete floor, as well as many of his friends and associates. Some of them died in the bomb that exploded at city hall, but the rest are about to have a very bad day.
I nod at Stryker, who pulls up the breaking news reports so Richard can see his ruined reputation. His picture and name flash on the screen as the networks proclaim him as the leader of a vast criminal drug and trafficking empire.
I’m shocked when my father’s face flashes on the screen. The truth is laid out for all the world to see, clearing my father’s name.
It’s too bad he’ll never know.
My gaze drops to Delaney, who looks up at me, her smile reaching her eyes.“It’s time everyone knew what a good man Gabe Morine was. His son is even more amazing.”
I’m fighting for composure, overwhelmed by the emotions coursing through me. “How did you pull this off, minx?”
She glances at the group behind me. “I had a little help from our friends.”
I crush her against my chest. “I love you so fucking much, minx.”
“I love you more, Z.”
Richard’s fingernails and toenails are scattered around the room. I made him confess every horrific thing he did to Lindsey and Delaney, delighting in his screams. I beat him with my fists, breaking his nose and jaw and cracking his ribs with my kicks.
“You fucking hurt the woman I love,” I seeth, stalking around him like a panther. I grab his arm, twisting it with all my strength until I hear the snap. He howls, his sobs of pain filling my dungeon. “I’m gonna spend the rest of my life making it up to her. I’ll take every drop of her pain, every bad memory you gave her, and crumble them into dust.”
Swiping the metal pipe from the ground, I swing it like a bat against his spine, delighting in his agony.
As much as I love Delaney, I can’t look at her now. I’ve allowed the darkness to completely consume me, letting my demons come out and play. They would eat me alive, strangling my humanity, if every beat of my heart didn’t belong to her.
Images of my father fill my head. “Gabe Morine was ten times the man you’ll ever be. You couldn’t stand it, could you? That’s why you framed and imprisoned him.”
A vile laugh swims from his lips. “N-Not the o-only r-reason.” Blood drips from his lips as he sits on his knees.
Lifting a hand, he wipes his lips. “Y-Your m-mom was m-mine before she was h-his. S-She left m-me for t-that p-poor t-trash.” His eyes move to Delaney. “J-Just like y-you t-tried to d-do.”
“But you met Mom in high school?” Confusion is on her face as she stares at her father.
“O-Our s-senior year. I dated Julie B-Bowen from t-tenth grade until she d-dumped m-me o-our s-senior year f-for G-Gabe.”
Delaney comes up beside me, squeezing my hand. I keep my eyes on Richard, not wanting her to see my demons.
“Look at me, Zayne.” Soft fingers move to my stubble, caressing it.
“I can’t.”
Her voice is firm and commanding. “Yes, you can. Look at me.”
I exhale a breath as I turn my head, my demonic eyes locking with hers. She doesn’t flinch or show the slightest element of fear. She’s looking at me the way she always does.
“I love every part of you. Even the monster he and the rest of Green Haven created.” Moisture gathers in her eyes. “I love the poor boy who had his lunch tray dumped over his head and sat there, humiliated, while the rest of the school laughed. But not me. I was fucking irate, even as I hurt so fucking bad for you.”
My demons start to retreat as her intense stare pours into mine, baring her heart and soul to me. “I loved the skinny guy that I walked home to the trailer park. The guy who lifted weights and turned into a fighting machine. The bad boy from the wrong side of town that all the girls secretly drooled over. The guy who would do anything for me, even giving me his sweatshirt to take away my nightmares.”
The truth in her eyes burns through me, exorcising my demons. Her love is unconditional. Timeless.
“I love the successful man you’ve become, both in business and life. The one who has found an incredible group of loyal people as devoted to you as you are to them.” She steps closer, pressing her curves against my hardness, her hands cupping my face. “I love the possessive man who will do anything to keep me safe. Even when he’s overprotective as fuck.”
The four guys behind me laugh, relating to that trait.
“His weakness is your mom,” she whispers to me. “Use it.” Then she plants her lips on mine, kissing me with all the pent-up longing of fifteen years apart.
When she pulls away, I know what I need to do.
It’s time to put the past behind us.
I circle Richard, laying my tools just out of his reach. His wrists and ankles are shackled, his broken body quivering as he lies on his side, staring up at me. Hatred burns in his eyes.
My maniacal smile stretches across my face, probably resembling the Joker’s. I lay the ax a few feet away. “I’ll bet it sickens you every time you look at me. Not only do you see my father, but you see my mother. The one you wanted but couldn’t have.”
The light dims in his eyes, pain contorting his face.
“You hated that my father went home to my mother every fucking night. That she willingly climbed into his bed, sharing her body, heart, and soul with him. You should have seen how happy they were. They may not have had money, but damn, they had the kind of love written about in books. Genuine, lasting, and unconditional. They were a team, sharing their hopes and dreams, successes and failures. Looking back at my childhood and teenage years, I see a home filled with love.”
Delaney sniffs behind me.
“I share that type of love with your daughter. We have what my parents had and what you wished you could have had with my mom. Unfortunately, you could never love Lindsey as you should’ve.” Pity fills me for the pain he’s caused so many, including Delaney’s mom. “Before you did everything you could to tear her down and destroy her, she was the most beautiful woman in town. You didn’t love her, but you wouldn’t let anyone else love her, either.”
“So true,” Jaxson remarks, handing Delaney a tissue. She smiles her thanks, wiping her eyes.
“You didn’t want me to end up with what you could never have, so you did everything to destroy it. Lindsey did her best to protect Delaney so you didn’t ruin her. I came along and made it even harder for you to break her. I built her up and pieced her back together every time you tried, and you fucking hated that. It reminded you too much of my father. The one who kept my mom safe from your clutches.”
Richard snarls like a rabid animal, and I know I’ve struck a nerve.
“I could grant you the mercy of death… but I won’t.”
My eyes move to Delaney. “She made me realize it’s time to close the book on the past. It’s time to write a new one, starting today.”
I speak from the depths of the broken heart that she repaired with her love. “We’ll build the life my dad always wanted for me. Every day, your daughter will experience the joy and love you can only dream of. Even on our worst days, I’ll love her with every piece of me, making her forget all the pain you inflicted on her. Even when she’s pissed off at me and wants to kill me, the love we share will burn through the anger, destroying it.”
Jaxson snorts, “If she’s like us, she’ll be pissed at you on a daily basis.”
I grin when Delaney swats him. “Don’t make me punch you like I did Zayne. He may be a pain in the ass some days, but he’s mine .”
Jaxson holds his hands up. “Please don’t use your fists of fury on me.”
I smile at the brother and sister bond they’re developing.
Turning back to Richard, I conclude with the words that will drive a stake through the bastard’s tiny heart. “Delaney will be my wife, and our home will be filled with love. We’ll help Lindsey heal and give her all the happiness you refused to give her. Your wife and daughter won’t think of you, won’t remember you, just like my mom. Your first and only love.”
Tears slide down Richard’s cheeks, mixing with his blood.
“Make no mistake, you’ll die a slow, painful death, surrounded by all these tools to end your suffering. But you won’t be able to get your hands on them.”
I grab my favorite knife, holding up the serrated blade. “For my father and brother, may they rest in peace. And my mother, a broken shell of the woman she once was. May she find the peace she desperately seeks.”
Bending down, I cut the tips of his fingers off before doing the same to his toes. He howls and screams, tears streaming down his face as he breaks.
I close the blade, tossing it far out of his reach, then wrap my arms around Delaney. Even covered in blood, she is the most stunning woman I’ve ever seen.
We turn our heads in unison, listening to her father’s agonizing screams, watching as the pain finally overwhelms him and he passes out.
The demons are gone. All that remains is a flawed man, desperately in love with the girl he met in ninth grade.
“It’s over.” She smiles at me, the haunted look no longer lingering in the depths of her irises.
I nod. “Let’s relish in every moment of every single day for the rest of our lives.”
“I love that plan.”
“I love everything about you, minx.”