23. Elijah
23
ELIJAH
I ’ve broken every traffic law on my way home. A ride that normally takes over forty minutes, today I’ve done in half, counting down every second in between.
Perez and Baez are behind me in an unmarked SUV and blaring their siren. Most people make way for us, a few looking at my car as though I’m a fleeing criminal, and had this been any other day, I would’ve found it amusing.
Not today. Not when the love of my life is alone and scared.
When she could be?—
No. I won’t let my thoughts travel to the worst-case scenario. She has to be okay.
There is no other option.
Life couldn’t be so cruel as to gift me Ava and then take her away.
Grabbing my phone, I send Perez a text, telling him to cut the siren off. We’re a street from my building, and the last thing we want is to alert Jason of our presence. All I have on my side is the act of surprise, and I plan to use it.
There’s a bullet with his name on it, and I want it lodged deep within his brain before he touches a hair on Ava’s head.
“Lord, please don’t let him hurt her. Let me get there in time,” I say, throwing my car into park in front of my building. My eyes flick to the left and notice that Stein and McGrady’s car is still there, but with no sign of them inside.
I pull out my gun and signal with my arm toward the car for Perez to follow up. My gut tells me there’s more than one rat in the building—a confirmation made a second later when Meyers himself walks around the corner with another man I’ve never seen before.
They’re laughing, wiping their hands on a hand towel, but not before I catch sight of the blood. “Those two dumb fucks were easy enough.”
“Predictably boring,” Meyers says, chuckling as he looks toward his companion. “They were pigs in a slaughterhouse.”
The man nods and shoots him a smirk. “And how long before we can bounce?”
“Soon.” Meyers looks down at his hand, picking something out from underneath his nail bed. “Once the cunt...the fuck!” He doesn’t get to finish, eyes snapping up and going wide as his friend falls. Blood spreads rapidly, seeping from his chest and staining the concrete floor beneath him. His eyes go from the dead man to mine, and his entire body goes rigid, fear coloring his features. “F-Ford. Captain. What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to finish this.” That’s all I say while placing my gun back in the holster. Then, before he can utter another word, I tackle his pathetic ass to the floor, landing a straight punch to his face. Then another. The bone crunches beneath my fingers, blood splattering against my skin. I revel in it. In his screams of pain. In his pathetic attempt to push me off.
“Please.”
“Fuck you,” I spit out, elbow coming down right across his cheek. A gash follows, large and stretching across his red skin. It’s not enough. Nothing but death will ever be.
“Enough,” I hear Baez yell, and I’m half tempted to laugh. I’m gone. Nothing but his death will satisfy my need for revenge. To pay him back for every life taken.
He might not have killed them, but he helped. Blood is on his hands.
Two hands grab me, and I pull free, landing another blow to his already bruised face. And again. I don’t stop, and this time, no one stops me until I’m satisfied. His head hits the concrete, bouncing a few times before I pull back. I’m silent as I stand, not looking at anyone—or at the few cruisers that have arrived since we got here—and walk to the entrance of the building.
People call my name.
Someone tries to pull me back.
I’d kill them all if it came to it.
The silence follows me up the stairs, every flight up taking me to another plane of anger. I’ve never experienced this level of ire. Every floor up fills my body with a pulsing energy. My muscles coil, limbs shaking.
My floor is desolate when I reach it. Nothing.
No signs of anyone.
My door is closed, and just as I place my key inside the lock, the blast of a gun breaks the silence. It’s loud, and so is the pure scream of panic that comes from Ava’s body.
Fuck the structure. I kick it in and rush toward the sound of her voice. They’re inside my room. The closer I get, the clearer I can hear his words and how he taunts her.
“Come out, little one,” he croons just as I step within sight. He’s sitting on my bed, twirling his gun while watching the closet door. He doesn’t see me. He’s too sure of himself. “The faster I correct this defiant behavior, the happier you’ll be. A little pain for a lifetime of my love and devotion.”
“Please stop,” I hear Ava cry out, the fear in her voice palpable. “Leave, and I won’t call the cops.”
“Not until I break you, love. Until you bleed for me.” Lyle looks a mess, dirty and desperate. His arm shakes as he points the gun toward the door, finger on the trigger. “We can do this the easy way or hard way, Sugar. Your choice.”
“Leave!” That scream is pure horror and pain. It strikes across my chest as if it were a cat-o'-nine-tails whip with sharp metal tips. A punishment for not being here to protect her.
“Open the door, Ava, and I’ll begin to forgive you.”
“I’m not yours!”
“Wrong choice.”
Jason still hasn’t noticed me. Something about the way he’s acting makes me think that he’s under the influence of a narcotic: eyes glassy and body slightly trembling. And it’s while his hand shakes and another bullet dislodges from the gun that I fully enter the room. Ava screams from the other side, and the phone inside my pocket vibrates within seconds of my entry.
Behind me, I can hear the rest of our team pausing. They’re waiting on my call, but my focus is on him. My target. The next body to fall.
As that finger twitches again, ready to fire, I pull my own. Watching in almost slow motion as a bullet leaves my gun and flies through the air at a speed he can’t detect. It hits his side, right between his ribs, and he falls back onto my mattress.
His shirt—old and dirty—is colored red. The splotch grows as the seconds tick by.
His eyes shift to mine, surprised but not shocked to see me. Instead, a cruel smirk forms on his lips. “About time you showed up, Detective. Nice to see you again.”
“Rot in hell, Porter.” I’m not playing his game. Instead, I pull the trigger again. And again. The second and third bullets hit his midsection, his body convulsing on the bed, and yet, Lyle still fires his weapon. It hits the drywall encasing the steel structure, and I reciprocate with the same amount of anger.
I empty the first clip as my girl yells from inside. The second is merely for my amusement,
bullet after bullet entering his body, and the fucker still rises from the bed. He comes toward me, bloody and knocking on death’s door but unwilling to give up.
He stumbles, pointing his gun, but when he tries to fire back...nothing. He’s out of bullets and losing blood fast. One step forward becomes a crashing fall to the floor, and still, I do not pity a dying man.
Fuck him.
This pain is nothing compared to what the asshole deserves.
Pulling my other guns from its holster, I stand over his semi-lifeless body. Our eyes meet. His next breath is almost choking, and still, I fire once more. Right between the eyes.
The small hole in his forehead is proof of his passing. One stuttered breath, and he’s gone.
No longer a danger to my girl.
Without pausing, I drop my weapon and rush toward the closet, banging on the door. “Baby, it’s me. Open, please.”
“Eli?”
“I’m here, sweetheart.” It takes a minute or two for her to open, but when she does, the relief in her eyes almost bowls me over. Ava flies into my arms, wrapping her small body around mine and clinging—holding me tight with her eyes closed as I turn her away from his lifeless form.
She’s shaking. Afraid. Sobbing. “He...I...”
“Are you hurt?” I want to pull back and check her out, but the way she’s clinging to me makes it impossible. And I wouldn’t take my comfort from her. I’m here to be whatever she needs. “Can you answer one thing, beautiful? Did he?—?”
“He didn’t, but I kicked him. I fought back…” a sob catches in her throat “…oh, God!”
“I’ve got you,” I whisper against her forehead, my arms wrapping tight and giving her the comfort she needs. “He’s dead. No more fear.”
“Are you sure?” A tremor rocks her small body.
“I swear.” With two fingers, I tip her face up and out of its hiding spot in my neck. Watery blue eyes meet mine, and in them, I see my forever. Home. It’s a moment that tethers me to this earth solely so I can walk by her side. Those three words sit on the tip of my tongue, and although I’ve said them before, right this second they take on a more profound meaning.
Losing her would’ve killed me. Taken my very soul as I followed her into the next life. This courageous woman in my arms is my life. Everything. “Ava,” I choke up, hands trembling as I pull her impossibly closer. Lift her and press her chest against my racing heart. “I love you. All of you. There is no one else for me in this life and every single one that follows.”
“I love you, too. Christ, when he said that you?—”
“We’re here, and that’s all that matters. For the rest of our lives, it’ll be just you and me.”
“Against the world.”
“Something either of you want to explain?” Perez comes up behind me then, but I pay him no mind. While I hid this—our relationship—he hid his own. Not that I care, but I won’t let him be a hypocrite, either.
“Not really.” I shrug, not taking my eyes off my girl.
“Baby, I?—”
“Ford, you?—”
They both start, but I hold a hand up to silence the two. Walking out of the room and away from the last reminder of her nightmare, I take us into the living room and sit down with her in my lap. Perez follows, eyeing me, but takes a seat across from us.
Watching. Gauging.
“You know.” That’s all he says.
“I do.” Ava stiffens but doesn’t leap up. To ease her tension, I begin rubbing her back in slow, soothing strokes. It takes a minute or two, but she does calm down and then melts into me, burrowing against my chest as the stress of the day catches up.
People come in and out of the apartment—cops and a medical team, all checking and documenting to corroborate my story and, later, hers, with the physical evidence. No one speaks to us outside of that. They let us be for the time being, and I keep my eyes on Perez the entire time. Even raise a brow to help him get on with the explanation that, to be honest, isn’t needed, but I know he’ll give.
“How?”
“Looking into possible connections to the case, familial or friends.”
“Why not say anything?” he asks, scratching his chin, not the least bit sorry.
“Because I get it.” At that, Ava looks up at me, remorse in her puffy eyes, but I shake my head, letting her know I’m not the least bit angry. “She’s your niece, Cap. You were just trying to protect Miss Perez here—not to be confused with a Perry. Good choice on the last name change, though. It’s close enough that she wouldn’t mess up. However, I did pick up on a slight change in her accent when upset—more Spaniard. That’s something you do, too.”
“So, you’re not upset?” Ava asks, her tone hopeful.
“Not in the least.” Lowering my face to hers, I kiss her lips once. A soft peck. “All that matters is that I have you, and you’re safe. Everything else is inconsequential.”
“I do love you, Elijah.”
“With all my heart.”
“Looks like I’ll be giving you the talk her parents won’t be able to,” he says, and my eyes leave her sweet face and shift toward his. “It’s my duty, after all.”
“More like you’ll get a kick out of it, Tio. ” Ava shakes her head, still wiping at the stray tears falling. This ordeal will leave a mark on her. On us. There’s no getting over a traumatic event like this one, but I’ll spend the rest of my life watching over and slaying her demons.
“So true.” He lets out a low chuckle but sobers just as quickly. “Besides, I trust Ford. I knew he would keep you safe.”
“Is that your way of saying you approve?” Perez nods at my question. “Good. Because I’m not going anywhere.”
“What about when she goes back to Dallas?”
That makes me pause. It’s not something either of us have discussed or thought about. To be honest, we haven’t had the time to, but without a second of hesitation, I know the answer. “Where she goes?—”
“My home is with him. Here or there. It makes no difference to me.” Her words pierce me straight in the heart. So much conviction. So much trust in me.
It also helps to settle some of my nerves.
She wants this. Even after everything that animal put her through, my girl puts her faith in us.
Til death do us part. And even that won’t be enough.
Ava is my everything. The piece of my soul I didn’t know was missing.
She was born to be mine.