75. Chapter 75
“That is not true, Eileen,” the voice repeats, though this time, it’s softer and there’s more sadness in his voice than before. No, not just sadness, but a mixture of emotions—disappointment, shame, pity, and there’s a hard edge of anger underlying all of that.
I look around, trying to find the owner of the voice, when he steps out of the shadows and walks toward Eileen. She stares at him in shock, and I’m pretty sure I know who it is based off of her expression.
“R-Raul?”
He frowns as he looks her over. “Quite honestly, I had my suspicions for a few months before your father notified me of your deceit. I had also been suspecting that you never truly loved me, but rather loved the money and status my family could give you. Those two reasons were why I called off our wedding. My family has a long-standing hatred of the skin business. In no way would we have allowed you to continue what you were doing if we would have married. Thankfully, we found out ahead of time, but if it had been after we were married when the truth came out, there would have been no mercy for you. You would have been tortured and killed, like your fate tonight.
“However, if you had been with child when we learned of your betrayal, I would not have punished the child for its mother’s betrayal. No one in my family would punish a child for their parent’s sins. But after the baby was born…” He pauses as his voice trails off and stares into her eyes for a moment. “Were you even telling me the truth that night? When you said you couldn’t wait to be a mother? To give me an heir?”
Eileen hesitates but eventually gives a slight nod. “For you, I would have done it. I loved you, Raul. I still do.”
My chest tightens at her words, and that tightening increases as Raul looks up at me with sympathy in his eyes before returning his attention back to Eileen.
“And yet I’ve seen the proof that you couldn’t even be a semi-decent mother to your own daughter. Why should I believe that you wouldn’t have done the same if Mary had been my daughter and not Nikos’?”
“I… I…”
Raul shakes his head, cutting her off. “I will be forever grateful I did not end up married to you. To have found out too late the venomous snake that hid just beneath the surface.” He pauses as he twists the wedding band on his finger. “Thankfully, after I cut ties with you, I eventually found someone who loved me, truly loved me, was a good fit for our family. We even just welcomed our first grandchild a few days ago.”
The devastation on Eileen’s face is plain as day as she learns the man she loved had found someone even better than her after her betrayal.
Raul turns to Abuelo (Grandpa). “Thank you for letting me put this last piece of my past to bed.”
Abuelo (Grandpa) dips his head and Raul leaves as quietly as he came.
Turning back to Eileen, I’m surprised that a small part of me feels sorry for her as tears run down her cheeks as she stares at Raul’s retreating back, but it quickly fades when memories of everything she has done to me over the years surface again. Abuelo (Grandpa) gives a signal to Levi who continues on with her torture on Eileen.
Patch stops cutting into Diego, and steps back and Dragon takes his cue to step back from Isaac as well.
“Who killed Nikos?”
Diego glares at Patch, but surprisingly, Isaac caves.
“D-Diego did it. My first k-kill was slotted for someone else who b-betrayed the family, according to Dad.”
Somewhere deep inside, I knew that Diego was the one who had pulled the trigger, but knowing for sure puts that question to rest finally.
Patch walks over by Isaac, lifting his chin with the flat side of the tip of his blade. While he does that, Dragon switches places and starts working on Diego, trying to get him to crack.
“Why were you all really targeting Mary?”
“He v-viewed her as a t-threat.”
“Shut the fuck up, Isaac,” both Diego and Carlos yell as they squirm in their chains. Axe steps forward with some tape and tapes both their mouths shut before standing off to the side.
I tilt my head, watching Diego and Carlos. Diego seems more furious that Isaac’s talking, where Carlos seems almost afraid. That if Isaac doesn’t speak up, we might let him go. Not that we would. There’s too much evidence against him and what he’s done.
“Continue,” Patch tells Isaac.
“Other t-than me, she was the next eldest g-grandchild. Aside from what the others have already said, D-Diego was worried even more p-power would be taken from him when Mary came of age and received her d-dagger. Diego hated that Abuelo (Grandpa) chose M-Mateo over him as successor. Like Eileen and Dad, Diego thought we could build our empire even bigger if we were in skin. Then when Eileen came back, and especially when she faked her death, we started growing our circles despite what Abuelo had ordered us not to do.”
“What do you know about Oasis?”
Isaac frowns. “Not m-much. They didn’t l-let me in those meetings very often. X is in c-charge of everything. Phillip has a homestead n-north of here on one of your woman’s l-land. Eileen had p-plans that after both w-women had their b-babies, we were going to storm the c-compound, take them and the women, as well as M-Mary’s kids and bring them into the fold as p-payback for what the club has done to X’s stock and c-channels. Stephan had put the k-kids and her up on the black market website and Eileen finalized their b-buyers, but they know they won’t get the kids till we get the b-babies. Also, X is f-furious that you lot are k-keeping him away from the woman he sees as his q-queen.”
My blood runs cold as I look over at Timber as he leaves Philip and stomps up to Isaac. “And who does he see as his queen?” Timber asks, his voice lethal and dark.
“The one p-pregnant with t-triplets. Said she’s of g-good stock that will h-help grow their p-product.”
Timber turns on his heel, stalks over to Phillip, who’s smiling smugly, and slams his fist into his stomach. Phillip sputters and coughs. After a few minutes, he grins a bloody grin at Timber.
“Yes, enjoy your bitch while you can because she won’t be yours for much longer,” he wheezes out.
“We’ll just see about that,” Timber returns his grin and after a few moments, Phillip’s grin falters.
“There’s no way you’ll find him. Hell, half the time he isn’t even in the country.”
Muffled cursing has me turning my attention to Diego, and Dragon rips off the tape that was covering Diego’s mouth. Is Diego finally cracking?
“Shut up you fucking imbecile,” Diego seethes. My heart sinks as Dragon’s face darkens, and at the same time, Phillip’s face blanches as he realizes he just let some vital information slip out. My guess is that Dragon must have also hoped we’d get more information out of Diego, which was why he removed the tape.
Dragon pulls back and lands a hard punch to Diego’s stomach and as he’s sputtering, Axe re-tapes Diego’s mouth shut, but the damage is already done. Phillip clams up and won’t answer any more of Timber’s questions. And not only does Phillip clam up, but so do the others.
“Time to up the ante, gents,” Levi calls out after ten minutes have passed. So far, none of them have given us anything since Diego’s threat.
Levi gestures to Bear, who brings over the boxes the club brought with them. She opens the boxes and when she pulls out a metal looking dildo, I know things are about to get a lot darker
“One of my buddies made these custom for me. I like to use these on assholes who abuse women or children and traffic them. This may seem like an innocent little dildo, but it’s got a few surprises up its sleeves.” She pauses as she hits a button on a remote and I swear everyone in the room cringes as metal spikes pop out of the dildo. “And there’s one more feature.” She hits another button and my eyes widen when the fucking dildo starts to move. “Oh, and I forgot to say that there are straps to make sure these babies don’t work their way out of you.
She pushes a button and the spikes retract and the dildo stops moving. She puts the dildo back in the box and pulls out another thing, some sort of a ring.
“This little baby is for you men.” She pushes a button and spikes pop out of the ring and it’s only then that I realize it’s a cock ring. “And yes, it also vibrates,” she says as she hits another button. After a few moments, she shuts it off.
Moving to the other box, Levi reaches inside and I secretly wonder how many more surprises she has.
“And this is for the ladies. The metal bra claw as one of my brothers likes to call it.” She presses a button that makes the spear-like ends shoot out from the center and then they start to rotate. She shuts it off and looks around, smirking at the looks of horror on our guests’ faces. Taking a chance, I glance over at Martin and his friend who are protecting their junk and looking rather terrified of Levi right about now. Serves the assholes right.
“If I could please get some help, gents?” Levi asks and the guys who had been doing the torturing so far, all step forward and walk past my stunned family to grab the devices for the guys while Levi and Sasha handle the women.
It takes a few minutes, but soon everyone has the devices strapped to them.
Thor nods to Abuelo who jerks slightly as he comes out of his shock. Walking down the line, he rips the tape off of anyone who still has it covering their mouths.
Then he walks over to Carmen, glances at Derrick, and then back to her. “Despite what you thought, I did love you, Carmen. But then you disgraced our family by helping our children work behind my back in the hurting of innocents and most likely, causing the deaths of some of them. You were right, we do not divorce in our family. However, when we are betrayed, we silence them. No matter who they are.”
He looks over her and nods to Sasha, who turns on her device to Carmen’s metal claw bra and the dildo.
Carmen’s wails fill the air and soon Derrick’s cries mix with hers as he struggles against his bonds. A small amount of pity eats at me for him having to watch the person he loves die, and based on his reactions, he truly does love her, but I squash the feeling down. With everything he’s done, he doesn’t deserve any amount of pity.
Sasha cuts off the device when Abuelo gives her a signal and he walks around Carmen, sliding his dagger across her throat. “I brought you into nuestra familia (our family), and I take you out of nuestra familia (our family).”
Derrick weeps as the sound of her gurgling fades and then her body hangs limply in its chains. A sliver of remorse shines in los ojos del abuelo (grandpa’s eyes) as he looks at Carmen one last time and at Derrick, but then his face hardens and he signals Tripp to turn on his device for Derrick. When Abuelo gives the signal to turn off the device, this time it’s Tío (Uncle) Mateo who walks up to Derrick.
“You have betrayed the ways of nuestra familia (our family) as well as further betraying nuestra familia (our family) by hurting our own. By now, I’m sure you’ve already figured out the punishments for your crimes. To watch the woman you loved die and to be killed at my hand.” Without another word, he steps behind Derrick and slides his dagger across Derrick’s throat, slicing him open.
“ Mi Padre (My Father) may have brought you into nuestra familia , but I take you out of nuestra familia .”
A few minutes later, Derrick’s body also hangs limp.
Thor walks up to Phillip. “Where is X?”
When Phillip doesn’t answer, Thor nods to Timber, who turns on his device for a few seconds and then he turns it off. After a few moments, when Phillip is mostly just crying instead of screaming, he asks again.
“Where is X?”
“When he’s n-not in the US. H-he s-splits his time between M-Mexico, Hawaii, and the C-Cayman Islands.”
“Where is he right now?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t k-know, just that when he heard M-Mary had left Stephan, he rushed b-back from Mexico, so I doubt he’d go b-back there. He’d probably g-go to one of his houses in the other l-locations.”
“Who else is in control of the homestead north of town?”
“If I’m n-not there, the next highest-r-ranking person is Grant. He l-lives in the second l-largest thatch house.”
“Why did Oasis put their homestead on Mae’s land to begin with?” Timber asks him.
“B-Bruce thought that when everything was all s-said and done, he and X w-would have Mae and then they’d h-have the rights to the land. They s-sought out that land with the intent of always g-getting their hands on Mae. Then my idiot b-brother botched up their plans and didn’t m-make sure that Mae was asleep before calling B-Bruce to sell her.”
Timber’s eyes rage and with a look at Thor, probably to see if he has any more questions. Thor shakes his head and Timber flips on the switch again. After a few moments, Timber hands the controller to Thor and steps around Phillip, slitting his throat even as the device still keeps tearing apart his insides and slicing through his dick. Only when Phillip’s body hangs limp does Thor shut off the controller.
Patch, Abuelo y mi tios (Grandpa and my uncles) all step toward Stephan.
“You took my woman and son from me. You beat her and abused her for nine years. Tried to sell her children, which we shut down the website by the way.” Patch pauses as Stephan shakes his head and mutters ‘no’ weakly. “No what?”
“I w-wasn’t the one that p-put them on that s-site, d-despite what Isaac t-thought. T-That’s Eileen’s site. Sure, I t-threatened Mary p-plenty of times that if she didn’t b-behave, that would be her f-fate, but it was always Eileen p-pulling those strings.”
Patch narrows his eyes at him, but he must see something in Stephan’s eyes that makes him believe him because he nods.
“Fine, that was Eileen, but you still beat her, made her bleed, broke her bones, and abused her mentally as well as emotionally. Not to mention stealing so many experiences from your own fucking kids. They’ve never even built a snowman until earlier this afternoon,” Patch seethes and Stephan winces, whereas the faces of Abuelo y mi tios (Grandpa and my uncles) turn murderous.
“That w-was all part of the c-contract. I had to s-suppress as much as p-possible to try and make them as c-compliant as possible. If you don’t b-believe me, look in t-the very bottom d-drawer in my d-desk. T-There’s a false b-bottom. Remove t-that and you’ll f-find all the v-variations of the contracts for Mary and the k-kids.”
Thor looks over his shoulder and when I look around, I notice Smoke is on his phone, texting someone.
“Time will tell if you’re telling the truth or not. Regardless of what we find, you still fulfilled the terms of that so-called contract with little to no coercion, you fucking piece of shit. No one twisted your arm to do any of that. That was all you, and you’ll pay for what you’ve done,” Patch growls out as he cuts deeply into Stephan’s side.
He ignores Stephan’s cries of pain as he moves from wound to wound, cutting deeper into each one. Wound that I’m guessing Patch gave him during their first ‘talk’. A small part of me baulks at enjoying the sound of Stephan’s screams, but I squash the feeling. Stephan never responded to my pleas or cries for him to stop, and no one here is going to listen to his pleas he’s currently crying out.
Abuelo y mi tios (Grandpa and my uncles) turn to face Diego, Carols and Isaac.
“You all have brought immense shame on the family. Your clubs, houses, cars, everything will be sold off. All the proceeds will go to helping those hurt by your greed.” He pauses and looks at Carlos.
“In everything I have scoured, I have not found proof that Gianna was involved in any of this,” and for a moment I see relief in Carlos’ eyes. “But that said, I do not believe that she is totally innocent. Not with as many meetings as you were holding in your wing of the estate.” He pauses again and the previous relief I’d seen in Carlos’ eyes quickly dims. “Gianna will be cut from nuestra familia . The other ruling Dons will be warned about her to prevent her from worming her way back in. She will be cared for, but I refuse to allow her to continue living in my house. That said, I will not be supplying the same level of comfort that she is used to. By morning, family heirlooms will be moved out of the wing, and if there is anything missing, Gianna will return the items on penalty of death. The remaining items, she may do so as she sees fit with. Keep them, sell them, whatever. I don’t care. However, her and her shit will be out of my house by the end of the day. A suitable house has been found and purchased for her. If she doesn’t want it, then she’s on her own to find her own housing. Is that clear?”
Carlos hangs his head. “ S-Sí (Yes), Padre (Father).”
“Fucking man up, Carlos,” Diego hisses, and Thor signals Axe before Abuelo even has a chance to. Axe steps forward and tapes Diego’s mouth shut again before stepping back out of the way.
Antonio moves to Isaac next. “You had so much potential until you started taking more and more after tu padre y tu tío (your father and uncle). However, maybe if I had stepped in more, I could have saved you and diverted you on a better path. For that reason alone, I am granting you a quick death, but it will still be in the way nuestra familia handles traitors.”
Isaac’s face falls, but he quickly masks his emotions save for the guilt I still see shining in his eyes. Abuelo steps forward and defaces the family crest tattoo on Isaac’s chest before shaving it off. Then he moves behind Isaac and quickly, but deeply, slices through his neck.
Carlos weeps as quietly as he can as Isaac struggles to breathe and a sob tears through him when Isaac finally stops breathing. For a brief moment, I see a shimmer of tears in los ojos del abuelo (Grandpa’s eyes) before he blinks rapidly and his eyes clear.
When Abuelo stops in front of Carlos, he does his best to stem his tears as he looks up at Abuelo .
“Is there anything else you can tell us of X, Oasis, or the human trafficking?”
He nods. “X had p-plans to go to Hawaii n-next, but I don’t k-know if he’ll still do that s-since I’m sure he’s figured out we were c-compromised.” He pauses and turns to Thor. “Under Phillip’s and G-Grant’s houses, they b-built a bunker of sorts. If your t-tech guy is as good as they say, t-then he’ll be able to get even more d-data about X. As for S-Sanchez, I’m sure r-retribution will come at some p-point. He’s h-had his eye on Levi and Mary for q-quite some time now. He’s even taken an interest in M-Mae after hearing X d-describe her. His daughter b-better get far, far away b-because when he finds out she w-was in on him losing his product all these years, he will t-tear everything and everyone apart to f-find her and end her. R-regardless of if she is family or not. He knew he had a m-mole, he just never s-suspected it was her. At least to my k-knowledge, anyway.”
“Anything else?”
Carlos shakes his head. Abuelo steps forward and starts cutting up Carlos’ family crest tattoo before shaving it off. When he’s done, he gives the signal to Thor, who switches on Carlos’ devices, though as soon as they are on, Abuelo walks behind Carlos and slits his throat, fast and deep, like he’d done with Isaac. I don’t know if he gave him mercy for being so honest at the end or what, but I think it might have been the case.
Abuelo goes to Diego next and rips the tape off his mouth. They stare at each other for a while before Abuelo shakes his head.
“You don’t regret anything, do you?”
“Only not killing you like I had wanted to and not killing that fat bitch that night along with Nikos. Money and revenge be damned.”
“Thor, do you guys have any other questions for him?”
Thor looks toward me but I slightly shake my head, and when he looks at Patch, he shakes his head as well. “Nope, you can proceed with him however you want.”
When Abuelo steps forward, Diego spits, but Abuelo is able to just barely jerk to the side to avoid it. He backhands Diego and when Diego grins a bloody grin, Axe steps forward and offers him the tape. Abuelo takes it and tapes his mouth shut before he starts cutting into Diego’s tattoo and slicing it off like the others. He looks down at the device in Patch’s hand and holds out his hand for it. He studies it for a moment before turning to Levi.
“Is there a speed option?” he asks to which she smirks and walks over to him.
“This knob right here dictates the speed. To the left is slower and to the right is faster.”
His hand twists, and when I hear the device start, I realize he’s turned it to the absolute lowest setting.
Patch reaches up and puts his fingers around Diego’s wrists. It takes me a moment before I realize he’s feeling for his pulse.
After a few minutes, Patch says something low to Abuelo who walks around Deigo and slices his neck. Only when Diego slumps in his chains does he turn off the devices. When he turns toward Eileen, the only one left alive, I wheel forward.
“Wait.”
I stop a few inches shy of the plastic and at my voice, Eileen looks up. Seeing how broken she is surprises me, and I wonder exactly how much of Raul’s visit and words destroyed her more than what Levi had done to her.
“What else do you want from me? You’ve already taken everything. My love. My husband. My house. My company. My family. What more do you want from me?” she screams.
I shake my head. “I never took any of that from you. It was your own actions that led to your downfall and the fact that you still can’t see that says a lot about you. But then again, you are practically a mirror image of your own mother, so I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, does it?”
She scoffs and shakes her head, but doesn’t say anything.
It’s then that the few things I was going to ask about don’t matter anymore. Much like Diego, she really doesn’t see anything wrong with what she’s done. I hold my hand out, and when Levi hands me her controller, I’m pleasantly surprised when no one stops me.
Levi tells me what’s what, and after I flick on the switches, I look over my shoulder and nod to Bear and Bones who come over. Locking the wheels of my chair, I stand with their assistance and loop my arms around them. They help me hobble my way behind Eileen, and when the guys help steady me, I’m not surprised to see Patch, Abuelo y mi tios (Grandpa and my uncles) are there, looking at me with concern as I pull out my own dagger.
“Are you sure, Siren? Taking a life changes you, but I get it if this is what you need to do to close this door. I just want to make sure you are positive this is what you want to do.”
Pursing my lips, I nod. “I’m sure. I need to be the one to do this.”
With a small nod in return, he checks her pulse since I put her controller on the lowest setting just like Abuelo had done with Diego. When he gives me another nod, I take a deep breath pass him the controller and reach around Eileen, slicing her throat.
“You may have brought me into this world, but I’m the one who will be taking you out of it.”
When her body sags in her chains, mine sags for an entirely different reason, and Patch quickly steps forward, wrapping his arms around me.
After a few moments, Eileen’s gurgling stops and her body finally sags.
Someone clears their throat, and I look over my shoulder. Smoke holds up his phone.
“Stephan’s story checks out. We have all the documents.”
Patch steps forward, raising an eyebrow in question. Tightening my jaw, I nod. “Me.”
He picks me up and sets me down in front of Stephan, whose head is hanging down, his chin almost touching his chest. After a moment, he raises his head, and for the first time ever, I see regret in his eyes. However, I don’t know if he truly feels regret or if it’s because he knows he’s going to die.
“After today, you will never be spoken of again. The kids are already well on their way to forgetting you and have long since been calling Patch ‘Dad’. For years I had thought of ways I’d make you suffer for what you’ve put all of us through, but now, I just want you gone.”
Patch picks me up once more and sets me down behind Stephan. He hands me the controller, and like I had done with Eileen, I turn it on its lowest setting.
Patch reaches up, checking his pulse, and when he gives me a signal, I reach around Stephan’s neck, but then I pause for a moment.
“You will never have control over me or the kids ever again.”
Then I slice my dagger across his throat.
When his body finally hangs limp, my throat tightens with emotions, but I force myself to push them down for now.
Once again, Patch wraps his arms around me, and I lean into him.
“It’s done. It’s finally over and I’m free. My demons are dead.”
I’m free, I repeat to myself internally.
I’m finally free.
For the first time in nine years, I can breathe deeply again.