Chapter 3
Chapter Three
CARTER
Istand towering over Bones’ intel guy, Benji, imagining choking the fucking life out of him.
The rage turns from a simmer to a blazing inferno.
“What do you mean you can’t track her? Isn’t that what the fucking tracker is for?”
Benji cowers beside Bones as he tries to explain nervously.
“They may be using a signal jammer, or the device could be faulty.”
I shake my head, the doom filling me because if we can’t find her fast, we could lose her. Permanently.
Bones holds his hand up, indicating for me to stop, but I can’t. Not until our girl is safe.
“Then you have to unjam it. Fucking now.” I yell, realizing that barking at this man won’t accomplish anything.
Knox, the always level-headed one of our family, takes a deep breath before speaking.
“Let’s think. If we find her family, we will probably find her.”
I state the obvious, since Knox seems to have forgotten something important.
“We don’t know where they are. Remember? They burned their fucking property to the ground.”
Running a hand through his hair, he stares at me, eyes filled with annoyance.
“Yes, Carter, I fucking remember. Okay, who’s connected to her family?”
“St. Dymphna’s.” I breathe out, remembering the conversations after Kill got her out of the asylum about there being a link between Father Desjardins and the Prophet.
“Then we start there.” My brother says as Bones nods in agreement.
“Take Reaper, Raven, and Psycho with you. Kage and I will work with Benji and dig up what we can.”
Going back to that fucking place is something I didn’t want to do. Ever. But for ?her, I’ll fucking do it. There’s nothing I won’t do to get her back.
I’ll walk through those doors and face the ghosts of my past. The ones that still haunt me and show up in my nightmares. She’s the only person who has ever calmed the incessant storm living inside me, but he took her from us.
He didn’t just take my woman from me. Heather is so much more than that. She’s an angel—my angel.
She breathes life into me.
Makes me a little less broken.
More man than monster.
She’s my fucking everything.
The end and the beginning.
Without her—I won’t survive.
“Ready?” I ask as I glance at Reaper, Raven, Psycho, and Knox.
“Are people going to die??” Reaper asks, his eyes dark as coal, excitement dancing in his gaze as any serial killer's eyes would.
“In the most agonizing way possible. If I have to kill every person in that asylum to get to her, I will. With fucking pleasure.”
We say goodbye to Bones as he promises to keep in contact with any updates.
I get into the front seat with Psycho, and the rest of the guys get into the back.
“Do you have weapons?” He asks, glancing at me from the driver's seat.
I pat my holsters on either side.
“A gun and a knife.”
After turning out of the warehouse, he smirks with his approval.
“The knife is always the way to go. Have you ever tortured someone and sewn them back up so you can start over again?”
“I can’t say that I have.”
He grins like the cat who ate the canary.
“When you find someone deserving of that level of torture, I’ll show you how I do it.”
The more I talk to him the more I understand his nickname. He’s an obvious psycho but then some people have earned that level of brutality.
I glance out the window for a few minutes, focusing on the things outside instead of Heather. The more I think about what she’s probably going through, the more it physically hurts. Her pain is my pain.
“You’re the oldest right? Did you teach your brothers, too?”
He makes another turn and clears his throat, and I wonder if family is an off limits topic for him.
“No. We all have our own methods of killing. None of us are the same in that regard. Bones breaks bones. Reaper prefers to strangle his victims. Kage will lock you up and watch you die, slowly. I don’t have the patience for that shit.
I prefer the knife. I like the blood. It gets the job done, but visually-” He sighs, a sound of extreme pleasure escaping from his mouth.
“It’s beautiful. Watching blood drain from the body while they beg for relief. That’s my second favorite thing to watch.”
“And your first?”
He shakes his head with a chuckle.
“It involves my wife. I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you for imagining it. Your family, though, so I wouldn’t end your life. But I would gouge your eyes out.”
“You really are a fucking psycho.” I say with a laugh but I’m not joking, at least not entirely.
He beams proudly, and I know he takes it as a compliment. I’m curious about all four of them. Especially Bones. Does he use something to break bones? Surely it isn’t with his bare hands.
“Are you a serial killer?”
“Nah. That’s Reaper and his girl Bella. Although my wife says I am, we disagree on the definition of a serial killer. I don’t kill people for sport even though I do enjoy it, but Reaper is a little different, or at least used to be.”
I stare at him in confusion, and he continues.
“Reaper used to kill just to kill, but that was before Bella. She likes to target disgusting men. Child molesters, wife beaters, pieces of shit like that. And whatever Bella wants, he will give it to her.”
I can’t help but smile, thinking of Heather, before I’m overcome with profound sadness.
Please stay alive, Little Heathen.
Psycho notices the change in my expression and reaches over to touch my shoulder before quickly retracting his hand.
“I’ve been where you are. It’s gut-wrenching, the pain of not knowing if you’ll find her alive.
If we have anything to say about it, you will.
In the meantime, cutting a bunch of fuckers helps.
When my Hadley was taken, I walked into a bar and killed nearly every person in it.
It didn’t bring her back, but it helped calm my mind. ”
He is married to her now, so I know it worked out okay. I can only hope for a similar outcome.
I’m worried, not only that Noah will kill her, but that if we get her back, she’ll be broken beyond repair.
Our girl isn’t afraid of anything, but when we asked who Noah was, it was clear—Heather was terrified at the mere mention of his name.
My chest squeezes painfully, knowing wherever she is, she’s filled with terror.
If she’s still alive.
I’m coming, Little Heathen. Come hell or high water.
We will save you.