Chapter 55
CHAPTER
FIFTY-FIVE
LOOT
We pull up to the condo complex, though we don’t come rumbling straight to Juliette’s place, knowing we’d be heard before we could even stop our bikes and run inside. Instead, we park a few buildings away.
I shouldn’t be surprised that it’s not the hood, but it’s not bougie, either. I have a feeling she’s been staying in some shady places over the years. Given how long she's been on the run, this is probably a mansion for her. Good news is, she’ll never have to be on the run again.
She’s going to have roots here.
My fucking roots.
Elodie and Alex found her a decent place in a somewhat decent neighborhood. It’s probably a little more than she can comfortably afford. I mean, she’s never going to live here. I’m going to get this lease canceled
Maybe that’s why she was so ready to stay at my place and never told me about this one. She probably doesn’t even have a bed to sleep in. I don’t know why I’m even thinking about that. I should be focused on what is waiting for me inside that condo.
“You good?” Wrath asks from beside me.
We’ve killed our engines, and we’re sitting here, unmoving, when I should be running straight inside—directly to her. I don’t know if I’m good. My body trembles, and I throw my leg off my bike.
I’ve never been hesitant about anything like this before. I’m always the one who runs headfirst, no fucks given, but this is different. It’s because I fell in love with Juliette the moment my eyes landed on her in the church room.
I didn’t even see her face. I fell in love with her bent over in front of me—ass in my face, fucking gorgeous. Then I started talking to her, touched her, kissed her, and knew she was the one.
The one.
Fifty fucking years old, and I’m thinking like a punk-ass kid. But it’s the truth. I fucking love her. I’ve never felt this way before in my life, and now I’m feeling something else that is beyond foreign.
“Let’s go,” I grind out.
I don’t tell him that I’m good, because I’m not. But I need to get into that house. I need to see her and know that she’s okay. I need to kill that sonofabitch. We hurry toward the condo on foot.
Alex leads us, mainly so we know where we’re going, but Fantasy has already informed him that he will stand to the side and out of the way when we go in.
Something that made Alex roll his eyes to the sky.
I might not understand the draw between two men being together, but I can tell they’re good for one another. I like it for them.
We stand in front of the door. I take the lead, though I don’t feel like I should be the one in front. Reaching for the doorknob, I try to turn it, but it’s locked. “Locked,” I call out. I take a step backward, then another, before I lift my foot and attempt to kick it down.
I give it a couple of good kicks, Fantasy does a couple more, and then I deliver the final one, watching as the doorjamb splinters and the door swings wide open.
Without seeing anything, I move into the house, and then I stop. Wrath and Fantasy hiss behind me, but I don’t turn to look back at them. There in front of me is a scene that I don’t think I could have imagined in a million fucking years.
Juliette is on her knees, naked, holding a pistol in her hand. She’s pointing it directly at a naked man who is covered in holes and blood. The anger instantly seeps from my body, and it’s replaced with nothing but pure concern.
I don’t rush toward her the way I instinctually want to. She’s got a gun in her hand, and right now, judging by the way she’s on her knees, her entire body frozen and her eyes not even blinking, I can only assume she’s in shock.
“Juliette,” I coo as I take a step toward her. “Juliette,” I call out again when she doesn’t respond the first time.
“Honey,” I say, crouching down to my haunches so we’re at eye level.
Something about the way I say honey breaks the spell. She turns her head, her eyes tearing from the lifeless body in front of her to find mine, and then I watch as her entire body relaxes.
“Can you put the gun down?” I ask.
She shakes her head, her lips pressing together for a moment. My gaze flicks to her throat, and my entire body jerks at the sight of the swollen red skin there. He’s choked her. I’m going to kill him, and if he’s already dead, I’m going to mutilate his body in hopes that his soul can feel it.
Juliette shakes her head. “I can’t put it down. If he’s alive, I need to make sure he’s not.”
God. What the fuck did this asshole do to my woman?
“He’s not going to touch you or anyone else ever again, honey. We got two guns pointed at him.”
She flicks her gaze behind me, and I watch as she looks from side to side, then her attention focuses back on me. She places the gun down on the floor. Holding out my arms, I don’t move toward her, as if she’s a wounded animal. I wait for her to come to me.
She does, and when she’s close enough, she throws her body into mine. Wrapping my arms around her, I hold her close as she buries her face in my neck and begins to cry. Standing, I turn her around so she doesn’t have a chance to look at that fuck again.
“Give her to me,” Alex calls out. “Take care of that piece of shit. I’ll take her into the bathroom and clean her up.”
I guide my palm down her hair. “You good with going with Alex for a few minutes, Jules?”
She lifts her head, her eyes finding mine. They are watery as they search. “I’ll be right here,” I state.
“Okay,” she whispers.
She doesn’t let go of me, though. Instead, Alex comes up beside me, and I actually have to pass her off to him. He doesn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around her, and then they’re gone down the hallway.