Chapter Seventeen #2
Every muscle in my body tensed, but I kept my face expressionless. Eric took four steps into the room now. Knuckles remained motionless just within my peripheral vision. Waiting.
“I own you, Jade,” Eric continued. His voice grew louder with each word. “You are mine to fuck. Mine to hurt. Mine to do with as I please. You think these criminals can protect you? They can barely protect themselves.”
He gestured wildly with the gun. “Look around you. Power cut. Security compromised. You think I came in here without knowing exactly how to get to you?”
I caught a flicker of movement as Knight positioned himself better in the shadows.
“I saw your pathetic little story online. Your sad attempt to turn people against me. You know what will happen now? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. People have already forgotten about you. Even if a few of them try to support you, I have connections in this city. There will be outrage and maybe my lawyers will draw out delay after delay in going to court. Then, once everyone’s completely forgotten about something as insignificant as you, it will all quietly fade away into the background and nothing will change. ”
Jade pulled back slightly from my chest looking up at me with silent permission. I nodded once, and she turned to face her tormentor. I let her shift but put her partially behind me. I curled my arm to hold Jade close as I could without Jade being between me and Eric.
“I don’t belong to you, Eric,” she said. Her voice wobbled but held firm.
“Of course, you do. You always have,” Eric sneered, an empty, frightening expression that never reached his eyes.
“You were so easy to control these last few years that I got bored. That’s why I went after your friend Mia.
I wanted more of a challenge.” Jade sucked in a sharp breath.
“Did you know that was the reason? I wanted to see how long it would take to break her like I broke you.” A vein pulsed visibly at his temple.
His eyes had a wild, unfocused quality now. I knew Eric was completely insane.
Jade stayed silent, knowing not to engage. I’d never been prouder of anyone in my life. Jade’s hand bunched in the band of my jeans at the small of my back, but she no longer trembled.
“I’m taking you home now, Jade.” Eric spoke with the assurance of someone completely convinced of his own power. “Say goodbye to your biker boyfriend.”
In one sudden movement, he lunged forward, gun extended toward me, his free hand reaching for Jade.
I moved before he got close, moving Jade gently but firmly behind me while stepping into Eric’s space.
I caught his wrist, twisting him and positioning his arm so he had to bend at the waist to keep from dislocating his shoulder and elbow.
The gun clattered to the floor, and I kicked it toward Knuckles.
Eric finally sucked in a breath and screamed his frustrations, a high, pathetic sound as he dropped to his knees. I maintained my grip on his wrist, forcing him lower until his forehead pressed against the floor.
“Shoot this motherfucker,” Gunnar snarled from the doorway. “Fuckin’ waste of oxygen.”
“I vote with Gunnar.” Knight didn’t sound as good-natured now as he usually did since Violet and their daughter, Brynn, came back into his life. In fact, even though he shared some dark humor, he sounded scary as fuck.
I stared down at the man who had tormented Jade for years.
Who had tried to break her spirit. Who had violated her and been responsible for some of the most vulnerable moments in her life, then exposed them to the world.
I could snap his neck right now with one quick twist. End his miserable existence in seconds.
My hands twitched with the desire to do exactly that.
“You’re all going to prison for this,” Eric gasped from the floor, his voice tight with anger. “Assault. Kidnapping. I have powerful friends who will make everyone believe what I tell them. People who matter. Not gutter trash like you.”
“Shut your fucking mouth,” I said quietly.
Behind me, Jade stood absolutely still. When I glanced back at her, I saw a complex mix of emotions fighting across her face. Relief. Shock. Anger. Disgust. But not fear. Not anymore.
“I will destroy all of you. Starting with that whore.” Eric spat in Jade’s direction.
I pressed his wrist higher up his back, making him yelp. “You’ve talked yourself into enough trouble. I suggest you stop while you still have a chance for a clean death.”
His eyes rolled wildly, finding Jade standing behind me. “This isn’t over, Jade. I will find you again. I will always find you.”
“No, Eric,” Jade said softly, shaking her head slowly. “I really don’t think you will.”
I heard movement from the shadowed corner of the room.
Someone stepped forward with deliberate footsteps.
Hannah stepped fully into the red glow of the emergency lights.
Her face showed nothing as she raised her arm and aimed her gun directly at Eric’s groin.
I backed off. Eric looked up from where he’d rolled onto his ass and scrambled to his feet.
Hannah’s aim moved with him and his eyes widened with sudden understanding.
Once he’d straightened to his full height, Hannah pulled the trigger without hesitation.
The gunshot cracked through the silence. Jade jumped but didn’t react otherwise. Eric screamed -- a high, animal sound of agony – and slowly sank to the floor as blood began to pool beneath him. The bullet had torn through his upper thigh and groin with devastating effects.
“That is for every woman you hurt,” Hannah said brightly. She had a smile on her face that in no way reached her eyes.
Blood pumped from the wound in spurts. No coming back from that without immediate medical intervention and I had it on good authority that wasn’t happening.
Eric clutched at his groin, screaming as blood soaked through his expensive pants and spread across the floor.
His face had gone chalk white already as shock set in.
His eyes rolled frantically around the room, looking for help or mercy or perhaps just trying to understand what was happening to him. I didn’t give a fucking shit.
Knuckles walked forward until he stood over Eric. He looked down with detached interest and nudged him with the toe of his boot.
“We have you on camera breaking into a women’s shelter with a loaded gun, in direct violation of your restraining order,” Knuckles said matter-of-factly.
“Clear case of self-defense. Hannah here is in charge of everything, especially the safety of our guests. She witnessed you threatening residents with a firearm and took appropriate action to neutralize the threat.”
He glanced toward the ceiling. “Funny thing about this room, though. No security cameras in here. Privacy concerns and all that. So nobody will ever see exactly how you died. Just that you came in with a gun and left in a body bag. And the only injuries you sustained were from a properly registered firearm by one of the very few people with access to that firearm.” Knuckles knelt so he was close to Eric as the man lay there bleeding out.
“And before you know it, the world will move on. This will all quietly go away. Assuming it gets beyond the obvious headline.”
Eric gurgled something unintelligible. His hands were completely red now as he tried futilely to stop the bleeding. His struggles grew weaker by the second.
“You ready for me to call the police?” Knight pulled out his phone. Eric’s gaze shifted to Knight, a pleading look on his face.
“Please,” he begged. “Call an ambulance. I don’t want to die.”
“News flash, fuckwit,” Diesel growled. “No one gives a good Goddamn what you want.”
Jade knelt beside Eric’s dying body just beyond the spreading pool of blood. His eyes locked onto hers with a desperate intensity. Even now he tried to exert control. To intimidate. To make her feel small.
“Sucks to be you, huh?” she said softly. She didn’t smile or act like she gloated over him. “I’m not sad you’re dying. But I’m sad you let things go this far. And I’m sad you hurt all the people you hurt.” She shook her head. “But I’m glad you won’t be able to hurt anyone ever again.”
His lips moved silently, trying to form words but falling short.
Sweat ran off him in rivulets and his skin was practically translucent.
He trembled continually. Whatever final poison he tried to spew did not matter.
His eyes began to lose focus. His chest rose and fell in irregular stuttering movements.
I watched Jade carefully. Her face showed a complex mix of emotions, relief chief among them.
Eric shuddered once more, then went completely still. His eyes remained open, fixed on Jade’s face in death as they had been in life. Predatory. Possessive. But now empty of the malice that had animated them.
Jade sniffed, wiping her nose on the back of her wrist. “Fucker. Good riddance.”
Hannah stepped closer, pulling Jade into a tight embrace. When they parted, Jade looked up at Hannah with new understanding. “Have you done something like this before?”
Hannah shrugged. “A few times, but only after someone demonstrates a clear pattern of violence that will not stop any other way.” She glanced toward Gunnar, who stood silently by the door.
“My brother went to prison for killing a man who tried to rape me when we were sixteen,” Hannah said quietly.
“He took the blame for something I did because he wanted to protect me. When he got out, I swore I would keep his secret. But to pay for what he did on my behalf, I turned myself into a predator.”
Gunnar cleared his throat gruffly. “You done talkin’ about me like I ain’t here?”
Hannah snorted a laugh, the first real emotion she had shown since entering the room. “Just giving Jade a secret. Figured it was only fair since she’s family now.”
“Yeah, well.” Gunnar shifted uncomfortably. “Someone make sure to call Lana and Ethan. I have a feeling they’re going to get some serious overtime for this.” As if on cue, the sound of sirens wailed in the distance, faint but growing louder.
“Ethan just pulled up,” Knight called from the hallway. “He’ll handle the police.”
Hannah stood, offering her hand to Jade. “Come on. You do not need to be here for this part.”
Jade took her hand and rose unsteadily to her feet. I moved to her side, immediately slipping my arm around her waist to support her. She leaned into me gratefully.
“Let me get her out of here,” I said to Knuckles.
He nodded. “Take her to the back buildings. Ethan will want to talk to her later but not until he has the scene under control. Leave it to us, brother. We got this covered.”
I guided Jade toward the back door away from the pool of blood and the body lying in it. She walked beside me in silence, to the small section leading from the shelter to the main Kiss of Death compound.
The cool night air felt like a blessing after the oppressiveness inside the building. I felt Jade take a deep breath beside me.
“Is it really over?” she asked.
I pulled her closer, kissing the top of her head. “Yes, baby. It’s over. Ethan and Lana will take care of everything. You’ll never have to worry about Eric or anyone associated with him ever again.”
She turned into my chest, stopping me on the walkway to wrap her arms around my waist. “Thank you. For letting me be there. For not trying to shield me from it.”
We stood there for a long moment just holding each other as police lights began to flash against the walls of the surrounding buildings. The sirens grew closer, then cut off abruptly as they reached Haven’s entrance.
“Take me home, Rip,” Jade said quietly.
“Where is home?” I asked carefully.
She looked up at me with clear eyes. “Wherever you are.”