Chapter 36
Grant
The Truth
“Fuckin’ cities,” Hayes grumbled beside me as he pulled into a parallel parking spot as if it were a driveway. I gave him a look, and he shrugged. “They can tow this shit.”
“You’re payin’ for it,” I said as I left the car.
Dressed in tuxes, we both adjusted the guns tucked into our waistbands as we rounded the side of the cathedral.
If Walton hadn’t told us where to go, you’d never guess my girl was about to be forced into marriage just beyond the doors.
Sophia’s life had been very public, news outlets and magazines always looking for some way to include the darling Pierson heiress in their daily gossip.
“Sure we can’t just shoot first and ask questions later?” Hayes murmured as he looked through a diamond-shaped window decorating the side door. “No one's there yet. We could find them first. Make it quick.”
“Not good ’nough. He won’t stop comin’ for her, he made that pretty fuckin’ obvious.” I made a tight fist at my side, then flexed my fingers out. “Just don’t shoot anyone here if you can help it.”
Hayes shifted the edge of his suit jacket back, revealing his gun. “Then why’d we bring these?”
“I said ‘if you can help it.’ I know shit happens.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “And I’ve had a gun on me since I was a teen. Not ’bout to stop now.”
Hayes’ brow arched. “You really think Walton was tellin’ the truth?”
“He wouldn’t have a reason to lie ’bout somethin’ like that. Nothin’ to gain from it.” I mentally thought back to all the photos I’d seen of Sophia on the internet, and the night Sophia told me about her mother as we laid under the stars, pushing my beliefs toward Walton’s corner. “It makes sense.”
Hayes sighed. “Some fucked up shit.” He suddenly nudged my shoulder. “I see somethin’.”
Staying low, I peered through the glass right as Sophia fell to the ground. What I heard next made me want to storm inside and shoot him between the eyes.
“Fuck,” Hayes muttered, grimacing as Sophia screamed.
“Go,” I ordered. “Now. You know what to do.”
Hayes did so without question and made his way around to the front of the cathedral.
I stayed and watched my girl get hurt over and over with so much rage coursin’ through my veins, I could barely watch.
I pulled my phone out and recorded the terror she endured as he yanked her back up by her hair.
A back-up plan, in case ours went south.
Later, I’d kiss and heal every mark he had put on her while he bled out on the floor.
I tucked my phone back in my pocket as she finished walking up to the dias. I watched her stiffen as Walton said something to her, maybe that I was comin’. How she could ever think I wouldn’t made my chest ache.
I’d always come for her.
Always.
An alarm sounded, halting Riyan as he advanced toward the pair.
“What the hell?” I heard him groan through the door as I started to open it.
The moment he turned and went for the entrance, I pushed the door open just enough for me to slip inside.
Ducking down below the pews, I crept closer and closer.
A woman’s scream sounded from the other wing, and that’s when I bolted for her.
Walton jerked his chin, his eyes growing wide as I came up behind Sophia and wrapped my arms around her, breathing her in.
“You came,” she whispered, shaking in my arms. “You came.”
“’Course I did, Peach.” I took her hand in mine. “We gotta go.” Guiding her away, I heard Sophia whimper behind me.
“I can’t run,” she said, tears streaming down her face. “My ankle. I think it’s broken.”
Motherfucker needs to die.
“It’s okay, darlin’. I got you.”
“What about Hailey?” Walton asked as I picked Sophia up in my arms.
“My buddy’s got her. You’ve got my word she’ll be safe.”
A heavy door thundered in the distance. I picked up my pace, aiming for the side door. But all too-soon, another door shuddered, followed by a shout.
“This is quite the sight.” Riyan’s voice echoed, filling every space in the cathedral.
“Go, Peach,” I whispered in her ear, kissing the top of her head before setting her down gently.
Riyan sauntered up the aisle, rolling up his sleeves like it was another day at the office. Fucking smug asshole. “Wherever do you think you’re going?”
“Run,” I pleaded as she froze in place. “Please, baby, just go.”
Sophia’s eyes shot between me and the door, then landed on Riyan, turnin’ fierce. “You didn’t leave me, I’m not leavin’ you.”
Was there anything about this woman I didn’t fucking love?
Once she had her mind set, she had it set. I wrapped my arm around her side, supporting her weight to ease the pain as Riyan finished walking up to us, smirking away like he’d won.
He was far from it.
“I’m actually glad you came.” Riyan set his eyes on mine, grinning. “You can stay for the afterparty. Ms. Pierson and I would love to have you.”
I cocked my head. “Ms. Pierson, as in, your sister, right?”
“My sister is as much a Pierson as your shoe is real leather.” He eyed my shoes, but more than that, he confirmed my suspicions. Hoity-toity asshole all the way with this motherfucker. Elite mindset in every sense of the word.
“You know”—I glanced at my shoe, acting shocked—“I thought spendin’ over $50 on a new pair for the occasion was a bit much, really.
” My eyes snapped back up to meet his. “But I am glad you realize how worthless your sister is. She’s probably in the trunk of my rental right now. Guess you don’t want her back?”
Riyan sneered. “What?”
Sophia stiffened in my hold at his tone. I rubbed the small of her back, hopin’ to ease some of her tension. I could only hope what I was about to drop between them wouldn’t put her further into the darkness.
“Ms. Pierson, the only Ms. Pierson there is in existence, is in my trunk,” I repeated.
Riyan’s confusion turned to impatience real quick. “I don’t have time for this.” He pointed at Walton. “Go marry him so we can get this over with and start our future together, Princess. Like you’ve always wanted.”
When Walton didn’t move, Riyan grunted. “Fine. I’ll do it myself.” He tried to get closer to Sophia, and I drew my gun. His arms went up as a dark chuckle left his lips. “Easy, cowboy.”
“You know, when Sophia calls me that, it makes me hard as a fuckin’ rock. But when it comes out of your mouth, all I wanna do is empty my clip into your skull.”
Riyan sneered. “How much will it take for you to leave us the fuck alone and get on with your life in bum-fuck? One million? Two?”
My arm around Sophia tightened. “You couldn’t pay me enough to get away from her.”
“Three and a half, then.”
“No.”
“Alright, alright. Ten is my final offer.”
“Fuck the hell right off,” I replied.
“You seem to forget”—Riyan cocked his head—“about that little video I have.”
“You can take that video, and whatever else you think you have on her, and shove it right up your ass.” Sophia looked up at me, decipherin’ how I took it. I leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I’m sorry I kept that from you, Peach.”
“You…you knew?” The break in her voice made me want to forget about any plan I had before and put a bullet through his head instantly.
“Only thing it changes is makin’ me want to protect you more, baby.” I pulled her closer to me, then turned back to Riyan. “You only ever cared about what she could offer you, and really, the best way for you to go about that would be to fuck your own sister.”
Riyan rubbed his thumb over his bottom lip, chuckling more. “And how does that make any damn—”
“This isn’t Sophia Pierson,” I said, cutting him off.
“What?” Sophia whispered up at me, her bright blue eyes blinking back the most uncertain look I’d ever seen from her.
His jaw ticked. “How long will this go on for? This…show, for a distraction.”
I shrugged with one shoulder. “No show. Just the truth.” I kissed Sophia’s forehead as her cheek rested on my side, her pensive look getting worse.
“Peach, I need you to listen to me.” My focus was more on her than it was at the man I still held my gun up to. “You were adopted.”
“What?”
Riyan let out an exasperated sigh. “Absurd.”
“It’s true. Her blood, as you’re interested in for…
” My molars clenched together as bile rose to my throat.
“What you were gonna do to her, that fertility drug the Dodds were supposed to give her for your twisted fantasies, won’t serve a purpose once I leak to the press who her parents really were. ”
“He…” Sophia’s brow pinched. “W-who were…”
I kissed the top of her head again, pulling her to my side more.
“I’m so sorry, Peach. The real Sophia Pierson died the moment she entered this world.
” I reached into my suit pocket and slipped the paper around her waist. “Did he put anything else in you?” She shook her head firmly, then took the paper, unfolding it with shaky hands.
“It’s very true,” Walton said, coming up on her other side, pointing at the paper. “It says there on the hospital’s notes from that day.”
Riyan scoffed. “And where the hell did you get that, that paper?”
“From my father’s office,” Walton supplied.
“Crazy what a family lawyer holds onto, ain’t it?
” I said, smirking as Riyan fumed a few feet in front of us.
“It’s also crazy how her blood, once denounced for the crack addicts she came from, won’t mean a thing to you.
But that will never change the way I see her.
” I gripped her chin, pulling her eyes up to meet mine.
“I love you no matter what your blood is, Peach. And fuck it, Brooks ain’t my real last name, either. But we can make it ours.”
She smiled softly at me before I was rushed into. Caught completely off-guard, I fell to the ground with Riyan’s hands wrapped around my throat. Sophia shrieked as I slammed my fist into the side of his head, giving me a fraction of a second to eye the gun I’d dropped.
“Sophia,” I groaned as Riyan drew back enough to punch my gut. “Gun,” I got out before another punch was dealt to my ribs. Only the punch felt like more. A tight pinch stuttered my breathing as I eyed the gun on the floor once more, hoping Sophia would do what she did best—shoot.
Still, I fought as another sharp pain radiated lower along my side. An evil grin spread over Riyan’s face as he hovered above me. He raised his hand between us as I felt warmth along my side.
Blood.
“Grant!” Sophia shouted. “No! Get off him! What did you do?” Sophia’s cries echoed in my ears as a ringing took root there.
I palmed my side as I gasped for breath. He’d punctured my lung with a knife.
“Peach,” I pleaded, watching her pick up the gun hesitantly. Her eyes seemed to say what I had no doubts about—what if I miss? Riyan raised the knife to my neck as my fingers wrapped around his. I could feel my strength draining rapidly as my vision blurred.
Riyan leaned into my ear, my grip on his neck giving out. “I hope Kirk finds you in hell, Brooks.”
I let my head fall to the side, my hazy eyes latching onto her in the white dress I hoped she’d wear for me one day as I mouthed the only thing goin’ through my mind just before a gunshot went off—
I love you.