Chapter 24
RAFE
Nothing bad would happen this time. I kept picturing Alex, her face bunched in fury at the way I’d manhandled her, though desolation had lurked underneath her ire.
I had to make it back to her. I had to.
“Having second thoughts, man?” Jax asked as he hammered on the padlock that blocked our way into the crawl space. To avoid tripping the alarm, we’d chosen to break into the estate by way of the passage Jax said led to the basement.
“Third and fourths too.” I shook my head and sighed. “Let’s just do this.”
Any way we looked at it, getting those women out of there wouldn’t be easy. Breaking into the tunnel would put them at risk, since Perrone’s men outnumbered us, and calling the cops carried a whole other set of problems—mainly that we didn’t know who Perrone had in his pocket.
“How much time do we have again?” I asked, shuffling my feet. Jax wanted to find info on his sister, and I wanted him to find what he needed.
“Maybe thirty minutes.”
“That’s shit for time.”
“Tell me about it. Old man’s runs are getting shorter.
” He hacked at the lock some more. “I was clocking his jogs before I busted you guys out, but getting past Cleft was a different matter.” Jax finally broke the lock and lifted the door to the crawl space.
A black square of nothingness faced us. Shit, I hated the thought of squeezing through that tight space.
Jax fell to all fours and disappeared inside. I followed suit, batting away cobwebs, and tried not to let the dark get to me.
“This seemed much bigger when I was eight.” Jax slowed and aimed his flashlight above. A square hatch called from overhead, whispering for us to shove it open and escape this claustrophobic grave. “Here, shine this up there, would ya?” He handed the light to me.
I aimed the beam upward while he pushed against the hatch, his face straining.
“Shit,” he said, slumping. “I’m positive this end wasn’t locked.”
Didn’t mean Perrone hadn’t secured it since we’d escaped.
Jax tried again, and the door finally creaked.
Dust rained down and covered his face. He shook his head until his shaggy hair fell into his eyes.
Brushing it aside, he threw his shoulder into the hatch and lifted, and it slammed to the floor of the basement with a vibrating thud. More dirt fell on us.
Jax disappeared into the opening, then he popped his head back through. “Bring in the cans, would ya?”
“Yeah, sure.” I scooted backward through the passage and touched down on the hard earth behind the estate. We’d hauled in four cans of gasoline, and they sat untouched, lined up against the side of the mansion. I slid them forward through the space, scraping over rock and dirt.
Jax lifted them one by one into the basement, and I hefted my body through the opening and dropped to the cold cement. I didn’t like that we were so fucking close to that tunnel. I eyed the door hiding the staircase, and for an insane moment I imagined someone bursting through and dragging me back.
Imagined Alex still down there, chained in their torture room, her flesh taking the brunt force of Brock’s whip.
No. I had to keep my head in the game. Alex was safe, chained to my fucking bed like the temptress she was. The sooner we finished this, the sooner I could get back to her.
Jax headed toward the door leading upstairs, and I tailed him, following his lead as we made our way to the main floor. Early morning sunlight gleamed off the counters in the kitchen. I checked to make sure the gun was still jammed into the waistband of my jeans.
He shot me a worried look. “You sure you can handle this?”
Murdering Lucas Perrone in cold blood? Not really, but I wasn’t about to back down. He’d destroyed too many lives, and I didn’t hold out much hope that law enforcement would dole out justice. He probably had judges in his pocket, in addition to cops.
“You don’t have to watch,” Jax said. “I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. The fucker deserves to burn.”
A shiver went though me at his tone. He talked about killing his father as if it were a chore we were debating. And I got it, I did. I’d wanted to kill Perrone and his men too, but when faced with the actuality of taking someone’s life…
“Maybe we should try the Feds, someone higher up.”
“He’ll never stop until we’re dead. Even if we get lucky and they put him away, he’s got too many connections. I would’ve run long ago, if I thought I could.”
Standing in Perrone’s kitchen, discussing his impending demise, made me twitchy. I didn’t want his psycho father coming after Alex. In fact, I wouldn’t be satisfied until he couldn’t speak her name.
But killing the bastard…
That only reminded me that I had killed a man—I just didn’t remember it. My mind had blocked it out, buried the memory long before I’d wiped out the whole fucking eight years.
We stepped down a few steps, crossed the humongous living room, and Jax halted at a door.
He tried the handle, but it didn’t budge.
Stepping back, he kicked below the knob, just like I’d done with the shed, and repeated the blows until the door broke under the onslaught of his boot.
He shoved it open and glanced at his watch.
“We have maybe fifteen minutes.” Perrone worked from home, so his morning jog was the only time Jax knew he’d be gone with certainty. Jax strode over to the built-in bookshelves and began flinging open cupboards, rifling through files.
I checked out the rest of the room. The space was free of Perrone’s nefarious nature—no signs of his thirst for sexual slavery.
Deep mahogany paneling decorated the walls.
The desk sat front and center, oversized and as masculine as the rest of the study, which reeked of prestige and money.
I hated it on sight because it was so perfectly Perrone.
Blatantly pretentious with an even larger collection of artwork and antiques than the wretched square box in the underground.
“Rafe, you’re gonna wanna see this.”
Keeping an ear out for his father’s arrival, I moved to stand next to Jax. He extended a file to me. “He’s got one on Alex.”
Letting out a curse, I took the folder and turned away.
The photos I found inside were all of Alex.
Sleeping, picking at her food, staring off into space with that faraway look in her eyes—the look she wore when she was sad, worried, or scared.
I shuffled through the pictures, and when I came to a few displaying the naked expanse of her skin, drops of water trailing between her breasts from showering, I wanted to punch something.
No. I wanted to fucking rearrange Perrone’s face. He’d obviously been stalking her, putting her under surveillance, all while dating her.
The sick fuck.
I removed the photos and pocketed them before snapping the folder shut. “Anything on your sister?”
Jax slammed a drawer shut and opened another. “Nothing.”
“I’m sorry, man.” I handed him the empty file, but the chirping sound of an alarm froze us both.
A series of beeps sounded, a door shut, and footsteps thumped over polished floors, drawing closer.
I pulled the gun out and moved across the room with the stealth of a tiger in mid-hunt.
The door shielded me from view, but Jax stood directly in front of the desk, arms crossed, preparing to confront his father.
Perrone stepped inside, still decked out in his drenched running shorts and T-shirt. I almost didn’t recognize him without his trousers, shiny shoes, and air of superiority.
“How did you get in here? I know I changed the codes, boy.” He wiped his face with a towel, and I used the distraction to come out of my hiding place.
“Go take a seat,” I said, jabbing the back of his sweaty head with the barrel.
“You’ve got some balls to break into my home. Into my office.”
“You’ve got some balls to take photos of naked women.” I propelled him forward, and the asshole laughed.
“Found the file, did you?” He meandered to the executive chair, his expression smug, casual, as if he didn’t have anything to fear.
“Shut the fuck up.” I shoved him to his ass and trained the gun on his temple. My gaze flickered to Jax.
“Where’s Tawny?” Jax placed both hands flat on the desk and glared at his father. He grabbed the pen and notepad sitting to his right and thrust them toward Perrone. “Details, old man. Address, the men who bought her, how much she went for. I want all of it.”
Perrone eased back in his seat, as if the barrel of my gun didn’t bother him, and picked up the pen. He tapped it against the desk in a rhythmic beat that set me on edge.
“She went for a hundred grand. You should be proud of that. The buyer went by the last name of Perez. He took her to Mexico where the whiny bitch died.” Perrone smiled. “I heard she died just like Nikki Malone did. Perez didn’t have the patience to train someone as strong-willed as Tawny.”
Jax stumbled back, his face blanching in denial. “You’re lying.”
“‘Fraid not, boy. Your sister’s dead.”
Tap, tap, tap with that fucking pen.
Perrone leaned forward, unfazed with how his words impacted his own blood.
“I don’t believe you,” Jax said, hands bunched at his sides.
I knocked him in the temple with the gun. Wincing, Perrone dropped the pen, and it slowly rolled toward him. He regarded me from the corner of his eye. “Did Alex tell you how she enjoyed sucking me off? I’ve got a big dick, and I rammed it so far down her throat, she cried.”
The thought of Alex crying for anyone besides me filled my veins with too much energy—the dangerous kind that sparked and singed until I nearly blew.
“Bitch gagged on my cum.”
Images of urine trickling down her legs, her screams as Brock’s whip tore through her flesh, sent me into a tailspin.
I’d failed her.
This scum bucket had worn her down, made her give him something she’d resisted giving me—her fucking tears. He’d taken everything; the island, my family’s vineyard, Alex’s last shred of self-respect. The bastard had ruined his own children’s lives.