PROLOGUE #2
“Mina,” I begin, leaning in close, being careful not to scare her, “an ambulance is on the way.”
Her eyes widen as she glances around the room. “Did they find him? It’s too late. I killed him.”
Sensing she’s about to lose her shit again, Luke reaches out, gripping her face. She freezes, gazing up at him. “Mina, I’m Luke, Eli’s brother. Right now, I need you to listen to me very carefully. Can you do that, babe?”
She nods. “Y-yes.”
“The ambulance is coming for you. You’ve been stabbed.”
“I have?”
“You have. You’ve handled it way better than Reid did. He cried like a baby,” he announces. “But right now, we have to get our stories straight. The police can’t know you stabbed someone.”
“I-I killed him,” she rasps.
Luke leans in closer. “No, babe, I don’t think you have.
And even if you did, you will not be admitting it to anyone.
He does not get to take more from you. He’s taken enough from a lot of people, but with you, he took so much more.
Do not feel guilty for fighting back. Think of what he was going to do to you.
Hold on to it. Find comfort in the knowledge you weren’t brutally assaulted.
“Now, when the police come and start asking you questions, you need to tell them you were heading home to get changed to go to the club with Rebecca, Eli and his brothers. You opened the front door and you were attacked. Can you do that?”
“I-I... I don’t...” she stammers.
“Ambulance is here,” Lincoln calls out from the door.
Luke runs the pads of his thumbs across her cheeks.
“He doesn’t have any feelings. He doesn’t care who he hurts or what he does to people.
Don’t let him take your freedom away from you.
You need to tell the police you were going to the club with us.
You came home to get changed and you were attacked.
You don’t know anything else. You didn’t see their face.
You didn’t hear them speak. The next thing you remember is Lincoln kneeling beside you, holding pressure to your chest. Lincoln is going to say he came back and found you.
That when he came inside to check on you, he heard someone running down the stairs. Confirm you understand me.”
“I was coming home to get changed. Someone attacked me. I didn’t see or hear them. I don’t know who it was. I woke up to Linc helping me,” she rasps.
Lincoln quickly rushes over and presses his hands in the blood. “Needs to be real,” he declares.
I snort. “How many crime documentaries do you watch?”
“When he’s not watching reality TV, that’s all he watches,” Mina heaves out, wincing. “I was stabbed.”
“You are going to be okay,” Luke states with so much conviction, even I believe him.
She nods. “I wasn’t going to let him rape me again. I couldn’t feel dirty again. I couldn’t feel dirty again. I would rather be dead.”
Luke leans in again, surprising me with the heat in his tone.
“You are a survivor. The world would be a darker place without people like you in it, Mina. People like Black don’t deserve to breathe the same air.
And I promise you, he will get what is coming to him.
He’s hurt too many innocent people. He’s going to pay.
And you will be okay. I promise. We’ve got you. ”
The paramedics arrive and I move back, letting them work. Luke, however, stays near, gripping her hand. I glance at Jaxon, who also notices, and raise my eyebrows. He shrugs and goes back to whispering to Lincoln.
I stay seated, leaning back against the wall next to the fireplace, and glance down at a sleeping Sienna. If anything, Black needs to be gone to save her and Rose’s future. Black isn’t just a man looking to one-up us; he’s a man who’s lost nearly everything and needs revenge.
*** *** ***
The police are gone, and Mum has taken Sienna back to the farm. Rebecca went to the hospital with Mina, leaving the rest of us behind.
Linc clears his throat. “I know you aren’t going to tell me what you are planning to do, but just so you know, I want in.”
“You don’t know what you’re dealing with,” Jaxon tells him softly.
“Funny, because I have a dad just like Black. Granted, he’s never raped anyone, but in every other way, they’re the same.
I’ve also brought that girl back to life.
I’ve finally got her to laugh again, to leave the house on her own.
Fuck, it took me two weeks to get her to let me into her life.
Now she will fall asleep with me near her.
This fucker ruined her life once; he can’t live another minute to ruin it further.
She can’t live in fear anymore. I won’t allow it. ”
“We will protect her,” Jaxon promises.
“If she doesn’t feel safe here, you heard our mum: she can come and stay with us,” Luke offers.
“She’s not leaving here,” Linc growls.
“She means something to you,” Jaxon proclaims.
“She does. She reminds me of my sister. I couldn’t protect her from my dad.
He hit her too hard one night and killed her.
She was eight. But I see the same fear in Mina.
So whatever you are planning, I am in. And before you think I won’t be able to handle it, I will.
I won’t lose sleep either. But even if you just need me for an alibi, I’ll do it.
I’ll do anything to make sure that sick piece of shit never hurts her again. ”
“Okay,” Jaxon agrees. “Okay.”
Linc grabs the gym bag off the floor. “I’m going to the hospital to check on her and take her some clothes.”
“We will head over soon too,” Jaxon replies.
When he leaves, we all glance to Jaxon, but it’s Wyatt who speaks. “He can’t be involved. The police will break him.”
Jaxon subtly nods. “But he is right. Linc doesn’t need to get his hands dirty to help.”
“He needs to be stopped,” I declare. I’ve been wanting it from the minute we got stuck in that mansion whilst it was on fire.
Luke glances over at me. “Why do you think I didn’t get her to mention seeing Black?
This shit needs to end, and it needs to end without it blowing back on any of us.
He’s gone after all the women in your lives, our friends, our businesses, and our lives.
We’ve played this safe because of the people around us, but it hasn’t helped. ”
Jaxon moves away from the fireplace. “Then we all agree. Black needs to die.”
“Yeah, and you aren’t doing it alone,” is announced from the door.
“Fuck!” I growl.
Max Carter, followed by Maverick, Mason, Malik, and Myles, walks in. Maverick crosses his arms over his chest, glancing around the room. “Before any of you fuckers say this isn’t our business, I’ll remind you my daughter is involved in this mess and she’s been through enough.”
“And my son,” Max declares.
“And then there’s Liam,” Myles adds.
“We don’t take kindly to someone fucking around with our family,” Maverick growls. “And this girl... Lily says she’s a child. She’s sweet and scared of her own shadow.”
“We’ve got this handled,” Jaxon warns.
Maverick leans forward, and even sitting down, my back against the wall, I lean back because that motherfucker scares the shit out of me.
“Yeah? Then why are you still stringing this fucking mess along? I’ll remind you, my daughter is linked to this.
I do not want to get a phone call to say Black has killed her or fucking raped her.
Because again, I’ll remind you, she has already been through hell. ”
“You don’t think I’m fucking scared of that myself?
” Jaxon roars. “You don’t think I lie awake at night, worried about the same thing?
Or that my mum or sister could get hurt?
I didn’t fucking ask for this. I didn’t want any of this.
I wanted to be a better man for Lily. I didn’t want her visiting me in a prison. Fuck!”
“Then let us help,” Malik barks. “We aren’t here to place blame on you. The blame goes to one person.”
“You have families,” Luke states the obvious. “And no offence, but I would rather Hayden didn’t kick my arse because her father got arrested.”
Max snorts. “Like I’d be the one caught.”
Myles nods in agreement, glancing from Max to Luke. “He’d pin the blame on me. Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“They got it thrown out of court, didn’t they,” Max retorts, sounding offended.
“Because they couldn’t prove which one of us it was. It was a technicality.”
Max shrugs, but then moves his focus to Jaxon. “We want a better future for our kids. We always have. And whether we like it or not, you guys are part of our family, which means we’re tied to this shit. Liam died for this, and we want revenge.”
Luke clears his throat. “You do know he’s alive and kicking?”
Max rolls his eyes. “No shit, Sherlock. But that night, he died once too many. He’s lucky to be breathing. And I’m not sure if you are aware of this, but he means something to us. He’s family. I named my fucking son after him.”
“You did hear us when we said we were going to kill him, right?” Isaac announces quietly, most likely worried one of them will snap at him.
“His blood wouldn’t be the only blood we’ve had on our hands.” Maverick shrugs.
“Lily needs you,” Jaxon whispers, head bowed. “It’s too risky.”
“Hate to say it, but she needs you more,” Maverick admits, and I hear the pain in the words.
Max smacks his hands together. “Then that’s settled. We are going to get this fucker, lock him up, have our fun, and then feed him to your pigs.”
Maverick slaps Jaxon on the shoulder. “See you at dinner. Don’t forget the beer.”
“Oh, and one more thing: you get any of our kids involved, you’ll be the ones hanging from a hook and it will be us beating the shit out of you,” Max shoots back.
They leave just as quickly as they arrived. I stare around the room. “I’ll never admit I said this, but those fuckers scare me.”
Luke glances over at me. “Hayden still scares me the most.”
I grin. “I think it’s hot.”
“I find Charlotte scarier. She can kill you with food,” Isaac mutters, chin pressed to his chest.
I shudder because he isn’t wrong.
“Let’s get to work on finding a location to take him,” Jaxon announces.
Wyatt stares at the floor. “Then we kill him.”
“Then we kill him,” we all repeat. None of us say another word as we lock up behind us.
This crap has been going on far too long and it needs to end.
Now I really do need to get my head out of my arse and focus on this.
And this only.