CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Reid
I groan as I come to, and the second everything registers, I move, crawling along the hallway.
My head feels heavy, a throbbing pain in the back of my skull.
Sirens, growling, and whimpering, they all hit me.
The same as the smell of blood, and something else.
Vomit rises in my throat when I glance up.
Hunter sits near Mum, growling and barking in the direction of the back door.
A middle-aged man is crumpled against the plate cupboard.
His head is bent back as he grits his teeth, spit flying out through the gaps when he gasps through the pain.
Blood gushes from the wound on his thigh, and no matter how hard he presses down around the knife still twisted in there, it still gushes out like a tap.
As much as I want to smash his head against the cupboard, he’s not a threat right now. My mum needs me.
Mum, who is lying on her back, her jeans shoved down to her thighs. I can barely think through my rage. I can’t think about it. I can’t ask the question out loud. I can’t... Fuck.
I get to my knees, and my vision blurs with tears as I run over her injuries.
“Mum, Mum,” I call out, my hands hovering over her unmoving body, not knowing where to touch her. “I’m here. You’re safe now. I promise.”
I want to scream until there’s nothing left of this boiling rage inside of me. I need to get it out, because I’m afraid if I don’t, it will kill me.
She groans, and her head rolls to the side until she’s facing me.
I suck in a breath at the bruises, swelling cuts marring her face.
Mum has been thrown from a horse and hit her face on a fence before.
It had been awful seeing the bruises. But this.
.. my stomach twists and knots inside of me. “T-they have her.”
“Her?”
“M-Milly,” she forces out, her eyes clenching shut as a guttural moan works its way up her throat.
Her face isn’t the only part of her body marked.
I notice a bruise is already forming on her stomach as I peel off my jacket.
I throw it over her bottom half, knowing she wouldn’t want us to see her like that.
I push the panic and fear deep down and that’s when my stomach twists more.
Her neck... Fuck, I’ve never seen anything like it.
Tears slip down my cheeks, but I block them out. She needs us. She needs us to be the men she raised us to be. She doesn’t need us hulking out.
Yet the minute I gaze at the man a few feet away, blind rage hits me and I’m kneeling in front of him within a blink of an eye.
I do what I’ve wanted to do since I saw him and whack his head against the cupboard.
I hit him hard enough his front tooth chips and falls to the kitchen floor.
I get in his face, saliva hitting him in the face when I roar, “Where have they taken her?”
He splutters out a laugh, not even an ounce of fear in his eyes. “I’ll never tell you.”
I pinch his face harder. “They left you here,” I growl.
“And knowing that little brat is in for a life of hell, makes it worth it. Little bitch stabbed me.”
I glance down to the knife sticking out of his leg, and out of all the places she could have stabbed him, she chose there.
It’s not out of convenience otherwise she would have chosen his side or chest. Even the top of his thigh.
Which means the location is deadly. I know Milly.
Despite how brave she tries to be, or how scared she probably is, she’s still Milly.
The genius who absorbs information like a sponge.
She would have retaliated with all that information going through her mind.
She watches too many crime shows for it not to be engraved in her mind.
If anyone knows where the deadliest place is to stab someone, it’s her.
So I give it another twist to make him bleed out faster.
Not that I think he has long left. His skin is pale, his lips an odd colour, and he’s no longer able to hold his hands to his leg.
“Tell me,” I demand.
“F-fuck you.”
I rip the knife out when it hits me. Milly has her necklace on. Malia doesn’t let her go anywhere without it. Including the hair tie Liam bought as an extra back up.
The door smacks against the side table as I turn back to Mum, but I can’t focus on who it is. I know the police are here. I can hear the sirens. The man slumps to his side when I reach Mum.
“Mum, it’s going to be okay,” I whisper, running my hand down the side of her head. “It’s all going to be okay.”
“Please no,” Paisley chokes out as she races inside. “Please no.”
I jerk back and lift my head as my sister skids to her knees beside us. “She’s breathing,” I assure her, then look up to the policeman who has followed her inside. “Call an ambulance.”
He presses the button on his radio but immediately attends to the man who is hopefully dead. More police follow but head to various parts of the house and out the back.
Paisley clutches Mum’s hand to her face, sobbing. “Why are her jeans...” she pauses, her gaze on our mum’s legs.
I lift her chin so she stops looking. I lower my voice so she doesn’t hear my own fear. “Her knickers are still on. I don’t...” I swallow. “I don’t know.”
She begins to sob harder, pressing her lips to Mum’s hand. “Please no. No.”
I have to go. I need to get the others. We need to find Milly. I run my hand down Paisley’s back, earning her attention. “Paisley, I need you to stay with her,” I tell her. “Don’t mention him.”
Because it ends today. That man is going to die. I’d rather the police didn’t know who to look for since I intend to only bring Milly home.
“What?”
“They have Milly,” I explain, then check the policeman isn’t listening before leaning in closer. “You can tell them everything like it is, just don’t mention it’s Black.”
Her eyes widen as soon as she gets on the same page, and she nods frantically. “Go. Go. I’ll take care of Mum.”
I point to the policeman kneeling next to the attacker, checking his pulse. “If he’s not dead, make sure you tell everyone he’s one of the attackers.”
Then I leave, racing outside. Malia and Liam are sprinting down the lane, police cars piling in.
I turn to one about to get out. “There’s a young girl who has been taken.
The attackers must have escaped out the back with her.
You need to block all roads and lanes off.
They left five or ten minutes ago max. My sister inside will give you a description of the little girl, and get you a picture. ”
“Where is she?” Malia cries. “Where the fuck is my sister?”
“He has her,” I tell her, trying to reach for her, but she doesn’t stop, and instead, pushes past me and another two policemen entering the house.
“Talk,” Liam demands, tugging me away from the house a little more. “Milly’s alarm is going off, but the signal, it’s spotty. She shouted off a description of the car and the number plate before the audio cut off.”
“Then the police may have a chance to stop them. They have to be in the area or still on the land. I’ve told Paisley to tell the truth, but to keep his name out of it.
We can’t risk Milly at the chance we might catch him.
We can’t. She’s just a child and needs everyone looking for her.
I think I speak for everyone involved that a child is worth more than revenge. ”
Fuck, now I’m spiralling.
“Hey, hey, you did the right thing,” Liam replies, placing a hand on my shoulder.
Malia comes rushing down the steps and barely comes to a stop before she’s throwing up. Liam makes his way over quickly. “We have to find her. We have to find her,” she chants, pushing her hair off her face.
“Hey. We’ll find her. We’ve got the tracker,” he reminds her before shooting his gaze at me. “Tell Jaxon to come pick us up at the entrance. We need to follow them and I cannot have these lot stopping us to ask questions.”
Malia’s startling eyes pierce mine. “Did they? God, did they...” she gulps, pointing to the house.
“Did they what?” Liam asks, his brows scrunched up, and then his eyes widen. I know he’s just realised Milly wasn’t alone inside. “What did you see? What happened in there? Is Liza okay?”
“Mum,” I rasp, glancing to the ground. “She...”
“She’s okay? Please tell me she’s okay.”
“She doesn’t look good,” I reply honestly, unable to say what I saw.
“Her jeans were...” Malia states, and like me, cannot finish the sentence, but the implication is clear.
“Fuck!” Liam roars. “Fuck!”
“They have Milly. She’s just a little girl,” she rasps, running her fingers through her hair. “She’s just a little girl.”
“Let’s go,” I demand because I can’t stand all this pain. “We don’t have time for this.”
We begin to race down the lane since police cars are blocking most of the path for me to get in my own car and drive.
Further up the lane, I see Landon and little Liam talking to a policeman in front of a line of kids sitting handcuffed on the ground.
“Landon, Paisley is going to need you,” I yell, and I hate that my voice cracks.
His head whips in our direction and then to the farm. Then he’s racing toward the house, Liam following close behind him.
Jaxon doesn’t answer the phone when I try to call, but he doesn’t need to as he comes to a sharp stop at the entrance of our land.
“Mum? Milly called.” He gulps as he jumps out of the car. “She... fuck. I heard Mum screaming. Please tell me she’s alive. Please tell me she’s fucking alive. I left her. I fucking left her. I was right there. We were right there.”
I grab his shoulders, shaking him. “We don’t have time for this. You can’t freak out right now. Paisley is with her. But Black has Milly, Jaxon. He has a child.”
I hope my words convey the seriousness of the situation and snaps through the downhill cycle he’s going through.
“Are you tracking her?” he demands once he comes out of his panicked state, his question directed at Liam. Liam nods, so Jaxon jumps back into the car.