CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Reid
Everyone’s eyes are still on Liam, who doesn’t even flinch or look away. I know he hates attention. I think it’s why he’s so close to the Carters. They take the spotlight off him. Still, he should also know with them comes the annoying fucking ribbing. Especially from Max.
He stares at his friend dead in the eye when he growls, “Fuck off, Max.”
“Did she make you bend over so she could spank you for being naughty?” he continues, then smacks a hand on Black’s shoulder. “She definitely called him daddy. Am I right?”
Black groans, rolled to his side with his eyes clenched shut. His hands are still cupping his... whatever the fuck is left there. Guess it can only be called a stub now.
“Max, get up,” Liam orders, and Max listens, getting to his feet. “Now move over there.”
He obeys easily, and I immediately retort. “Now sit.” Because I’ve never seen Max so obedient before.
“I’m not a fucking dog,” he snaps, glaring at me.
Jaxon rips off the cloth covering Black’s mouth, and it’s not gentle either. I’m pretty sure he peels skin off his top lip because it begins to bleed.
I thought for sure Black would plead for his life, tell us he’ll do anything for us to let him go. Instead, his first words are not all that bright. “I’m going to fucking kill you,” he spits out, blood and saliva spraying everywhere.
Jaxon grips his face, his fingers digging into one side, his thumb on the other, and I’m pretty sure bone crunches under the force. “Yeah, you are not in a position to make threats here. This is done. This is the end, Black. I told you it wouldn’t end well for you, and you didn’t listen.”
His teeth chatter as Jaxon lets go of his face. Yet he continues to act like he has the upper hand here, and I don’t know at this point who is crazier. Him or Malia. “You can’t kill me. Everyone will know it was you and your family.”
“No, not when you’ve made it so easy to get away with it.
No one believes a fucking word any of you have been saying.
They know you are sprouting off a bunch of shit.
Plus, we were never here,” Jaxon taunts him.
“I was with my wife, daughter and in-laws because someone was trying to break into their homes.”
“I was with my wife and brothers,” Max announces.
Each person gives their alibi and then it lands on Luke, whose jaw clenches. “I was with Mina and her neighbour.”
I didn’t think it was possible for Black’s eyes to get any darker, for the hatred he has inside of him to spill out.
“You don’t have it in you,” Black fumes. “None of you do. You are all fucking weak.”
“The thing is, we do. You’ve given us no choice.
If we let the police take you to prison, then what?
You pay others to do your dirty work. Others will try to get to our families, and it will be an endless cycle.
It will never end. This way, it does,” Jaxon grits out.
“You hurt my fucking wife which was your biggest mistake. You won’t be walking out of these doors. ”
Black splutters out a laugh. “Your wife has nice tits. Did she tell you she moaned when I squeezed them? I wanted to fuck them after I fucked her arse. She’s a real screamer.”
The punch Jaxon throws has Black’s head smacking of the tarp and concrete floor.
He groans, spitting out blood. And now Jaxon has a taste of it, he doesn’t stop.
The veins in his arms bulge as he keeps driving his knuckles into Black’s face.
A war cry flies out of Jaxon’s mouth each time his fists connect, over and over, until skin breaks and Black is barely moving beneath him.
Jaxon lets out everything, listing all of the things Black has done.
His pupils are blown as he talks about Lily, about their daughter, their life, and then our mum.
Every little thing he’s been holding in since Black came into our lives erupts in full force.
It takes Wyatt and Eli to pull him off, and by then, Jaxon’s barely coherent.
He’s still punching air as they drag him away.
He tries to fight our brothers, but they keep a hold of him, not realising until now just how much has been weighing on him.
We all promised to do our parts, to shoulder some of the burden, but it seems like none of it’s worked.
His voice is hoarse as Wyatt pulls him in for a hug.
Black begins to laugh, but there’s no humour to it, just taunting.
Eli moves away from Jaxon, his eyes red as he barrels over to Black.
He swings back his steel capped boot, and kicks the man sprawled out on the ground in the stomach.
Over and over until Black is wheezing, and coughing up blood.
“That’s for Rebecca and all the other pain you’ve fucking caused our family. ”
Wyatt is next, but this time, he picks up the knife Malia had used earlier. He stabs it into Black’s side. Black grunts as it slices through his flesh, his eyes flashing open, holding his pain when Wyatt twists.
Black reaches up and grabs Wyatt’s neck, his beady eyes piercing my brother’s with contempt. “Next time, I hope she doesn’t fail to kill herself,” he rasps.
Wyatt untangles Black’s hands from around his neck and leans in close. “Rot in hell, you fucking monster,” he grits out, then moves back, breathing heavily.
I take a step, needing my pound of flesh for Mum. For our brother. For all the heinous acts this man has delivered without facing the consequences.
“No,” Jaxon barks. “No. Not you. Or you, Luke.”
“Are you fucking serious?” I snap, my lip curling up into a snarl.
He gets back to his feet, still panting and seething with righteous anger. “I know everyone here wants a turn.”
And clearly Maverick can’t wait for his because the knife pierces Black’s gut. I watch as he brings his mouth to Black’s ear. “No one touches my fucking family.”
Blood gurgles in Black’s mouth, his focus on Maverick looming above him.
The door slams open and Malia pushes in. “Guys, you really do need to hurry up. That plane is going to go boom in about ten minutes and I do not want to be here when the police and fire brigade show up.”
Liam, who is still standing where I left him, his fists clenched at his side, finally moves forward.
“Handsome?” Malia calls out, using a tone I’ve only ever heard her use with Milly.
My gaze flies back to Liam to see he’s not only livid, he’s crying, but in a way that’s not normal. I don’t even think he knows he’s crying. It’s like the emotion is there, but he’s not controlling it. He’s not feeling it. It’s just happening.
“Liam,” Max starts, moving toward him. Whatever he sees must freak him out too.
Liam pushes him away. “No,” he forces out, already moving toward Black.
My breath hitches as he snatches the knife out of Black’s gut, earning a soft, pained grunt.
Liam kneels in the blood already pooling on the tarp.
Too much blood if you ask me. Whoever wants the last hit needs to move quick.
He grips Black’s chin and roughly forces him to face him. “You got lucky today.”
“Lucky?” Black pants, his eyelids growing heavy. Hell, his voice is barely audible. “You call this lucky?”
“Yes, because this is quick compared to what I had planned for you.”
I’m not sure what starts it but my stomach begins to turn at the look Black gives Liam. It’s cruel in a way I’ve never witnessed before and it makes my blood run cold. But then confusion hits me when he forces out, “Did it hurt?”
And that’s when I realise Jaxon had been calm during his outburst. Because Liam’s hoarse cry is followed by a blind rage I’ve never seen before.
The knife in his hand comes down on Black’s chest. Not once.
But over and over again. Blood spurts out, on his clothes, his face, and the tarp surrounding him.
My only complaint is Black is no longer alive to feel the last few. He’s gone.
He’s really fucking gone.
This isn’t wishful thinking or us clinging on to hope like many of us did after Mina thought she killed him.
This is real.
We just killed a man.
I thought I would feel different despite him deserving it.
I don’t even feel guilt. I’m not sure what that makes me.
In my head, I know what has been done to him today is not even a fraction of what he has put so many others through.
I think that’s what had me hesitating earlier.
I thought killing him would have been a worse crime than any he has committed, but it’s really not.
He is one person. He’s hurt, killed, and tortured so many more.
So when Malia falls to her knees behind Liam, putting her arms around his waist to gently pull him back, I stop thinking of what we’ve done and focus on Liam. “Stop, Liam. Stop.”
“You don’t know what they did,” he heaves out, pushing the knife in further before slumping back into her. The phone he confiscated off Black earlier slips out of his hand. “It’s probably on there. They recorded it.”
Max’s foot comes down on the phone repeatedly, smashing it to smithereens. “And now no one will ever see it.”
“Hey, we really should go,” Theo yells.
Liam collapses to his hands and knees, his palms slapping against the blood pooling there as he gasps for breath. The man is hyperventilating so I don’t think he’s heard Theo’s warning.
Malia quickly grasps his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her. “You are here. What happened has happened. You can’t change it. But you are here. All of them,” she declares, pointing to Black with her chin. “They are gone. Right now, we need to move.”
He nods, and Max surprises me when he doesn’t leave Liam to Malia and instead helps him up off the floor.
As soon as Maverick orders everyone to grab a corner or the edge of the tarp, I wish I had made my escape when I had the chance.
My head is throbbing now everything has come to a stop, now I’m not focused on everything.
Yet the quicker we get this to Malia’s friend, the quicker I can get to Mum to check she’s okay.
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