Chapter 38
Lincoln
Present Day
Ishould have known she wouldn’t stay still, she never can, it’s ingrained in her DNA or something. When I went to our room only to find it empty, her scissors missing and the house untouched… I knew she went after McGrath.
Racing through the house, I find Luca, awake and in the monitor room. His eyes connect with mine, seeing the anger and panic there, and he sighs. “Fuck.”
Nodding I head back upstairs to throw on better clothes and grab my knife. Luca’s already got Nile downstairs, and Diego appears not long after.
Creed steps into the room and nods to Diego, who pulls up a screen that shows Quinnly leaving the property on foot.
God fucking dammit.
“I know where she’s going,” I supply, but they already know. They know all about Penny McGrath, because she’s got something the Hemlocks want back. Something I should have prevented back in May when I took out Mr. Romero.
His daughter, Charlotte Romero.
“If Charlie is in that warehouse…” Nile says, trailing off without having to say what it is we’re all thinking. If she’s in there, we can’t just waltz in and kill everyone. The possibility of them harming her is too great, especially if we don’t know where she is.
“I know,” Creed snaps, giving orders to Luca. He disappears and returns with guns, ammo, and a bleary eyed Banks.
“What’s happening?” Banks asks, crossing his arms and leaning in the doorway.
“Quinnly might have interrupted our plans,” Creed snips. “We have to go now.”
“But Charlie–”
“We’re going to find her,” Diego grumbles, standing to lay a hand on his son’s shoulder.
“The Wild One, did she know?” Banks asks, and I can tell he’s trying hard not to get heated.
“She didn’t.”
It wasn’t my business to tell, and who knows how she would have reacted if I’d told her that’s why Creed asked me to join them the other night. It wasn’t, ‘boys club’, they wanted to know why we were here, and when I told them they informed me about the situation with McGrath and Charlie.
“Get the car,” Creed says, tossing a look at Banks who nods and does as he’s asked. Diego looks at Creed, and something exchanges between them, but I can’t decipher it. My mind is clogged with thoughts of my Menace going into the unknown.
Alone.
The drive is fairly short, there’s a cropping of trees by the warehouse that Banks parks behind. Shouts and pops can be heard inside the car, and I jump out. We talked about a semi-plan on the way over and now would be the time to enact it.
Banks stays put–though pissed–just in case we need a swift exit, as the rest of us enter through the trees.
Not far into the woods we find a guard in just his underclothes, and another beside him, a bloody mess. Creed bends to check, and shakes his head.
Dead. Okay, well she had to have been here.
More shots ring out in the distance and a scream tears through the night.
Launching out of the woods, the scene in front of me is jarring. As I run I count at least four men, all aiming toward two figures on the ground. When she sits up and looks over her shoulder smiling, my blood fucking boils and I know once I get my hands on her I might actually smother her.
Making it to the guards, who’ve turned their guns on us, my knife sinks into the closest one as the rest of the Hemlocks take off on their own, and I head straight to Quinnly. Before I can get there McGrath pulls out a gun, I hear a shot ring through my ears, and my heart drops to my feet.
Quinnly’s still on top of the woman, as another one of the guards rushes at me. He knocks my knife to the ground, so I settle for my fists. They’re just as deadly, but not nearly as quick, so we grapple, trading blows. All I can think about is that I have to get to her, to make sure.
Locking my arm around his neck, I squeeze until I hear a pop and his body stops moving, muscles going lax. Throwing him off my body and getting to my feet, my eyes lock on Quinnly.
I watch frozen, twenty feet away, as her body flops over on top of McGrath and doesn’t move. When I finally make it to her, tears stain my cheeks as I fall to my knees.
“Menace,” I whisper. She’s covered in blood, and I don’t know how much of it’s hers.
On my knees, I separate the two women to see who’s bleeding where and how bad. It’s clear McGrath is dead, half of Quinnly’s scissors are in her neck.
Quinnly’s body is limp, and her head rocks back into my arms as the tears burn hot in my eyes.
Holding her in my lap, I push the hair off her blood soaked face, begging her to open her eyes. I’ll be damned if she dies, but the sinking feeling in my body turns to rot and I roar her name.
“QUINNLY!” My throat ignites with each syllable, cracking with each inhale.
My hand cradles her head, I’ve tucked her body into mine as I check her over.
She’s got a vest on, something to slow a bullet down, but it would’ve only stopped a chest injury, and there’s so much blood it’s sticking to my arms.
“Linc,” Diego warns, pulling me to my feet as if my whole world isn’t dead in my arms. “We’ve got to get her to the house.”
I carry her through the woods to the car where Banks and the rest of the team, including Charlie, are waiting.
Making eye contact with Creed I rumble, “If she dies,” my bottom lip trembles in equal parts fury and fear, “I will raze the earth, beginning with the Hemlock Empire.”