Chapter 17
Vex
Idon’t want to take my eyes off my woman but Izzy is right, I haven’t seen Damian at all since Church finished.
Not that there was a lot of time to notice he wasn’t in the room.
As soon as I walked into the common room I heard Justice curse and then I was with my woman who was shaking like a fucking leaf.
The fear of Goodson being here had her eyes wide as saucers and her face pale as a ghost. But despite all that she buried it deep to make our girls feel safe.
Our girls. My heart skipped a fucking beat when the word “daddy” came out of Addy’s mouth.
Fuck me, but those girls aren’t going anywhere.
We’ll take care of Goodson and then Theo or Jay or Chewy or who-the-fuck-ever can do the paperwork to make Addy and Bree mine and Loyal’s officially.
Yeah, we have the paperwork Wire forged, but I want this shit official.
They deserve to have their birth certificates with their momma’s name on it.
But first, we have one big, blonde bastard to find.
“He went to check on Jason. It shouldn’t have taken him this long,” Loyal says, the wobble in her voice only noticeable to me and Justice.
“It’s not like Dad to leave me alone for hours,” Izzy says. She’s right. I’ve never actually seen Jason not in the same room Izzy is in. I’m not too sure on their history, but I would fucking bet it’s not good.
“Omen, I want you and TumTum to head over to Jason’s. Flack, you’re back up.”
“Aye aye, Prez,” Flack says with a grin.
“Justice, how long will it take you to go through the Eden’s Keep tunnels? Just a preliminary sweep to begin with, make sure we don’t have anyone still lurking.”
“There are three tunnels. They all converge into the same exit tunnel. With only two of us it’ll take at least three hours.
” Justice says, hands balled into fists.
The kid is taking losing Goodson hard, but I think it’s the best outcome.
The state Justice is in now I’m sure he’d react poorly to having his man monster in front of him.
Justice may think he wants to make Goodson pay, but deep down the kid isn’t a cold blooded killer.
Justice is kind and gentle to his core and letting him go to work on Goodson would eat at him in the aftermath.
“We’ll come,” Saint says, stepping forward and eyeballing me and Omen.
I open my mouth to argue but Loyal squeezes my hand. “We’ll be OK. We have Sniper and Dex here to keep us safe.”
“I can use a gun,” Nell says, hand in the air like she’s at school.
“I’m pretty handy with a knife. And a frying pan,” Joe calls through the kitchen hatch.
“No!” Loyal yells back, ignoring Joe’s eyeroll.
“Then it’s settled. Landrys, Justice and Chef you head down and check that it’s clear. Is there anyway to shut them down to keep fuckers from getting in again?” Prez asks.
“Yeah, I have an idea,” Omen grins and it makes me shudder. Seriously, I think he spent way too much time with Chewy.
“Let’s do this.” I say, pressing a quick kiss to Loyal’s lush lips. “I’ll be back soon. Protect our girls.”
“Always,” Loyal says, blue eyes searching mine.
I pat her ass and follow my brothers into the kitchen. “How do we wanna split this?”
“Justice and Omen, you take one. Vex and Chef can take another, and I’m happy to do the pantry one on my own.
” Saint says, booted feet shoulder width apart as he moves to cross his arms over his chest. As the youngest brother he’s always bracing for a fight when he shares his ideas, even now that we’re fully fucking grown.
“Good idea, baby brother.” Omen says, slapping him on the back and heading out the door. I just know that Omen’s easy acceptance is going to mess with Saint’s head.
“We’ll take the tunnel in my house and then meet you in the middle,” I say, tipping my chin at Chef to follow me.
We head out to one of the SUVs and I drive to the little house where Loyal, the twins and I live.
I would call it the prophet’s house, but it’s not been his since Blanche shot him in the head and Damian and Justice replaced everything.
As with the rest of the Eden’s Keep buildings, we’re breathing new life into the place.
“You live in the prophet’s old house, right?” Chef asks from his position in the passenger side. The shithead doesn’t have his seatbelt on so the SUV keeps beeping incessantly.
“Yup,” I reply, kicking up dust as I drive like a bat outta hell across the Keep. I mean, we could have walked, but I need to get this done and then get back to my girls.
“Is that weird? Living in the place your father was murdered?”
I glance at Chef. “He wasn’t really a father.
Not like when I was young. When Eden’s Keep first started out it was a nice place.
My dad was still my dad. He taught me how to pitch a baseball and all that.
But that shit didn’t last long. He changed.
Started to believe his own hype. Then my mom died and whatever sanity he was clinging onto left with her.
So, no. It’s not weird living in his house because by the time he lived there with his young wives he was a man I didn’t recognize.
To me the Prophet was a stranger. And now he’s a dead stranger.
” I pull up in front of the house and ignore Chef’s pitying look.
He can think whatever he wants. He’ll never understand what Eden’s Keep was like or the family politics because Chef was raised right by good people.
He follows me into the house, through the kitchen that Loyal loves and into the sunroom. I kick the rug out of the way and hook my finger into the ring pull that sits recessed into one of the floorboards. Yanking it up the door creaks and the tunnel light flickers to life.
“Whoa,” Chef breathes and I grin from my position halfway in the hatch.
“I know. Eden’s Keep may have been an evil piece of shit, but the tunnels are pretty cool.”
“I can see why you kids would have fucking loved playing down here,” Chef says as I jump down off the last ladder rung, his legs dangling in the hole waiting for me to get out of the way.
I blink a couple of times, letting my eyes adjust to the lighting down here. As with everything Eden’s Keep, the tunnel is fucking bright white, looking like the pathway to heaven or something.
“Roomy,” Chef says, appreciating the six and a half foot ceiling height.
“Let’s get moving,” I say, breaking into a quick stride as I look for any scuff marks or clues or fucking something that will tell me if anyone has been here recently.
“What’s that?” Chef asks, looking up.
“My house is the end or start of this tunnel, depending how you look at it. But every house along this route has tunnel access.” I say over my shoulder, keeping up my quick pace.
“All this to escape the feds?”
“Yup. It was either that or mass suicide, which I guess in some way they kinda chose that when they stuck around to fight Blanche and the DRMC,” I shrug.
“It’s so fucking weird that people would fall that deep into religion that they’d willingly give up their lives for it.”
I shrug one shoulder. “It’s less religion and more fear.
Anyone can have faith and a belief system.
What Eden’s Keep had were charismatic men who knew how to work a crowd.
The prophet and his brother were snake oil salesmen.
People would buy the pitch, the dream of the life that was sold to them.
Then little by little Eden’s Keep would turn the screws, have you fearing going against them.
You want to go to Heaven, right? Then you better do as the prophet says, he has God’s direct line.
So you better keep in line. Oh, the prophet wants to marry your underaged daughter?
Better hand her over. The prophet wants you to sacrifice your life for Eden’s Keep?
Then it’s the least you can do. You’ll definitely go to Heaven then. ” I roll my eyes.
Chef is quiet for a moment as he falls into step next to me. “And Sage, this is the place she comes from?” Chef asks quietly, his mind on my niece. The girl he left back in Texas.
“Sage is lucky in a way. She would have no memory of Eden’s Keep itself, but she will know what it took from her mother. I mean she grew up learning how to protect herself and her siblings should the Prophet or his brother come looking for them.”
“She’s a tough woman,” Chef says, scuffing his boot.
“Tougher than she looks. And tougher than you thought.” I eye him a little. “You love her?”
He blows out a breath. “With every breath. But I fucked up. God, I fucked up.” He stops and leans his head back on his shoulders with a groan.
I slap a hand on his shoulder. “Then unfuck up.”
“Oh sure. Easy.” He shoves my hand off his shoulder and starts walking again. “And how do you suggest I do that?”
“Honesty. Gifts. And so much fucking grovelling your knees will be skinned due to the amount of begging you’re going to do. I grin at him and dodge his boot as he tries to kick me in the ass. “You’re lucky.”
“How so?”
“Sage is a lot more agreeable than her mother.”
He snorts, shaking his head. “I have no idea how the hell Tav managed to win her over.”
I think about it for a moment, following the tunnel’s curve. “He was patient. And he’s a Tombs. Do those fuckers ever not get what they want?”
Chef barks out a laugh and we share a grin. If there is one thing spending time with the Tombs has taught me, it’s that if you’re really fucking annoying and relentless, you get everything you want.
Checking the time on my phone I figure that we should be coming close to where the tunnels all meet in the middle before merging to one last leg before it opens up underneath an old farmhouse on the far outskirts of Adonner.
“Do you hear that?” Chef asks in a low voice, head tilted to the side.
I stop in my tracks, listening, before tipping my head like Chef.
“Is that ‘O come O come Emmanuel?” Chef asks with a confused frown.
“What the fuck? It’s nowhere near Christmas?”