Chapter Eighteen #2
Starling finally loosens the grip on his throat, his body jostles as he gasps for breath, the birds still circling, my eyes observing Poppy as she stands to the side, watching the kind of woman she could have become if she stayed in the Nest’s training program.
Her eyes are wide like she is inspired. Like she wishes she could jump in at any second.
I don’t know if that terrifies me or calms me knowing that she has these abilities.
Javier lets out a small scream, drawing my attention back to him as Magpie flips a set of piano wire garrotes with a gleam in her eye. “Wanna hear a tune?” She smirks. “How about the sound of your tendons snapping?”
Javier’s eyes widen as she kneels down at his feet with the wires, using them to rip through the back of his ankles. Javier screams in agony, and even I curl up my lip at the sound as Magpie melodically laughs through his pain like she’s loving it.
“Jesus Christ,” Maverick murmurs, folding his arms across his chest, the other brothers nodding in agreement as we all stand back watching these lethal women have a fucking field day.
Javier’s screams echo off the Chapel walls, shrill and desperate.
But the birds keep circling, there’s a darkness in Haven’s eyes that I haven’t seen before.
It doesn’t scare me. But knowing that this is inside her, that this version of her was sent to kill me when we first met, does fill me with some trepidation.
She is a hunter.
All of these women are.
Javier and the Cartel made them that way.
Kite waits, quietly, drenched in calm, and finally she finds her moment to make her move.
She may be quiet, but once she moves, she is fast and violent.
Kite slams her elbow into his throat, followed by a fast boot into his gut.
The asshole was already having trouble breathing, now he is winded on top of it.
He struggles to draw in breath, his entire body convulsing with force.
“For the women you broke.” She slams a fist into the side of his head.
His face spins to the side, blood pissing from his mouth, his eyes rolling around in his head as he zones in and out.
“For the silence you forced.” She slams a blade straight down between his legs, right where I imagine his cock and balls are.
He convulses, letting out a God-almighty scream, while every brother in here grimaces in reaction.
She holds the pressure, twisting the blade a little, glaring into his eyes as he struggles to find focus.
“Your mother died because of you!” She snarls, taunting him.
Letting the mental games continue, then rips the blade out, causing him to scream.
“Que os jodan, putas!” He sneers at Kite, spittle flying out of his mouth, teamed with blood.
Egret steps into view, a slender blade in her hand, trailing it along Javier’s temple. “Oh, Javier, you think calling us whores is going to offend us? And you want us to fuck off? Well, sure. We’ll just pack up and leave then, shall we?”
A small chuckle escapes him, though I can tell it takes almost all the energy he has left. “It would be nice if you would. I have an empire to rebuild… some assholes have torched it all.”
I fight back my smirk as his eyes shift to mine, and I shrug nonchalantly. “You fucked with Defiance, Javier. It took a few years, but Defiance always ends up on top.”
Javier slowly smiles, licking his swollen and bloodied lip. “You won’t kill me.”
Haven raises her brow, folding her arms across her chest. “Oh, won’t we? Why’s that?”
He turns to her, his head bobbing with his exhaustion.
“Because, Blue Jay… you need me. All you birds need me. This right here is proof. You’re trained to be assassins.
You women thrive in this kind of environment.
I made you into the machines that you are.
You can’t live any other life than to be given orders, than to be my beautiful birds. ”
I swallow hard, my eyes shifting to Poppy as she walks forward, my heart rate increasing as she steps in front of Haven.
“The thing about birds, Javier… is eventually they all fly the nest,” Poppy says, her voice calm, no hesitation as she stares him down.
Then she pulls a blade from her boot that I didn’t even know was there.
My eyes widen as I go to take a step forward, but Loki places his hand on my chest, stopping me.
My breath catches as Poppy moves in, Javier chuckling at her as she does. “Oh, little bird, what damage could you possibly do to me?”
She grins, holding the blade to his scalp.
“Nothing compared to the emotional trauma your mother obviously did to you,” she jabs, piling on the psychological cuts, and he jerks in reaction, forcing her blade into his scalp with his own fury, not deep, but enough to make the blood run hot down his face.
“Shut up! You don’t get to talk about my mother,” he screams into Poppy’s face. But she doesn’t react, doesn’t flinch, merely reaches his eye level and grins.
“It’s not nice when someone messes with your mother, is it?
” she snaps, then steps out of the way to let Black Swan move forward.
Javier breathes harshly through his nose as he stares her down, while she silently stalks him, her eyes burning with a fury few could comprehend.
She leans in, brushing a finger down his bloodied cheek.
“Livvy trusted me…” she says, her voice low, “… and you used her as bait.” She doesn’t yell, doesn’t raise her voice.
He shakes his head in annoyance anyway. “We’re back on Olivia?
Everyone is so fucking caught up on this bitch.
I didn’t kill her. Sure, I gave the order, but I didn’t shove a fucking blade into her organs.
” He turns to look at Nighthawk, who wracks her jaw from side to side like she’s ready to jab a blade into his vital organs right about now.
Black Swan chuckles, tilting her head, waving a scalpel in her hand. “You’re right. And I gave you the information on Livvy’s whereabouts and her schedules, so technically, I killed her too. But then, Alpha married her and put her in the line of fire, so he killed her as well, right?”
Javier smiles, nodding his head. “Now you’re getting it. I always knew you were the smart one, Black Swan—”
She steps forward dramatically, sliding the scalpel into his abdomen with the precision of a surgeon, then twists. Javier’s eyes widen, a gargled sound escaping his mouth as his body jerks with the movement. The rest of us are shocked by the sudden, brutal action.
She leans in beside his ear and growls, “You died the day you let your mother rot in a cell. You wanted to be a man she would be proud of, well, she would spit on your unmarked grave.” She leans back, twisting the blade in his gut and then spits in his face for good measure.
His chin drops to his chest, his breathing labored, his body a mass of blood, cuts, and wounds as he fights to stay breathing.
Black Swan twists to look at Haven, something unspoken being said between them, then the two of them turn to look at Poppy.
My heart stops, understanding what is happening.
They’re letting her step up to her full potential—to finally be Hummingbird.
Fuck!
This time, I don’t let Loki stop me, and I step forward, my heart hammering out of my chest as I rush for the other side of the room to stand next to my daughter. “Baby girl, you don’t have to—”
“Yes, I do,” she says, her voice harder than I’ve ever heard it. “He took my mom. His Cartel tried to take me. Daddy, I know you don’t understand any of this. I know Haven and I scare you, but this is a part of me, and I need to do this. Otherwise, I’ll never be free of it.”
I glance at Haven, who nods.
She trusts her.
And fuck, I want to protect my daughter.
To shield her from what this means.
But I also know this is her closure.
Running my hands through my hair as fear courses through my veins, I step back. Haven slides her arm around me, giving me the support I clearly need right now as I watch my daughter step up to the man I despise.
The man I have been fighting for what feels like a lifetime.
Poppy pulls out a small dagger, another one she was hiding down the back of her pants. It shakes in her grip, but only slightly. She walks up to Javier and stares him down. His barely open eyes glance back at her as blood covers his face like some impressionist painting.
“You killed my mom,” Poppy whispers.
He tries to smirk, but his face is a mess, and his lip is so swollen it’s hard to tell where his lip ends and his nose begins. “Her screams were like music to my ears.”
Poppy doesn’t falter. She brings the blade up, shining it in the light. “Do you know how your mother died, Javier?” Poppy asks, tilting her head almost maniacally.
Javier coughs. “We’re not talking about my mother, little bird—”
She presses the tip of her blade into his chest, the tip drawing a line of blood. “She died in your prison, but the guards told you she died of natural causes, right?” she states, toying with him.
He sits taller, opening his eyes wider, though still not wide with how swollen they are. “She did die of natural causes.”
“Did she?” Poppy answers coyly, bringing the tip of her blade to her finger, playing with it.
“Because the warden is my dad’s friend, remember?
So, when we learned that there was a member of the Cartel in there, let alone such a pivotal maternal role.
Well, they’ll let anyone into prisons, to you know, take care of business. ”
Javier jerks in the chair, finding a new wave of strength. “You’re lying!”
Poppy turns around to face me. “Am I?” she asks me, and I simply shrug in response, looking smug, following her lead, because we most definitely did not order a hit on his mother.
“You fucking conos! You killed my mother,” he screams, almost belligerent as he thrashes about in the chair.