Chapter Eighteen #3
Poppy leans in, her face right in front of his, my heart racing as she brings the blade up with a smirk.
“Now you know what it feels like when someone kills your mother,” she growls.
Then she brings her blade up, and Javier flinches, clenching his eyes, and Poppy chuckles as she drops it to the Chapel table.
The blade wobbles to-and-fro with her deception.
Then she turns back to face me, a smile on her face.
The little deceptive shit.
Well played, Poppy, well played!
“I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of turning me into the bird he wanted to make me,” she states, then steps up to my side as Haven moves in beside me.
Javier gasps, his eyes wide in disbelief as a newfound purpose flows through me. Haven’s eyes meet mine, a strength flowing through her, like she knew it was always going to end this way.
She gives me a gentle nod and tilts her head toward Javier. I thought the right thing was letting the birds handle Javier.
Because they had been through so much.
Because he had taken so much from them.
But in the end, it always comes back to the Cartel and me.
Because it started with us.
And it’s going to end with us.
With measured steps, I move forward, a slow, villainous chuckle escaping Javier before I yank the blade from the Chapel table and move in beside Javier.
“I should have known… Alpha, Alpha, Alpha. It was always going to come down to me and you, wasn’t it?”
Sliding in front of him, I perch on the edge of the Chapel table, staring at the asshole sitting in my chair, a sense of pride swarming through me, knowing that every time I sit in that chair from here on out, I ended this war.
That I ended this fucker’s life, in my club, in my Chapel, in my fucking president’s chair, and every single day, from this day forward, I will get to sit in the ashes of his demise.
A slow smile crosses my face as I bring the blade to my finger and press the tip into my skin, drawing a small amount of blood.
“You know, Javier… I don’t know if killing you is going to bring me peace.
I don’t know if ending your empire will calm the streets, but what I do know is that when I ram this blade into your pathetic excuse of a body, I am avenging the people you took from us. ”
Javier rolls his eyes, but I don’t let it assuage me. “When I stab you a second time, I’ll be thinking about the life my daughter will lead, and the freedom she will have, now your Cartel has been wiped off the face of the map.”
Javier yawns mockingly, but I still don’t let myself falter. “And when I stab you a third time, I’ll be thinking about the future with my wife. The assassin your Cartel sent to kill me, and how we utterly fucked you over.”
“I have to say, Alpha, your villain monologue is nowhere near as exciting as mine.”
“That’s because I’m not reciting a villain monologue, Javier. I’m doing a victory speech.” Then I reach forward, slamming the blade straight into his gut.
No hesitation.
No remorse.
My eyes fixed on his as he gasps, panting for breath, his body rocking as it fights to stay alive.
Haven and Poppy move to stand on either side of me, a family united as Javier snarls at me. “Is that all you’ve got?”
A slow smirk crosses my face, and with as much force as I have, I slam the blade into him again.
This time, into his side, forcing the blade up under his ribs and pulling downward.
Blood pools onto the floor of the Chapel as I draw the life from the man who has taken so much from me, from my family, from my club…
hell, from the fucking world at this point.
The emotions flowing through me are almost too fucking much as he gasps, panting, but still clinging on like the asshole he is.
Everything we’ve been working for, everything we’ve been fighting for, everyone we’ve fucking lost, has all led to this very moment.
I kneel in front of him, my eyes meeting his.
And he knows.
He knows he is done for.
My heart races as the adrenaline courses through me, and I know this is finally happening. “Any final words?” I grunt.
Javier’s breaths languish, his nostrils flaring as he glares at me. He goes to speak, but before he can say anything, I slam the blade into the side of his throat, cutting off his vocal cords. He gasps, panting and spluttering as I lean down, blade still firmly impaled in his throat.
I move in almost forehead to forehead. “Final words are for men with dignity. You lost that the day you fucked with my family.”
As I twist the knife one more time for good measure, Javier lets out stuttered breaths, his body failing him as I pull back and stand tall. This is it, the end of an era, the end of the fucking Rojas Cartel drawing to a final breath.
But I’m not going to let him fade out.
Fuck no.
Looking him square in the eyes, I yank the blade out of the side of his neck, his jugular vein pulsing rapidly, and spurting blood all over the side of my Chapel wall as he instantly turns ghostly white.
I lean in again, my breathing heavy, my heart racing as I grit my teeth. “We. Are. Defiance!” I say loud and proud, then with one swift movement, I ram the blade into the side of his head, straight into his brain.
With one last breath, his head finally flops to the side, and then…
Nothing.
Silence settles through the Chapel.
My lungs don’t move for a second, and then I step back, blood on my hands, my eyes fierce and haunted but calm all at once, and finally, Haven steps in, wrapping an arm around me.
I don’t hesitate, pulling her into me as Poppy slams into my leg, and I wrap my arms around my girls, holding onto them—they mean every-fucking-thing to me.
A bright smile lights Poppy’s face, and she cuddles into me so tightly I can barely breathe. “Daddy! We’re finally free.” And for the first time since this started, she sounds like my little girl. The one I thought I lost when the Cartel took her from me.
But I’m not going to treat her like that right now, I’m going to let her know how fucking proud I am of her. Even though I never, ever thought I could fucking do this, I’m going to acknowledge that part of her. Because that is what a good parent does. Embraces their child for who they are.
And this? This is who Poppy is, even if she did lay down her weapon.
I lean in against her ear, and I whisper, “You did good, Hummingbird. You did real fucking good.”
Poppy jerks her head up to look at me with gratitude in her eyes that I finally acknowledged her as a bird, even if she did just denounce being one.
I lean in, pressing a kiss to her head, my eyes landing on Haven.
Her chest heaves with every breath, watching me with Poppy.
Blood spatters Haven’s shirt, her neck, and even her cheek, but there’s a gleam in her eye that makes my pulse spike.
She moves like a goddess of war.
Wild. Untamed. Glorious.
And all mine.
She meets my gaze, and her mouth twitches in the barest smile.
Fuck, she’s beautiful.
These birds might have fucking scared the shit out of me, but maybe, seeing them in all their untamed glory, they might have just set me free.
The silence in the clubroom floods the air almost like a calmness.
Javier’s Cartel terror in Los Angeles is finally over, and somehow, we can all get on with our lives.
Can you imagine?
A life without the Cartel?
I hold Poppy as Haven leans into my side, and the silence is finally broken.
“So, ahh, is anyone else really fucking turned on right now?” Ink asks as Nighthawk steps up to his side.
We all look at each other, slow smiles crossing our faces, and then, as if in unison, the entire Chapel bursts into a fit of laughter.
Nighthawk grins, reaching out for Ink’s hand, and she gestures for the clubhouse door. “C’mon, let’s go get a drink.”
He waggles his brows. “Is that code, or?”
They take off, and slowly the room starts to clear as everyone trickles out, but Loki makes his way up to Haven and me, furrowing his brows, and already I know what he’s going to say.
We just celebrated our win.
Now we have to deal with the losses.
“We have to tell Ingrid about Hurricane,” I tell him before he says anything, and he nods.
Haven snaps her head to me, her eyes widening. “What about Hurricane?” she barks.
All the excitement of winning over Javier soon evaporates, and I wrap my arms around Haven and Poppy. “C’mon, let’s go. I’ll tell you all about it.”