63. Orion
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
ORION
I don’t think I believed the term seeing red was an actual thing until I saw Ember fighting against Lucas with everything she has.
Max and I sprint across the street, our legs taking us as quickly as they can, but it’s too slow.
The glass doors are a window into the hell my girl is going through, and it doesn’t seem to matter how hard I try. I can’t get to her quickly enough.
This is like one of those fucking nightmares, except I’m very much awake, and my entire life is about to be violated right in front of my eyes.
Ember’s body slumps against the ground, and for a moment, I worry he’s knocked her out, but then I notice the way her fingers move against the razor blade in her hand.
Blood covers them both, but I can’t tell who it belongs to.
I tear the door open and immediately tackle Lucas to the ground, my vision blurred by the rage pumping through my veins.
He’s deserved death for years, but right now, I think death might be too kind a fate for his sins. He deserves to perish, to hurt, to bleed, for what he’s done to my little flame.
I’m vaguely aware of Max gathering Ember against his chest and Killian dragging Cain out from behind the altar, a fresh black eye blooming, but I’m too far gone as I slam my fists into Lucas’s face over and over again.
“You dared to fucking touch her,” I roar. “You put your filthy fucking hands on my woman and thought you’d live to tell the tale.”
“You’re dead,” he wheezes.
A feral chuckle escapes me as I slam another fist into his cheek. “You think a bomb is enough to wipe me off this planet? You think it’s enough to take me from my woman?”
Hands grasp my shoulders and tug me up.
I turn on them, ready to show them the same treatment Lucas just received, but instead find Killian standing in front of me.
He holds on to me, shaking me to drag my attention away from killing Lucas. “We have to get out of here. The cops are on their way.”
“He needs to die,” I growl.
“We’ll take them both with us. But we have to go. We have to get Ember out of here.”
The sound of her name has my head whipping around to where Max is cradling her. Her head is buried in his chest as her body heaves with rough sobs that break my heart.
I swallow past any argument that tries to form. We need to leave. I can’t have her getting caught up with the police, not after everything she’s been through.
Max meets my eye, and the worry in his hazel pools makes my chest tighten. He gives me a quick nod and carefully pushes to his feet, with Ember firmly held against his chest.
He doesn’t hesitate as he steps out onto the street with my entire world in his arms and heads in the direction of the car.
I sling Lucas’s battered body over my shoulder, grunting as his heavy weight settles over me.
Killian does the same with Cain, and we follow Max toward the cars.
My best friend heads the opposite way down the street, and I follow him, deciding he can take both these assholes to the warehouse to string them up while I head back to the penthouse to look after my girl.
It’ll give Lucas and Cain a chance to stew over the torture they’re both about to receive.
Once I’ve shoved the heavy asshole on my shoulder into the back seat and Killian is standing in front of me, he grasps both my shoulders and levels me with a hard stare.
“You need to calm down before you get back to your car.”
I open my mouth to argue, but he cuts me off.
“No. She’s just been through an incredibly traumatic ordeal.
By the looks of her, she’s been starved, and she has only just found out you’re not dead.
You need to go over there calmly, and you need to not lose your shit where she can see it.
It could trigger her, and we have no idea what she’s been through. ”
I force a shaky nod and swallow past the rage that’s wedged in my throat. “I can do that.”
“Good. I’ll take care of these guys and then meet you at the penthouse.”
“Thank you,” I say. “For everything.”
“I’ve got your back, O. You know that.”
He turns and gets into the front seat after a quick look at the street around us. We lucked out not having anyone around as everything went to hell, and the hacker we’re paying an obscene amount of money to has already looped the video feeds in the area to make sure none of us are implicated.
I stride back to the pickup truck and find Max in the passenger seat with Ember in his lap.
He murmurs to her softly, but from the way her body shakes, I know she’s still crying.
I open the door carefully and climb behind the wheel, trying not to jostle the car too much as I close the door behind me.
Her tear-filled eyes flick up to meet mine, and my heart cracks in my chest at the utter despair staring back at me.
“You’re alive,” she whispers on a broken sob.
“Yeah, baby. Not even Satan himself could take me away from you.” I press my palm to her cheek, wiping away the tears that stain it.
Even though it goes against everything my body screams at me to do, I pull my hand back and put the car in drive, heading back to the penthouse where nothing and no one will ever hurt her again.