Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
J axon
We walk into Victor’s house, and the first thing I hear is a scream I know is Tia, making my heart skip a beat as we all march past the dead bodies of Victor’s men. I expected far more guarding the estate and the house, but they seem to have all vanished when he needs them most.
Not surprising. The guy is a complete dick to work for, so why would anyone lay down their life for him?
“She sounds like she’s in that room downstairs,” Cason says, pointing the way.
Someone rounds the corner from a hallway and takes aim at us, but Ryker quickly blows the guy away. Two more follow that guy and meet with the same fate, dropping where they stop.
I’ve never seen Ryker like this. He’s like a killing machine, and I’m here for it one hundred percent. It’s about fucking time.
“Feel like getting a little target practice in?” Kane asks as we step over their dead bodies and try to avoid the blood and brains that sprayed everywhere behind them.
Ryker turns to look at me and shrugs. “Just doing what I came here to do. Stay sharp. Victor may have told his men to stay close to him to lure us into a false sense of security and think this is going to be a cakewalk.”
Just as he gets that last word out of his mouth, two more poke their heads out from behind a wall near the kitchen. Itching to kill someone, I lift my gun and pop the one on the right in the middle of his forehead. He drops like a fifty pound bag of flour, leaving only his buddy next to him.
“I got him!” Cason calls out, and a second later, he pumps two into the guy, sending him falling to the floor like his friend did a few moments ago.
Just beyond them is the door that leads to the basement. Beyond that door, it’s a narrow set of stairs I’d rather not spend much time in. It’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel if there’s more than one guy waiting for us.
We stand there for only a few seconds before Tia screams again, and even though I know I should wait for what our plan is, I can’t. I charge through that fucking door with my gun ready to kill anyone who gets in my way of saving her.
I hear Ryker say something about having my back as I take the stairs two at a time. The first of Victor’s minions waiting for us downstairs begins shooting before I can even see him, so I spray the fucking area in front of me, hoping I catch him at least once.
Behind me, Cason and Kane call out when they see one and take their shots, helping me get down to the bottom of the stairs. Once I turn the corner, there’s another one waiting for me, though, and he’s had fair warning we’re coming.
“You’re not getting through here,” he says with a shitload of bravado, if not a whole lot of brains.
I raise my hand to shoot him, but he gets off a round before I do, catching me on the arm. The spike of pain sends me stumbling back into the wall. The guy says something cocky about enjoying this, yet a second later the only thing he’s enjoying is a shot to his face courtesy of Ryker.
“I’ve heard enough talking out of these assholes today,” he says when he stops to help me.
Waving him off, I push the pain away and shake my head. “I’m good. We need to get to Tia.”
“You sure?” he asks, looking down at my arm and the blood starting to soak my shirt.
“I’m fucking fine. Let’s go!”
As we pass the one who shot me, I kick him in the side for fucking hitting me. “Asshole. In your next life, work for a better boss.”
I still haven’t seen Dickie, but I can only hope he’s with Victor. With any luck, I can get a two-for-one deal and kill them both.
The house falls silent, which tells us all of Victor’s outside men are taken care of. Now we just have to deal with anyone protecting him inside that room we think he’s in.
We all stop outside the door for a few seconds as Ryker silently motions that he wants to lead the way. I think about arguing with him since I’d love to be the one who takes out Victor, but I understand why he wants to be the person who gives his brother what he’s got coming to him.
I have no idea how many men he has inside with him. It could be one, or it could be a dozen. I don’t care. The time has come to take care of fucking business.
The next minute goes by in a blur. Ryker throws the door open and is instantly hit by a shot from Dickie. Happy to take care of that asshole, I aim for his fucking knee and shoot. He collapses to the ground screaming in agony. I watch with a certain sense of glee as he writhes in pain, but I’ll get back to him later.
Cason disarms him as I begin to look for Tia, but Dickie’s the only person in this room. “Where the fuck is she?” I bark at him.
He laughs even as blood pours out of his leg. “She’s gone. He took her, and trust me, he’s already had her, Jaxon. She screamed, but she was no match for him.”
I can’t see straight I’m so enraged. I rush over to him and kick him in the head, sending a bunch of his teeth flying out of his mouth. That’s not enough for me, though. I want to beat the hell out of this fuck not only for what he did to me but for gloating about what Victor did to Tia.
There’s no time to waste on all of that, though, so I smile down at him and take aim, making sure to do a little gloating of my own. “Time to meet your maker, motherfucker. Your boss will be along in a minute. Fuck you, asshole!”
He opens his mouth to say something, but the bullet drives into his forehead, slicing through skin, bone, and brains like a hot knife through butter. It wasn’t exactly the ending I had planned for him, but it will have to do.
Kane and Cason are already on the other side of the room heading out the door that leads to the estate grounds, so I hurry to catch up with them, wondering where Ryker has gone. “We’re missing someone. Where the hell did Ryker disappear to?”
For a second, I wonder if he’s changed his mind about taking care of Victor. That’s fine with me. I’m happy to step up and send that son of a bitch straight to hell.
Cason answers me as we run out into the estate just as the sun sets. “He ran after my father.”
Fears about what Victor’s done with Tia fill my head as I look around in the dim light for any sign of them. If she becomes a problem for him and slows him down, he’ll get rid of her. She’s a means to an end, but if he thinks she’s not going to help him, I know him. He’ll put a bullet into her head and run off.
We have to find the two of them before she becomes a liability for him.
In the distance, I hear a gunshot, and I freeze. It feels like forever until the next sound hits my ears, but when I hear Tia scream my name, I take off running across the lawn toward where I think she and Ryker must be with Victor. Behind me, Cason and Kane yell they’re going to cover me, but I don’t care about my safety.
All I care about is getting to Tia.
I run as fast as I can, my eyes scanning the grounds around me, but I don’t see them. I need her to let me know where they are, so I call out, “Tia!”
For a long moment, I don’t hear a thing, but then she screams, “Jaxon! I’m here!”
My heart soars, even as I can’t deny I’m afraid of what I’m going to find when I reach her. I come around a row of hedges, and there on the ground I see Victor with Ryker standing over him. Tia lies a few feet away, and all I can see when my gaze lands on her is her shirt is ripped in half.
I run over to her and drop to my knees beside her on the grass. “I’m here, Tia. I’m here. You don’t have to be afraid anymore.”
She sobs my name and something else I can’t understand, but it doesn’t matter. She’s alive and safe with me. That’s all I care about. Ryker can take care of Victor. I have what’s most important to me now.
Taking her in my arms, I cradle her against me as she continues to cry. “I thought you weren’t going to get here in time,” she says against my chest.
“I’m sorry I was late. Forgive me.”
Tia gently pushes me away and smiles up at me. “For your birthday, I’m going to buy you a watch. Then you’ll be on time.”
I shake my head at how she could be making jokes right now. “Okay. I guess I can start wearing a watch again.”
Her smile makes me think she’s going to be okay, after all. I know it’s going to take a long time for her to get over what’s happened today, but I’ll be there with her every day and every step of the way.
Then she sees the blood on my arm, and her eyes grow wide. “Oh my God! You’re hurt!”
Smiling, I shrug, not feeling even a twinge of pain from where that asshole of Victor’s shot me. “It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t hurt. All that matters is you’re okay.”
Exhausted from all she’s been through, she doesn’t say another word. Tia just rests her head against me, but that’s fine. I can be strong for both of us.
That’s what the man who loves her is supposed to do.