27. Crow
CHAPTER 27
CROW
There isn’t a damn thing that could make me give her up.
Seven minutes earlier…
“You take the front, and I’ll take the back.”
Journey strolls up the sidewalk to Gary’s front porch as if he’s a long-lost relative who just came for a visit. I make my way to the back, and I’m not nearly as sly. I couldn’t care less if we’re caught. As long as I walk away from this with Addison on my arm, the rest can be figured out.
“Ready?” Journey’s voice comes through the coms.
I’ve never been more grateful that we always keep some in our saddlebags, just in case.
“On my count. One, two, three.”
I kick in the door and rush inside. Two seconds later, Journey comes racing through the front door, having quickly picked the lock. We go from one room to the next, clearing them as fast as we can.
As we finish with the first floor, we move to the staircase, but Gary’s voice has us both whirling around.
“She said you’d come,” he says casually. “I didn’t believe her.”
“Because you underestimate her,” I snap. “You shouldn’t do that.”
Journey has his gun trained on Gary, and I lower mine in an effort to lull him into a false sense of security. And Gary, the fucking pissant, has his gun pointed directly at my chest.
“I told you what I want,” Gary begins. “That’s what it’ll take to get her.”
“No, it won’t.”
I expect him to argue, to make more demands, so the searing pain that tears through my thigh when he pulls the trigger knocks me to my knees. Journey fires in response, but he does as he’s dropping to my side, and the bullet goes wide.
“If you think that’s bad, you should see what I did to Addi,” Gary taunts.
“Is it anything like what you had Kenny do to Sunny?” Journey asks as he helps me to my feet.
“Figured that out, did ya?”
“Wasn’t too much of a leap once we realized you’re a corrupt bastard.” I take a deep breath and force the agony in my leg to take a back seat to my rage. “I’m sure you paid off the jury or something. That’s the only way he was able to walk outta that courtroom.”
“And now he gets to live a long, happy life, while the rest of you, well, don’t.”
I throw my head back and laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Gary demands.
“The fact that you think Kenny’s heart is still beating,” Journey replies. “He was dead within an hour of leaving the courthouse.”
“Yet another murder the Soulless Kings are gonna go down for.”
“We know how to get rid of a body, Gary,” I say, my tone calm, cold. “Now, tell me where Addison is so we don’t have to get rid of yours.”
And like every criminal who’s ever walked the planet, Gary thinks he’s smarter than everyone else.
“She’s downstairs, caged up like an animal.”
“Go,” Journey says. “I got this.”
I lunge forward at the same time Journey pulls his trigger. Gary falls to the floor just as I pass him. When I cleared the kitchen, I noticed a door but thought it was the pantry. It has to lead to the basement because it’s the only door unaccounted for on the first floor.
Yanking open the door, I shout for Addison. There’s no response, and my stomach flip-flops. When I reach the bottom of the stairs, I turn in circles to survey the space. There’s nothing down here. It’s all concrete and?—
There! A tiny speck of something shiny on the wall catches my attention. I cross to it and realize it’s a button. I press it and step back as the concrete wall pops out and slides to the right, creating an opening.
“Addi!”
“Crow!”
I run toward the sound of her voice, my path barely lit by the light that filters through the opening.
My blood boils at the site of her in a cage. I focus my attention on the lock and start to work at picking it.
“Where’s Gary?” she asks, panic in her tone. “He went upstairs and?—”
“He’s still up there. Journey’s got him.”
It takes me longer than I’d like to open the gate and step inside with her.
“I’m handcuffed too,” she says.
“Not for long.”
Far less time passes as I undo the cuffs. It’s not the first time I’ve picked a set, and I doubt it’ll be the last.
“You’re bleeding,” Addison says, throwing her arms around my neck when she’s free.
“So are you,” I reply, referring to her wrists.
I gently ease her back and lock eyes with her. “He hit you.”
“He did. But I’m okay.”
“Did he do anything else to you?”
Addison shakes her head. “Nothing other than rant and rave about all the shit he’s done over the years. All for money, Crow. He did it all for money.”
I cup her cheeks and press a kiss to her lips. “Your mom?”
Pain flashes in her beautiful irises as she nods.
“I’m so sorry, Ace.”
“At least the truth is out.”
“Doesn’t shrink the hole in your life because she’s gone though.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
I help her to her feet before lifting her in my arms.
“Put me down,” she protests. “You’re hurt too.”
“I’m fine. It’s a flesh wound.”
“It’s a gunshot wound.”
“How’d you know? Did you hear the shot?”
“You don’t call me Ace for nothing.”
Her teasing manner fills my heart with happiness. If she’s being sassy, she’s going to be okay.
“Crow?”
“Yeah?”
“Did you kill him?”
I carry her up the stairs without responding. Journey has Gary pinned to the floor, a boot in his chest, and a gunshot wound in his stomach.
“You didn’t,” she breathes when she spots him.
“I couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Despite what he’s done, he was a major part of your life,” I explain. “It’s not up to me whether he lives or dies.”
What I don’t say is good ol’ Gary is gonna die. One way or another, I’ll get him.
“Put me down,” she orders softly.
I set Addison on her feet, and she sways slightly. After making sure she’s steady, I keep a hand on her arm while she closes the distance between her and her enemy.
Before I know what’s happening, Addison reaches for Journey’s gun, aims it at Gary’s head, and pulls the trigger.
“That’s for killing my mom, you fucking piece of shit.”
The gun falls to the floor, and she steps over the corpse of a man who she thought she knew and walks right out the front door.
Journey grins. “Please tell me you’re keeping her, Crow. I’m begging you… keep that woman.”
“There isn’t a damn thing that could make me give her up.”