Chapter 35 #3
Trust me, there was so much I wanted to do. I wanted to raid this fucking building. I wanted to skin these muthafuckers alive and watch them slowly bleed to death.
If it were up to me, I’d have every connection I ever made storming this fishy ass old processing mill and putting so many holes in these three there would be nothing to bury. But none of that is worth losing the one woman I can’t live without.
“You did all this for a reason,” I say looking back at Marissa. It’s obvious she’s the brains behind this shit show. “You didn’t just want my attention, you wanted something. What. Do. You. Want?”
Her face falls, the smile she held seconds ago disappears into a stoic frown. “Everything,” she finally says. “I want it all. They say your net worth is 9 billion, but we both know that’s bullshit. With your Saint money and all your illegal deals, I’m guessing you are more at 200 billion.
“But I’m not interested in your net worth. I want your liquid assets. All of it. I want everything in your bank account along with your offshore accounts.” She grins wider. “We both know you have offshore accounts.”
The guy with the gun walks around me, holding his gun up. He backs over to Ezra, who hands him a laptop. Ezra raises his gun proudly and marches over to me.
I take that brief second to look up at Tiffany. Her head lulls between her shoulders. I can tell her body is in pain from the permanent grimace on her face.
For the first time since I walked in, her eyes open and fall on me. I can see everything she’s thinking. In that contact, I see her love for me, her relief to see me, and her fear for me. All of it is packaged up in those dark brown eyes I love so fucking much.
“Nico.” Her pained voice whispering my name has me shutting my eyes and taking a deep breath.
When I open them back up, Ezra is standing beside me with the gun pointed at me.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t pull this trigger,” he sneers.
Cutting my eyes to him briefly, I put my attention back on Marissa. As I said, it’s obvious she is running this. From the dynamics I’m getting, I’d say the meth head blonde with the laptop is the second in command, which makes Ezra just a lap boy.
“Pretty hard to do with your non dominate hand, don’t you think?”
There is a second’s delay before Ezra spins the gun around and slams the butt into my cheek. Tiffany cries out my name. My head turns, and blood fills my mouth, but I take the blow like its nothing.
“What the fuck, Ezra?” Marissa shouts. “We need him.”
“He’s being a smart ass.”
I spit the glob of blood out of my mouth and onto the floor. I immediately find my wife’s gaze. Without words, I try to tell her I’m okay and to not worry about me.
“It’s ready,” meth head shouts.
Marissa places her attention on me. She holds up a small square device in her hand.
“Tell me, Nicholas, how much is your wife worth to you?”
I don’t have to think about it for even a second. “Everything.”
“No,” Tiffany cries. “Don’t do it, Nico.”
I ignore her. There was no way in hell I was listening to her on this.
Marissa grins. “Good. Then you have no problem clearing out your bank accounts into mine.”
Meth head walks his laptop over to me. He has an offshore account number pulled up on his computer.
“This is my account,” he says.
“It’s simple, Nicholas,” Marissa goes on to say.
“The moment that money hits that account, I let you and wife go. No issues, no problems. We disappear from your lives forever. You come looking for us… well, I’ll let the Horseman know just how to find your weak spot.
I’ve never met the guy, but he seems like the type that doesn’t care about killing a woman or a child. ”
Her threat hangs in the air as potent as the fish smell that clings to these old pipes and floors.
Without a second’s thought, I grab the laptop from meth head and quickly put in my banking info. I pull up both accounts, my regular and secret offshore one. Once I have them both up, I hand the laptop back to methy.
He whistles. “Fuck me, fifty billion dollars.”
I can almost see the amount of drugs that’s about to be bought.
The three dope amigos cheer and laugh. I watch as meth head types some buttons on the laptop. Once he’s done, I get a notification on my phone. I already know it’s my bank trying to verify the transaction. Pulling my phone out, I approve the amount.
I can tell the moment it goes through.
Meth head’s face splits into an enormous smile. “That’s it, babe. We’re billionaires. You did that shit.” He rushes over to Marissa, who stands proudly.
Her hazel eyes sneer back at me. “Too bad I can’t stick around and rebuild our bond. But I guess it’s just not meant to be.”
Meth head laughs as he swipes a hand under his nose.
Suddenly, a loud alarm goes off.
“Fuck!” Meth roars. “He brought back up.”
Taking advantage of their distraction, I act fast. Pulling out the gun from my second back holster, the one dumbass never checked, I grab Ezra around the neck and place my gun to his head. My bullet blows a hole in his skull before he could scream for help. Marissa’s eyes widen.
Meth head tries to swing the gun around and fire at me, but I let off a bullet in his direction. It strikes his arm, knocking him to the ground.
Just as I go to fire another, a whirring sound goes off and Tiffany screams. I watch in horror as the giant hook she’s attached to drop so rapidly there is nothing I can do to stop it. She plummets into the deep cold water.
I glance at my sister and her meth-head partner escaping through the back.
I don’t have time to chase them. Tiffany can swim, but after her body has been in a wreck, her arms bound, and she’s been hanging for who knows how long, she won’t be able to move.
I run for the hole, and without thinking, I dive in.
The water is freezing and so dark I can barely make out where she is.
Thankfully, I spot the chain the hook is connected to.
I kick my feet as hard and as fast as I can, fighting to get to my wife.
It takes longer than I want, but I finally make it to her.
My lungs are burning. Tiffany is tugging at the binds holding her.
When I come around to her front, I can tell she’s getting weaker by the second.
I fight with the rope around the hook. Finally, it gives. I don’t think about the fact that my wife is no longer fighting or how her head is back and her mouth is open. I don’t think about any of that as I kick my feet to break the surface of the murky water.
When I come up to the surface, I take a deep gulp of air.
Tiffany’s head bobs out of the water, her body limp.
Turning around in the water, I find the rocky ledge of the shore.
Just as I spot it, about twenty all-black Hummers pull up to the docks.
The doors swing open, and I spot all three of my brothers.
I swim toward them, holding on to my wife. The moment I reach the shore, Mason and Grant yank Tiffany out of my hands and up on dry land. Salv and a few of Mason’s men grab me out of the water.
I immediately go over to my wife’s side.
“She’s not breathing,” Mason says, lifting his head from her chest.
I didn’t want to hear that shit. I start CPR. Tilting her head back slightly, I breathe into her open mouth twice before I start chest compressions. I count in my head to thirty before I breathe again. There is only silence around me. Silence that is so loud it's deafening.
I know what they think. They think it’s too late. They think I’m wasting my breath, but I know it’s not too late. I know for a fact that she isn’t gone. She can’t be. Because if she is, there is nothing left for me. If she is no longer here with me, I have nothing to give to this world.
“Come on, Tiffany,” I growl as I continue to press her chest. “Don’t you fucking leave me.”
I go back to giving her two breaths, yet there is no change.
“Nic,” I can hear it in Mason’s voice. He wants to tell me to stop.
I shake my head. This time, I don’t try to fight back the tears that are pouring down my face.
“No,” I sob. “No.”
I go back to doing compressions, counting to thirty in my head. Everyone is standing around silently watching me fight to bring my wife back.
The hand on my shoulder from Salv doesn’t stop me.
“Come on, baby. Come on. Breathe for me, Tiff. You have to fucking breathe.” I’m down to pleading for her to come back.
Silence.
My arms grow tired from swimming and the compressions. My shoulders burn, but I won’t stop.
“Nic,” Mason calls my name more harshly this time. When I look up into his eyes, he shakes his head.
Everything inside me breaks down. I toss my head back and let out a deep guttural yell. Salv grabs me and wraps me in his arms, and I cry. My body shakes with my sobs. She can’t be gone. This can’t be the end.
Mason pushes up his sleeves and takes over the compressions.
“Come on, sis. Fight. Fight for him,” I hear him pleading with her too.
On the ground, with my brother’s arms wrapped around me, I let out my sorrow. I haven’t cried this hard since my parents died.
Not even when I was going through hell at that fucking boy’s home did I feel pain like this. I’ve just lost the love of my life. The one person I was supposed to protect. I would not survive this.
I hear it. A choking wet sound and then a gasp.
“Fuck!” Mason shouts.
He wraps Tiffany in his arms, hugging her to his body. I kick out of Salv’s arms and crawl over to my wife. I snatch her from Mason and pull her to me, kissing her all over her face.
“How far off is that ambulance?” Kaz shouts.
“I hear it.” Ghost’s voice cracks.
I don’t pay attention to anything else. I bury my wife’s face in my chest and rock her body back and forth. She’s still here. She’s still alive. All is well.