53. CHAPTER 48
AXL
The last thing I want to do is to leave Saylor alone right now. I want to put my fist through a wall and then hold her and make sure she knows I’m not going anywhere.
I’ve never hid that I’m a selfish asshole when it comes to her. And now it’s cost both of us. I switched her pills knowing exactly what I was doing. I wanted her tied to me in every way that couldn’t be undone.
She can hate me for the rest of her life, but she’ll be mine. I meant it when I said I can’t let her go.
And I don’t even deserve her forgiveness. I should’ve known what was happening to her.
Three years, I’ve watched my girl. I killed every man that touched her and tracked her every move. And I fucking missed what that sick fuck was doing to her.
“Is she going to be alright?” Priest asks.
“I’ll make sure she is.”
He doesn’t push. Priest has been beside me long enough to know when I’m past talking and into the part where I start fucking breaking things.
The meeting room is at the end of the corridor. Dane Sinclair set up this building because of all the shit we get into. It makes it faster to get medical attention since we’re far outside of the city. I’ve been here several times throughout the years. All of us have.
I push through the door, and Dane is standing at the head of the table. He looks like he’s been waiting. His arms are crossed, and he has that look he gets when he’s about to start handing out orders.
“How is she?” Dane asks.
“Alive.” I don’t sit down. I don’t have any intention of being here longer than necessary so I can get back to Saylor. “What’s so goddamn urgent that it couldn’t wait?”
Dane studies me for a second, as if he’s trying to determine if he’s going to let my tone slide. My patience is thin, and right now I want to grab him by the collar and tell him to fucking spit it out.
“I need to know what she told you about her attack, Axl.”
I stare at him. “Why? What’s your interest in Saylor?”
“My interest is in the safety of my family as well as taking down the onslaught of sick fucks we’ve been dealing with.” Dane uncrosses his arms and braces both hands on the table. “And my suspicion is that her brother tried to kill her, and I want to know why.”
My pulse is in my ears. “What makes you suspect her brother?”
“Answer my question first. Then I promise I’ll answer yours.”
I don’t want to say any of this out loud, and I don’t want any of it to be true. But I’m going to need all of the help and resources I can get to find the bastard. And I need to know what Dane knows about Justin.
“Justin has been assaulting Saylor for years.” They don’t need the details.
Priest’s boots shift on the floor beside me, but I don’t look at him.
My body is already wound so tight from needing to kill the bastard that I have to force myself to continue.
“She figured it out a few days ago, and he tried to kill her to ensure her silence.”
Dane’s expression doesn’t change, but his jaw tightens.
“He’s been trying to have me killed to keep me away from her.”
Dane sighs. “I knew he was trying to kill you. He’s working with the traffickers too.”
“You—” I stop. My hands are shaking, and I can’t tell if it’s rage or the effort it’s taking not to flip this fucking table. “You knew he tried to have me killed. And you just let him keep walking the halls and sleeping in the room next to mine?”
“It’s not that simple, and you know it.”
“Fuck simple, Dane.” I’m in his face now. “That piece of shit had access to her while you were setting me up to see what he would do next.”
“Axl, back off, son.” He shoves me back, and Priest puts himself between us. “My boys have been watching him. We hoped he’d lead us to the bigger players. And he did. One of his errands for his father is how we got the lead on the missing girls.”
I grip the back of the nearest chair. If I don’t hold onto something, I’m going through Priest to get to him.
Dane was using Justin as fucking bait while Saylor was down the hall from him every night.
If I’d have been able to deal with Justin sooner, I could have protected Saylor from everything that happened tonight. “How long have you fucking known?”
“I sent him with you and Priest to that warehouse so we could see what he’d do. And I knew for certain when you told me about the backup that I’d supposedly sent. I never sent anyone, Axl. Justin told those men we were watching the building, and they moved the girls before we could get to them.”
I bring my fist down into the chair, breaking it. Priest and I stood there that night and watched them load those girls into an SUV. We let them drive away. We let them be taken right back to fucking hell because Justin made a phone call.
“Fuck.” I run my hands down my face. “You let him run so you could follow the trail, and my girl paid for it.”
“Your girl wasn’t on my radar as a victim, Axl. She was a Dove under Talon protection. Under your protection. I had no reason to believe—”
“Don’t.” I point at him, and Priest shifts between us. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence. He got to keep living and working beside us. In the same house with the other women with a Dove of his own.”
Dane raises his hands to calm me down. “I put him and Ryan together on a dead-end assignment to keep them away from the investigation.”
“Is Ryan involved in the trafficking ring too?”
He crosses his arms over his chest and nods. “Yes, Axl. He is.”
Two of these fucks. Living in the same house as my girl. Sleeping down the goddamn hall.
“Of fucking course.” I laugh, and there isn’t a goddamn thing funny about it. “You know everything, Dane. You just don’t do shit about it until it fits your fucking timeline.”
“I’m trying to dismantle something that’s a threat to all of us, Axl. And if I’d pulled the trigger too early, we’d have lost the trail to everyone above them. You know how deep this goes. And your girl will be in even more danger if we don’t figure this out.”
I shake my head and pace the room, trying to channel the rage I have for all of this shit right now. “Do you know where Justin is? Because I don’t give a shit what game you’re playing, he’s fucking dead.”
“Not yet.” Dane’s voice has an edge to it now. He doesn’t like being pushed, and I don’t give a fuck. “But we will. He’s not getting out of this, Axl. I give you my word on that.”
“Your word.” I stop pacing and turn to face him. “Your word doesn’t mean shit to me right now. You’ve had eyes on this asshole for months, and my girl is in a hospital bed down the hall, barely alive, raped, and just lost our child.”
Priest spins around to face me. “What?”
I hold my hand up to him and shake my head. I don’t need anyone’s comfort. Saylor is the only one that matters. She’s all I need right now, and I need to make sure she’s safe.
“No one understands that rage you have better than me and my sons, Axl. I promise I didn’t know anything about what Justin was doing to Saylor.
” Dane steps closer and clasps my shoulder.
I let him do it. “You helped save my wife. I would never sacrifice Saylor, and we’re going to help keep your girl safe.
My sons are working to track Justin now, and you get to decide what happens to him. ”
“No.” I shake my head. “Saylor gets to decide.” That’s the least I can do for her after all of this bullshit. She gets to take her revenge however she wants it. And if she wants me to do it for her, I’ll take care of it.
The door opens behind Priest. The doctor who spoke with Saylor and me earlier steps in holding a tablet. He looks at the three of us, and he knows he’s walked into the wrong room at the wrong time.
“I have the full tox screen results on Saylor Carter. She was resting when I checked on her, but I didn’t think this could wait.” He looks at Dane first, then me. “There’s something you need to see.”
“We already know she was drugged,” I say, annoyed. “So her tox screen would show drugs.”
The doctor shakes his head. “That’s what I need to talk to you about.
” He sets the tablet on the table and turns it so Dane and I can see the screen.
“Her bloodwork came back with the expected traces—benzodiazepines and alcohol, the combination you’d see in an overdose scenario. But there was a second compound.”
“A second compound?” Dane repeats.
“A counteragent. It appears to have been administered at the same time as the sedatives. It’s designed to prevent full respiratory failure.
It keeps the body sedated but breathing, even if very shallow.
Whoever did this to her didn’t appear to actually want her dead.
” He taps the screen. “I thought you’d want to know. ”
I stare at the tablet and then throw it at the wall. It bounces off and cracks when it hits the floor. Why in the fuck would Justin do that? He made her film her suicide note.
Fuck that mother fucker.
“He wanted me to think she was dead.” I say the words more to myself, puzzling out the why. “But he knew I would get her help. That I would bring her—”
“Here to this building.” Dane is thinking the same thing I am.
I can see it on his face. He pulls out his phone to make a call.
“Thorne, I need additional security to the medical unit now. And I need you to check all camera footage from the past several hours. Look for anything out of place. This is fucking urgent.”
Dane and I look at each other. Every fucking thing that was between us five minutes ago is gone. It doesn’t matter right now. This was all part of whatever plan is going down.
I’m out of the door in an instant, needing to get back to Saylor.
Priest is right behind me. My legs are moving faster than my brain, and I don’t give a fuck about anything except getting back to her.
I’m halfway down the corridor when a blast throws me sideways. My shoulder hits the wall and then the floor, and my ears are gone—just a high-pitched ringing that swallows everything. The lights blow out overhead. Something falls across my back, pinning me down.
I shove off whatever is on top of me and get to my knees. The hallway is black except for the emergency strips along the floor visible around rubble. I taste blood in my mouth. My ribs are screaming, and something warm runs down the side of my face.
I get up and climb over the rubble, focused on getting to Saylor. “Priest!” I call behind me, wanting to make sure he’s still there.
“I’m here. Where’s Dane?” He coughs from the dust. It’s hard to see.
Another explosion rings in my ears and pain rips through my body. I hit the ground, and I can’t see. There’s nothing but ringing. I can’t tell if Priest is still behind me. My legs won’t move. I can’t get to her. I think I’m on the ground, but I can’t feel anything.
Goddamnit. I should have fucking told her I love her. I’m sorry, little heathen.
Everything goes dark.