Chapter 44 #2
I refuse to be the scared little girl that Rick has bullied, threatened, and abused most of my life up to this point.
But the only way I will be free is if we stop Rick, once and for all.
I manage to push myself up, ignoring the stabbing pain in my left side from my likely broken ribs and the radiating pain in my back as I maneuver over to them as quickly as I’m able to force my body to move, despite my vision slightly blurring and the room appearing to sway a bit.
I wipe a small trail of blood from the cut on my cheek that Rick’s last hit gave me, as Jack’s siblings’ words echo in my memory.
“And if you’re ever cornered by an asshole again, what do you do, Tinsley? And what do you aim for?” Finn crosses his arms with a grin as he waits for me to answer.
I take a deep breath and firmly nod in response. “I have options.”
“Yes, you do, honey,” Ryan adds with a proud nod.
I smile at the encouraging words. “I could go for an elbow strike, or heel-palm strike.” I mimic the movements as I respond with what has been drilled into me since they all insisted on teaching me a few things.
“What else?” Liam asks.
“A throat strike, or an eye jab,” I recite.
“And my favorite move, especially if the attacker is male?” Savannah chimes in with a smile.
“Groin kick.” Savannah gives me a high-five at my answer before pulling me into a hug.
She pulls back and looks at me proudly. “That’s right, girl, and you make sure it hurts like hell.”
With The Cavalry’s words of encouragement sparking a rush of bravery and adrenaline, I know I need to do my best to stop this asshole.
I may not have footwear on for this, but with Jack behind Rick, pulling him backward in a struggle as they both try to get control of the gun, I think I can get close enough to throw a knee and make it hurt, at least hard enough to take him down to give Jack the opportunity to get the upper hand—or maybe for Wells to wake up.
I use the armrest of the couch to pull myself up, biting my tongue to keep myself from crying out in pain as I stand.
I don’t say anything as I move to him.
I have nothing to say to this asshole, not anymore.
He should’ve been a father figure, a protector, and a guiding force in my life. But he was nothing but a force for pain, extortion, abuse, and caused so much loss.
In a movie, there would probably be a killer line, speech, or some awesome saying before the bad guy is taken down, but this is my life, and I have no interest in ever speaking to this flaming heap of garbage ever again.
With strength I’m not sure where I find, I rush toward the men and get close enough to grab Rick’s shoulder, who foolishly assumes I’m trying to go for the gun in his right hand like Jack is attempting to take.
But he’s always underestimated me and who I am, and this time, it will only help lead to his own demise.
Rick extends the arm, holding the gun further over and away from his body, effectively making it easier for me to get closer and raise my knee with a force as hard as I possibly can right between his legs.
I’ve heard a lot of sounds in my career as a professional musician.
Some sounds have been ethereal and majestic.
Some sounds have been terribly haunting. But this? This sound is an odd mixture of both—and it is magnificent.
I was unaware that it was physically possible for a grown man to make the high-pitched screeching sound that erupts from Rick’s mouth when my knee connects with all of the force that I could muster, and some flowing from the depths of my soul that I may have borrowed from generations that came before me.
This strike was so much more than a single moment.
It was twenty years of control and hurt.
It was for the pain this man caused me.
It was for this asshole murdering my father and being directly responsible for the murder of my mother.
It was for causing the murder of my best friend.
But most of all—honestly—that kick was for me.
It came from the depths of my soul and the core of who I am—that inner child that just wanted to sing to make people happy and be loved by her family.
Jack immediately seizes on the opportunity of distraction to land an elbow strike against Rick’s forearm before he was even done screaming.
He finally drops the gun to the ground, which I scoop up and back away until the back of my legs hit the couch, forcing me to collapse on the sectional, seconds before vomit erupts from Rick.
As soon as I picked up the gun, I noticed we weren’t alone.
Vivian’s husband Walker had rushed in with his gun drawn to swiftly help Jack detain Rick, but before I can see anything else, I’m air born so fast my stomach drops as I’m being removed from the room.
Thor carries me bridal style out of the room, and Jack’s driver Ethan takes the gun out of my hands as we walk past him.
“Thor! Put me down!” I demand but he ignores my cries. “I need to check on my brother! Thor!”
“Miss Sinclair, I have my orders. Mr. Callahan will be with you soon, I promise. Ethan and Jett will make sure Mr. Sinclair is tended to as well.” Thor carries me to my bedroom where Allie is waiting for me, and she pulls me down to sit on the bed.
“Jack specifically said the plan was to remove you from the room and get you somewhere safe out of the line of sight of Rick Wilson, Debbie Jo Wilson, and Kane Daughtry until the authorities could remove them.”
My eyes snap from the doorway to him at that. “The plan?”
“Yeah, they had an entire plan like a bunch of ninjas, and it was amazing and terrifying and oh my goodness! Honey, are you okay?” My cousin throws her arms around me, sobbing.
Thor is hovering near Allie, but I don’t miss the way he’s watching me like a hawk. I’m not crying—I think I’m in shock—but I do wince at her hug, recalling the recent and new rib injuries Rick gave me as a parting gift, along with the malicious blows to my back.
“Is that it?” I softly ask Thor.
“Is what it, Miss Sinclair?”
“Thor. It’s Tinsley. Stop it. I mean, is it really over?” My teeth are starting to chatter. Am I cold? I didn’t think I was cold.
Thor walks over to the chair in the corner and grabs the throw blanket off it, handing it to Allie to wrap around me as he answers. The blanket smells like Jack: a mixture of smoky sandalwood with notes of amber, and another note of something that is just … him.
“Oh, yeah, you did really good, Miss Sin—Tinsley. Those assholes are all going away for a long fucking time.”
I rear back and my eyebrows shoot up. “All of them? Rick too?”
“You were amazing, Tinsley. You got him to admit to crimes no one even knew he did, and an FBI Agent witnessed his confession of crimes across state lines. Walker already made calls, and Rick is being arrested for violating the no-contact order you have on him, and with all the bullshit he pulled today—in addition to trespassing, breaking and entering, he will now also be wanted in connection to the car crash in New York, Roman and Fiona’s deaths, and apparently, also your father’s death in Florida.
He is totally fucked. And Debbie Jo confessing to your mama’s murder? She’s just as fucked.”
“But even if Rick was involved in our father’s death, that was over thirty years ago.” Not that my father doesn’t deserve justice, but it was so long ago.
“Yeah, but we were listening to everything, girl. I googled it, and do you know what we found out after he admitted that?” Allie brushes a piece of my hair back from my face. “Florida doesn’t have a statute of limitations for murder cases, so it doesn’t matter how long it’s been.”
Whoa. Even with Thor and Allie rattling all those crimes off, I still expect Rick to somehow find a way to walk out of here because that’s just who he is—he has always gotten his way. He has always won, and I’ve always been the one to pay for it. “What happens now?”
“Agent Bennett said Rick, Kane, and even Debbie Jo will be taken into federal custody and eventually transported to a federal holding facility. Rick will go before a judge in the next forty-eight to seventy-two hours and they will sort out the different states that have claims to him, but his actions today will likely result in additional federal charges.” Allie squeezes my hand at that bomb.
“What? What did he do today that would qualify for federal charges?”
“Agent Bennett will walk you through everything. We’re just going to sit tight until we know they’re in custody, and then we will get you checked out by a doctor for what’s making you wince and hold your left side.
” Thor gives me a knowing look as Allie jumps back like I’ve electrocuted her. “And then we can go from there.”
All of it just sounds like too much right now, too complicated and too hard, amplified by the fact that everything in my body hurts from today, and as I gently touch the back of my head, I’m pretty sure that asshole also managed to pull some of my hair out of my scalp at one point.
There’s a loud commotion in the living area and I go on full alert.
Thor raises a hand and points to an earpiece I didn’t realize he was wearing. “It’s okay; it’s just the local authorities arriving to join the party, but the EMTs will be close behind.”
I close my eyes and lean into Allie. I’m exhausted and sore beyond belief.
But I think for the first time in my life … I might actually be free.