Chapter 46
An hour earlier
“Kill, please stop pacing, you’re making me nervous,” Sofia pleads as my size thirteen boots wear a hole in the carpet. She’s perched on the sofa, chewing on her lip while her knee bounces restlessly as we wait for the rest of the guys to arrive.
Given that they work next door in the garage, Myles, Alex and Drew were already at the clubhouse when Sof and I arrived.
Every second we wait is another second of her being with him and I can’t stand it. I want her as far away from him as possible.
A thunderous roar outside signals the arrival of the others and I blow out a sigh of relief. Fucking finally.
“Sof?” Mac’s eyes immediately land on Sofia as he steps through the entrance of the clubhouse, followed by Jett and Cruiser.
It’s a small relief to see my brothers here in response to my call to arms. It only makes me love them more. They’re the only people in my entire life who have ever had my back, men I can always rely on should the time come when I need them. Times like now.
“Where’s Beau and Ray?” I ask.
“They’re right behind us,” Jett says.
Sure enough a couple of minutes later, Ray steps inside closely followed by Beau.
Myles stands from where he’s perched on the bar stool, closing the space until he reaches me. “So, come on, man. What’s going on? Where’s Kaia?”
I rake my hands through my hair. “He has her. He fucking has her! I know it.”
Myles frowns. “Who has her?”
“Curt Naylor.” His name leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I almost want to vomit from hearing it out loud.
“Who?”
“Curt Naylor? Are you serious?” Drew asks.
My eyes dart to Drew. “You know him?”
“Not personally, but I heard my uncle mention him. They shared a cell for a few years. They were friends,” Drew informs us. “What’s he doing out?”
“No clue. He got out a couple of months ago. He was sending Kaia messages to scare her when we were together. I went to the prison to confront him and found out he’d been released.”
“Okay, I’m totally lost. Who’s Curt Naylor?” Sof asks.
“Murderer. Abuser. Rapist. Take your pick,” Drew adds.
“Jesus…” Alex breathes out.
Cru pulls out his laptop and begins tapping away.
“What does he want with you?” Myles asks.
“He was my cellmate for the first few months when I was banged up. He’s a nasty piece of shit and we didn’t exactly see eye to eye. Let’s just say he holds a grudge.” That’s the understatement of the century. “He was also the guy who ran us off the road yesterday.”
“The fuck?” Jett exclaims. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Had my reasons.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“Jett, not now,” Myles intervenes, turning his attention back to me. “What makes you think he has Kaia?”
I glance across at Sofia.
“She texted me last night to say she was staying with Killian, but according to him, she was never there,” she explains.
“You tried calling her?” Drew asks.
I shoot him a look. “No, dipshit, I thought that might be too fucking easy so I sent her a note via carrier pigeon instead. ‘Course I fucking called her! She didn’t pick up.”
“He’s just trying to help brother,” Alex defends.
“Then tell him to stop asking stupid fucking questions,” I snap, instantly regretting it. Drew’s a good kid, I shouldn’t be taking shit out on him.
I need to direct my anger somewhere, anywhere because I’m a loose cannon right now ready to blow.
My mind spiralling with dark thoughts. I’m physically vibrating with rage, my mind playing over every single thing Naylor could do her.
He might not be able to rape her, but that’s not the only way he can hurt her. He’s sick and creative.
My fist finds the wall. I hit it with enough force it punches a hole in the plasterboard, bits of wallpaper and plaster crumbling at my feet. Wallpaper that’s only been up for a matter of weeks but I don’t care.
I glance down at my knuckles as they turn red, the pain doing little to ease the anger inside me.
“I fucking knew it!” Cru shouts, everyone’s heads turning to him. “I knew I recognised Naylor’s name. Watson helped release him from prison.”
My head snaps up. “What?”
“I hacked his email. Naylor was up for parole a few months back, the odds of him getting out were stacked against him, but our good friend the mayor put in a very good word for him with the current warden. Seems he still has a few strings to pull from his warden days.”
“Why would he do that?” Sof asks.
“That’s the million-dollar question,” I say.
“My guess is whatever Grimes was using to blackmail Watson, Naylor’s doing the same thing,” Drew explains. “Why else would he help release a guy like him?”
“Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter. We need to find her, now!” I shout.
“I’m on it.” Cru sets to work on his laptop, doing what he does best.
Hacking. Tracking.
“Why is he doing this?” Sof asks, her bottom lip trembling. “What does he want with Kaia?”
“Because of me.” I swallow. “For what I did to him.”
“What did you do?” Jett asks.
I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it does.”
“Just fucking leave it! I said it doesn’t matter!” I roar, the room falling silent from my outburst.
I drop onto the couch, tugging at the handfuls of hair balled up in my fist hard enough I feel some rip away from my scalp. I welcome the burn.
“I—I can’t.” My voice cracks, my throat closing up like someone’s got their hand around it, squeezing.
“Kill, whatever it is…” Myles trails off.
I’ve done my damnedest to keep this secret buried but I know what needs to happen. I need to tell them the truth.
“He…” I inhale deeply, trying to steady my racing heart, working myself up to say the words out loud.
I’ve done it once. I told Kaia. I can do it again.
“While we shared a cell, he… he raped me.”
Sof gasps. Cru stops typing, and a deathly silence falls over the room as every set of eyes fall on me.
I don’t look up.
I can’t bring myself to meet anyone’s gaze, the shame of my admission seeping into every fibre of my body. I never wanted it to come to this. I never wanted them to find out the truth. I don’t want them to see me differently, but it’s inevitable now.
“Jesus Christ, kid…” Ray mutters.
I scrub a hand over my face. “He took advantage of me. I was young, scared… He did everything he could to break me during those first few months. The things he did to me, and made me do to him…” I shake the memories away as they begin to surface.
“One day it got too much and I hacked off his dick with a shard of metal I found. He vowed one day he’d make me pay and now he has Kaia and…
Fuck...” My face falls into my palms. “That’s why we have to find her. Knowing she’s with that monster, I…”
A hand lands on my shoulder and I look up to find Myles there. “Fuck, Kill. Why didn’t you tell us?”
I shake my head. “I couldn’t. The shame…”
Myles grips my shoulders and turns me towards him, forcing me to look up at him. “There is nothing to be ashamed of. You thought we’d judge you? Think any less of you? We’re your brothers, man. We’re your fucking family. Your pain is our pain, we share the burden and we fight for each other.”
“Damn fucking straight,” Alex agrees, the others all echoing his words and the weight pressing against my chest lifts.
“If he hurts her… I’ll never forgive myself.”
“We’re gonna find this fucker and we’re gonna get your girl back. Okay?” Myles promises. “Got anything yet, Cru?”
“Nothing.”
“Wait!” Sof exclaims, pulling out her phone.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Kaia’s always told me how reckless I am and how I never think about my safety. She made me install an app on my phone ages ago for when I go on nights out. I totally forgot about it. It helps you track your friends and family. We set it up so we could see where each other was.”
She hands me her phone, showing a map with a tiny little red icon in the middle of the screen. It’s an area that’s only a thirty-minute drive away from Stillwater Falls.
“This is where she is?” I ask.
“It’s where her phone is. Assuming she still has it close by, that’s where she’ll be.”
Cru takes the phone and begins typing on his computer. “It’s an old farmhouse. More specifically, Curt Naylor’s family home before he was sent down, it’s been empty for years. It’s where he murdered his wife and kid. I won’t go into detail but it was pretty fucking brutal.”
“Jesus Christ,” Myles mumbles.
“Why wouldn’t he turn off her phone so she couldn’t be traced?” Mac asks.
“Because he wants me to find her.” He’s using her as bait to reel me in.
“So we could be walking straight into a trap?”
I don’t care if it’s a trap. I don’t care what happens to me. The only thing that matters is that Kaia’s safe. Safely away from that sadistic asshole.
Memorising the location, I march for the door, but a voice stops me.
“Yo!” Drew calls behind me.“Where do you think you’re going?”
“I’m off to put six numbers on tonight’s lottery draw, where do you think, little cobra?” I quip.
“Without us?” Alex asks.
“You think you’re going in there without us?” Beau echoes.
“We’re a team, man. We do this together,” Myles says.
I shake my head. “It needs to be me. He’s gone after her to get to me. I need to be the one to end this.”
Myles folds his arms over his chest. “Then we’ll be there as back up should you need us.”
“We’re not letting you walk in there by yourself, brother,” Alex adds.
“Yeah, no fucking way are we letting you have all the fun without us,” Jett says.
These guys…
I smile. “Alright. Thanks, all of you.”
“We’re gonna need ammo.”
“What about me?” Sof asks.
“Stay here. It’s too dangerous for you to come with us. Call the girls, tell them what’s happening.”
“Okay.” She nods.
We each take turns gathering what we need from the concealed locked storage room that houses dozens of weapons.
To the average person, it looks like a wall which is why the cops never found it when they tore the place apart looking for the drugs they planted.
The majority of the guns are legal, some not so much.
After checking the clip, I tuck my gun in the waistband of my jeans while my knife is slipped inside my boot.
“Mac, Kill, you’re driving the truck, might need it if we have to clean up after ourselves.”
Myles claps me on the shoulder. “Let’s go get your girl.”
“Kill, wait!” Sofia calls after us, as we head for the door. “There’s something you should know.”
I turn.
She chews on her lower lip. “Kaia’s gonna kill me for telling you this but, before you head in there, I think you should know…” She hesitates before continuing. “She’s pregnant.”
My heart stops beating. “W-What?”
Did I just hear that right?
“She only found out yesterday at the hospital after the accident.”
My knees go weak and I have to steady myself against the wall.
Kaia’s pregnant.
I let those words sink in.
She’s carrying my baby.
I’m going to be a dad. A fucking father.
Holy shit.
“You okay, man?” Myles asks.
I squeeze my eyes shut, inhaling deeply to stop from feeling dizzy. Flashes of the future flicker behind my eyelids.
Pressing my lips to the swell of Kaia’s belly in a few months… holding our baby in my arms … sitting on my bike with my child perched on my lap as they mimic the sound of an engine… lying in bed with the love of my life as I read our child a bedtime story…
I steel myself, my eyes darting open. “He’s not gonna hurt either of them. I won’t let him.”
Curt Naylor made a huge fucking mistake going after the girl I love, and an even bigger one putting her and our baby in danger. It only makes me more determined to end him. And I’m going to end him, just like I should have done all those years ago.