Chapter 4
Knox
“ S he’s a tough girl,” Rook says when I shut the bedroom door.
“She’s reckless, but tough. She’s running off emotions,” I say. “She’s lucky none of those men had anyone close by.”
“I wish Cade had mentioned why he was with his sister. He could have told us,” Tripp says.
“Yeah, if Cade never told us that she existed, then he likely was just trying to protect her from everything. I’m willing to bet that she lives up in the cabin he owns,” I say.
“Gonna call him?” Rook asks. “Jered brought her car up here earlier, and she has nearly fifty missed calls from Cade.”
“Yeah,” I say. I got dressed after I laid Nyx on my bed, so I need to go locate my phone in the living room.
We walk downstairs and I see that it is sitting on a couch cushion.
I see that I have a missed call from Cade, which means that he is likely freaking the fuck out if he is coming to me now.
I call him back, and he answers almost immediately.
“Knox. Hey,” Cade says. “Sorry I called so late. I need your?—”
“Phoenyx is here. She’s safe,” I say. “I assume that’s why you called?”
“What? Why in the fuck is she with you? What the fuck did you do?” He yells at me with no regard to how much power I have. I can respect that.
“Cade, you know damn well I would never hurt someone innocent,” I say. “Well… she’s not exactly innocent, but I didn’t hurt her.”
“What are you talking about? Where is she?” he asks angrily.
“You and Callum come to the house. She’s asleep upstairs right now,” I say calmly.
If I meet his panic with anger or anything other than support, it’s not going to help anything.
I might be an asshole, but I’m not evil.
He is worried sick about his sister, so I don’t blame him for being pissed off that she ended up at a mafia boss’s home.
“We are already on our way. She wasn’t home, and her phone is going to voicemail. Are you sure she is okay?”
“Yeah. I will explain the situation when you get here. The gate is open right now, but I will shut it behind you when you get here. Do me a favor and shut your phone off before you get here. She’s created a bit of a mess for herself, so we all need to talk before any of you guys can be tracked here. ”
“Shit. Okay,” he sighs. “Oh. Are you guys able to try and get into her laptop? We were trying to figure out where she went, but she has her laptop locked the fuck down. Now I’m good with computers, but she’s better. She’s hiding something.”
“She definitely is,” I confirm. “I’ll explain soon.”
“Okay,” he says hesitantly.
“Cade, I give you my word. She is safe,” I say softly.
“Thank you. Sorry for being a dick,” he says.
“Your sister is a brat, by the way,” I say, and he laughs. “Don’t worry about it. She’s tough.”
When we end the call, I pull up the camera for the gate so I can see when they get here. Tripp and Rook join me in the living room, and they’re looking at Rook’s phone, so I assume they are watching her sleep.
“You mean it when you said she was ours?” Rook asks.
“Yeah,” I say. “I know it’s dangerous, but… there’s just something about that woman.”
“She’s incredible. I think if anyone can stand at our side and not fall, it’s going to be her,” Tripp says.
“She has to be here willingly, though. She’s not a captive,” I say. “Although I would love to tie her up again and fuck her.”
“I thought for a second she was going to go for the gate, and I was kind of sad,” Tripp says.
“Yeah, the moment she took over getting herself undressed. I knew she knew we weren’t going to hurt her. When none of us reacted negatively to her scars, the way she expected, it solidified that,” I say.
“You think she’s going to explain what happened?” Tripp asks.
“Probably. I know that I could find out by looking at police reports, hospital visits, and even just getting her brother to tell us,” I say.
“But that is her story to tell. I believe she wants to tell it, she just doesn’t know how to.
Every time she got scared, she would get an attitude.
She was never scared of us, though. That tells me whoever hurt her…
she’s scared of them finding her again.”
“I don’t blame her based on those scars,” Rook adds.
We all watch the gate camera as well as the bedroom camera to keep an eye on things.
A few minutes go by, and a truck pulls past the gate.
I hit the button for it to close behind them and they pull up to the house.
We all stand and go to the door. When I pull up, Cade and Callum are here.
The look on their faces is a mix between worry and anger.
He wants to blow up at me. They both do.
“Come on in,” I say as I step to the side. Her bag of torture items that she uses when she kills people is sitting on the coffee table. So, I point for them to sit in the armchairs on either side of it.
“I want to see her,” Cade demands.
“She’s asleep,” Rook says as he hands his phone to Cade.
“What the fuck is going on?” Callum says. “Why is she here?”
“Your sister tried to kill me,” I say, and their eyes go wide. “She actually shot a hole in the chair you are sitting in.”
“Knox, please don’t hurt her. You can do whatever you want to me. I will give you whatever you want, just don’t hurt her. She’s had a hard time the last year and?—”
I put my hand up to get him to stop talking. I think it’s honestly the sweetest fucking thing that he is willing to do whatever he has to in order to keep her safe. He doesn’t even know her reasoning, and he’s protecting her. It’s hard to come by people who are unconditionally supportive like that.
“Nyx has murdered five other men,” Rook says. “Knox was her target tonight.”
“What?” Cade asks. “Phoenyx? Are you sure?”
“The five men that she has killed have all been either accused of or convicted and released on charges of rape at a minimum. She’s targeting and murdering rapists,” I say.
“Fuck,” Cade sighs and closes his eyes. “She’s…”
“She’s angry,” I say. “I know. She hasn’t said who hurt her, but we have seen the scars.”
“I really like you, Knox, but if you hurt my sister, I will fucking kill you,” Cade says with a grave tone again, a total disregard to my level of power.
“Did you three fuck her?” Callum asks bluntly.
“Yes, but she was consenting, and we made sure of it,” I say. “She agreed to tell us what happened when she woke up.”
“I don’t understand,” Cade says. “Why you?”
“She was given information saying that I was the one who killed Macey,” I say. “She says that she does not know who gave her the information. I’m assuming she has been on the dark web. She apparently is calling herself Birdy but attacked me three separate times for calling her that.”
“She’s…” Cade starts.
“Traumatized,” Callum says. “She is extremely traumatized. Please don’t hold that against her.”
“I’m not. She’s a tough little shit, but the moment we saw the scars, I knew that this was some sort of vigilante thing.
She relaxed significantly when it was explained that I was not the one who killed my wife.
I thought maybe she wouldn’t believe it, but I think she could sense that I was telling the truth.
I do plan on explaining more to give her more peace of mind,” I say.
“Also, I am a blunt man, and you know this.”
“On God,” Cade sighs.
“I have every intention of marrying your sister. She will not be forced, but I do want her to stay here for a while either way,” I say.
“Why?”
“To which part?” I ask.
“Both.”
“Well, I am getting the feeling that she is scared of whoever did that to her might find her. Unless you actually have a name, I have a feeling they are going to eventually try to find her. I can imagine that her injuries were life-threatening,” I say.
“Yeah. She died twice on the way to the hospital,” he says. “I’ll let her explain that though.”
I open my mouth to say something, but we all stop when we hear a shrill scream come from upstairs. “Fuck,” Cade says.
“What?” I ask.
“She’s asleep still,” Rook says.
“She has violent nightmares from the attack. She hasn’t had them in over a month,” he says.
“Yeah, because she’s been torturing and murdering rapists,” Tripp laughs. Another scream followed by audible sobbing makes us all jump to our feet.
“Let’s go check on her,” I say as I turn to the staircase. We all rush up to the bedroom, and it legitimately sounds like she’s being attacked. Rook is still glancing at the camera as we go to her, so we know that she is safe.
I don’t know who hurt my little puppet, but I’m going to find them and fucking kill them.