Chapter Thirty – Two
Olivia
The house looked as if war had been waged. Bodies lay in every room we travelled through, blood flowing in streams across the floor.
The old me would have been horrified by the death in this house. Today, I was just glad we were still alive. After the terror I had experienced in this house, I never wanted to encounter any of them ever again.
I tapped Maximus on the shoulder to get him to stop. “Do you need anything with you?” I asked Helena.
“I have a bag Mum insisted I keep packed in the hiding space she showed me in the entrance hall,” she replied.
I didn’t enquire where her mother was as she spoke in the past tense, and there was a sadness in her expression that only grief put there.
She raced across to a wooden panel under a window in the hallway beside the staircase, removing it to reveal a small compartment. Helena lifted out a bag and walked out the door without a backward glance. After seeing her being sold in the auction, I didn’t blame her.
“Alpha team exiting the building,” Maximus said, and I knew he was communicating with Jake somewhere in this god-forsaken place. “I have targets confirmed and programmed in.”
A few seconds later, a series of explosions began to detonate. Helena screamed and crouched low to the ground, her eyes wide with fear. Caine bent down to help her up, lifting her bag as he helped her to a car.
I tightened my arms and legs around Maximus as he was the safest place to be.
“You do realise you are in serious trouble?” he asked against my ear, and I felt the touch of his lips against my throat.
I didn’t care anymore as long as I was with him. Lying in the darkness of that room, I came to a realisation: I needed to be with the man I loved even if he didn’t return that love. Without him, the world was a cold and dark place.
In the car, I sank into the black jacket that covered me. Jordan sat in the back with Megan’s head on his lap, stroking her golden hair. Maximus’ fingers found mine, his thumb massaging the side of my wrist.
I watched as explosions continued to destroy the massive residence, the walls crumbling until it no longer looked like a house. Flames emerged from the wreckage, as if to cleanse the sins that had been committed here.
“Every time I think we have eradicated the world of evil, another demon claws its way from the depth of Hell,” Jordan said. “I’m so fucking sick and tired of this shit.”
“I hear you,” Maximus replied. “I used to think I knew what was happening in my small corner of the world. Now I find there is someone or something in the shadows, plotting and creating misery.”
“It took a while, but we dismantled the Council brick at a time until they no longer existed,” Jordan said. “Sometimes I think we won, and others I believe their souls just infested somewhere else. We should have exorcised the evil in them before we killed them.”
I suppressed a shiver at his words. The two men in that world absolutely fell under the definition of evil.
“Do you think babies from these families are born evil?” I asked in a low tone. Both of our families were filled with psychopaths, and that didn’t bode well for the fate of our children.
“No, baby,” Maximus replied. “I think they learn that sin from their father.”
I turned to look at him, knowing that my husband was an angel of death, enacting retribution to everyone in his path. “Does that make any children we have angelic or demonic?” I asked. “Since their father seems to be a killer with a conscience.”
Jordan laughed behind us. “She has a point.”
“That sounds like a problem for tomorrow, and I know a priest who can bless a lot of holy water,” Maximus replied, rolling his eyes as he started to reverse the car.
“Probably best to get him to bless the swimming pool,” Jordan said. “That way you can wash your sins away when you get home.”
I laughed at Maximus’ expression, as he turned suddenly to give Jordan a death stare. “He has a point,” I replied. “You can never be too careful when it comes to the purity of your eternal soul.”
“I’m sure Brendan is worried about his eternal soul right now,” Maximus muttered. “My only regret is I could only kill him once.”
His jaw was tight with tension as he glared out the front window of the car. A line of black cars and vans were at the gates of the property.
“Seal this place up,” Maximus said to his men, through whatever communication device he was using. “The full clean-up will commence tomorrow when the heat dies down from the fires.”
I didn’t even want to ask what that meant, just as long the evil which resided there was buried forever.
The entire way home, I turned in my seat so I could touch Maximus, his strength seeping into me with every passing mile.
The only time I was safe was when he was with me, death constantly stalking me in his absence like a scene from Final Destination.
My eyes kept fluttered shut as the heat from the car blanketed me, eradicating the cold from that room Brendan had tortured us in.
I must have fallen asleep, jolting when Maximus lifted me from the car. Doctor Ben and a colleague stood in the kitchen, medical supplies on the island, and a sheet over the table.
Ben moved toward me, and the other doctor headed to Megan.
“I don’t want to lie down,” I whispered. The last time I had been lying down, I had been attacked, and the memories were too fresh in my head.
Maximus settled me on one of the bar seats, and Ben flashed a light in my eyes before lifting my arm, his fingers at my wrist.
“I assume my skills are not required for whoever did this?” Ben asked.
“You’re a doctor, not a mortician,” Maximus commented.
Ben met my eyes for a moment before nodding. He continued to take readings while muttering to himself.
“Do I need to carry out a sexual assault examination?” he asked.
“No.” I shook my head. “He seemed more interested in causing pain, thankfully.”
Maximus’ jaw tightened again, but he didn’t comment.
“If you don’t stop grinding your teeth, you’ll break a tooth,” I said, and he narrowed his eyes at me. “Squinting won’t help either.”
“She seems fine,” Ben said. “Her sense of humour is intact, so I’ll prescribe some pain relief to allow her to sleep through most of the trauma and start the healing process.”
I glanced over at Megan. “He hurt her badly because she was trying to save me.”
“It always amazes me how much the human body can withstand and survive,” Ben said. “The greatest route to healing is your will to overcome, and if she’s married to Jordan Berkeley, then she has a will of pure steel.”
I leaned my head against Maximus, and his arm automatically snaked around me.
“Give her what she needs, Doc, and I’ll put her to bed,” Maximus said, pressing a kiss to my forehead when I looked up at him.
There was something different with Maximus, a way that he looked at me that left me breathless. Exhaustion rolled over me, all the excesses of today, and the drugs they had given me earlier to knock me out combining in a perfect storm.
Ben fussed around while I watched the other doctor with Megan. Jordan stood by her side, his hand gripping hers, and a look on his face that showed his love for her. She smiled weakly up at him, and he lifted her hand to his lips to kiss her wrist.
They made love look easy.
Ben handed me a glass of water and some tablets. “You’re going to be sore over the next few days with all the bruising, but there’s no broken bones.”
“What about internal bleeding?” Maximus asked. “Her throat is very bruised. Does she need to be in a medical unit in case it swells?”
“You need to stop worrying,” Ben replied. “I’ve given her meds to help with inflammation and keep her sedated. If I thought she needed to come into our unit, I would have her in the back of an ambulance now.” He widened his eyes at me, rolling them.
“I’ll check on Megan,” I said, trying to stand on my feet, but my legs wouldn’t hold my weight.
Without missing a beat, Maximus’ arms wrapped around my waist, and he lifted me over to the table. They already had a drip up and monitors attached to her.
“Thank you,” I said, touching her arm. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.” She sacrificed herself to divert Brendan’s attention from me.
“It was all my fault,” Megan said, her voice hoarse. “Being married to Jay made me feel I was a warrior. Maybe I should leave the fighting to him in future.” She tried to laugh, but ended up coughing.
“Fuck my life,” Jordan muttered. “I should lock you in the house with that bloody squirrel. At least I would know you’re safe, while you help him plan world domination.”
“I am safe,” Megan replied. “You found me, and I’ll be as good as new in a few days. We’ll laugh about this in the future.”
Jordan growled and glanced away.
“Doubtful,” Maximus said in a low tone. “Very doubtful. Doc has given Olivia meds to help her sleep. I’m going to put her to bed.” His arm around my waist lifted me.
“It looks like you have a war on your hands,” Jordan said. “I’ll reach out to the others in our group. No one knows us, so we can move across the board without drawing too much attention.”
“I appreciate that. We could do with all the help we can get going forward,” Maximus replied. “Especially since there is an element none of us knew existed.”
He swung me up into his arms as if I weighed nothing, manoeuvring me out of the kitchen and upstairs to our bedroom. His touch was gentle as he undressed me, carrying me into the shower to wash away today’s experiences, his fingertips creating trails across my skin.
I leaned back against his broad chest, closing my eyes, and pretending my body didn’t ache everywhere. Exhaustion crested over me by the time he lifted me into bed, and I could barely keep my eyes open as the tablets Ben had given me took effect.
He was the strongest man I knew, the one person who could weather any storm, and his arms held me to him as if they would never let me go.