88. Kiera
KIERA
There wasn’t much time to waste. Isaac’s incessant begging from the warehouse floor was an irritating reminder of that.
“I’m innocent, don’t, you can’t—”
“Shut the fuck up.” Spencer cut him off with a kick in his already beaten ribs, drawing a low, guttural moan from his bloodied lips.
The whinging only grew louder, and frankly more pathetic, with each passing second. He lay on his side, clutching weakly at his ribs, the rest of us got to work: Spencer and I pulled lengths of chain down from the wall that Leo attached to the back of each bike.
Meanwhile Dom towered over her father’s shriveled body, standing guard.
Not that he could get away if he tried.
After the little joyride through town, he was in rough fucking shape. He could barely roll from one side to the other without crying out. But Dom was going to make sure that Isaac didn’t get a single second of peace on his way back to hell.
“Do you remember this place?” she asked, nudging at him with her toe. “Do you remember what you did to me here?”
Tears rolled from his cheeks, but not a single one was born of guilt. “I never did anything to hurt you. I wanted to keep you safe, I—”
She kicked him, this time in the throat. “Stop fucking lying.”
I shuddered at the impact, dropping my eyes down to the chains in my hand. I had no fucking idea what they had planned, but I trusted them implicitly. I would do whatever it took to deliver Isaac’s Justice.
“Is that what you said about the girls you exploited too? Did you even have to lie, or did their parents turn them over willingly once you coughed up enough cash?”
“Not lying,” he wheezed, coughing up a healthy dose of blood. “There were… things you couldn’t see. Moving pieces. Investors, hard choices. Appetites. Some one had to…control.”
But the way his hazy eyes drifted around the warehouse, it was clear that his mind was slipping. None of his words meant anything — they were just a jumbled death rattle, one final desperate attempt to save himself.
Even on his deathbed, he can’t just say sorry.
As I helped Leo attach the final chain to the back of Spencer’s Suzuki, Dom’s voice startled me.
“Come, Kiera,” she beckoned, lowering the venom in her voice to a soft hiss.
A shiver ran down my spine, as I pointed to myself skeptically.
But when she waved me over, I didn’t dare make her wait.
Up close, Isaac looked even more pathetic than I’d realized. Half the bones in his face were crushed, and blood was seeping out from his ears. He was covered in cuts and burns from the road to the point that I could hardly call what remained on his body skin.
His arms bent at odd, broken angles as they collapsed inward, desperately trying to protect his bleeding organs from further harm. My nose wrinkled at the sight and smell of him. It was like looking at a giant, dying bug, clinging desperately to life despite the inevitable.
These men just never know when to quit.
Swallowing down the bile in my throat, I looked to Dom — she was who I was here for. This was her Justice, the thing she’d waited for all of her life.
I intertwined my fingers with hers, ready for her next command. Yet to my surprise, she crouched closer to Isaac’s half-dead corpse, snarling down at him as she nodded up at me. “Why don’t you stop wasting your breath? Do something useful with your last words and give the apology you owe her.”
I blinked, shocked that in this moment, Dom was seeking Justice for me. Spencer and Leo drew closer, chains rattling in their hands as they secured Isaac’s broken limbs.
“What?” He hissed, pain wracking his limbs from their rough handling.
But Dom didn’t take pity on his suffering. “Apologize.”
As Spencer and Leo dragged him onto his back, Isaac struggled to focus his eyes on me. But when he did, the softest light of recognition flickered there. Battered as they were, his wheels kept turning.
“You look…so much like your father.”
The words caught me off guard. My chest burned, and tears pricked at my eyes. But I blinked them back. He didn’t deserve my sorrow. “How could you do that to him?”
“What did—?”
“You killed my father. You perverted his invention. You ruined my mother, and you tried to sell me. How could you do that to the man you loved?”
“You… you don’t… Kier… Kiera.” He shook his head, but it was clear that he had no interest in taking fault. “I did my best. Brennan wouldn’t want….”
“It doesn’t matter what Brennan would want,” I snapped. “He’s dead. And soon, you will be too.”
“All set,” Leo murmured into Dom’s ear.
Dom nodded, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as she took one last look at her father. “What a disappointment. Even in death, you’re a coward.”
Dom guided me away from his body and toward the Gray Ghost. I could see what they had planned now. A long chain extended from the back of my bike to Isaac’s left hand. Dom’s Brabus had his right, and Spencer and Leo each had one leg.
Quartering?
But the initial shock faded quickly. It was a fitting punishment: a barbaric death for a barbaric man.
After situating me on my bike, Dom crossed over to hers. But as Spencer stepped past Isaac on the way to her Suzuki, he grabbed at her ankle. “You…”
She snarled down at him in disgust, but he tightened his grip with the last of his strength. “The one from the tunnel. Your mother…”
“Don’t you dare mention my mother,” Spencer growled. But Isaac was persistent.
“I can give you… money. More than she was worth. Get me out of here, it’s yours.”
Her jaw dropped and her gaze darkened. There was one long second of shock before she spat in his face. “Your money means nothing to me, Isaac. There’s no price I wouldn’t pay to see you rot in hell.”
With that, she kicked him off of her leg and strode over to her bike with renewed vitriol.
Over the comms, Leo’s staticky voice called out. “Ready everyone.”
Dom and Spencer each held up a thumb in response. I quickly followed suit.
“Engines ready…” Leo murmured, eliciting a wave of engine roars from each corner of the warehouse.
As I gripped the handlebars of my father’s bike, I felt calm despite my racing heart. Isaac had ruined all of our lives, and it felt fitting to know that we would end his together.
“Set…” Leo murmured. Each of us leaned forward.
“Go!” She bellowed.
My bike zipped forward, only halted by the opposing force my lovers were exerting. I rolled the throttle, applying more force bit by bit.
Isaac cried out, though it was hard to make out any words over the roar of the engines. As our velocities fluctuated, we rocked back and forth, tearing at the very seams of his body. It had to be agonizing — it certainly sounded that way.
But I wouldn’t let up on the throttle until the deed was done.
For every woman and child you’ve hurt. For every life you’ve ruined.
“Almost there,” Leo prodded. “Get ready for the break…”
And not five seconds later did it come. With a sickening splat, the horrified screams cut short. My bike zipped at full speed toward the far wall of the warehouse, but I was able to brake just before impact.
As I turned around, I was met with a bloody Rorschach test where Isaac’s body used to be. His arm was still chained to my bike, but his bones and entrails had exercised more freedom of motion. Looking down at his remains, I should have been horrified. But I wasn’t.
He was a monster, and now he’s dead.
And the bloody mess in front of me was the only way I’d believe he was really gone. His incessant screams had finally stopped, and all I could hear was the low rumble of the bikes as my lovers dismounted. As they wrapped their arms around me, all I could feel was peace.