Chapter 4
EVERLY
Dead before Christmas…
My head spins with the seriousness of the cluster fuck I have walked into. I let my rage blind me and I might die because of it. How stupid can you be, Everly?
I swear, with every day that passes, I question my decisions more and more.
Venom’s words to Phantom have me gasping into the snowy night. That can’t happen. It can’t. I refuse to let my father win after all I’ve sacrificed because of him.
I try to tell myself there’s no way I’m not walking out of here tonight, but my gut says the chaos is not over yet.
I suck in gasps of air.
“Let me go! Phantom, damn it!” I push against him and squirm in his arms, but his hold only grows tighter as the bullets fly faster.
“Phantom!”
I squeeze my eyes shut and all the fake bravado I mustered up to show my ex I didn’t need him vanishes. For a second I feel safe and like life can not touch me while I’m in his arms.
Every fiber in my being shakes with fear of dying. I can’t let that happen so I take the shield he offers with his body and hope neither of us takes a bullet tonight.
Anxiety starts to take over. I’m panting and frantic to get free of his hold.
Air is hard to come by and I start to breathe heavily, but it feels like I’m not getting anything into my lungs.
I get these attacks sometimes. Normally, they don’t come around unless I have to deal directly with my father, and I guess that is true here.
It is his men who are trying to kill us.
It’s like a panic attack, but this one feels more overwhelming.
Everything around me starts to spin and blur. Tears burn the back of my eyes before rolling down my cheeks.
A warm hand presses against my cheek and a deep voice next to my ear anchors me in place. “Hey, baby. Easy. Where are you going, there? Easy, baby. Easy.”
“Phantom, everything is spinning.” Bubbling acid washes against the sides of my stomach and up my throat. Oh, God, hurling is so not what I want to do right now.
I wiggle and squirm to try to get free. I just need space.
Huge arms hold me tight.
“Everly, baby. Stop fighting me. Hold still, for fuck’s sake, stop, baby.” His strong arms tighten around me to the point I can barely pull in air. I tuck my head into the space between his neck and shoulder and ride out the way my body wants to shut down.
And then suddenly I am free, and we are moving from our tiny spot behind the wooden crates.
The Savage crew surround us and then they are a blur of movement as empty guns drop and it turns into a fistfight. Savages take on the Vultures and it’s a bloody brawl of knuckles and blood. I can’t tell who is who.
In the distance, I catch a glimpse of my brother standing beside Veles. My gaze connects with my brother’s and then I watch Reaper walk up to a man and slug him across the face.
My mouth falls open as the fists fly. Another man wearing the Savage cut comes in and grabs someone from the railcar and pulls a thick black book out of his hands. My mind flies through all the details my brother mentioned, but I can’t focus on anything. Not when the bullets start flying again.
Phantom’s two hundred plus pounds lands on top of me and we huddle on the ground until the blast of weapons stops and the shouts of men take over. It takes everything in me not to scream for him to get off me so I can breathe, but I also like not being hit by someone’s bullet.
Phantom hauls us both off the ground the second the bullets stop.
“Let’s move!”
I gulp air the second his weight is off my body.
Nausea churns in my belly at the stench of blood from the Vulture bodies littering the muddied snow.
I’m a lot of bravado in a small package, but I can’t handle blood.
Not so close up. Something cold sinks into my chest as realization takes hold.
My father doesn’t care about the chaos his crimes bring about.
As long as he walks away with power and money, let the blood flow.
He has to be stopped. No matter what.
I don’t really pay attention when Phantom releases me or how I get my feet to move, but move they do. I’ve never run so hard and fast in my life.
We do a major knees to chest sprint but the snow is only getting deeper or I’m getting shorter because I’m not making as much progress as Phantom.
He grabs my hand and hauls me in front of him.
“Move woman!”
“I’m trying!”
He hauls me over his shoulder and then we double time it up a mound that paints a bigger target on our asses.
And the bad guys take notice of the behemoth making a mad dash across open space. Bullets pelt the snow at our feet.
“Keep it moving, big guy! They’ve found us!”
“No shit!” He howls and puts as much distance between us and them as he can.
We crest the top of the mound and then skid down the other side toward the area. There’s one more mad dash needed to get us from here to where we all ditched our cars.
And it's all open space.
Phantom comes to an abrupt stop behind another pile of discarded crates and plants me on the ground. I edge around the corner. I can just make out the bad guys and the dope crates in the distance. But I can't find Micah. Damn it. Where the hell did he go?
Phantom catches my chin and pulls my attention back on him. “Hey, pay attention. Whatever you do, we don’t stop moving from here”
He locks his eyes with mine as if making sure I read the promise in his dark eyes.
And then Phantom grabs me, hauls me in front of him and we both don’t stop until we have a bullet-proof building between us and the gun-happy Vultures.
The small building sits on the edge of the railway property and is the perfect place to find my heart again because I think it dropped out of my chest with how hard it’s beating.
I lean over and grasp my knees. Fuck me. I need more cardio in my weekly workouts. I gasp and cough as the frozen air hits my lungs with every harsh inhale.
Phantom regards my rickety breathing. “Sorry, but you can breathe later, Everly. Keep moving. I’ll cover you while you get to your car. I’ll catch up with you,” he tells me fiercely.
And I believe him.
I eye the distance we still have to go. It didn’t seem I had to walk that far when I got here, but then again I didn't have assholes shooting at me.
Phantom hauls me to him and the kiss he sears across my lips fortifies me again and pushes the second incoming panic attack out of mind.
I nod and half crab walk and half belly roll across the space between the train station and where I left my car parked. The Savage SUVs nearly block me in, but I have a slim opening just large enough to squeeze my small two-door sedan through.
I palm my keys, crank the engine and pray the cold weather doesn’t lock the motor up.
The second the tin engine purrs, I punch the gas and fishtail my way back onto the main road.
For the first time in my life I take curves like I was born with Evel Knievel's blood in my veins instead of a drug kingpin’s.
I don’t stop until I’m fifteen miles away and outside an old family friend’s house.
There are very few people who know I walked away from the family and even fewer friends who want to help take down my father.
Chloe is one of those special people.
I pull down a small dirt road that is half ice and half mud.
The second I clear the tree line and the house comes into view, I slam on the brakes and kill the engine.
I’m out of the car and inside before I can convince myself no one followed me back here.
I shut the door and peer out the curtains but it’s only snowfall and darkness that stares back at me.
I can’t risk staying here. What if one of the Russians or those nasty Vultures spotted me and wanna do something big for the boss? I am sure my father has shown my face to his men with the orders to bring me in if I’m ever spotted. I would land anyone a big fat bonus for Christmas.
I was so stupid to have followed my brother’s wishes and come back here. I am only one person. What can I do against a syndicate like my father’s?
Nothing is the answer to that.
A big fat nothing. My brother will have to find another way.
But tonight isn’t a total bust. I pull out my phone and sigh with relief when the video plays with no problem. I watch a few seconds just to make sure.
Yep. It has everything. My father’s twisted business partner Veles, his men, my father’s men and the Vultures. Now that I have a second to breathe and think, I remember everyone and whose team they are playing for. None of them are on my side except for my brother.
I stop the video and shoot it off to the number my brother gave me. I pray he knows the mess he’s about to get into with this. I hope he has a plan.
“Momma, der you are.”
The patter of socked feet running across the carpet pulls me out of the darkness I barely lived through. I quickly darken my phone’s screen and turn around just in time to catch my baby girl as she jumps into my arms.
“Hey sweet baby girl. Come here. Let me hug you.” I give up a prayer of thanks for helping me come back to my girl alive.
Behind Kaylee is a woman in her mid-sixties with curly gray hair and an easy smile.
“All okay?”
She knows what my brother and I are fighting for and offered to help with Kaylee while I helped my brother.
I shake my head. “Nothing went as planned. We have to go. It’s not safe anymore. In fact, come with me.” I start toward the back of the house to grab our bags, but the older woman comes up and rests a hand on my arm.
“No, I haven’t let that man run me outta town yet and I’m not about to start now.”
Before I can press her on the matter, a girl in her teens with fire engine red hair, black lipstick and shit kickers with thicker soles than Phantom’s steps into the living room.
“Chloe, who is this?”
“My granddaughter. She’s waiting for her mom to swing by. She won’t be here long.”