1. Atlas
Atlas
Would I be able to get away with kidnapping her? I’d have to keep her hidden from everyone until she’s eighteen. Maybe even my own family. But it’d be worth it. She’s worth it.
My hands tighten on my steering wheel as I pull into our driveway. She should be here.
I hate that I had to take her home after what happened today. She was assaulted by that asshole, Brad, at school and even if he has been arrested, she needs time to process what happened. And that should be with the people who will take care of her and protect her, help her feel safe.
Even though I’ve never met her mother personally, I have a feeling Helen wouldn’t be the one to help her through this.
I begged her to stay, but she was adamant she had to get home.
As usual, I dropped her a few houses down so her mother wouldn’t see my car, and I tried again to get her to stay a little longer.
She just hugged me and gave me a sad smile goodbye.
I slam my car door shut and head into the house, tossing my keys in the bowl by the door and stomping into the living room.
“Drop off go okay, Atlas?” Gideon asks as I plop down on the couch beside him.
“Fine,” I grumble, still considering how I can get away with kidnapping her. If I could only get all my brothers on board…
“We’ve got movement!” Ben calls, running into the living room with Dom hot on his heels.
Everyone else moves into the room and takes a seat as Ben makes quick work of pulling up the feed from the camera pointed at the front of Mina’s house on our living room tv.
“It’s two minutes delayed out here,” Ben says as he flips the input to the right feed.
I lean forward as I watch a car pull into her driveway. A man gets out and heads for the front door. He’s wearing a baseball cap pulled low and a jacket hiding his neck and face.
“Is that Jeff?” Max asks.
“I can’t tell,” I say, straining my eyes to see more.
“Alright, Atlas and Tucker, get over there and watch,” Dom tells us.
I nod as the twins pipe up. “No way!”
“We’re coming too!”
“We were all needed last time a man was there,” Gideon adds.
Dom looks around at everyone. “Fine, we’re all going. Three vehicles: Atlas and Tucker out front, the second car a few houses down, and the third, my car, a few houses back from that. We’ll regroup on specific assignments when we get there.”
Everyone scrambles to get their shoes on, then we quickly pile into our vehicles and head to Mina’s house.
I shuffle in my seat, feeling a growing sense of restlessness, like an itch under my skin that I can’t scratch. The closer we get to her house, the worse it gets, even though I was just here, dropping her off.
Tucker’s voice startles me, I’d somehow forgotten he was in the car with me, too focused on my growing worry to notice.
“Atlas, I don’t know if I can wait outside.
I can’t risk something happening to her again.
The wound on her arm…” He trails off, but we’re thinking the same thing, that the terrible injury on her arm was not from a fall like she claimed. No, someone did that to her.
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” I say with a big sigh. “Let’s assess the situation, then we’ll convince Dom to let us sneak in somehow, or at least look through the windows.”
“We need cameras inside the house,” he says, sounding as frustrated as I feel. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him rake his fingers through his hair in agitation.
His phone rings, and he scrambles to pull it out of his pocket and put it on speaker. “Ben?” he asks.
“Yeah, I’ve got everyone on the call. There’s more movement—her mom just left. She got in her car and drove off by herself, she was moving quickly like she had to get somewhere important.”
“Fuck, I’m going in there,” I say with a growl. They all start talking at once as we pull onto her street. My phone buzzes in my pocket, so I pull it out. My eyes widen when I see her name.
“Quiet! Mina’s calling me!” I yell, and everyone shuts up instantly. I quickly answer and put it on speaker phone.
“Malishka?”
The heart-wrenching sound of her heavy sobs shatters me.
“What is it? Are you okay? Tap for me, Malishka,” I beg, praying she’s okay. But my worry only grows when she coughs, and it sounds like she’s struggling to breathe.
That’s when I hear the most heartbreaking and beautiful voice in the world.
“Help.”
Holy fuck! She spoke!
It’s barely a whisper, but the desperation I hear instantly makes my eyes grow blurry as I rub away the moisture there.
We’ve never heard her speak before, we didn’t even think she could.
It must have taken great effort for her to say that one word after not speaking for so long.
What’s happening to her right now to make her speak? Is Jeff hurting her?
“Are you in danger?” I ask frantically. There’s no response, no noise at all.
“Malishka?” I glance at Tucker, who looks as horrified as I feel.
“Did you guys hear all of that?” Tucker asks.
“We’re going in,” Dom says instantly, not missing a beat. “Tucker and Atlas, you’re with me through the front door. Jasper, Gideon, and Max, you come in through the back. Ben, you stay in the car and watch for any movement. Make your best judgment on what to do.”
Pulling up in front of her house, I switch the engine off and quickly jump out, running to the door with Dom and Tucker on my heels.
“Do we knock?” Tucker asks as we approach the door, but I don’t hesitate.
I try the handle and find it unlocked. I throw it open and we rush inside.
Since I’ve been here once before, when Dom and I posed as repairmen for the electrical company, I’m familiar with the main floor layout.
The kitchen is to our right, so I quickly move through it, towards the living room.
As we enter, a man jumps up from the couch, staring at us in shock.
“Who the fuck are you?!” he yells.
“Where’s Mina?” I growl, my fists tightening at my sides.
“Who?” he asks, looking confused. I know he’s lying, we’ve seen her enter this house numerous times.
“The young girl who lives here. Where is she?” I step toward him, and his eyes widen in fear. I move quickly, giving him a right hook across his jaw, and he collapses instantly.
“Fuck, I must have hit him too hard,” I swear, staring down at his body.
“Tuck, you watch him—” A bang from further in the house interrupts Dom, and we brace for a fight, but relax a bit when the twins and Gideon enter, having come in from the back door.
“You three go up. Tucker, you watch him, Atlas and I will go down,” Dom tells them, and they take off up the stairs as we round the corner to the basement door. Dom grabs the handle, but the door doesn’t budge. It’s locked.
“Why would they lock this?” Dom asks, and the horrible feeling in my chest intensifies. I glance around and miraculously spot a key sitting on the edge of the kitchen counter.
“Here!” I yell, quickly grabbing the key and passing it to him. “Try this.” As soon as he places it in the lock and turns it, we hear the click of it disengaging, and a small amount of relief fills me. Dom wastes no time throwing the door open as we rush down the stairs.
“No!” Dom yells a second before I lay my eyes on her.
She’s lying on the cold cement floor, blood covering her everywhere.
“Mina!” I roar in fear as we rush to her.
Her skirt’s been torn off, and her panties barely cover her.
My fingers hover around a knife embedded in her shoulder, wanting to remove it but not sure I should in case she bleeds out.
I’m surprised she hasn’t yet, considering there’s so much blood and it’s everywhere.
I try to assess her, but I don’t know where to look first. Her legs are covered in blood from what looks like multiple cuts, and large amounts of blood covers her shoulders and stomach, making me think she’s been stabbed multiple times.
“Fuck, is she still alive?” I ask, as I desperately watch for her chest rise.
Dom, on his knees beside me, places his fingers on her throat and I wait with bated breath as he checks for a pulse.
“She’s still breathing! Call an ambulance!”
I glance up as footsteps pound down the stairs, and our brothers come into view, sheer terror written on their faces. Everyone is silent as they take in the scene of her broken body.
“Gideon,” Dom says, taking charge. “She’s alive. Call 911. She needs an ambulance.” He nods, eyes wide as he stares at her, but thankfully pulls out his phone and dials immediately.
With that taken care of, I turn back to my Malishka, stroking her blood-stained hair away from her face. Dom’s hands move to her stomach as he swears and rips his shirt off, quickly pressing it against the bleeding wound. His silence would be terrifying if I wasn’t already scared shitless.
“Fuck, Angel, what did he do to you?” Jasper asks with a pained voice as he kneels above her head and gently strokes his fingers down her face.
“Holy shit! Is that…?” Max cuts himself off with a whimper, making me look at where he’s pointing to something on the floor by his feet, near her arm. I lean in to get a better look, and suck in a sharp breath as recognition sinks in. The blood drains from my face when I look at her hand.
Max turns away and vomits into a bucket in the corner as I stare at her severed finger in horror.
“No,” I whisper in horror. “No, no, no, no, no,” I mumble as I tear off a piece of my shirt and grab her hand, trying to stop the blood from escaping the spot where her ring finger used to be.
“Jasper, we need ice and something to keep her finger in. They might be able to save it if we act fast,” Dom instructs, and I’m thankful he’s able to keep his head in the situation right now.
I feel like my world has come crashing down around me.
I’ve just started to get to know her and to lose her already is unthinkable.
Jasper jumps up and runs upstairs, and moments later, Tucker yells right before he comes barreling down the stairs. When he sees her, his face goes white.