Chapter 26
ENZO
It’s been quiet the past eight days, and as we’re driving toward the factory so I can do one final check before we leave, my phone rings.
Seeing John’s name on the screen, I answer, “What?”
His voice fills the SUV as he growls, “I just got a tip that there are still MC members in the area and they’re planning to retaliate because you practically wiped out their club.”
“And where did you hear this?” I ask.
“I still have friends in the States.”
Jenna begins to struggle with her seat belt, and it draws my attention away from the call. “What are you doing?”
I take in how pale she is, her breaths bursting over her lips in short puffs.
“Ah…nothing,” John replies.
“Not you, idiot!” I snap before ending the call, and I have to pull over fast when Jenna reaches for the door handle.
I reach over and grab hold of her arm, so she can’t get out. “Meu, amor! What’s wrong?”
“It’s him,” she whimpers, her tone filled with terror as she keeps yanking to get free. “It’s him. It’s him. It’s him.”
I let go of Jenna so I can take off my seat belt, and she shoves the door open, darting out of the SUV as if it’s on fire.
She wraps her arms around herself as she wildly glances around the area, which consists mainly of trees.
I move fast, and as I wrap my arm around her, and I look into her eyes, an icy chill spreads over my body.
John triggered her severely.
Jenna’s breaths are coming way too fast, and before I can attempt to calm her down, her body goes limp against me. I move my arms beneath her and pick her up bridal style. When her head slumps against my shoulder, I let out an enraged growl as the pieces fall into place.
There’s only one reason why she reacted so strongly to hearing John’s voice. He has to be one of the rapists.
He’s also been annoying the hell out of me about coming here to help. He’s been feeding me info on the MC.
My eyes narrow as I stare down at Jenna’s ashen face.
John has a hidden agenda, and I’m going to find out what it is.
Walking back to the SUV, I gently place Jenna back in her seat and strap her seat belt on before pressing a kiss to her forehead. Her skin is cold from the shock she just suffered, and it makes me even more angry.
Shutting the door, I jog around the front and get back in behind the steering wheel. The engine is still running, so I just make a U-turn before driving back toward the lakehouse.
When I pull up the driveway, Jenna’s still out cold. I park beside Santiago’s SUV, and quickly getting out, I run to the passenger side. I’m gentle as I lift Jenna out, and when Oscar sees she’s unconscious, he asks, “Everything okay, sir?”
“Fine,” I growl as I walk to the front door.
Oscar opens it for me, and when I stalk inside, I hear him shut it again.
Just as I head up the stairs, Santiago comes down. His eyes land on us, and worry instantly tightens his features, “What happened to Jenna?”
“I’ll tell you once I’ve spoken to her,” I mutter as I continue to walk to our bedroom.
I moved Jenna into the main bedroom with me the night we returned from Minneapolis, because after getting a taste of sleeping with her in my arms, I wasn’t giving it up.
I lay her down on the bed and sit down beside her. “Meu anjinho, wake up and tell me everything so I can take care of it because I never want to see that look in your eyes again.”
Jenna doesn’t stir, and when Santiago comes to stand in the doorway, I shake my head. “She suffered something brutal, and I think one of my men is behind it.”
“Which one?” he asks.
“John. Hearing his voice triggered her.”
Santiago crosses his arms over his chest. “What are you going to do if that’s the case?”
“Have him brought here so I can torture and kill him,” I answer honestly.
“What kind of torture? I can run out and get supplies.”
I let out an empty-sounding chuckle. “Gasoline. A fire extinguisher.”
His eyebrows lift. “Are you going to roast him?”
“Yes. Piece by little piece until he’s nothing but ashes.”
“I like it. I need to make a new tarot card for that one.”
I shake my head. Santiago always walks around with a deck of cards, and he makes people choose one. Whichever card is pick determines the way he kills the person.
I think it’s brilliant.
“I’ll get some sugar water for Jenna. She might need it.”
I nod and lock eyes with Santiago. “Thank you for staying behind.”
“No worries.”
When he heads toward the stairs, I look at Jenna and brush some of her silky strands out of her face.
“Wake, up, meu amor.”
Santiago returns and sets the glass of sugar water down on the bedside table. “I’ll be in the living room. Call if you need me.”
I nod, not taking my eyes off my woman.
Only when it begins to grow dark in the room, and I reach over to switch on the bedlamp, does Jenna let out a soft groan.
Finally, her lashes flutter, opening so I can see her blue and green irises.
“You’re safe,” I murmur, my tone as gentle as I can make it.
Her eyes widen, and she shoots up into a sitting position. I quickly grab hold of her shoulders and lean down to capture her gaze.
“Look at me.” She does as she’s told, and once again, I see the horror on her face. Wanting to make it easier for her, I ask, “The voice that you heard earlier. John. Is he one of the men who raped you?”
She begins to nod furiously, her hair falling in her face again. “H-he w-w-was t-the l-l-leader. He…he…he…” she bursts out crying and quickly scoots closer to me.
I wrap my arms around her and hold her tightly to my chest. “Take your time, meu amor.”
Slowly her sobs grow quiet, and when she talks again, her voice is empty as if all the life has been drained from it.
“I stayed late at a bonfire because I was having fun, and when I walked home, I heard their motorbikes coming up the road. They started chasing me, and I just ran and ran, but it didn’t matter. They caught me and forced me onto the ground. JJ was the first one.”
Hearing her call him JJ, shock shudders through me. When I killed the fourteen men, the last one said he had information on JJ.
Foda-se! I should’ve listened before beating him to death.
“Then it was Wayne,” she continues. “JJ would take a turn whenever one of the others finished. I lost count of how many times he raped me.” My body begins to tremble as I listen to her harrowing trauma.
“He growled in my ear every time, saying that if I told anyone, he would slit my neck and fuck my throat. Then he’d do the same to my mom and aunt.
I was...” She begins to cry again. “I was so scared that I would slip up, I stopped talking to people.”
The rage inside me takes on a life of its own, my thirst for vengeance so powerful it can only be quenched with blood.
“Can you give me their names?” I ask, my tone laced with brutality.
“W-Wayne…” With trembling hands, she digs her phone out and types out a message.
Wayne Laufer. Kirk Doyle. Derek Hall. John Jamieson.
She presses send, and when my phone beeps in my pocket, I take it out and forward the names to Santiago.
Enzo: Can you start tracking the other three down?
It shows he reads the message immediately.
Santiago: On it.
I set the device down on the bedside table and frame Jenna’s face with my hands. Leaning forward, I capture her teary eyes and vow, “I’m going to find them all and make them wish they’d never laid eyes on you.”
She nods, and as her face crumbles, she climbs onto my lap and curls into a small ball.
I cradle her like the precious being she is, pressing kisses to the top of her head while murmuring, “I’m going to kill your monsters, meu anjinho, and put an end to your nightmares.”
She nods again, her arms wrapping around me and clinging to me as if I’m all that stands between her and hell.
As if just being in my arms keeps her demons at bay.
As if she’d die if she were to let go.
“I will make them suffer a million times more than what they forced you to endure.”
My mind begins to come up with scenes of torture and death. When I think of the perfect way to make them pay a cold-blooded smile curves my lips.
It took the team on the island less than thirty minutes to get the addresses for the three men.
I told Jenna I’m going to work, but waited for her to fall asleep before I left her bedside.
I wish Cassia was still here so she could stay with Jenna while Santiago and I go to get the bastards.
Left with no choice, I have to leave Jenna in Oscar’s care. Standing in front of the guard, I say, “If anything happens to my woman, I will kill you with my bare hands.”
“I understand, sir.”
When I hesitate, Santiago says, “Jenna will be safe with Oscar. He’s one of our best. Let’s go get the fuckers.”
Nodding, I walk to the SUV and climb in behind the steering wheel while Santiago gets into the passenger seat. The two guards we’re bringing with us for assistance take the other SUV, so we have space to transport the three bastards to the factory.
After I have them, I’ll decide what to do with John.
While I drive toward the first address, I think of the man I saved off the streets.
I do the calculation and realize I met him soon after he raped Jenna. He had a corrupt vibe, which is why I gave him a job.
I fucking employed Jenna’s rapist.
It’s a hard pill to swallow, and when I roll my shoulders, Santiago asks, “What are you thinking?”
“John.” I shake my head. “I fucking made him rich right after he...” I stop myself from continuing.
Even though Santiago knows what the men did just from putting two and two together, I can’t violate Jenna’s trust in me by telling him.
“I get it, but you didn’t know. Don’t beat yourself up.”
“This is why I don’t trust anyone,” I snap.
I feel Santiago’s eyes on me. “You can trust me, Enzo.”
Yeah, I can. Santiago has wormed his way into my life, and he’s the only one who will be there when I kill Jenna’s rapists.
“I know,” I murmur.
“Do you?”
I let out a sigh before I nod. “Yes.”
“Good.”
When I turn up the street where one of the bastards lives, Santiago gestures at a house that has two bikes parked in the driveway. “Maybe we’re lucky, and we get two for the price of one.”
I park the SUV behind the motorcycles, and climbing out, I walk to the front door while pulling my gun from behind my back. When I try the doorknob and it opens, I step inside with Santiago right behind me.
“What took you so long to get the beer, asshole?” a man calls out.
I follow the sound, and when I step into a doorway, I see two men sitting on worn recliners. I lift my arm and say, “The beer will have to wait.”
Shock registers on the men’s faces, and while one jumps up, the other darts off his recliner and ducks toward the floor.
“Jesus! Wait! It wasn’t our idea. It’s all on JJ,” the one crawling on the floor spouts off.
“Stop fucking crawling, or I’ll shoot you in the ass,” Santiago mutters. “We’re going for a drive, but I think we should wait to see who comes back with the beers. I could use one. Let’s move the SUVs.”
The guards come in to restrain the men, and while they’re busy, Santiago and I go to park the SUVs in front of other houses, so the third guy doesn’t make a run for it when he sees them parked in front of the house.
We head back inside, and while we wait, I look at the men the guards have restrained with cable ties. “What are your names?”
“Derek,” the one who was crawling says.
I look at he taller one, and he mutters, “Kirk.”
“Is Wayne coming with the beer?” I ask.
Derek nods. “It was all his and JJ’s idea to lure you out here so the MC could take you out. That way, JJ could come back to the MC after paying his dues.”
“Yeah,” Kirk agrees. “We just did as we were told. You know how the MC works. But after you took them all out, it’s all good, man. We don’t want any trouble.”
John fucking stabbed me in the back. That’s why he kept asking if I needed backup. He wanted to be close by.
“What dues?” I ask.
“JJ stole money from the club to go gamble, and the pres kicked him out. Giving the MC the factory would’ve paid off his debt. He said you always worked alone, and it would be easy to take you down.”
I let out a dark chuckle, my fingers flexing around the handle of my gun.
We hear the rumbling of a motorcycle, and Santiago goes to stand beside the front door while I remain where I am.
A couple of minutes later, the door opens, and as Wayne steps inside, Santiago presses the barrel of his gun to his head.
“Surprise, motherfucker,” he says in a sing-song tone. “Give me the beer.”
Wayne’s eyes land on me, and I watch as the blood drains from his face.
I gesture with my gun to the floor. “On your knees and hands behind your back.”
One of the guards comes to restrain the bastard, who lets out a heavy sigh, then curses, “Fuck!”
“Oh, you’re going to be doing a lot of that soon enough,” I say, my voice brimming with darkness.
“Go get the SUVs,” Santiago orders the guards while he cracks open a can of beer. He takes a sip, then pulls a disgruntled face. “Taste like ass.”
“You would know,” Wayne snorts, with a cocky expression.
Santiago crouches beside him and leans in close, then says in a low tone, “I’m going to enjoy listening to you scream. Soon you’ll reek of piss and shit, and no amount of begging will make us stop.”
It shuts Wayne up and strips the cockiness from his face.
The guards come back in, and while they get the other two, Santiago hauls Wayne up, saying, “Run, and I shoot. Enzo hasn’t let me in on the fun, and I’m itching to pull the trigger.”
We move the men to the SUVs, and not soon enough, we head toward the factory. I’ll instruct the guards I have placed there to tell the workers to take a few days off while I torture these bastards.
Once we have the men locked in one of the offices, I dial John’s number.
He answers on the third ring, “Yes, boss? Are you on your way back yet now that you’ve taken care of the MC?”
“Not yet. The workers at the factory are causing trouble. I need you to come take over from me. I have other work that I have to take care of and can’t waste more time in this shit hole.”
I hear the excitement in his voice as he says, “I’ll catch the first flight out.”
“There will be a car for you at the airport. Don’t make me wait.”
I end the call and glance at Santiago. “Let’s go home and get some sleep.”
He nods and orders the guards, “No one comes in and no one leaves. They only get water and give them a bucket to piss in.”
As we walk out of the factory, I’m so over Aurora that I decide to shut it down before I leave for Lisbon. I don’t want any ties to this place where Jenna suffered.