Chapter 2 Liam
LIAM
Our unmarked black SUV cruises through a cool, starry night, headlights illuminating dark roads. In the distance, the moon rises over the treetops, surrounded by wispy clouds. What a beautiful night for vengeance.
It took twelve years of biding my time, researching, and planning. Putting my team together, making sure I could trust them. It took me a while, but now I do, with my life.
“ETA?” Turning my head, I look to Nick, my best friend since we were teens.
“Five minutes.” Nobody would guess what he’s on his way to do by looking at him. He’s completely relaxed, steering the SUV skillfully, following sudden curves with ease.
I feel as calm as he looks. Nothing is going to stop me now. All the pieces have fallen into place, and all I have to do is follow the last few steps of the plan.
Looking over my shoulder, I address Selina, “How close are you to hacking into the compound?”
“Just got Gabriel’s signal. We’re ready,” she assures me, her voice sharp, and the tapping of her fingers against her laptop doesn’t slow down as she speaks. “I won’t let you down tonight.”
“None of us will,” Nick agrees. “The fucker’s going to die.”
And everything he calls his will be mine.
I’ll never get my family back. All the money and power in the world are nothing compared to them. But tonight, the scales fall into balance.
We reach the rendezvous point on schedule, with Ethan’s SUV coming to a stop beside us on the unlit road. They’ll take the lead during this last quarter mile before we reach the iron gates leading into the Blackwell compound. All we need is Selina’s expertise, and we’re golden.
Ethan rolls down his window. “We good?” As a former SEAL, he isn’t exactly verbose. The fewer words, the better.
Selina calls out from behind me. “Almost there.”
“Your guys know the place?” I ask Ethan for the tenth time. They’re professionals, who would have studied every inch of the floor plans and the layout of the grounds contained inside the tall, stone wall outlining the perimeter. But tonight, I can’t make any assumptions.
“By heart,” he replies.
“Here we go.” Selina’s voice tightens. “I’m in. Cutting power.”
My blood is racing, but there’s no anxiety involved. Only anticipation.
“Power’s down.” Sure enough, the glow from the lights behind the stone wall far up ahead cuts out all at once. “And there goes the security system,” Selina adds with pride in her voice.
“Let’s move.” Ethan nods at my command, his window moving up as he pulls ahead to ram the gates.
It all happens fast. We follow the SUV once it slams through the unsecured gates–the two armed men who burst from the guardhouse wind up under Ethan’s wheels, then ours as we tear up the gravel driveway.
We reach the circular courtyard before coming to a stop.
Six black-clad men pour from the first SUV, using their night-vision goggles to clock the guards rushing out from the mansion.
Bullets fly, but we have the advantage. Once they’re eliminated, Ethan gives the signal for me to emerge while Selina hangs back to monitor the power and security, and Nick keeps watch.
Ethan’s guys enter the house, but he hangs back to cover me in case they miss somebody. Shouts fill the air by the time we enter, with men barking instructions down the hall from the entrance.
Gabriel and his brother Lorenzo walk past my men without a care in the world. “Don’t forget our deal,” he warns as he approaches.
“Of course. Everything will go as planned,” I agree.
Gabriel nods, and they keep walking out of this place. Once they are gone, I walk through the house, straight into the fancy dining room, where Donovan is being ordered to the floor so his arms and legs can be bound tight.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” His raspy voice reaches me before I’ve rounded the doorframe. He’s still defiant. Still thinking he’s got a hand worth playing. The growing silence from elsewhere in the house tells a different story. His team is dead or dying.
There’s a fire blazing in the deep fireplace, giving me a clear look at the red-faced, writhing man on the expensive rug. His salt-and-pepper hair gleams in the light every time his head swings back and forth. “You signed your own death certificates, motherfuckers!”
The room is beyond lavish, like the rest of the house.
Blood can buy a great many things. My attention falls on a decanter full of amber liquid, sitting on a bar in the corner of the room.
I pour myself a drink without saying a word, sipping the exquisite scotch.
Imagining him doing this every night while the guns he deals and the drugs he sells tear families apart. The way I’m about to tear him apart.
“Get your hands off me!” A female voice grabs my attention. One of Ethan’s guys picks Aurora off the floor, her blonde hair swinging wildly every time she tries to yank her arm free. “How dare you?” A firecracker, this one, rage and fury wrapped up in a petite package.
“Tie the princess’s wrists,” I order roughly.
The girl’s face is as familiar to me as my own after years spent obsessing over every aspect of Donovan’s blood-soaked life.
Though I have to admit, the surveillance footage didn’t do her justice.
She is even more stunning in real life. The black dress she is wearing highlights her hourglass figure just right. I can’t wait to play with her later.
I’ve imagined how fear would play over her delicate features a hundred times.
I didn’t imagine the bolt of electricity that arcs between us when our eyes meet.
There’s no fear. There’s only rage radiating from her.
“Leave her on the sofa,” I murmur, watching closely as her dress slides up her smooth legs when she squirms uselessly.
“Don’t you fucking hurt my daughter.” Donovan glares up at me, spit flying from his mouth. “I’ll carve your heart out of your chest, fucker, you hear me?”
Slowly, I crouch, smiling down at the man who took away everything that mattered.
All these years, he’s been living his life in luxury.
Sitting at the top of his empire with blood dripping from his throne, trickling down upon the many lives he destroyed to reach his position.
Driven by nothing but a hunger for more, and to hell with anyone standing in the way. No matter how innocent they might be.
This man is accustomed to being in control, which is what makes this situation even more delicious.
I want to savor it like a fine wine while I stare down at him, taking in his struggle to play this off like he isn’t worried.
“Not to burst your bubble,” I murmur with a smile, “but no one is coming to save you. Your entire team is dead. You and your daughter are the only two left. So get any ideas about rescue out of your head now.”
“Bullshit!”
“You’re the one tied up on the floor, and you’re telling me it’s bullshit?” I have to laugh. “I’ve waited twelve years for this. Ever since my family died, thanks to you. I’ve left nothing to chance, trust me.”
“What do you want?” Even now, the stubborn prick thinks he can buy his release. To men like him, that’s what it’s all about. If you have enough money and a lack of scruples, you can have anything you want. Everyone has a price.
“What can you give me?” Tipping my head to the side, I narrow my eyes, playing along. I never planned on dragging this out, but I didn’t plan on him making it so fun to play with him a little.
“Whatever it takes.”
“What if I told you I want your daughter?”
The bastard barely blinks. His face registers no surprise. “Is that all it takes? Giving you Aurora?”
“I think I could be persuaded to take her off your hands to spare your life,” I decide. “What do you think about that?”
“Done. She’s yours.”
Damn. As little as I think of him—and I mean the bar is so low, it’s in the basement—I didn’t expect him to hand her over without thinking it over. “Really? As simple as that?”
“If it means my life, yes. Take her.”
“Dad.” I don’t know if the girl is surprised, disappointed, or both. “You can’t do that.”
“Your father’s trying to save his own unworthy hide,” I tell her while still studying him.
“Of course, he can do it. He can offer you up to me because he believes it will spare him, and that’s all he’s ever cared about.
Isn’t that right?” I ask him. The sight of his face, now slick with sweat, curdles my blood.
But I can’t take my eyes off him. The symbol of everything I lost, the man whose actions caused my entire life to change course.
“How about I make you a deal?” I lower my voice until it’s barely a whisper meant only for his ears. “I will take her off your hands. And then I’ll take your business and all of your money along with it. I will sit at the top of your empire and control everything you’ve built. How does that sound?”
It’s almost too sweet, the way his brow furrows in confusion as I stand. “Of course, you won’t be around to watch. I do wish you could be here to witness all of it. I guess I’ll just have to comfort myself with knowing you suffered to your last breath.”
“Wait. Wait!” Desperation rings loud and clear in his shouts as I cross the room, taking Aurora by the arm and hauling her to her feet. “We were supposed to have a deal!”
“Come now,” I chide, chuckling. “A man with all your experience should know better. I’d say get it in writing next time, but there won’t be a next time. Goodbye.”
“Where are you taking me?” She’s still got fire in her, this one, spitting and snarling as I drag her along with me.
“I’m getting you out of here—unless you want to go up in flames along with this entire house?
” Her face drains of color, eyes bulging before she throws a panicked look over her shoulder into the room where her father squirms and rolls on the floor in one last-ditch effort to free himself. It’s a waste of time.
“Wait. Wait!” His screams follow us down the hall, rising in volume and pitch the longer he goes without any answer.
“Wait! Don’t do this! You motherfucker! You think you can get away with this?
” The gasoline in the air tells me yes, I will get away with it, just as I’ve planned so carefully.
I’ll get away with it like he’s gotten away with too much for too long.
Ethan waits at the front door, eyeing Aurora, obviously accepting what her presence means. “Are we good to go?”
With a single nod, I grunt, “Light it up.” The girl, whose arm I’m still holding, gasps and tugs like she wants to get away. “Do you want to stay here with him?” That question is all it takes to make her stop resisting.
But it’s not enough to shut her mouth. “What do you think you’re going to get out of this? If you kill my father, who is there to ransom me? Did you even think this through?”
Right. She didn’t hear my final words to him. She thinks this is all a game. “Does any part of this seem like it wasn’t thought through? If I hadn’t thought it through, could I have gotten you out of there?” Now she’s silent, probably asking herself what she got into tonight.
Selina paces the bottom of the front steps, looking anxious until she spots me emerging. When her gaze falls on Aurora, that anxiety hardens into disdain. Her dark eyes narrow before she mutters, “Behave yourself. We could barbecue you, too.”
The world goes bright behind me, and I look in time to watch through the windows as the drapes in one of the downstairs rooms catch fire. The same happens in another room before Ethan marches out. He’ll drive back with us while his guys dispose of the other SUV.
“Let’s roll out,” I announce, pausing for a second to let my captive take one last look at her home before it’s nothing but burned rubble. There’s nothing about her expression to give me a clue what she’s thinking.
Not that it matters. The plan is in motion, but there’s still work to be done. The air behind me gets hot as the fire grows, with Aurora staring over her shoulder with every step I force her to take.