Chapter 23
Elise
For the last hour, I watched Devlin remove fingers, break bones, and basically fillet the two of them, and they still wouldn’t explain. They’d give little nuggets of information, but James kept muttering, “That’s in the file,” without giving me any context.
They both looked like they were close to death, and I stepped away from James and approached Devlin again.
He glanced over at me, and I saw little droplets of blood on his cheeks.
He’d been systematically destroying them, and with every new strike, he seemed to be more and more pleased with himself.
Slipping my hand into his, I felt the thick, sticky blood coating his palm. I should be grossed out or fearful of what he was capable of, but seeing him willing to do whatever it took to protect our family made him more desirable in my eyes.
“They’re never going to tell us anything,” I remarked, and he gave a solemn nod. “End this and let’s go home.”
He looked between the two broken people and lifted his gun toward Michael. Even missing half his teeth, a few fingers, and bleeding profusely, he tried to delay the inevitable. “If you kill us, you’ll never find your daughter.”
Hesitation hit us both, and he looked down at me.
I shook my head, believing this to be another manipulation to keep them alive longer, and if I was wrong, then we would have to deal with the fallout.
Devlin’s face hardened, and he turned back to Michael, pulling the trigger and shooting him in the middle of his forehead.
Blood dripped down the side of his face as his lifeless eyes stared off into nothing. Delilah, seemingly awoken from her semi-coma, lulled her head to the side. She looked between a dead Michael and Devlin before she pressed a smile onto her busted lips. “I knew you’d come around, lover.”
“What?” he asked and slid back a foot, pulling me with him. “What did you say?”
“With him out of the way, you and I can start fresh, without anything holding us back,” she reasoned. “We can leave the baggage behind us and have a good life.”
“What the fuck did you say to my husband, bitch?” I asked and pushed around Devlin, placing myself between Delilah and him. I was pissed and lifted the gun, leveling it on the center of Delilah’s face.
“Go to hell, misfit. You never belonged with him anyway. He was always meant to be mine, but you just couldn’t stop begging for scraps of his attention, could you? Pathetic,” she added.
“Devlin?” I looked at him and asked, “Is there any reason why I can’t end this now?”
“You don’t have the guts,” Delilah scolded. “The only thing you’ve ever been good at is spreading your legs. Just like your whore of a mother.”
I nodded. “You’re right. My mother was a whore, and my father was a pimp. But you know what, you crazy cunt? I’m not anything like the people who created me, and I have the one thing you’ve always wanted, but never had.” I aimed the weapon at the center of her face and added, “Devlin’s heart.”
The bullet tore through Delilah’s face before she could respond, ripping through her open mouth and out the back of her head. Her body twitched as she lay strapped to the table, missing fingers, knees, part of an ear, and covered in countless cuts.
Devlin grabbed me, spinning us around so I wouldn’t have to watch Delilah die. He glanced behind him, I’m sure seeing blood, teeth, flesh, and brains splattered on the floor around her.
James walked up, and I handed him the gun, remarking, “Can you give this back to Rhys, please?”
James nodded with a smirk on his face as Lucian and Skid walked over to Devlin and me. The pain in my ribs hadn’t been bad all day, but the longer I stood there, the greater it became. Lucian looked between Devlin and me and remarked, “You two are quite the pair, aren’t you?”
Devlin looked down at me and smiled. “She’s my precious Lamb.”
Trying to hide the pain that was building, I smiled at him.
“How do you handle this?” I inquired.
Skid explained, “It takes less than two hours to dissolve something that size in lye.”
“Oh,” I said to his statement. “I guess I’ll let Amaya take me back home.”
“I’ll take you home, baby. I’m not needed here anymore,” Devlin suggested.
“Are you sure?” I inquired.
“Why don’t you go out with Rhys and Amaya, and I’ll be out in a minute to take us home,” he replied and leaned over, kissing my cheek softly.
Walking out of the room, I heard James and Devlin speaking about some of the things they had told them during their interrogation, but I didn’t linger to hear what they were discussing.
Whatever it was, I had no doubt that my husband would get it sorted out.
James walked over quickly and pressed a code into the door so I could leave the old metal room.
“You did good, sister,” he whispered.
Stepping out into the warehouse, I saw Amaya and Rhys standing off to the side. She rushed to me and checked me over before gently pulling me into a hug. I returned the gesture and she looked back at the closed door and asked.
“Do I need to take you home?”
Shaking my head, I leaned against a crate and responded, “Devlin will be here in a few minutes to take me home.”
Rhys walked up and asked, “Is everything settled?”
“They’re both gone,” I answered, not going into detail.
No one wanted to hear how my husband tortured two people for over an hour or how I killed the bitch who kept trying to take my husband. I’d leave the details sharing up to James and Devlin.
Rhys gave me a knowing nod and offered, “Why don’t we get you to the car so you’re ready when they get finished inside?”
“Thanks,” I replied and pushed off the crate.
Walking was painful and before we got halfway across the warehouse, Rhys touched my shoulder. I turned to look at him, and he gave me a knowing look.
“Can I help, please?” he asked, and I gave him a nod.
Carefully, he leaned over and scooped me delicately into his arms before he began to carry me across the warehouse.
”If he sees this, he may strap me down to the table,” Rhys joked as we got closer to the outside door.
Amaya was following behind us as I whispered, “It’ll be our secret.”
I pointed to where we had tucked the car and he made his way over, looking back at Amaya when we got to the passenger’s side of the SUV. She opened the door, and he carefully placed me on the seat before he took a step back.
Rhys looked at us both and offered a smile. “Ladies, it’s been my honor,” he remarked and made a sweeping bow gesture before he turned and went back into the building.
Amaya stepped into the open doorway and pulled a joint and a lighter from her pocket. “I think we both need this,” she reasoned and lit the tip.
Handing it to me, she kept glancing back at the warehouse as she and I worked on the joint.
The pain was subsiding the further into it we got, and when she offered it to me again, I held up my hand, declining.
She took another hit then dropped the remains to the ground and stubbed it out with her shoe.
I felt tears pressing into my eyes, and she squatted down in the open doorway and took my hand, asking, “What’s wrong, Elise?”
“That woman,” I paused and wiped under my eyes, “they said she and Devlin have a daughter.”
She gasped and lowered her voice as she spoke. “Do you think she was telling the truth?”
Shrugging, I responded, “I don’t know. Half of what they told them James said they already knew, and she was crazy, so I don’t know what to believe.”
“Don’t believe a word of what they said,” I heard from outside the vehicle. “They would’ve said anything to save their lives.”
Turning, I saw Devlin standing near the rear of the car, and he approached as Amaya stood from her spot. “James said to meet him at my SUV and he’ll drive you home after grabbing Elizabeth from your father’s.”
Amaya looked from me to Devlin and back, and I offered her a half-smile. She leaned over and hugged herself to me, whispering, “Trust Devlin and forget whatever they said to try and fuck with your head.”
She walked past my husband and patted him on the shoulder before leaving us alone.
Devlin walked to the open doorway and brushed his hand across my cheek before closing the door and walking around to get behind the wheel.
He cranked the vehicle and pulled away from the warehouse, not even looking back as he drove away.
“You know they were lying, right?” he asked when we were entering the edge of the Flats.
“I know, I guess. I mean, he said she lost the ability to have kids years ago, so I don’t know what to believe,” I answered.
Michael, or whatever his name was, had explained she wasn’t able to have kids, so I assumed she never had any. I couldn’t shake the feeling that she may have been hiding a secret from Devlin, or she could be as crazy as we knew her to be and it was all a lie.
Honestly, if there was a child, we would take her in and love her with everything we had. But I suspected he was right. They would have said anything to save their lives, and I couldn’t put much faith in what they said.
I didn’t remember falling asleep in the vehicle, nor did I know when we arrived at the apartment. When I woke up, I was asleep in our bed and Devlin was lying behind me with his arm wrapped around my waist. He was sleeping peacefully, so I closed my eyes and let sleep pull me back under.
I was in the safest place I could possibly be—wrapped up in Devlin’s arms.