Chapter 24
CAMILE
I look between Jack, Ledger, and Rook, and all the people standing around watching and waiting for my response.
I hate this man. I’ve never known such hate, and I don’t like it.
It’s corrosive and bitter, like acid eating away at my insides.
Yes, maybe he wasn’t the one who oversaw the assault on me and Rook, but he was the one who put us into that situation.
Will Ledger being dead cure me of my hatred and bring me some peace?
It won’t bring my father back to life, but it will stop me worrying that Ledger still takes up space in this world.
That he might be able to put his hands on me again.
Ledger’s family will learn of his death eventually and know it was in retribution for the murder of my father. They will grieve him, and I will be glad of it.
“Camile?” Jack prompts.
He holds out his gun, the handle first.
I reach out to take it, but he doesn’t let go.
“I’m so fucking proud of you,” he says, holding my gaze in his stormy gray one.
“Whatever you decide, just know that. I’m shit at expressing myself, and I’m a cold-hearted son of a bitch at times, but I admire you.
I’ve spent my life around tough men, and a lot of tough women, too…
” One of the ol’ ladies gives a laugh at that.
“But you just being here tonight, holding your chin high, shows me that you’re stronger than all of us. ”
I take a shaky breath, and he releases the gun. I’m not an expert, but I was taught how to aim and fire from a young age.
Ledger is on his knees. His head is bent, his shoulders shaking as he begs. “Please, Camile. Don’t do this. It wasn’t my fault, what they did. I never told them to do that. I’d wanted you untouched!”
My voice is surprisingly steady. “No, but you did almost drown me in a tub of water. You tortured me for so long, I thought I was going to die.”
I sense the men go rigid around me. They knew what happened with me and Rook, but I’d kept that other part to myself, until now.
“You have to understand, it was business!” Ledger cries. “It was nothing personal.”
Raising my brow, I say, “And the threats to make me marry you and then rape me until I became a shell of a person? Were those not personal? The threats to kill my mom and brother? They weren’t personal?” My voice rises higher with every word.
“Just empty threats! I swear, Camile, I didn’t mean it.”
I don’t believe him for a second. He meant every word he said to me. If things had gone differently, I’d be in Mexico now, and he’d spend the rest of his life taking pleasure in making me suffer.
I harden my heart.
The only thing making me hesitate is my family. What if Ledger has information that could help us ensure their safety going forward?
But then I wonder what he could possibly know that would guarantee such a thing.
His father will be the one who decides, and I doubt Ledger asking for a favor, in return for his life, would be enough to make his father call off an entire war.
I know, with an aching sadness, that it wouldn’t have been enough for my own father.
He’d have seen me dead before he gave up his empire.
Plus, Ledger seems to have gone rogue and has been acting by himself.
“Did your family send you,” I demand, “or did you do this alone?”
He shakes his head and sniffs. “I did it alone. I wanted to save you, believe it or not. They’d have killed you along with the rest of your bloodline. But I wanted to marry you to give you a chance at a life. I can still do that! If I can talk to my family, we could work out a deal.”
Jack snorts.
It’s not as though we’re going to let him speak to his family, anyway. If he does, it will give away the location of the compound, and it’s not something Jack can risk. No matter how much I want my family safe.
“How much did you tell them?” I demand.
“Nothing! Just the location you gave me, that’s all. They know I spoke to you, but they don’t know anything else.”
I narrow my eyes. “Your family thinks I just gave up the safehouse in return for what? Getting to be your wife?”
“That’s right. I wouldn’t dare tell them I got an MC involved in all this. They’d have fucking killed me.”
Someone is going to kill him. The bikers will never let him go. He’s going to die here, one way or another. If I don’t do it, someone else will, and I want to be the one whose eyes he looks into when he meets his end.
It’s reassuring to know he didn’t tell his family about the MC. Of course, he could be lying, but it makes sense that he wouldn’t want to piss them off. Or perhaps I just feel better telling myself that.
I lift the gun and aim it at Ledger’s skull.
“No!” he wails. “Please, don’t. Don’t do this. I’ll make things right.”
Like in a reel in my head, I play back all the moments Ledger has made me suffer, simply because of who my family are.
The moment on our date when he called me an ungrateful bitch for not wanting to have sex with him, then shot at me when I tried to get away.
The terror I’d felt upon waking to find two masked men standing over me while I’d been in bed, and how they’d grabbed me and gagged me.
The certainty that I would die with water in my lungs and the true location of my family’s safehouse locked in my heart.
The sensation of the hot, wet splatter of strange men’s cum raining down across my bare skin and the humiliation of knowing everyone saw me at my most vulnerable moment.
I draw in a slow breath and trap it in my lungs. I know I’m supposed to exhale again, but I can’t, and instead, my finger squeezes the trigger. The kickback of the gun jolts up through my arm and the crack rings in my ears.
In front of me, a hole opens in Ledger’s skull. His eyes widen in shock, as though he can’t believe I’d ever have the nerve to actually shoot him, and then he slumps to one side on the ground.
All this happens in the matter of a second, but it’s as though time has stretched and elongated.
I freeze, my breath still trapped in my lungs, and then a whooping cheer rises from the people all around me, and I exhale shakily. I suddenly feel weak, like every ounce of strength has been drained from my body, and my legs tremble.
As though sensing my sudden fragility, Jack steps in close.
He gently untangles the gun from my grip, then wraps me in his big arms and holds me close.
I inhale his scent of leather and oil, and the thing that is so distinctly him, and let my eyes slip closed.
He lowers his face to my hair and kisses the top of my head.
I cling to him, grounding myself in the solidity of his form.
The rest of the bonfire fades away. I no longer hear the raucous voices of those around me or am aware of the body lying on the ground that I am responsible for.
I’ll allow Jack to surround me in his protection and hope everything else vanishes.
“I’m taking her back with me,” he tells the others, his voice gruff and leaving no room for argument.
“You stay here, enjoy the rest of the party.” He turns his attention to the five youngsters who’d dragged Ledger out here in the first place.
“And you, get rid of that.” He jerks his chin at Ledger’s body, and they scramble into action.
Not wanting to forget the others, I flash Ace, Rook, and even Ghost a brief smile to tell them I’m okay.
Rook gives me a sheepish smile. Ghost’s expression is impenetrable, that same stoic mask he so often wears. But Ace looks worried. I recall him saying he thought I might pick Jack over him. I smile at him, hoping it reassures him.
None of them argue with Jack’s decision, though, not even Ace. Maybe they can see that Jack is what I need in this moment, or maybe none of them want to cross their fearsome President.
With his arm around my shoulders and leaning into him so he supports my shaky legs, I let Jack lead me back to his place.
I try to steel myself for what is to come because Jack and I, we need to talk.
There’s something I need to ask him.