Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Briar
I ’ve spent my whole life around dangerous men, and I don’t think any of them were as cunning as Easton. It’s slightly concerning and equally impressive. He thinks of everything. There’s a certain comfort in that, but I’m a mess.
I know it.
My guys know it.
It’s a known fact.
My brother isn’t half as scary as my father was, but he’ll have kept on our father’s enforcers. They’ll advise him the same way they advised my dad, and that’s the part that worries me.
Easton spends most of the day on the phone with his teams.
Calder spends his time coordinating on a random computer that I think he acquired from the guys who took the SUV back to Vermont.
Keir and I go pick up a lovely weapons cache from Shaw. He’s one of the guys who used to come into the office regularly, and he pulls me in for a giant bear hug as Keir moves the duffel bags to the trunk of the car we’re now traveling in.
“Congratulations on bonding.” His nose twitches. “Aww, hell, you smell stressed, sweetheart. Don’t worry. East called in the best teams, and he’s paying international combat pay without the shitty international flight.” Shaw pats my shoulder and steps back. “You’ll have me and Leo watching you from above, and I’ve been itching to break two-forty for a while.”
“Jesus Christ, Shaw,” Keir mutters.
I have no idea what that means, and I blink up at the mercenary who I once thought seemed out of place with the guys at the office.
“The Pentagon only confirmed a hundred and fourteen of those, but some are classified, and East keeps me busy.” Shaw boops my nose. “Don’t stress, though. It’s not good for your cortisol levels.”
“Thanks,” I mutter, trying to remember a time when my life wasn’t absolute insanity.
“Anyway, don’t worry. I’ll drop those motherfuckers before they even have a chance to aim at you,” he says with a goofy smile on his face as he holds up a hand for a high-five.
Were they all just on their best behavior when I first got hired?
My palm slaps against his.
Yep. This is definitely a full-blown trip to crazy town.
It’s middle-of-the-night late, and if Shaw is right, my cortisol levels are through the fucking roof.
Easton turns toward me in the back of the car. His hand comes to rest on my thigh, giving me a tender squeeze. “This will be over before you know it.”
I give a clipped nod. “Yeah, maybe I should stay in the car with Calder?”
He frowns, unclipping his seat belt and scooting to the middle. “Focus on the bond and study that feeling. You have to know, I would never bring you into a situation that I don’t have complete control over.” His massive palm lands on my right cheek, and he runs his thumb over my lip. “I think it will be cathartic for you to see the last vestiges of your family exterminated, but if you disagree, speak up.”
Little crinkles appear around his eyes as he studies my face, and, based on the tingling in the bond, he tries to feel out where my head is at.
My shoulders bounce as my heart races.
I don’t know if it’ll help me feel safer or if it’ll send me back to how traumatized I was after the wedding. I’m finally at a place where I’m not afraid of my own shadow, and I don’t want to lose all that progress.
“Not one of us would let you walk into the meeting if we weren’t confident that we can handle it,” Keir says from the front seat. “With that being said. If you don’t feel safe, stay with Calder. He’ll have a team watching the vehicle.”
I bite my lip as Easton raises a dark, bushy eyebrow. All the times Titus smacked me in the back of the head file through my mind. Or the times he purposely shoulder-checked me, slamming me into a wall. He tormented me for no reason, and he preferred things like pulling out my hair or slapping my skull, because he knew said hair would cover the marks.
Not to mention the vile things he and his friends used to say. He never cared how they treated me. For him, it was all about enjoying my fear and causing me distress. He taunted me and made a point of telling me how much worse life would be if our father wasn’t around to protect me.
That scared the shit out of me, because my father’s version of protecting me was dismal. It resided in the basement of hell, essentially. It consisted of ensuring none of his men sexually assaulted me and making sure no one left any permanent scars.
Easton waits patiently, but I can feel how badly he wants me there. Who knows why…maybe he just wants me to see him in action?
“Okay,” I agree.
Easton’s head tilts. “Perfect.”
“Noelle and Caspian are in place,” Calder says from the front passenger seat. “They confirmed Titus left the mansion fifteen minutes ago. We’re just waiting on one of the teams at the docks to confirm his arrival.”
Easton gives me a soft smile. “Remember when I asked you for a list of things you’d like from your family home?”
I nod while my heart thumps erratically. Earlier at the hotel, he asked me if I could have anything from my family home, what would I want?
“I need a finalized account of what’s most important to least,” he says, sending steady comfort in the bond. “Noelle and Caspian are a husband-and-wife team that we use for product retrieval. They’ll have limited carrying capacity, so keep that in mind. If you have a general idea of which room and floor the things you’d like are in, that’s also extremely helpful.”
“The jewelry box on my dresser in my old bedroom,” I blurt out. “It’s pink and silver. The top opens and it plays a song. Then in the top right drawer, there should be a baby book of mine. There are a few other photo albums in there too, but the newborn one has a bunch of pictures of my mom tucked into the band on the back cover.”
“Anything else?” Easton asks, brushing his fingers over my cheek.
My lips roll together as I file through all the important things I would grab in a fire. “Chubby, he’s a polar bear. I’ve had him as far back as I can remember, but my dad wouldn’t let me bring him to New York.” Though my face burns, I go on. “He has a bow tie. I tucked him in my bed the last time I saw him.” My mom used to come in every night and tuck him under my arm before giving us both a forehead kiss.
If I can’t have her back, I want him.
“You got all of that?” Easton murmurs, kissing my temple.
“Yeah…” Calder says, going on to repeat my requests into his earpiece.
“If you’d like to miss the carnage, you can close your eyes when you hear the word wife, ” Easton says. “That’s the signal for Leo and Shaw to take their shots. It’s also the swarm code, meaning all on-foot backup will proceed to our location.”
My body trembles as I lean in the passenger door to give Calder a quick kiss.
“Please stay safe,” I whisper against his lips.
Whatever team is watching his back better be just as good as the one watching the rest of us. I need all of us to walk out of this in one piece.
“I will.” He nips at my lower lip. “You too. Listen to Easton and Keir.”
God, he’s so sweet.
This is the man who brought me coffee and muffins daily when he realized how much I disliked the office coffee. I enjoyed those moments so much that I never tried the replacement brand he stocked the breakroom with. I was worried he’d stop coming by my desk, and it wasn’t worth the risk.
The warm, fuzzy feeling in my chest when I think of him might be the beginning of love, but saying it right now wouldn’t be fair to either of us. I’ll tell him once we’re safe in Vermont. Maybe even when we’re snuggled in the nest together.
I nuzzle my cheek to his, saying, “I will.” Easton waits impatiently, and I turn to him, holding out my hands. “I’m ready.”
“Remember what I showed you,” he says, wrapping the tie around my wrists. “This is all for show. Keep tension on the fabric, and it’ll stay. Bring your hands together and it’ll loosen enough that you can shake it right off. You’re not trapped.”
I nod, licking my dry and cracked lips. “Thank you.”
I’m in Keir’s massive jacket, and Easton pushes the sleeves up a bit. In addition to covering the fact they strapped me into a bulletproof vest, it should also sell the lie that they kidnapped me, and I had no access to my own belongings.
Ugh.
My stomach rolls.
I have faith in Easton and the guys, but I’m not sure I’m built for this life.
I worry too much.
Why didn’t I start training the minute the FBI let me out? If I had, I’d probably feel a lot more confident right now.
It’s so cold I can see my breath as I exhale. It’s a mystery to me who picked this meeting spot, but it could not look shadier. There are two huge warehouses on either side of the alley or whatever this is.
Easton told me Leo and Shaw are on opposing roofs. They’re providing cover, and, from what I gathered after Shaw’s rant about kill count, they’ll be sniping from above. The car we left Calder in is behind us, and he has a team of three watching him and making sure my brother doesn’t try to trap us in.
We’re each set to approach from different directions. I have no idea which is which, but if we’re coming into the alley—or whatever this street thing is—from the south, then Titus is coming in from the north. Our side of the alley is blocked by a sideways-parked SUV that four men climb out of to approach the middle meeting ground with Easton.
Keir and I stay behind the SUV, waiting for Easton’s signal to call us up. He keeps me close to the vehicle and lines my legs up to where I’m standing just in front of the wheel.
Bending close to my ear, he says, “This is all Easton’s attempt at a courting present.”
“Well, if I can get my baby book and my bear, it’ll be worth it,” I whisper back.
“I wish I would have known you like stuffies.” He smirks. “I’ll make sure I buy you a seal to go with your polar bear.”
“Polar bears eat seals,” I say, trying not to laugh.
“Blasphemy. When it comes to stuffed animals, there are no predator and prey divides. They’re all friends.” He gives me a quick kiss on the cheek before his attention strays.
I turn just in time to catch one of the guys from Shadow Security coming around the back of the SUV.
“He’s asking for you,” he says in a deep timbre that makes me jolt. Okay, he’s not one of the guys who comes into the office regularly, but he’s a beast. He might be taller than Keir, and I’m super confused why he’s wearing sunglasses at night.
Keir offers an apologetic smile and grabs my shoulder. Luckily his jacket is so puffy that I can barely feel any pressure on my skin. My flats drag against the concrete as he pulls me around the SUV.
My heart stalls when I spot Titus.
He has Monroe at his side and several other enforcers I recognize.
No matter how hard I try to convince myself that Easton has everything under control, the smirk on Titus’s face sends my body into fight-or-flight mode.
Spinning away from Keir, I stumble on the broken concrete and nearly face-plant. Keir grabs me with a handful of his jacket, tugging me until I’m upright once more. He sends reassurance and comfort through the bond, but the only thing my brain can process is the sound of Titus’s laughter.
“And tell me, Easton, is she untouched?” Titus asks.
My jaw falls, and I don’t even know why. He’s always been a condescending dick. His meaning still makes my blood boil. Too bad we didn’t have enough time to put this off until I had more practice shooting.
“She’s physically in one piece. You’re beginning to annoy me, Titus.” Easton rolls his shoulders back. “I’d like to see my money now. My associates will bring her no closer until I see the cash.”
Keir turns me to face him and yanks on the tie around my wrist, tugging my arms up. It makes it look like he’s restraining me, and he is, but he also runs his fingers over my inner wrist.
His blue eyes are so expressive that, combined with his emotions in the bond, it’s clear he’s worried about me. He makes sure he’s mostly blocking me from view and tugs the tie from my hands.
I’m still frazzled, but my instincts no longer scream for me to run and hide. My fury over how cocky my brother is keeps me warm, despite the frigid temperature. It’s crazy how different our lives have been simply because he was born with a dick. My father let him run wild in between his training, while I was essentially a prisoner in my own home.
And my brother, much like Jameson, had the audacity to bring up my fucking virginity.
What the fuck is wrong with men in our society?
How would they like being forced to hold on to some invented concept while their future partners were free to do as they pleased?
They’d hate it.
Not to mention, I was forced onto suppressants for four fucking years. Those things are terrible for an omega’s health, and no one cared if I wanted to take them or not.
“Time is ticking,” Easton calls out. “You wanted proof I have Bianca. You’ve seen her.”
“It doesn’t matter, anyway. I found a buyer for her to help me recoup some of my losses tonight.” Titus cackles. “You hear that, B? You’ll be in pieces by the time Vincent is through with you. Get the man his money.”
My head swivels toward Easton and past him to where my brother and his men are. One of his men moves toward the back of the vehicle blocking their side of the alley and pops the trunk.
“You have to have a serious lack of intelligence to speak to my wife the way you just did,” Easton growls.
I gasp as my eyes widen.
Wife is the signal word.
All hell officially breaks loose.
The men who approached with Easton take off across the alley as Titus’s knees explode one and then the other. His wails fill the air as his men scurry for cover, drawing their weapons.
Their bullets fly toward us.
More land in the vehicle blocking their side of the alley.
Fucking Easton isn’t even holding his gun as he walks across the alley like he’s immortal.
Or he has a death wish.
Keir grabs me, pulling me behind him and drawing his gun all in one smooth motion. He falls to a crouch and takes out one of the men peeking around the trunk of the car on Titus’s side of the alley.
The big guy who works for Shadow Security lifts me, trying to shove me behind the SUV, but I kick him in the shin.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” I hiss, raking my nails down his arm. “He wanted me here for this for some reason.”
“Then, by all means, handle yourself, you giant pain in the ass,” the big guy says.
Easton kicks something out of Titus’s hand and bends down, wrapping his hand in my brother’s hair. He says something close to Titus’s ear and begins dragging him back to our side of the alley while bullets still fly.
“I am going to murder him for this stunt,” I hiss.
The big guy puts me on my feet, chuckling under his breath. “Well, at least the two of you are a solid fit.”
Keir provides cover as Easton approaches, but eventually the shots from above cease.
Keir shoves his gun away and stands, turning to me.
I face-plant into his chest.
“Everybody good?” Calder’s voice comes from behind me.
I nod. “I’m fine.”
“I’m going to need a full profile on someone named Lorenzo Vincent,” Easton growls. “Keir, watch this shithead for a moment.”
Keir sighs and releases me, but Calder appears at my side, so I wrap my arms around him instead. He does the same, but pats my back, nodding at something behind me.
Titus still wails, and that might have something to do with the fact he has some very fucked-up shit going on around his knees. Could also be the lack of a left leg below the knee. Or the fact Keir now has his boot on Titus’s temple, but I’m more distracted by Easton down on one knee just in front of me.
If Calder wasn’t helping keep me upright… I’d probably hit the ground.
Easton stretches and snatches my hand. “Calder finished the pack marriage paperwork. Congratulations, love. I can officially call you my wife. ”
“Did y’all want pictures of this?” the guy whose name I still don’t know asks. “I can try to zoom in to avoid the bleeding-out carcass.”
“You’re our wife,” Keir says as Easton shoves a cold ring onto my finger.
“He’s just not great at sharing,” Calder mutters, kissing my temple.
I snort. “You’re really asking me to marry you as my brother writhes in agony?”
“No,” they all three say in eerie unison.
“We’re telling you. Congratulations, we’re married.” Easton flashes a predatory smile. “But I do have an important question. Would you like me to kill him here and now, or should we bring him home with us? I had a cage built under my bed when I thought I might need to go that route to keep you. It’s inescapable. But that’s totally your call.”
“You have a cage under your bed?” I ask, examining the giant round-cut solitaire now on my finger.
“Yes, but I opted to go a more traditional route to woo you.” Easton stands, squeezing my hips. “I want you to see that I respect you as my partner. Which is it? Torture or an easy death?”
My heart races.
Fuck, it would feel good to see Titus suffer, but he’s a bloody, gruesome mess that I don’t want to deal with.
I also don’t want him anywhere near our house. It feels like there’s a good chance that he would find a way to taint my memories of it.
My eyes fly up to Easton’s. “Kill him.”
Easton chuckles. “Yes, ma’am.”
Calder pulls me to him once more, and a silenced gunshot fills the air at the exact same time Titus stops wailing.
I honestly didn’t think I’d survive Avan Barrett, but not only did I outlive him, I survived my father and brother . Sure, I had help to make that happen, but it still feels like a monumental achievement.
Those evil men got what they deserved, and the world is a little safer because of it. I’ve got three capable husbands, and I intend to put them to work helping to ensure other women are looked after too.