Breaking Locke (Lawless MC Book 2)

by K. C. Stone

  “Look she’s really something, isn’t she?” He sticks his phone in my face and my body turns to stone. The girl on the phone bound to a chair was the spitting image of Jules, hair a little lighter and her eyes were not as emerald but had you not known where she got her eyes from, you would swear they were twins. The air is caught in my lungs and I visibly start to shake.

  “She was a real treat to find, I managed to grab her and her three friends, decided to keep her for myself.” The bastard sounded so proud of himself.

  “You are a sick fucker, you know that?” I lunge for him again this time his fist makes contact with my face and everything goes black.

  Chapter Forty

  Locke

  “This is the game plan,” I say as I lay out the blueprints to the Brooklyn house.

  “I need three guys. Gunner, Mac, and Ranger you three head through the north tunnel, it should be a straight shot, there are no side rooms this way but be on the lookout.

  “Ezra, you and Capone are going to escort Cara to the big house so she can grab some of her shit. I figured since we are infiltrating the Brooklyn house and that’s where John is then it should not be an issue for her to get in there without trouble.”

  “Got it,” they say, acknowledging me.

  “Dom, Smokey, and Tech take the south tunnel, be careful they have a lot of extra rooms, plenty of places for those bastards to hide.

  “The rest of us, Axel, Bear, and I will take the west tunnel, any questions?” I ask, knowing one of them will have a smart-ass remark or two.

  “Yeah, how the fuck are we supposed to get into the tunnels, I think eight gigantic motherfuckers and Smokey might draw attention,” Dom asks, causing the entire room to break out in laughter.

  “Fuck you, Dom, you’re just jealous.” Smokey tosses his empty pack of smokes at Dom.

  “Alright knock it off you two. Damn, it’s like wrangling fucking toddlers, we get in here,” I tell them, pointing to the shed in the back yard.

  “This shed sits on a trap door that leads directly to the opening of all three tunnels,” I tell them. “Any other questions?” They all shake their heads no.

  “Okay, let’s go,” I tell them as we all head out to Brooklyn.

  We pull up a block away forty-five minutes later, I can feel the urge to kill, the urge to settle the score with a man that has been dodging retaliation for far too long. The tension is so high, each one of us can feel it. Completely unsure of what the outcome will be.

  I look at Dom, he nods letting me know we are both on the same page. John doesn’t live to see tomorrow no matter which one of us grabs him.

  He will die today.

  I look around and notice that not a single soul was left to guard the perimeters.

  “Either this guy is brave, or he’s a fucking moron,” Dom whispers.

  “I’m going to lean toward fucking moron,” I say.

  “Okay, guys, eyes wide open and let’s go.” I signal for us to head to the shed.

  The shed was a beat down wooden shed, once inside I walk around listening for the creaking boards, I step forward one, two, three, four each board gives way.

  “Okay, boys, this is it, remember where you’re going, I want John alive, if possible,” I instruct, prying the boards up one by one, here use the MAG flashlights to light your way if you need it.

  Once in the tunnels we go our separate ways. I’m bombarded by the smell of earth, the mixture of dirt and clay, my lungs are heavy with moisture. I’m surprised by just how little visibility I have so far, I turn on my flashlight taking each step with trepidation.

  “Brother, this place is fucking creepy,” I hear Bear whisper behind me.

  “What’s the matter, Bear, are you afraid of a little dark?” Axel replies, chuckling softly.

  “Keep it down, guys, and pay attention, we don’t know what we could run into,” I scold them.

  Further down the tunnel more light comes in, just enough to turn off the flashlight, I notice little rooms off toward the sides. Once we come to the center, I’m floored by the revelation that I see in front of me.

  We are standing in front of three separate rooms not like the others we had already come across, these have bars for doors they look more like cells than storage rooms.

  “What the fuck is that?” Bear asks from behind me.

  “No fucking clue and to be honest, I don’t want to know,” I say just as the other six meet up with us.

  To my left, Bear has his flashlight leaning into one of the cells. “Um, boss you should come here,” he says and the tone in his voice makes me uncomfortable.

  “What?” I say, and my words die off. In the cell are dirty tattered blankets, a makeshift toilet, and empty trays.

  “Please, tell me that people don’t fucking live in here,” Axel says, coming up behind us.

  “It looks like people live in this one too,” Dom says.

  “Same here,” Ranger says through his teeth, distain dripping from his tone.

  “This guy is royally fucked in the head so let’s be extra careful. Who the hell knows what else we may run into?” I warn them suddenly overcome with a terrible uneasy feeling, my devil inside agrees.

  Once we walk for a ways, we come to a single door. I say a silent prayer that it’s not locked on the other side. I slowly turn the doorknob and I’m flooded with relief when it makes that final click. I signal for everyone to stay silent as we make our way through. If all the blueprints are correct, then we should end up in the closet of Cara’s childhood bedroom.

  I walk through the door and into the room, it no longer looks like a little girl’s room. Now it’s bare, the walls are gray, and the room is completely empty except a tall four poster standard size bed in the middle of the room.

  I take a moment to walk around the room looking for something, anything to give me clues about what to look for. Examining the bed closer, I notice on each poster of the bed are small notches or small grooves etched into them.

  “Let’s go,” I whisper, nodding for them to head toward the door.

  I look out the door, I can hear laughter, dishes clinking together. I head out to see what awaits us.

  “Shoot anyone you come across that appears to be a threat, got it,” I tell them. “Take zero chances,” I tell them once more.

  Footsteps echoing down the hall are heavy, they must know we are here.

  My body tightened with anticipation and my devil inside smiled, he was ready for blood shed. I signal for us to creep forward, everyone’s guns out at the ready.

  “Let’s go,” I say and head toward the footsteps. Just as someone turns the corner, he fires but not before I fire first. The sound of bullets echoes in my ears and my brothers scatter taking down one assailant after another watching them fall one by one.

  “Go find him,” Dom yells above the ricochets.

  “We got this. Go find the bastard,” Ranger says in agreement.

  I fuckin love how my boys got my back, they know that John is the real target here and they will handle everything else. I take off to go find John but damn I have no idea where to start in this maze, so I just start unlocking doors one by one.

  Running the main hallway, I can’t help but think about how the boys are doing, the last time we had gun fire two of my boys ended up wounded. I come to the end of the hall and on my right is a door, something inside me tells me to open it, only problem is the door is locked with some kind of keypad except the lock is alphabetic not numeric. fuck, I think to myself, the possibilities are endless.

  I jiggle the door handle in hopes it wasn’t locked, the sound of whimpering and footsteps fills me with dread, son of a bitch, I beat on the door with my fist.

  “Hey, if you can hear me unlock the door,” I yell, hoping they will listen, but the whimpering only gets more intense. Shit, I think to myself.

  “Back away from the door,” I say into the door as I pull out my gun and fire one into the lock blowing it open. My phone vibrates in my pocket, fuc
k. I pull it out and notice I have seven missed calls, just as Dom comes busting into the room.

  “Holy fuck,” Dom says as he stops in his tracks.

  “Yo, we gotta go. Ezra is on the phone, Cara is at her old house,” he relays.

  “Okay, Dom, I know. What the fuck, just tell me,” I demand, turning to deal with the situation in front of me.

  “John is there,” he says, and my heart drops. I turn and race out of the room.

  “Deal with that shit,” I demand, racing past the others with Dom quickly on my heels racing to save my salvation.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Cara

  I slowly pry my bleary eyes open and pain shoots up the side of my head and through my eye.

  Damn it, that is going to bruise, I think to myself.

  I go to stand and realize I’m now tied to the desk leg. Fuck.

  I wiggle my hands and wrists to see just how bad I’m tied and realize that I can untie myself and break free I just need to work at it. Thank you, Matthew, for our recent sexcapades with rope, I’m rather good at untying now.

  “Ah, you have come back to the land of the living, nice to see you join us,” John says and I look up to see Ezra tied to the couch and Capone laying on the floor completely unconscious.

  I notice all of Sal’s books and knick-knacks that covered his bookcases had found their way to the floor. Yes, he still has not found what he has been looking for and I know he never will.

  I look over and Ezra looks at me nodding just slightly enough for me to understand what he’s doing. I look down and notice he has his phone open, the screen is too far away, but something tells me reinforcements are on their way.

  “Nice to have you join us again,” he says again, looking over his shoulder still tossing books, photos, anything in his way.

  “Where’s his ledger?” he demands.

  “I don’t know, Sal never told me anything,” I say vehemently because it’s true, he never told me anything.

  “Listen here, you little bitch, tell me or I swear I will make sure your precious daughter see’s my face in every nightmare she has for the rest of her damn life and if I don’t get that ledger soon, her life will not be very long,” he screams in my face, this man has completely come unhinged, there must be something in the ledger that he desperately wants.

  “I told you, I don’t know,” I scream back at him, trying to buy us some time, his hand flies up and a burn spreads across my face. Shit that hurt but I can’t let him know that. I have to stay stoic. I will have my revenge. I focus on that and play it over in my mind.

  “Let’s go, get up,” he yells at me, jerking me by the arms.

  “I can’t. You tied me up, remember?” I taunt him, his other hand strikes me across the face and this time I taste blood. Fuck, I hope Matthew and Dom get here soon, I don’t know how much longer I can take this.

  He roughly unties me and pulls me up, I brush my hand along my side double checking that the letter opener from earlier is still there.

  “Now show me where it is, you stupid bitch, where’s the ledger or I swear, I don’t care how sweet your daughter is, I will fucking kill her myself,” he demands his face redden with anger. As he screams at me, I can tell that he means every word and in order to protect my daughter, I will have to do the unthinkable.

  “She already said she doesn’t know,” Ezra yells back at him.

  “Do you think I’m fucking stupid? You’re telling me that he wouldn’t tell her where one point five million dollars is hidden, who the fuck do you take me for?! Now, you tell me where it is and you better fucking do it now,” he demands, gripping a handful of my hair. I know if I pull away from him, the hair he has in his hands will be yanked out with it.

  “What?!” I look up at him bewildered.

  No way he would have that much money stashed away but then again, I also didn’t think that he would steal money from the mafia or get tied with a sex trafficking ring. I’m beginning to think I didn’t know who Sal was, our entire marriage he seemed to be leading this double life that I knew nothing about. A feeling inside me felt like a pitfall, how much more will come out about him? How many more people will come after us for something he did? The more I thought about it, the more vengeful I become, sick of things happening left and right, one shitstorm after another.

  “She fucking knows, he wouldn’t keep anything like that from her. Now tell me where it is!” he screams directly into my face, leaning over me, his tone bringing me out of my inner thoughts.

  Looking up, his eyes are black with anger, so full of hate and capable of anything. His hand strikes my face once more, this time the pain causes me to cry out more out of anger than out of fear. I will not let him break me. I take a deep breath and completely aware of what I was doing, I pull out the letter opener. Just as he leans over me and wraps his hand around my neck, I ram it into his chest cavity. The look on his face is one that I will never erase from my mind, shock mixed with fear and pain. I look down at my hand still wrapped firmly around the hilt of the blade, covered in thick, warm, bright red blood. My breathing is ragged and adrenaline is coursing through my veins.

  I let go of the blade like I was electrocuted, leaving it still plunged in his chest, watching as he falls to the ground.

  Fear and panic must have crossed my face, everything seemed so far away. I can see Ezra yelling at me, but his words are muffled. Everything is a blur, the world around me ebbs and flows until firm hands grasp my shoulders.

  I look up to see Matthew’s face.

  “Cara, baby, stay with me,” I hear just as my world fades to black.

  I vaguely hear voices all around me, not being able to pinpoint who is talking and where, my eyes refusing to open to assess my surroundings.

  “He’s okay, his breathing is strong.” I hear off toward the distance and my first thought is panic then relief. I didn’t kill John and he will still be able to terrorize my family.

  “Looks like a nasty head wound though,” another male figure continues and my body sags in relief. I distinctly remember Capone knocked out, bleeding on the floor.

  “Cara, Cara, baby, can you hear me?” My heart flutters. I know that voice my eyes slowly attempt to open again this time with success. I stare up into the most mournful, beautiful emerald green eyes, I gently reach up and caress his face.

  “Are you okay?” he asks, leaning forward trying to help me sit up. My face is tender and my head is about to explode. I know there will be a tender spot from the handful of hair he ripped out.

  “I killed him,” I whisper, looking to my right. His body still, the letter opener protruding from his chest.

  Reality sank in and my adrenaline broke, I took a man’s life, a vile, disgusting dangerous man’s life but still a life. Tears run down my face. I don’t even realize I’m crying until Matthew wipes them from my cheeks.

  “You did good, babe, you did good” was all he said before he wraps me tightly in his embrace as I bury my head into his chest, allowing my body to relax against him, all of a sudden my body feels so heavy.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Locke

  “Fuck me.” I’m looking around the room assessing everything that has played out. John’s lifeless body on the floor, Capone laid out three feet from him bleeding. I look up to see Cara. Paling, I visibly watch as the adrenaline pumps through her system and in slow motion I watch as she begins to faint.

  My one thought at that moment is her.

  My arms grip her shoulders just before she hits the ground. “Cara, Cara, baby, can you hear me?” I try to keep her awake, unsure if she suffered any sort of head trauma.

  I look over at John lying there motionless, the only thing I can think about right now is Cara, everything else can wait.

  “The fucker slapped her around pretty good and he ripped out some hair, she did good, Locke, she held her own,” Ezra says, rubbing his wrists once he’s freed from the zip ties that held him.

  “The fucker tased me,”
Ezra explains, rubbing his neck where two circular burn marks are. “When I woke up, he had me strapped to that chair and Capone was lying there bleeding on the floor.”

  “It’s okay, how are you doing?” I ask. That shit hurts, I have been tased before.

  “Hell yes, I’m fine. Listen, Locke, I know what he wanted,” Ezra says and something in his tone worried me.

  “Capone is fine, just a nasty head wound,” I hear Dom say and I’m slightly relieved.

  I looked down to see chocolate-colored eyes peering back up at me and my heart finally slows down.

  “Hey, baby, are you okay?” I ask her, helping her to gingerly sit up.

  “I killed him,” she says just above a whisper and my heart breaks. I never wanted this for her, I never wanted any of this for her.

  I pull her into my arms, rocking her as she buries her face into me and cries.

  “Cara, love, you did nothing wrong, if you had not stopped him, he would have killed you and Jules. Baby, you did what you had to for our daughter.” I soothe her running my hand down the back of her head.

  She cries out in pain when my hand touches her head.

  “Shit, baby, let me take a look,” I ask as she slowly leans her head down and reveals a bald spot, matted with blood and marred with a small laceration.

  If the fucker was not already dead, I would be running that dagger into his heart over and over again. My anger that was temporarily quelled, is no longer. Now my devil rages inside, angry that something happened to her, that bastard laid his hands on her, my only solace is that he’s dead.

  “Doc is on his way here with Ramona, he will take a look at this situation and see if he needs help,” Dom informs me.

  “Sounds good, what about the other situation, have we heard from the others?” I ask. That’s another mess that will need to be cleaned up.