by Sarah Bailey
“Wait, what? You never fucking told me that.”
“There was no need.”
I clenched my jaw shut. Quinn always kept important shit to himself.
“Well, if you had told me, then I could’ve fucking well kept tabs on him and his gang, right? Because now he’s holding up our fucking business at gunpoint.”
“What? What the fuck?”
“Yeah, Geoff is hauled up in the fucking office watching, that’s why he’s been calling.”
Quinn pulled up outside the house I grew up in. I stared at the building, feeling sick to my stomach.
“Fuck. Fucking fuck… fuck, we do not need this shit.” He ran a hand through his hair. “That’s it. We’re going in, we’re getting E, then we’re going after the Irish cunt. If he thinks for a second he’s not going down, he’s a fucking idiot.”
Before I had a chance to say anything, he opened the car door and jumped out, slamming it behind him. Quinn was raging and I honestly couldn’t blame him. We had enough on our plate without this shit to contend with.
“Angel, we need to get E then I’ll call you, okay? Did you get a hold of Viktor?”
“Not yet, but I’ll call him now. Is Quinn okay?”
“No, but I imagine he might take his anger out on Julian. Not sure I care any longer. Just tell Geoff we’ll be there as soon as we can, but don’t mention the E shit, okay?”
“Okay, tesoro, please don’t let Quinn do anything stupid.”
It was liable to be me who did something reckless at this point but I decided not to point that out as I said goodbye to her and hopped out the car myself. Quinn had already pulled out a gun and the baseball bat, which he was tapping against his leg as he waited for me.
“Let’s go.”
“Wait, we can’t go in without a plan,” I said as he started towards the house after handing me the bag.
“We can because no doubt your psycho father will hurt E and that’s not fucking happening, got it?”
I pulled out the second gun and slung the bag over my shoulder. Quinn kicked the front door in with little care as the wood splintered under the impact. He wasn’t fucking around.
“Julian, where the fuck are you?” he shouted as he stepped through the destroyed wood into the hallway.
I swallowed hard and stepped in after him. There came a muffled sound from the living room and I wanted to die. That was where Julian had killed my mum and Katie. I tried to block out the images of blood, but they were there, haunting me. As if I couldn’t hate my father any more right now.
The moment we walked into the living room, my heart fucking dropped. Eric was tied up with his face bruised as if Julian had been beating on him. I almost saw fucking red. Julian was standing by the dining table, twirling a knife.
“So you worked it out, did you?” he said quietly as he stepped up to Eric and put the knife to his neck. “I should’ve known.”
“Get the fuck away from him,” I ground out as I raised my gun.
“Now, now, Xavier, where’s the fun in that?” He stared at the gun. “You wouldn’t shoot your own father.”
“He might not, but I fucking will,” Quinn said, aiming his gun at Julian’s head.
“Ah, Quinn… and here I thought you were the one who thinks before he acts.” Julian looked behind us. “What? No Rory?”
“He’s with Ash,” I said. “You think we’d leave her completely defenceless?”
I didn’t want to tell Julian, Rory was injured and that’s why he’d stayed at home.
“I suppose not. You are rather protective of your little woman. Surprises me really, considering she’s the daughter of your sworn enemy.”
Quinn practically growled and my eyes fixed firmly on Julian. I could feel Eric’s eyes on me but right now, my focus was on making sure Julian didn’t hurt him further. I needed my man to come out of this alive and fucking well.
“Didn’t you get the fucking memo, psycho? Russo is a dead man walking. And so are you at this rate. Let him go.”
Julian grinned and winked at Quinn.
“Don’t shoot him,” I hissed.
Might seem ridiculous, but a dead Julian wasn’t what I wanted at all. Why the hell did I feel so conflicted after all this time? The man was fucking evil. Quinn shot me a dark look but gave a subtle nod. We couldn’t take the chance anyway. Not when Julian had a knife to Eric’s neck.
My eyes finally fell on him and my heart fucking died on the spot. My beautiful man looked as if he’d been through the wars. His chestnut hair was plastered to his forehead, sweat beading across it. A trail of blood dripped down the side of his face from his hairline and his eye was rapidly swelling.
I clenched my jaw shut. There was a certain steely determination in his eyes, as if telling me it’d be okay. How the fuck could he know that? He had a knife to his throat and my cunt of a father had beaten him.
Then he mouthed the words which almost destroyed me.
“I love you, Xavi.”
Nothing could prepare me for the pain in my chest. Eric was the world to me. If I lost him, I wouldn’t cope. I needed the five of us together. He was an integral piece of our relationship.
“Isn’t this lovely? Here we all are again. My son is too scared to end me, aren’t you, Xavier? Doesn’t the guilt eat you up inside? You had your chance when you found me. I would’ve let you. Then it would’ve been you who’d be behind bars rather than me.” He pointed his free hand at me. “You stole the last twelve years from me.”
His words tore into me. I hated they were true. Except the thought of killing my own father still didn’t sit well with me. Hell, I knew Ash wanted to murder the man who raised her, but Russo wasn’t actually her father. But Julian? Julian would always be my flesh and blood.
“You belong behind bars.”
Julian’s eyes flicked to Quinn and noted the baseball bat in his hand, which he tapped against his leg with irritation.
“Ironic, is it not? Bringing that with you. Do you remember it, Xavier? Remember how her blood stained the wood. You’ll never feel the satisfying crunch as the bat connects with the skull again and again until there’s nothing but brains and blood left. She was my final masterpiece.”
I swallowed back bile. How he could even talk so candidly about murdering my mother, his wife, disgusted me.
“And in court when they held it up as evidence. Oh, the jury was horrified because no matter what they did, the blood still remained.”
“Stop it. Just stop it.”
Julian’s grin was pure evil.
“Why? Does it still haunt you? Does it eat you up inside? All that blood.”
“Shut up.”
I could see Eric’s eyes telling me to calm down, but I couldn’t. The images assaulted me. Tearing me apart from the inside out. I could almost see Katie on the sofa and Mum on the floor. Dead. Gone.
“They screamed and begged me not to do it. Begged, Xavier.”
That was fucking it. I couldn’t take this any longer. His words were like knives across my skin. Tearing it from my flesh. I wanted him gone. Gone for fucking good.
Before I had a chance to move, Quinn stepped closer to me and gave me a warning stare.
“Don’t,” he hissed. “Just don’t, Xav. He’s taunting you… Do you trust me?”
I nodded. Quinn would do anything for me, just as I would for him. Despite me constantly giving him shit, he was one of my best friends and the person I’d go to hell and back for.
“Then let me handle this.”
I clenched my fist around the gun pointed at my father’s chest. Quinn would get us out of this. He deserved my trust and dedication. Always.
“He can’t be taking his medication for his lung clot, which means he’s weakened,” I whispered. “I can see it in his eyes… if we can get him away from E, then we can tie him up and leave him for the police.”
Quinn’s expression turned grim, but he understood what I was
saying. Our only hope was to overpower my father and keep him from slitting my soulmate’s throat.
“Conspiring, are you?” Julian said, the corners of his mouth turning up.
Quinn lowered his gun and slid it into the waistband of his trousers. Then he chucked the baseball bat from hand to hand, watching Julian with no small amount of hatred in his eyes.
“What do you want from us?”
“What do I want? Ha, now you ask… I want Xavier to suffer.”
Quinn gripped the bat in his right hand and put his left one out.
“Do you not think being here isn’t torture enough? Seeing the love of his life tied up with a knife to his throat?” He took a step forward. “Being in the place where his family died a painful and agonising death. How much more suffering do you think he needs to go through?”
Julian’s eyes narrowed.
“It’s not enough. It’ll never be enough.”
Quinn’s lip curled up in a sneer as he pointed the bat at Julian.
“All you’ve ever wanted in life is to cause suffering in pain. I can see it in your fucking eyes… Well, guess what… I’m going to make you suffer more than you’ve ever known. Do you think you’re the only one who’s maimed and tortured whilst your victim slowly deteriorates? Whilst the blood drains from their body and they’re in so much pain, they beg to die.”
Julian stared at Quinn with confusion as he took another step forward.
My stomach turned. He was talking about the night with Rory’s foster family. And I couldn’t say I wanted the reminder but Quinn was doing all he could to protect Eric from Julian. So I just had to suck it up.
“I have, Julian… in fact, we all have. We were better at covering it up. Xav might not hurt you, but I will. I will destroy you for everything you’ve done.”
Quinn’s expression remained hard, but I knew he was as worried as me about Eric’s safety. He had to remain calm and stay the course. We weren’t going to hurt Julian, but he didn’t know that.
“I’m going to enjoy watching the life drain from your eyes.”
Julian’s eyebrows shot up and that’s when Quinn struck. The bat went flying and smacked Julian in the shoulder, catching him off guard. Then Quinn launched himself towards Eric and Julian. The chair went toppling backwards as Quinn ripped Julian’s hand away from Eric’s neck. The three of them were in a pile on the floor within seconds. I leap into action, charging towards them as Quinn grappled with Julian who was pinned underneath Eric and the chair.
I slammed down on the floor next to them, putting the gun down before diving into the bag and pulling out the handcuffs.
“Get his hands above his head.”
Quinn struggled with the attempt, but then I was there, holding one of Julian’s hands down on the floor. After a minute’s struggle between the three of us, we managed to get them cuffed.
“You fucking bastard!” Julian roared, struggling and trying to hit us both in the face with his cuffed hands.
Quinn and I got Eric and the chair dragged off Julian. He bucked and scrambled on the floor before I got the rope from the bag and tied his legs together at his ankles. He shouted all sorts at me until I stuffed a rag in his mouth. Didn’t need to listen to his shit any longer. All he spewed was venom anyway.
Whilst I dealt with Julian, Quinn got the chair upright and hacked into the cable ties holding Eric to it until he got them free. I was there the next moment, pulling him up and holding him to me. I couldn’t deal with the emotions rushing through my veins. They overwhelmed me. Especially the sense of relief. My man was okay. He was okay. We’d got him. We’d fucking saved him.
“Eric,” I choked out.
He wrapped his arms around me, burying his face in my shoulder. He had to be in pain, but he clung to me without saying a word.
“I’ve got you,” I whispered. “I’m right here. I love you. I love you so much.”
“I hate to break up this little party, but we need to get to the casino,” Quinn said after a moment.
I looked at him over Eric’s head.
“We need to phone the police and get them to pick up this fucking piece of shit first.”
“Fine, I’ll call them. You have two minutes, then we’re going, right?”
I nodded, holding Eric tighter. He needed me. I could hear the muffled sounds of Julian, but I ignored them. He’d be back behind bars in no time at all.
“You came,” Eric whispered.
“Did you think I wouldn’t?”
“He said he hadn’t told you where we were.”
“The idiot sent a photo of you and Rory recognised the room in the background.”
Eric pulled away. He had one bruised eye, a cut on his forehead, but otherwise, he was mostly uninjured. I reached up and stroked his face gently.
“Are you okay?”
He nodded slowly, leaning into my touch.
“I don’t care what Quinn says, we’re taking you back home before we go to the fucking casino.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you in the car,” I replied as Quinn approached us.
“They’re on their way. Let’s make sure he can’t go anywhere and then we’re out of this fucking place.”
The three of us turned and stared down at Julian who, for the first time in his life, had fear in his eyes. The fucker was going back to prison where he belonged. He should be scared. He was never coming out again. And I was done. Officially done. He could burn in fucking hell before I gave him anything else. The fucker was going to rot until the day he died.
I simply smiled down at him.
Goodbye Julian. Goodbye forever.
Chapter 10
We didn’t have time to stick around and wait for the police. I’d refused to tell them who I was, merely dropping an anonymous tip about where Julian was. We’d made sure to tie him to the chair and secure the gag properly. Just as we pulled away from the house in the Range Rover, I could see blue lights at the end of the street. At least they’d been quick about it. No doubt Julian would be back in prison where he belonged soon enough.
Xav was in the back with Eric, who didn’t look too worse for wear, but he was very quiet. Almost as quiet as Rory.
“Take us home first,” Xav said as I turned out of the road.
“What? We can’t leave fucking McCarthy holding up our fucking casino any longer.”
“We have to leave E with Ash and Rory.”
I gripped the steering wheel harder. As much as I wanted Eric to be looked after, I had no choice but to go straight to the Syndicate. We needed to deal with this situation quickly before it got out of hand. We’d already taken enough time rescuing Eric from Julian’s clutches.
“No. E will be fine whilst we deal with this shit, Xav. Do you want to put our fucking employees in further danger? And what about our members?”
“I’m fine, Xavi,” Eric said. “The casino comes first.”
I glanced in the rearview mirror, finding Eric rubbing Xav’s shoulder and giving him a sad smile. I’d connected my phone to the Bluetooth this time before we left, so I decided it would be better to find out what the fuck was going on now. Hitting dial on Ash’s number first as I wanted to let her know about Eric, I waited.
“Quinn! Are you okay? Is E okay? What’s happening?” her voice filled the car a moment later.
“We’re fine, little girl. The police are picking Julian up and we’re on the way to the casino.”
“Is he there? Let me talk to him.”
Eric leant forward.
“I’m here… I’m okay, hellcat.”
“Oh my god! I’ve been so worried. Are you sure? Did he hurt you?”
Eric flinched and I glanced back at Xav, whose expression darkened. Our poor girl was fretting.
“I’m fine, Ash.”
“You’re not fucking fine,” Xav ground out. “Don’t lie to her.”
It would be worse if we did. Ash
hated it when we lied to her.
“Julian gave him a black eye and he has a gash on his head which I’m going to assume is from Julian knocking him out, but otherwise he’s just shaken up,” I said, not caring to prolong this conversation longer than I had to. “Now, little girl, is Geoff okay? And have you spoken to Viktor?”
“Geoff is fine and yes, my dad is sending André and some of his men to the Syndicate to back you up against Mac.”
It was unexpected, but not unwelcome. Taking on McCarthy and his men alone wouldn’t be a good idea. We had security at the Syndicate, but if they were being held up at gunpoint, they wouldn’t be much help.
“They’ll likely be there before you… and Dad sends his regards.”
“I’ll have to thank him later.”
Ash didn’t respond for a beat and it occurred to me she couldn’t be too happy with Eric trying to hide the truth of his injuries from her. She’d see soon enough when we got home, so there was no point denying he’d got hurt.
“I don’t ask for too many things from the four of you but I wish you wouldn’t lie to me. Haven’t I shown you I can handle it? I’m a big girl. I knew the moment he took you it’d be inevitable he’d hurt you. So please, don’t sugar-coat shit for me. I deserve to know what’s happening to the loves of my life, okay?”
My heart lurched. All the times I’d tried to keep things from her, she’d got them out of me anyway. Now I knew better. And I fucking hoped the rest of them learnt that lesson too.
“I love you, beautiful… when we get back, I’ll prove to you how much,” Eric said, his voice a little choked up.
“I love you too and I don’t need you to prove anything to me. I just need honesty.”
“I’m okay, I promise. Our idiot is looking after me.”
Xav glared whilst the tinkle of Ash’s giggles filled the car. The sound relaxed my tense muscles somewhat. She just did something to me. Brightened every moment with her youthful soul.
“Is that what you two call me behind my back?” Xav ground out.
“No, we say it to your face too.”
I swear if Eric wasn’t injured, Xav would’ve slapped him around the back of his head for that comment.