Art of War (A Stern Family Saga Book 3)

by Monique Orgeron

  “My daughter, my daughter.” I can barely hear what he’s saying, but I make out his daughter, what about his daughter?

  “What does your daughter have to do with my wife?”

  “He has my daughter, I need to help her.”

  “How? What are you talking about? Who has your daughter?”

  His face comes up to meet mine. “He said if I keep you away he would let her go.”

  “If you keep me away from where?”

  He is barely coherent now. “With me, he will let her go. I need to save her.”

  He passes out. What the fuck? I start shaking him, trying to find out more, but he’s so close to death he’s done. It’s just a matter of minutes. I stand back up. “Keep me away from where?” I yell, “Fuck, he was a ploy to get me out of the house. He wanted me away from home!”

  I run out of the warehouse as fast as I can. My guys call after me, but I don’t stop. I need to get home, I need to save my family.

  I will kill this motherfucker if he touches a hair on her head!

  Sam and Sonny jump in the car before I can take off. I call Gabriel and tell him to call our men and have them meet us at the house. This son of a bitch, whoever he is, he’s mine.

  65

  Murphy

  Catherine walks into the living room at gunpoint. I look past her to see Jeffery on the floor. He must have been knocked out. All the women stand until our assailant yells, “Sit the fuck down! Please, ladies, make yourselves comfortable.”

  He throws Catherine to the side and yells for her to sit. We all stay silent. He starts to walk in the middle of the room, waving the gun at all of us. He stops at Avery, then points the gun at her head and says, “You know I’ve seen pictures of you.” He passes the gun down her neck to her shoulder. “Beautiful pictures of you, bruised and battered, looking like a piece of art. The Senator did good work, but I could have done better.”

  Avery’s eyes turn dark. She stands and looks him in the eyes, showing no fear. “I hope you enjoyed them because that is the last time you will ever see me like that. Touch me and I will kill you!” She spits on him and then sits back down, proud of what she has done but knowing this isn’t her time to act on her wants. The doctor, however, stands and yells at him.

  “How dare you, if you know what that girl has been through, how can you…”

  Our assailant doesn’t let him finish what he was going to say, he pistol whips Dr. Martin across his head, knocking him down to the floor. We all jump to his rescue, but the man points his gun at us, daring one of us to try.

  We all sit back down, then he moves on to Fallon and starts passing his hand through her hair. “The lovely Fallon, you are more beautiful than your pictures. Do you know you belong to me? I paid for you, all of you.” He grabs her hair and yanks her head back, making her holler in pain.

  Catherine yells out, “Stop Dicky, I’ve had enough. You will take your hands off her!” Dicky doesn’t release her, but he turns his head back to look at Catherine.

  “Now Dicky!”

  He releases Fallon and straightens. “See Catherine, this is where we have a problem. You think you have some kind of control over me.” He walks closer to her, yelling. “You don’t, bitch! You took her away from me! You embarrassed me! You think I am going to sit back and allow that!”

  He walks around the room, waving the gun. “My father is ashamed of me now! He says I am worthless to him. The great Catherine Stern ruined me. You think I was going to just accept that?”

  He takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself. “I have been patiently waiting for the right time to take my revenge. Then Judith Larussa started looking for someone to take out her husband’s bastard child. It was just a job to get me by. Then I learned who she was. Not really who, but who she belongs to. Zander Stern claimed her for his own. Judith left a lot out of her story, I quickly learned about the casino and how bad you wanted it. I found a way to hurt you and your family. I am going to regain my father’s respect by taking all of you down.”

  He turns and looks at me. “I have been patient, waiting for you to have those fucking kids. But I’m tired of waiting. Then I figured why give Zander the chance to meet his little bastards?”

  I start shaking, scared to death about what might happen. I start trying to place his name Dicky, then it hits me. He’s the one that Fallon told me about. She said he’s the one who had bought her from the senator. He was supposed to be on his way to collect her when she was kidnapped. Catherine found out it was him and he led them to where Fallon was being held. I noticed a slight limp when he walked in. It has to be him. I remember Fallon saying that Catherine shot him in the leg. I also remember that his father is the top boss in Texas. I know I’m right when I hear Catherine yell.

  “Dicky, your father doesn’t know you’re here, does he? If you think this will please him, you’re crazy!”

  “Shut up, bitch! My father can fuck off! He allowed you to shoot me! I don’t give a fuck what he wants. I plan on finishing you and then I’ll take him down too. Then I will claim both states as my own. Don’t you see, my plan is brilliant. I will make him regret throwing me out, then I will finish him and take my rightful place as the top dog in both states.”

  “My sons will never allow you to live.”

  “Your sons will be dead; don’t you get it!? I am going to kill you, then I am going to kill all of them and take their women as my own. They will join my other slaves. When they can no longer take it, they will die too.”

  He moves to the bar, leaning against it. “I have everything already in the works. My men are all outside waiting for your sons. You forget I have had plenty of time to prepare. I have been watching your guards. I learned all their positions and hired a team to take them all out. This house is now being guarded by me and my men. I hope one of your sons tries to come home. They will be taken out before they can make it in.”

  “Oh shit!” I holler out in pain. Dr. Martin gets to his feet to come to me. Dicky yells, “Sit down!”

  Dr. Martin looks at him, hollering, “She’s pregnant, she could be in labor!”

  “I don’t care, sit down!” I give the doctor the okay to sit, the pain subsided. I don’t feel anymore so I think it might have been one of those Braxton Hicks contractions.

  Catherine tries to get the attention off me by yelling at Dicky again. “You’re weak, Dicky, that’s why your father allowed me to shoot you. He thought it might teach you something. The way I understand it, you have always been weak. Little Richard Junior has to hit women to make him feel like a man!”

  He runs to Catherine and hits her across the face. Catherine wipes the blood off her mouth and starts laughing. “My husband hit harder than that on his worst day. Is that all you got?”

  I’m stunned at the revelation, I saw how hard he hit her and she took it without crying out. What has she been through?

  66

  Zander

  I make it to the house before my brothers. I park down the road, some of my men are already stationed. They inform me that our guards have been removed and replaced with some other men waiting for us. We make a plan, not waiting for the rest of our men or my brothers. Too much time has gone by already.

  With limited men, I tell them all we need to move quietly. I don’t know how many men are inside and I don’t want to alert them that we’re here. I have some of my men move to both sides of the property while I take Sam and Sonny with me. I go straight to the front entrance.

  We take them by surprise before they can fire off a warning shot. I strangle the one in my arms, making him fall to the ground showing no mercy. Sam and Sonny do the same. We start running towards the house, watching for any other guards. We take two more men out before making it to the door.

  Once at the door, I open it slowly after telling my men to hold back in case someone comes up from behind us. I enter the house and see Jeffery passed out on the floor. He’s not dead, I can see his chest rising and falling.

  I hear a
man’s voice talking. I start walking to the living room with my gun raised. When I round the corner, I see all of our women sitting in the room with the doc. I look over, that’s when I see Dicky Shaw, he has my mother by the neck, holding her tight to his body.

  “I heard you coming, Zander, not too light on your feet, are you? I guess with your size it’s hard to sneak up on someone.”

  I look over to Murphy and see she’s scared and shaking. But she’s alive and doesn’t seem to be hurt.

  “You’re going to let go of my mother now, Dicky.”

  “You think you’re in charge here, Zander? I’m fucking in charge! Not you!”

  Murphy hollers out, I turn to see what’s wrong. She’s hunched over, holding her stomach. I turned my back on Dicky for just a second, then I hear and feel a gunshot. I fall down to my knees. Murphy cries out, running to me, she falls in front of me, screaming my name.

  Murphy

  I hear something and look over, Zander’s there, holding his gun, coming around the corner. Dicky hears him too. He grabs Catherine and wraps his arm around her neck. When Zander comes in, Dicky addresses him, telling him he heard him coming.

  All of a sudden, another contraction hits me hard. I holler out in pain and then I hear the gunshot. When I look up, I see Zander fall, then I see the blood. I scream, “No!” I run to him and fall in front of him. “Please, God! No! Zander!”

  I’m crying when Zander grabs my hand. I look up and see him whispering to me, “I love you.” I can’t control my tears and fear, looking in his eyes seeing the man I love hurt. I don’t know what's going to happen, is he dying or will we make it out of here to live the rest of our lives together. I’ve wasted so much time with him. “Stay with me Zander, stay with me!”

  Dicky yells, “Lay your gun to the side, Zander, I’m not ready for you to die yet. I want you to see me kill your mother first. Now lay the gun down on the side and don’t you move!”

  Zander lays the gun down and pushes it to the side. My hands fly up to the blood running down his chest. I tear his shirt to look for the wound; he’s been shot in the shoulder, it looks bad. There’s so much blood.

  Zander reaches for my face. My tears are running so fast down my face I can barely breathe.

  Dicky yells again, “I said don’t move or I will kill you before you get to witness them all die!”

  I look at the gun on the side of Zander, then look into the eyes of the man I love. I see my future when I look at him. I look around the room and see my family. My children’s family. I scream out and fall on my hands. When Zander goes to grab me, Dicky fires another warning shot. “I said don’t move!”

  Zander growls out, I slowly go to sit back up. Dicky yells, “Stand up, you stupid bitch, move away from him. I’m not ready for this to end!”

  I watch as he throws Catherine down to the floor. I look at her as she watches my hand. Zander’s body is covering mine as I rise slowly. When I’m back standing I raise my arm with the gun held high. I start shooting until I empty the chamber, shell after shell is flying to the floor. I can hear faint screams, but nothing registers as my fear has me pulling the trigger, over and over. I watch as Dicky’s body jerks back and forth until he falls to the floor covered in blood. I’m petrified, I keep pulling the trigger even when there are no shots coming out. I feel Zander wrap his hand around my wrist, he’s calling my name, but it’s like a distant echo in my mind. I finally feel his hands wrapped around my face, calling me, bringing me home.

  “Murphy, Murphy, look at me, baby! Red, he’s dead, he’s gone, baby! Look at me!”

  My eyes flash over to his face and see the pain he’s carrying for me. I drop the gun and fall into his arms. Hugging him for dear life. My body is shaking so hard that I fear I will pass out. “I have you, baby, I have you.”

  I look up and see tears in his eyes, seeing his determination to be here for me. It only takes me a minute to use his strength to push myself back. I wipe my eyes of the tears and see the blood covering his shirt. I yell, “Doc, Doc, he needs you, please help him!”

  The doctor comes running, making Zander sit down. We start hearing gunfire from outside, we all jump, but Zander says, “There’s my brothers, always late to the party.”

  “This isn’t funny, Zander.”

  He grabs my hand and says, “I know, baby, I know.” Gabriel, Liam, and Vin all run into the room, frantically checking out the situation.

  Gabriel and Liam run to their wives and check on Catherine. Theo is next entering the room, he starts yelling towards Catherine. Running to her, pushing the men out of the way. He grabs her and starts kissing all over her face. Then he notices the bruise on her face and kisses it lightly.

  I hear him telling her, “I love you, Katie. Jesus, woman, I love you.”

  Zander keeps his eyes locked on me as the the doctor works on him. I can tell he’s worried and scared for me, I am too. Our concentration is broken when Dr. Martin reassures me that Zander’s not going to die that he just needs to get the blood to stop running from the wound.

  Then I hear Forrest yelling out my mother’s name, he runs in, running straight for her. He doesn’t grab her or hug her tight, but you can tell that’s all he wants to do. I’m standing in the middle of the room in shock or whatever it is, but as I look around the room at all the people in my life, my guilt for killing the man still lying on the floor starts to subside some. I killed him for our survival. He wanted to kill my husband, my family and I know without a shadow of a doubt he would have done just that. I had no choice, I had no choice.

  I don’t know how long I stand here, taking in all my surroundings, frozen in fear, but then a pain grips ahold of me so strong that I have to bend over in pain.

  “Ahh, fuck, ahh, shit!” Catherine runs over to me, Zander jumps up to my side. Fallon yells out, “Murphy, your water just broke. Oh my God. Doctor, her water broke.”

  I look down, seeing that my baby blue dress is wet and covered with splatters of blood. I start to panic; my arms start flailing around, what do I do?

  Zander grabs me, yelling, “Calm down, Red, calm down and breathe, it’s okay!”

  “Why are you yelling at me? You calm down!”

  Dr. Martin makes Zander sit back down while he looks me over. He tells Catherine to start timing my contractions then goes back to work on Zander.

  Zander yells, “Get off me, tend to her, I’m fine!”

  “Sit down, Zander! Your mom is monitoring her, I need to check on you.”

  Zander still tries to get up until Theo comes around, telling him to stay still. He listens but never wavers from watching me closely. After a few minutes, Catherine tells Dr. Martin we have some time, my contractions are not too close together.

  Zander looks pissed that the doctor is still worrying about him and not me. Finally, he tells the him, “Pull it out, just do it! It! I’m not missing my babies being born.”

  Liam fetches Dr. Martin’s medical bag, and the rest assist in holding Zander down while the doctor tries to pull the bullet fragments out of his shoulder. Zander grunts out in pain, not wanting to scream. Dr. Martin tells us we’re lucky the bullet or fragments didn’t do any major damage, but he says he needs to look at it closer once we get to the hospital.

  “Close it!” Zander yells at the doctor. “Just close it for now. We need to get to the hospital.”

  Right then, I get another contraction. Dr. Martin starts working on closing the wound on Zander’s shoulder. I don’t know how Zander’s doing it without any drugs. That’s the first thing I’m getting when I get to the hospital.

  Two more contractions hit hard before the doctor finishes with Zander. With each contraction Zander tries to stand to get to me. The girls, along with Catherine and my mom help me to the hall, where Avery has another dress waiting for me to change into. She then runs to the living room to give Zander a change of shirt. Everyone starts running around. Then I see a man helping Jeffery up off the floor. Zander’s crew starts moving in to clean the pl
ace of Dicky’s body and all the others outside. Vin is yelling orders while everyone is frantically cleaning as much of themselves up as they can.

  Zander runs to me with his new shirt, right when another contraction hits. He tries to pick me up to carry me out, but he grunts out in pain. Gabriel comes around and tells him that he’ll do it. But Zander shoves him, “Not you, Vin can carry her!”

  “I don’t need to be carried. I can walk. Shit!” Another contraction hits.

  Vin runs to me and picks me up, carrying me to the SUV. I hear Zander growl again, but I can’t care less, just get me to the hospital so I can get some drugs.

  Vin and Theo tell us they are staying behind to help with the clean-up, but they will meet us all at the hospital. My mom, Dr. Martin, Zander and I are all in one vehicle, with Liam driving. The rest are behind us in another car.

  The drive is not an easy one, my contractions start getting stronger and they’re coming quicker. With each one, I squeeze Zander’s hand as he yells at Liam to go faster. Zander starts to panic; my mom has to remind him that I need him to be strong. He gets it together and holds my hand and coaches my breathing. I want to slap him and kiss him all at the same time.

  We finally make it to the hospital. Dr. Martin runs out first, getting a wheelchair and yelling orders. When we get into a room, Dr. Martin changes into his gown and gloves as I strip down and Zander helps me into my gown. A nurse comes in to assist, she sees Zander’s blood seeping through his new shirt, she tries to ask questions, but Catherine shuts her up. The nurse starts asking about the bruise on the doctor’s face, and this time he yells at her to mind her fucking business and do her job. I’m shocked for a second until another contraction hits strong. Dr. Martin starts to examine me, he tells me that I am going fast now. He says the babies are in position and I am eight centimeters dilated. I ask for drugs, but he says it’s too late.