by Sophia Gray
Pulling her closer to me, I tucked her beneath my chin into the crook of my arm. Her head lay against my chest, her face turned away from the bodies that would soon stop breathing altogether. Holding her, I whispered softly, sweetly into her hair, “I’m sorry for this, Madeline, but it must be done.”
I felt her tremble in my arms, but she didn’t protest as I lifted my right hand that still held the gun lightly. It was warm from being fired, the metal’s heat seeping into my skin. Madeline didn’t say anything as I aimed for her brother first, deciding to put him out of his misery—and to get rid of his continued moaning.
I aimed for his head, both for the sake of mercy and because this was an execution. A bullet between the eyes was a message to all those who crossed Mickey: Don’t.
I pulled the trigger and the shot rang out. Logan’s moaning stopped abruptly and I felt Madeline flinch in my arm, but she didn’t pull away. She didn’t even sob, though I sensed that she was likely crying.
That was okay. I couldn’t deny her that, too.
Next, I turned to Joshua. Part of me wished he would be conscious for this. That he would see me, the very last thing he would ever see, as I raised the gun to his head and got ready to pull the trigger.
The rest of me didn’t care. I had made him suffer, made him bleed, and that was enough. Enough only because now he would be dead. Neither he, nor Logan, could ever hurt anyone ever again.
I fired. Madeline flinched again. Then it was done, and we were left standing in the eerie, echoing silence of the place. I was aware of how much she’d been through tonight, and I commended her silently for her bravery. Lesser women would not have fared so well.
She was strong, though, and it made me cling to her all the tighter.
***
We drove back to the motel first. I was going to take her home, but acknowledged that there was cleanup to be taken care of. Mickey had guys for that, though I rarely required them. I was usually very clean, efficient, but this particular job had turned out to be messier and much more complicated than I ever could have predicted.
Madeline dozed on and off during the drive. I had the heat turned up full blast, making sure she stayed as warm and as comfortable as possible. She’d been shivering as we left the warehouse, though it was impossible to say if it was due to cold or lingering aftershocks of her endeavor. It was likely the latter, I admitted to myself.
I made a point to stop a couple of different times to allow her breaks—for the bathroom, to get drinks or snacks, or even just to walk around and stretch her legs—since we were so far from the city. She likely just wanted to go home, but there were things I had to take care of and I wanted to make sure she was comfortable anyway.
We pulled into the driveway of the Market Town Inn. As far as I could tell, nothing had changed since the last time I’d been there. I peeked into the lobby and saw the same attendant was there, but now his head was tipped back, his magazine slipping off his lap, and his mouth hanging open. He was snoring, fast asleep.
I shook my head, and ignored him. Madeline followed close behind me as I made my way down the row of doors towards Room #102 where I’d left Shawn tied up and gagged.
I had told her to wait in the car, but she’d protested. She said she didn’t want to leave me alone, but I sensed it was that she didn’t want to be left alone. She wasn’t thrilled with being in this place, and was probably even less thrilled with finding Shawn. I couldn’t blame her, and I wouldn’t tell her I’d wanted her to stay so I could put a bullet between his eyes, too.
There had been a lot of bloodshed tonight and I didn’t want her to see any more. So with her at my side, I wasn’t sure I’d go through with it, but it turned out that it didn’t matter what my decision would have been.
When we reached the room, we saw the door was hanging open again, still attached by only one hinge. I’d closed it—as best I could anyway—and the fact that it was open again meant someone had been in there. Motioning for Madeline to be quiet, I stepped into the room, searching the place.
The bathroom door was open and I could see already Shawn was gone.
The gag lay on the floor next to the cord I’d used to tie him up. I sighed a little in disappointment, but found myself not too concerned with the whole thing. He wouldn’t be back. Not ever. And if he did show up, well, I’d just kill him like I should have before.
“He’s gone,” Madeline whispered, and I couldn’t tell if there was fright or relief in her voice. Maybe she knew what my intentions had been the entire time.
I put my arms around her shoulders and held her close. “It’s all right. He won’t be back. He’ll never show his face in the city again, not so long as I’m there.”
She said nothing after that, just let me hold her.
Chapter 33
Madeline
It was only another hour’s drive back to the city, plus a little extra to get to Nikolai’s apartment. I would have maybe argued about going to his place instead of mine, but I was exhausted. It had been a long night, a long day, and a long week before that. Besides, if I were really being honest with myself, I didn’t want to argue.
I wanted to go home with him.
But as we headed towards his apartment, pulling into a lower level garage beneath the building, I found a little bit of dread and sadness working its way through me. I didn’t just want to come home with Nikolai tonight; I wanted to go home with him every night. I wanted more from him than just a one-night stand, and I was sure I had made myself pretty clear about that.
I had told him I loved him, more than anything, and while he’d been sweet and held me—even as he killed Joshua and my brother—he hadn’t returned the sentiment. That knowledge burned inside me, twisting my insides, torturing me.
I didn’t know what I would do when he tried to let me down gently, told me that, while he clearly wanted something to do with the baby, he didn’t feel that way about me.
He parked his car and I let out a sigh of relief. I was ready to be out of the car and into bed. I closed my eyes for a moment, leaning my head back against the leather interior, just taking a moment to breathe in and out. A moment later, my door opened, Nikolai holding it and offering me his free hand.
I blinked at him, but offered a shy smile as I let him help me up out of the car. Still holding my hand, he took me to the elevator that led to his floor. On the ride up, he kept his arm around me protectively—or possessively? —until the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Then he escorted me inside.
Plopping me down on the comfortable couch, I thought I could sleep right then and there. As though sensing my thoughts, Nikolai told me, “Don’t go to sleep, not yet. We need to get you checked out, make sure you’re all right. Then you can lay down.”
Though it was difficult, I forced myself to stay seated up right, waiting for him as he headed into the bathroom. My mind flashed to when he’d taken me in the shower. I’d still been a little sore from our first time together—my first time ever—but I’d relished his touch, been eager for it even. He’d been both demanding and sweetly tender.
I didn’t know sex would feel like that, both rough and soft at the same time.
Nikolai came back with peroxide, bandages, an ice pack, and a glass of water along with two little white pills. I eyed them suspiciously, but he only smirked at me.
“Aspirin,” he explained.
I laughed a little at myself, then remembered again how my throat was sore and scratchy. I gingerly touched my neck, wincing as I imagined how bad it must look. How there were probably marks where Joshua had tried to choke me.
Nikolai’s eyes turned dark. “The aspirin will help. Here.”
He gave me the water and the pills, and I swallowed, though it was difficult going down. Still, I knew he was right.
“I’ll make you some tea in a little bit. The water’s boiling now. It’ll help with the soreness.”
Before I could tell him I was fine or even try to protest, he fixed me with a point
ed look as though letting me know that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Not on this. So, I remained silent and did as he said.
Using a cotton ball and peroxide, he cleaned up the small cuts I’d managed to get throughout the night. Mostly from my struggle with Shawn, I was sure, but I didn’t want to think about that. I looked down at my lap, my face burning. It had been a lot to take in and I wasn’t sure how I was going to cope when Nikolai was out of my life.
When he finished, putting up the peroxide and the cotton balls, the teakettle whistled. He went up to get it and I knew it was time for me to go. He’d been so kind to me, but I couldn’t take this, not his sweetness and then him breaking my heart. It would just make it hurt all the more.
So, I stood. I made it halfway to the door, telling him, “I should probably go. I’ll call a cab and—”
But in what felt like two smooth strides he was in front of me, blocking the door. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Uh, home. You’ve been really kind, but I should—”
Again, he interrupted me. “Madeline, you are home.”
My eyebrows shot up at that, my eyes widening. “You mean...?”
He let out a small sigh, but a smile tugged at his lips as he pulled me into his strong arms. “I mean I love you and I’m going to marry you, Madeline. You belong to me. I thought I told you that already.”
I bit my lip, daring to hope. Could he really? Could he love me like that? And then I remembered, the baby. Was this really about me or did he just want to be a daddy bad enough to put up with a little extra baggage like the mother?
Hesitant, not sure I wanted to know the answer, I let out a whoosh of air and asked the question that lingered on the tip of my tongue, “But…is it me you love? Or is this all just because of the baby?”
I held my breath, worried, terrified of his answer, but when his eyes darkened and he jerked me to him tightly, pressing me solidly against his chest, I released that breath and a moment later, I couldn’t breathe at all.
His lips were fused to mine, drinking me in. All the passion in the world was contained in that one kiss, fire shooting through me, embracing me, consuming me. My skin was alight with everything he was feeling—feelings that mirrored my own—and I knew without a doubt that he loved me. Loved me for me and nothing else.
I felt as though I could drown in him, consumed by passion.
This was it. Here was where I was meant to be, where I would spend the rest of my life. In Nikolai’s arms.
THE END
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[FREE BONUS NOVEL] SINS: Devil’s Horns MC
By Sophia Gray
He will mark me with his sins… and fill me with his baby.
Grant Reardon is heaven and hell in a single sexy package.
He’s the key to finding my missing daughter… and the only thing standing in my way.
I try to ignore him – I need his help, not his domination.
But when he takes me in his arms, the temptation to submit overwhelms everything else.
My adopted daughter Sage disappeared without a trace.
I suspect her biker boyfriend and his stupid motorcycle club are the ones to blame.
Sage is my jewel, my precious, my world.
I have to find her.
I won’t rest until I do.
But no one will give me answers.
Mouths stay sealed and doors stay closed…
Until one door opens that should never have done so.
Framed in his entryway, Grant is like something out of a nightmare…
A steamy, feverish nightmare.
He’s rippling muscle and midnight-black tattoos.
He’s swagger and filth and a toe-curling rumble.
He’s everything I should stay far away from.
Too bad I have no way to go but forward.
He tells me to get lost, that Sage is not coming back.
But I can’t just stop looking.
Finally, I convince him to help me.
We take up the hunt, side by side, desperately trying to stave off the inevitable:
Me begging him to take me rough, take me hard, take me until I can’t take anymore.
He promises me we’ll find my daughter and that everything will be okay.
But sometimes, hell is the person who promises you heaven.
Chapter 1
Victoria
My head felt ready to explode, and my rug was going to sport holes from all of the pacing I was doing. For days, my anxiety and worry had been increasing, and now it was reaching a fever pitch.
My cell dug into my palm as I turned the corner for another circuit of my pacing. I had called all of Sage’s friends, all of my friends, everyone I could possibly think of. I had talked and asked questions and talked some more, enough to start losing my voice, but it didn’t matter. I hadn’t learned anything. Not even one lead.
Sage had disappeared without a trace, just upped and vanished.
My Sage. My beautiful daughter.
My beautiful adopted daughter. Half the time, I didn’t bother with that distinction, but when I had to file the missing person’s report, I had to mention that tidbit. Blood or not, she was my daughter, and she was all I had.
It had been five days—five long and trying days—since I last heard from her. She hadn’t been here when I came back from work. The nineteen-year-old was nowhere to be found.
Abruptly, I stopped my pacing and tried calling her best friend one more time, but Corinne didn’t answer. Yet again. She hadn’t answered any of my calls. At first, I hoped that meant she was with Sage, that the two of them had gone off somewhere together, that it wasn’t a big deal. A spur of the moment trip or girls’ getaway. But that hadn’t been the case. I became so desperate to get ahold of Corinne that I called up her mom. Turned out Corinne had gone on vacation with her boyfriend. Still, my hope refused to die. Maybe Sage had gone with them. Nope. Corinne’s mom said they’d left a week ago, but Sage had still been around then, so no dice.
Out of desperation, I dialed Sage for the hundredth, if not the thousandth, time. Like all the other times, it went straight to voicemail. She had a terrible habit of letting the battery run almost all the way down, and she had five or six chargers since she was always misplacing them, but if she didn’t have one, I’d never be able to get through to her unless she bought another one. Most likely, her phone was dead.
But was she dead, too? Of course, my mind went straight to the worst scenario. I loved Sage like she was my own child. Yeah, there were only eight years between us, but Sage had been mine ever since she turned fourteen. For five years, it had been the two of us. I tended to think of my life as before Sage and after. Before, my life had been nothing but quiet. With Sage, there was so much laughter and talking and even arguing, too. So much noise and music. Now, it was back to the quiet, and I never realized before just how unnerving it could be.
For years, my life had been devoted to my job. I gradually worked my way up the ladder and owned a restaurant. Sage’s mom used to work for me as a waitress until she ended up landing herself in jail. I knew she had been going down a dark path, and I’d hoped she would do the right thing for her daughter by keeping her employed despite her lack of work ethic, but that hadn’t been the case.
When she worked nights, she used to bring Sage into work. When I realized they were living out of their car, I had Quinn, my main chef, cook up meals for the girl to enjoy. It was the least I could do. I even helped her out with her homework a few times in between running the show. We got along better than she did with her mom. The two of them hardly ever spoke. I thought she embarrassed Sage, and honestly, I kind of was, too. If you saw the way she draped herself over guys to try to get
tips…On more than one occasion I had to remind her she was serving customers who sat at a table, not dancing on top of the table, and if she didn’t stop, I would have to fire her because that was unacceptable. And then she would do better and behave for a little while until she wouldn’t.
Once her mom got arrested, things got really rocky for Sage, but it wasn’t until her mom wound up in jail serving her sentence that things really hit a low point. The idea of Sage being tossed to the wolves—I mean the state—tore me up. Starting about a month before the arrest, Sage came to the restaurant every day, even when her mom hadn’t been working. Her mom preferred her drugs too much to be much good at anything, whether being a waitress or being a mother. Just a few months prior to her sentencing, I had hired Sage as a dishwasher, and she proved to be a more devoted employee than her mom had been, though she did have a habit of talking too much instead of working. The two of us connected in a way she never had with her mom.