by Addison Jane
There were a couple men on the floor, sweeping up broken glass and dismantling what was left of a glass top table.
“I didn’t give her shit,” Isiah snorted. “She came at me. We both fell into the glass. She got cut on her thigh, but it’s not too deep.”
“Fuck,” Romeo cursed under his breath, storming toward Meyah, shoving Isiah’s men out of the way. He crouched down beside her, rolling her body over. She was barely conscious. I could see her trying to figure out what was going on but feeling too weak. I just hoped, for now, she kept quiet until I could get her the hell out of here. “We need to take her, now.”
Isiah shook his head. “Money first, then she will be delivered. You were only here to look.”
Actually, we were always here to take. We just thought we’d be able to show him a fake transfer on a computer and that we’d be gone. Well, we’d have Meyah safe before we came for Isiah.
Romeo pressed his hand to the cut on the side of her leg that had sliced through her jeans and looked like it was still bleeding. “She’s going to fucking bleed out,” Romeo roared, his eyes looking directly into mine, telling me there was something wrong and to be prepared because shit was about to go south.
Isiah stood up, his eyes watching Romeo carefully, his head tilted to the side. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” he challenged. I was already making sure I knew where the exits were, and how many men were in the room.
Four including Isiah—all armed.
Meyah was fading, her eyes barely open.
“Meyah has a blood condition. Her blood doesn’t clot like it should.”
My heart skipped, and my stomach sank.
My head was spinning with this new information—information I should have known, that she should have told me or fucking anyone. This was a life or death thing, but the more I thought about it, the more I put the clues together.
There wasn’t enough time to ask questions. I could see the worry on Romeo’s face as he pressed hard to her leg with his palm.
A man moved up behind him. Pressing the barrel of a gun to his temple.
“Move away,” Isiah ordered, and Romeo turned to glare at him but pulled back, climbing to his feet with my old lady’s blood smeared across his palm. “Want to explain how you know this bit of information?”
“Because I actually do my fucking research when I see something I want. Unlike you,” Romeo hissed, staring Isiah directly in the eye.
The corner of Isiah’s mouth twitched, slowly pulling into a smile. “Romeo, Romeo,” he said with a grin, shaking his head as one of his men moved in and picked up Meyah off the sofa.
I observed as they carried Meyah around the room to where Isiah was standing.
With two men on either side of Romeo and one just behind me, all pulling their guns into their hands, I knew things were about to escalate a little quicker than we thought they were.
I just hoped everyone was ready.
“Eliza Visser. The county sheriff’s daughter. Your foster sister,” Isiah rambled on, with each word I could see Romeo’s face growing with anger. “When you walked in here with that photo, I knew she wasn’t for your friend. I wondered whether you’d come looking for her eventually. Which is why I kept her for myself because you know how I like to be one step ahead and have a card in my pocket.”
Romeo’s chest puffed up, and his breathing grew harder. “That’s called cheating,” he managed to growl out from between clenched teeth. “Where the fuck is she?”
Isiah chuckled softly and then sighed. “Do you know how broken she was when he delivered her to me? She’d already lived through hell. There was nothing I could do that would be any worse than what she’d already been through. No way to train her or scare her. She was basically an empty shell.”
“What the fuck did you do to her?” Romeo roared, throwing his body forward only to have a fist slammed into his gut and his body thrown back into the wall. Two men grabbed each of his arms and pinned him there. He was like a raging bull and Isiah had just waved a red flag in front of his face. He was distracted, he was going to lose his shit, and then everything was going to go to hell.
“Romeo! Stop,” I barked, hoping to gain his attention, to get him to remember that Meyah was thrown over some asshole’s shoulder, bleeding out on the wooden floor.
“I showed pity on her,” he answered with a shrug, looking down at his palm and dabbing at the wound. “I gave her a bottle of pills and a quiet room.”
Romeo roared. The sound a mixture of anger and pain as he fought the two men who had a hold on him. Slamming his fist into one of their noses, before plowing his entire body into the other and lifting him, throwing him across the room and into the bookcase on the other side before he turned and focused his deadly gaze on Isiah.
I took a step forward but was instantly met with the click of a gun at my side and gritted my teeth as I watched my brother lose his shit.
He stormed forward but froze when Isiah stepped to the side.
Kero was holding Meyah’s weak body in front of him, one arm holding her up while the other pressed a sparkling silver knife to her neck.
“I’m going to kill you,” Romeo promised, his eyes moving between Isiah and Meyah.
The man laughed. “You should be thanking me. I gave Eliza the freedom she’d been searching for. I allowed her to fly.”
“You have no fucking idea who you’re messing with,” Romeo drawled, standing a little taller as he began to regain control of his emotions and realized we had a plan, and that right now, it was to get Meyah to safety, then to bring Isiah in.
“I thought you were smarter than this, you know.” Isiah shook his head like a disappointed parent. “I thought you knew better than to show your hand too early. You walked in here with that photo, assuming I didn’t know the connection between you and our friend, the sheriff, but I’d heard rumors. Obviously, you’ve softened since you’ve been away from the city.”
“I thought you were smarter than this, too,” Romeo threw back and Isiah’s body instantly tensed.
The whirl of an alarm began to ring through the level, and I heard the distinct but distant sound of gunshots.
Isiah turned looking at me before looking back at Romeo.
My brother grinned. “And I thought you knew better than to think we would come in here without fucking backup.”
With the confusion, I turned, swinging my arm and knocking the gun from Isiah’s man’s hand. It flew across the floor, the both of us chasing after it.
“Kill them,” Isiah roared, and I looked up just in time to see him and Kero carrying Meyah, back out a side door, while two of his men jumped on Romeo.
My man jumped on my back, grabbing at my arms so I couldn’t reach the gun which had slid underneath a sizeable lavish chair. I expected nothing less from this asshole.
I threw my elbow with my body weight behind it, up into the fucker’s face, ramming it right into his eye socket. He screamed in pain and threw his head back, his hands automatically reaching for the injury, giving me room to twist my body and pull out from underneath him.
I wrapped my hand around the gun, the cool metal instantly giving me the boost I fucking needed as I rolled over and pointed it directly at the asshole sitting on me. His one eye widening, and his body stilling for part of a second before I pulled the trigger.
I scrambled to get his body off mine and to get to my feet. Turning to find my brother driving his fist into the face of a man who was already unrecognizable, and unmoving, only to look over his shoulder and find the second of the guards with his body in a twisted and mangled position, his head facing the opposite direction than it should have been.
“Romeo, fucking stop!” His breathing was heavy, and I could see that the rage inside him was burning, and he needed an escape, a way to rid it from his body before it consumed him and he did something stupid. “We have to get Meyah, or she’s gonna die.”
He stilled, his eyes looking up at me, his fist poised in the air. Blood
was splattered across his face. He looked like a fucking madman.
The door behind me clicked open, and I spun, raising my gun ready to shoot anyone who got in between my fucking woman and me.
But Ripley, Texas, and Brewer rushed through, looking at me the same way.
“Where is she?” Ripley demanded.
I flicked the safety on, and Romeo climbed to his feet. “We’re going with Plan B. He’s got her, and he’s gonna try and get out of the building. So everyone better be in place because we’re in a time crunch now.”
“What happened?” Brewer demanded.
“She’s bleeding out.”
Ripley was already turned and heading for the door. I followed him, walking down the hallway. Carnage was the one thing on my mind. “I’m not going to lose her,” I told them loudly, not caring who was listening and who wasn’t.
“Then we better get this party started.”
I was struggling, I felt light-headed, and like I couldn’t breathe. My body was jostled and thrown around like I was on a fucking rollercoaster, and I couldn’t get off.
Every now and then, I would open my eyes, but it was always Isiah’s face I saw, his brow creased like he was worried, or maybe scared, which brought me utter fucking delight.
But I was confused.
I heard Ham’s voice.
I heard Romeo whisper we were getting out of there.
But they weren’t here. It was all so hazing. Maybe I was dreaming?
“There’s blood everywhere, boss,” the guy carrying me mumbled. “People are going to freak out.”
Isiah chuckled darkly as they stepped into an elevator. “Tonight is the club Halloween party, nobody got in the door without a costume. There’s going to be people covered in fake blood and gore all over the fucking place. One more girl dressed up as a zombie and having to be carried out because she’s had too much to drink isn’t going to be a problem.”
No.
I needed more time.
I couldn’t let him take me out. If he got me out the doors, who the fuck knew where he would take me and whether anyone would find me?
“Help!” I tried to scream as we exited the elevator, but it barely fell as a whisper from my lips. “Please help!”
Isiah laughed. I couldn’t see him as he was walking ahead of us, but I knew he was there, and I could see his smug smile on his face in my mind, making me want to throw up.
“Your friends may have got a few men in here, but I own this fucking building. This is my world. There is no way in hell I’m letting a couple of assholes destroy it over a little fucking bitch like you.”
We rounded another corner. As far as I could tell, he was trying to take us out the back. The dark and confined halls looked familiar. Like I’d been in them before.
“Put her down,” someone screamed.
It was a voice I recognized, but my brain was full of fluff. I couldn’t put it together, there was so much pain, so much fuzz in my head, and I wanted it to go away. I needed to go to sleep.
“Turn around.”
My body jumped as the man carrying me turned and ran in the other direction.
“We’re gonna have to go out the front,” Isiah hissed as we hurried.
There was loud bass.
Music.
People.
It was getting louder, I could feel it in my chest, and the air became warmer and thicker.
“They won’t shoot in here. They won’t risk hurting her or anyone else.”
I pried my eyes open. There were people around me. I just needed someone to help me, one person to stop them from getting me out the front door. I tried to reach out to someone but pulled my hand back when I realized it wasn’t a person.
Faces turned and looked at me as we rushed through the crowd, pushing, shoving and stumbling through people, Isiah screaming at pumpkins and wolves and fairies.
Was this a bad dream?
Was I dead?
Where were the people?
I needed someone to stop him. But everybody we passed was some sort of monster, or wearing some kind of mask.
It was all turning into a blur.
And I couldn’t keep my eyes open.
I just wanted to sleep.
Isiah pushed through more and more people. Thinking he was getting closer to an escape. Thinking if he just made it to the door he would be free, and he wouldn’t have to face the consequences of years of treating women like possessions. Of hurting them and breaking their souls down to the point where they would rather be dead.
Isiah wasn’t walking away tonight.
Not with Meyah.
And possibly not with his life.
The party raged as we pushed our way through the crowd, knowing we would meet him in the middle.
Ripley, Romeo, and Brewer walked behind me, the crowds parting like the fucking red sea until it opened up and Isiah was standing on the other side with his man—Meyah in his arms. He instantly lifted the gun in his hand and pointed it at her.
People around us took a step back, and the music came to a halt. Isiah looked around. He was in a crowd of people, he had a gun pointed at Meyah’s head, and he was about to have to fucking explain himself.
I wanted to rush forward, to pull her away from him and to hold her in my arms. But I just wanted to trust in her strength, I needed her to hold in there a little longer.
The boys at my back and I all lifted our guns, pointing them at him.
“We all know you aren’t going to shoot me,” Isiah taunted. “People like you and the club, you’re too soft, too worried about innocent people getting caught in the crossfire. You see, I shoot Meyah. You kill me. I still win. You let me walk out, Meyah might actually live.”
I stepped forward. The club around us was in almost complete silence.
There were a few people panicking, rushing for the exit. A few staring on in awe, wondering if this was just a show, a Halloween gag. But for the most part, we were surrounded. The costumes elaborate, the tension thick, and Isiah about to learn why you didn’t fuck with Meyah.
“There’s one major flaw in that plan of yours.” Isiah’s eyes narrowed on me as I spoke. Then they looked around, and I could see him questioning why his men weren’t running to his aid. Why the club wasn’t as full as it usually was.
“These aren’t innocent people,” I announced, unable to stop the smirk that filled my face as a wave of masks were removed. One after another, men, women, club members, old ladies, club girls, Exiles, Brothers. Hundreds of fucking men and women.
“These people are family,” I called, holding my arms out and daring him to look around.
Isiah tried to keep his composure, but I could practically hear him filling his pants, shitting himself as he realized these people were on our side. That his men had already been removed, his club taken over, his ass on the fucking line. But it was when men like him were desperate that they did stupid shit.
Kero, on the other hand, did shit his pants, dropping Meyah on the floor and taking a step back. His eyes wide and scared as he held up his hands and acted like he didn’t have a fucking part in this shit.
Optimus stepped forward swiftly, grabbing Isiah’s arm and pulling his gun away while Blizzard drove his fist into the back of Isiah’s head, throwing him onto the floor.
Leo came forward, reaching down to pick up Meyah.
I saw the moment Isiah realized he was going to die, maybe not tonight, but soon, and decided he was going to try and take the easy way out.
Before Leo could pull Meyah away, Isiah reached for his ankle, ripping the knife from its strap and driving the blade into Meyah’s leg. Her body bowed off the floor, her mouth open as if she wanted to scream, but she was already drained, she was already running on borrowed time.
Men leaped on Isiah, while Leo scooped Meyah up into his arms.
Skins pushed through the crowd too. “Don’t remove it. Leave it where it is. It’ll help stem the blood flow.”
“There’s an amb
ulance waiting outside,” Optimus barked. “Go!”
I wanted to run after them, but my body was frozen, staring at the man on the floor, his arms behind his back in an almost impossible position, laughing like a fucking psychopath.
I couldn’t let him get away with this shit.
I couldn’t let him win.
I was going to make him hurt so fucking bad for what he’d done to Meyah, for how he’d tried to strip my world away from me in one blow. But also for how he’d broken Romeo.
You didn’t hurt the people I loved and walk away.
“You played a good game, but in the end, I still won,” Isiah crowed.
“She’ll fight back.”
Isiah’s body froze. I could see the way he recognized the voice, how it was one he never expected to hear. The crowd parted as Carly stepped through, Hadley at her side with Huntsman on the other.
The rage in Meyah’s father’s face was clear.
While Carly’s face was different. She seemed so calm, it was eerie.
“Meyah’s always been a fighter. She’s much stronger than I ever was. And unlike what you did to me, you’ll never break her.”
Isiah looked up at Carly as she stood over him, Huntsman placing his hand on the small of her back, giving her another breath.
“She will come out of this just fine because all these people love her. But you will never touch, or hurt, or sell another woman.” There was darkness in her voice I never imagined I would ever hear. And even as tears streamed down her cheeks, she stood tall, and brave and looked Isiah in the eyes. “You destroyed me. You broke me, and you left me with memories that I will have to live with for the rest of my life. But you won’t control my future like you have my past, because I’m gonna take my power back from you, one drop of blood at a time.”
A sob came, and Hadley pulled her back into her arms while she cried, directing her back through the crowd they came, heading for the door and no doubt the hospital.
“If I had my way, I’d end you right here,” Huntsman told the man who lay at his feet. “But instead, we’re going to plan a special kind of bon voyage to hell for you.” He turned and walked away, a man of few words, but ones you listened to when spoken.