Fearless

by Nicole Coverdale

  “He should follow in your footsteps. He should believe in what you believe in. You’re his father. He has an obligation to honor you.”

  Dominic laughed.

  “Oh, Sabrina, if only everyone had your sense of honor.”

  His hand squeezed hers.

  And he gasped.

  His body lurching forward.

  His hand falling from hers, clutching his heart.

  “Dominic?” Sabrina lunged towards him. “Dominic, what’s wrong?”

  “What’s wrong, is that I’m dying.” Dominic told her. “I’m dying, Sabrina, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. But I need you to do me one last favor. My last wish is for you to help my son, Sabrina. I want you to help him. He needs you. He needs you, just like I needed you all those years ago. Be there for him just like you were for me. Help him fulfill his destiny. Promise me you’ll help him.”

  “I’ll do what I can.” Sabrina whispered.

  “Good.”

  Dominic lifted his head, staring at her.

  Than his eyes glazed over.

  His body dropped backwards onto the bed.

  His head rolling to the side.

  And he was gone.

  Sabrina gasped, a sob rising up in her throat.

  Tears streaked down her cheeks.

  She stumbled backwards. Her back hitting the wall. And she slid to the ground.

  He was gone, she thought to herself. The man who had taught her everything she’d ever known was gone. The man who she had seen as a father to her was gone. He was gone, forever.

  The phone in her hand vibrated.

  It was Abel again.

  She stared at it.

  And swallowed. Pushing herself to her feet.

  Lifting the phone to her ear.

  “I’m in.” she whispered into the phone, as she stared at the bed. At the lifeless figure of the man who had meant so much to her, and lifted the hood over her head. Stepping out of the room, and racing through the halls of the hospital.

  It was time, she thought to herself. It was time to go back home.

  Chapter Eleven

  His father was dead.

  Abel raised his head. Standing in front of the gates. Watching as the gurney was pushed through the gates. His soldiers all bowing their heads as they pushed it closer to him.

  Emotion filled him.

  Tears filled his eyes.

  “Sir?” one of the men looked at him, stopping the gurney in front of him.

  “I need a minute.” Abel whispered, lifting his head and staring at the man.

  The man nodded. “We’ll be in the cemetery waiting for you. My condolences, sir.”

  “Thank you.” Abel touched a hand to the man’s shoulder. Watching as they walked away. Then reached a hand forward, unzipping the body bag, staring at his father’s pale face.

  A tear streaked down his cheek.

  And he swiped it away. Suddenly angry with himself. What the hell was wrong with him? Why was he getting so emotional? He never got emotional. Never! He didn’t allow himself to. It was a sign of weakness.

  But for so long he had been so mad at his father.

  Since that day when he’d come home to find his mother in tears. His father gone. All his belongings gone. He’d left them, without even giving him the chance to say goodbye.

  His hand tightened into a fist.

  And he remembered that day he’d graduated from high school. All the fathers who had been there.

  His had not.

  He remembered his wedding.

  He remembered his daughters being born.

  He remembered his birthdays.

  He hadn’t been there for any of it.

  And it hadn’t been until he’d just had his fifth child, that the news of his father’s arrest was broadcasted.

  His father had been one the most wanted men in the world. Words like terrorism. Kidnapping. Murder had been tossed around.

  He hadn’t wanted to believe any of it.

  He’d wanted to believe that his father had left him for a better reason than that.

  That he had left him with that whore for a better reason.

  Abel’s fist slammed on the gurney, as he thought of his mother. The weak, little bitch who could barely stand on her two feet. She hadn’t had an ounce of independence in her. She’d made everyone do stuff for her. She’d been lazy, refusing to get a job, and she’d treated his father like shit. When he’d be gone, she’d sneak men into the house. He’d heard the noises. He’d known what they were doing, and it had taken every ounce of his will not to blow off all of their heads.

  His father had been right to get out.

  But this? To end up in prison? That’s what his father had left him for?

  Back then he hadn’t understood.

  Until he’d finally gotten up the courage to see his father in prison.

  His wife hadn’t been happy about it.

  He remembered Kiana’s words.

  “Abel, don’t do this. He’s nothing to you.”

  “He’s still my father, Kiana.”

  “Abel, he’s a murderer. He’s a terrorist. He’s a liar. Whatever he tells you, they’re going to be lies. Don’t go. Stay here. You have a family. We need you.”

  “No matter what he says, Kiana, I’m still going to be here, I promise you that. Nothing he says can possibly change the man I am today. I’ve worked too hard to become the man I am today to let anyone or anything change that. I promise you that.”

  And he’d left for the prison.

  He remembered too vividly how scared he’d been stepping into that prison.

  It was the last time he would ever let himself be scared again.

  “Abel.” Dominic lifted his head from where he was sitting at the metal table in the room. A beard was covering his face, and he smiled. “My son, it is so good to see you.”

  “I don’t even know why I’m here.” Abel told him, taking a seat across from him. “You’re a monster.”

  “Oh, Abel, I’m not a monster.” Dominic whispered. “I’m only doing what’s best for you.”

  “What’s best for me?” Abel laughed, shaking his head. “Are you serious? Dad, you’re a fucking murderer! What is wrong with you? You left me. You left Mom years ago to what? Go to Afghanistan and help start another fucking war? You what, wanted to learn how to build bombs, just so you could come back to the states and kidnap innocent children. Keep them locked up, and teach them how to kill. Now tell me, how is that in my best interest?”

  “Because the world is an evil place, Abel.” Dominic told him, his eyes cold. “This world, Abel, it is not a world I want for you. It’s not a world I want for your children. You see, the people of this world, they shouldn’t be allowed to live in it. Their all so emotional. Emotion, Abel, it’s a human weakness. The people who live here, they’re selfish. They only care about themselves, and Abel, I want to get rid of it. I want to destroy it. I want to build a new one. I want to build a world that I can control. I want to take over the world, Abel.”

  “You what?” Abel laughed. “Dad, you are mad! You can’t take over the world. You can’t destroy it, and I won’t let you. I have a family. I have a career. I like the life I live, Dad. And nothing will ever, ever make me doubt by life.”

  “Not even your wife?”

  “What?” Abel raised his head, staring at him. “What are you talking about?”

  “You think your wife is better than your own mother?” Dominic asked him. “Abel, your mother was a whore. I knew about the men she snuck in when I wasn’t there. I saw the hickies. I know what she was doing. Do you really think that car accident she died in was an accident?”

  “You killed her?”

  “Of course I killed her.” Dominic told him. “She ruined me. She lied to me. She betrayed to me, and she destroyed me the day I found her in bed with my colleague, Sam O’Roarke. I was livid. I was confused. Sam and I had been through a lot together. He was one of the only people I trusted, an
d he’d betrayed me! I knew I had to do something to him. To both of them for making me look like idiots, and it took time. It took lots of time, and it was in Afghanistan where I found the perfect way to get back at both of them. Because of me, they are both dead.”

  “You—“

  “And if you think your wife is at home right now, just tending to her household duties, you’re stupider than I thought, son, because I guarantee you she’s screwing some man while you’re away.”

  “Fuck you.” Abel rose to his feet. “Fuck you, Father, and how dare you talk about my wife like that. Just because your life is in shambles does not mean mine is, you bastard. My wife loves me, and she would never do anything like that. She would never be anything like mother was.” He turned, stopping, glancing at his father over his shoulder. “You might want to remember this moment, Dad, because it will the last time you will ever see me. I don’t ever want to see you ever again.”

  And he turned and walked away from his father, forever.

  Abel blinked.

  Remembering the last time he had seen his father.

  The last words he had said to him.

  Hating them, because in the end he had been right.

  When he’d arrived home, he’d found his wife in bed with another man.

  Simon O’Rourke.

  The son of the man who had ruined his father.

  He’d been livid.

  Oh he’d been so livid, he thought to himself, a smile spreading across his face as he remembered grabbing the man by the back of the neck and dragging him through the house. Throwing him out the front door.

  “Don’t you ever, ever come near my family ever again.” Abel told him, standing on the doorstep, staring at the man. “How dare you. You have a wife.”

  “Doesn’t mean I can’t screw yours too.”

  Abel saw red.

  He took a step forward.

  “Abel, don’t!”

  He heard Kiana scream.

  He turned his head.

  “You are no better than he is.” He told her coldly. “You are my wife. You are mine. You’re the mother of my children. You will always be mine, and so help me, you will never forget that.” He slammed the door shut behind him. “Go away. I don’t want to see you right now, or so help me, you won’t be able to walk up those stairs.”

  Kiana stared at him.

  A cry of outrage escaped his lips.

  He charged forward. Lifting his hand, slapping her hard across the face.

  She gasped. Stumbling backwards Lifting a hand to her cheek. Staring at him with wide eyes, before turning and racing up the stairs. The sound of the door slamming shut echoing in his ears.

  And it was in that moment that he’d realized his father had been right.

  There were no good people in this world.

  There was no one to trust.

  And he’d set out on a mission to continue what his father had started.

  It had taken years to learn everything his father had planned.

  And it was in a little farm, just outside of North Carolina, where he’d found all his father’s blue prints. All his journals, and a stable where young girls and boys were being held captive. Men who had worked for his father. Men who believed in his father, waiting for his arrival.

  “We’ve been waiting for you, Abel.”

  Abel remembered the words.

  A smile crossed his face.

  He didn’t regret any of his decisions for a moment.

  Not even killing Simon’s family.

  He smiled, remembering the look on Simon’s face, when he’d killed his wife. His children.

  And then he’d taken Kiana.

  Rage filled him.

  His hands tightened around the gurney.

  Simon would never, ever take anything from him. He would never take anything from him ever again, because now he was dead.

  Abel blew out a breath. Staring down at his father.

  “I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you all those years ago.” He whispered. “We could have done this together.”

  He zipped up the bag, gripping the gurney, and pushed it forward.

  Every step he took, he felt as if he were sinking.

  None of this felt real.

  But it was real, and there was only one way he could think to honor his father’s death.

  By creating a new world. A world that his father would be proud of.

  He only had Elena to deal with first.

  He stopped. Pulling his phone out of his pocket. Watching her tracker. Staring at the man who was with her.

  The man was trouble.

  He was helping Elena.

  And he would be dealt with in time. He guaranteed it.

  Elena knew the price for having friends in this world.

  And she would be there to watch, when he died.

  A chuckle escaped his throat.

  And he watched, as the screen suddenly went black.

  “What?” he stared at it. Shaking the phone. “What? What happened?”

  And he stopped.

  Her tracker.

  Someone had removed it.

  He let out a cry of outrage, chucking the phone across the arena. Watching as it hit the ground, shattering into pieces.

  Now he had no idea where she was. What she was doing. He had lost all control.

  And that did not sit well with him at all.

  He pushed the gurney forward again, and pressed a button. Watching as the gate in front of him opened, leading him into the cemetery that was connected to the arena.

  This was where everyone who had served their purpose in the organization was buried.

  And it was where his father would be buried too.

  He stopped, stepping to the side, as his soldiers walked up. Taking his father from him and rolling him to the casket he’d picked out for him years ago. He watched as they unzipped the body bag, and carefully placed him in the coffin.

  The hymns of Amazing Grace filled his ears.

  He chuckled to himself. Damn, the song was pathetic. Why were they playing the song? It was so corny. So sentimental. So emotional. Nothing like what his father was.

  He picked up the iPod that was sitting on the table next to him. Stopping the song.

  And the song, highway to hell filled the area.

  The soldier’s heads jerked up.

  And he smiled.

  “It’s what he would have wanted.” He told them, watching as they lowered the casket into the hole that had been dug the day before.

  “It suits him.” Sabrina whispered from next to him, grabbing his hand and squeezing it. “Because we all know he’s not going to heaven. None of us are.” She chuckled a little. “Your father was a good man, Abel. He had a lot of thoughts. He had so much he wanted to accomplish in the world. I’m just sorry you couldn’t know the man he really was.”

  “Me too, Sabrina.” Abel whispered. “I just hope I can honor his legacy. I hope I can make him proud.”

  “Oh, I have no doubt you will.” Sabrina whispered. “You’re your father’s son. You’ll do him more than proud. You’re going to take over this world, Abel.”

  Abel felt a smile cross over his face again.

  “Thanks for being here.” He whispered. “It means a lot.”

  “There’s no place I’d rather be.” Sabrina whispered. “And don’t worry about Elena. She doesn’t stand a chance. Come this time tomorrow, I’ll be putting a bullet in that head of hers and she’ll be buried right here in this cemetery along with the rest of them.”

  “No.” Abel whispered. “No she won’t, because there won’t be anything left of her to bury, Sabrina, because I want you to destroy her. She’s done nothing but cause me pain, and I want you to show her what it’s really like to feel pain. I want you to torture her. I want you to kill her slowly. I want you to show her what it means to go against a Rodriquez man. Because we don’t let anyone get in our way.”

  He lifted his head.

  The burial
was complete.

  “No matter what happens, I want you to promise me that Elena will not ruin my plans.”

  “I promise.”

  “Good.” Abel smiled again. “Welcome home, Sabrina.” And he turned, and walked away from her. From his father. From the cemetery. There was more work that needed to be done.

  Tomorrow was going to be a good day.

  He guaranteed it.

  Chapter Twelve

  A sharp pain stabbed her in the back of the neck.

  Elena winced, a groan escaping her mouth.

  Bright sunlight peeked through the curtains.

  She lifted her head, slowly opening her eyes, her hands clenching around the soft sheet that surrounded her.

  Where was she?

  She slowly sat up.

  Her body seeped into the mattress.

  She raised a hand, letting it touch the foreign material.

  It’s so big, she thought to herself, letting her hand roam over the softness of the bed.

  It was like nothing she’d ever slept on before.

  It was nothing like the cold slabs of metal she and her sisters had been forced to sleep on during their training in the organization.

  And it was definitely not anything like the piles of blankets they had slept on in that small house in southern Florida.

  No, this was nice.

  It was very nice.

  And something she could easily get used to.