by Belle Aurora
“Yes, I do.”
“And you never told me.”
“No, I didn’t.” It seemed we all had some secrets.
He kept his voice light. “You ever plan on using that gun on me?”
“Occasionally.” Damned if there hadn’t been a few times I thought about it.
His eyes grinned, and mine smirked right back at him.
In response to my deception, all he uttered was a soft sounding, “Solid.”
Fuck. I loved this man.
And when Zep spoke, his words were directed to Luna and Luna alone. “You’re coming with me.”
Luna’s brow knitted. “No way,” was her reply, but it sounded like she said, “You’re insane.”
Zep looked her up and down like she was a snack of epic proportions and he was famished. His lip twitched. “I want you on my team, Lulu.”
Lulu?
Wait. They knew each other?
All of a sudden, it dawned on me. It all made sense. Zep knew Twitch was in Cuba. How? Because he probably suggested it. And now that I looked deeper at how Zep was watching Luna, I saw more than I wanted to.
Zep was into her.
Luna blinked at him. “So does everyone else,” she responded, chuckling without sounding at all amused.
Thiago, sick of his sisters’ apparent suitors, snapped, “My sisters stay with me, Falco. Both of them.” He ended on, “We aren’t here for you.” And damned if it sounded like a threat.
But then again, anything coming out of the mouth of Thiago Vega sounded like a threat.
“How we gonna run this?” asked Happy, leaning against the wall.
Molly chimed in with, “I’m sleeping in A.J.’s room until further notice.” She peered over at Luna and Fernanda. “You guys take my bed.”
They nodded in agreement.
“Thiago, you take the sofa,” Twitch suggested.
“It’s not a pull out,” I said, my eyes drifting over his monstrous form then adding an apologetic, “Sorry.”
“Everyone else—” Twitch shrugged lightly. “—I don’t know. Go home, I guess.”
It was the first time I’d ever heard Twitch sound unsure of himself, and it scared the ever-loving shit out of me.
When everyone made their leave and we were alone in bed, we held each other tightly, closely, and I don’t remember falling asleep, only waking up.
And when I finally did wake, it was alone to a cold bed.
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
Twitch
“What are you doing out here?” she asked quietly.
Contemplating doing some stupid ass shit to keep you safe.
“Nothin’.”
But she knew me, this woman. She knew me well enough to know when I got inside my head it was a dangerous thing.
And her whispered words told me just how well she knew the person I was. “Stop it.” When she took the few steps over and knelt beside me, I lifted my tired gaze to her, and those big blue eyes I loved shone with concern. She sat back on her heels and held a hand out to touch me but stilled part way, balling her outstretched hand into a fist. She didn’t speak a while but when she did the words were firm. “Whatever you’re thinking... just stop.”
How could I?
It consumed my mind. Consumed my thoughts. Consumed me whole.
We weren’t dealing with just anyone here. I’d taught Ling, and I’d taught her well. This wasn’t going to end until one of us was in a casket, and she now had nothing to live for.
I was fucking with a person who had nothing left to lose.
That made her a dicey adversary.
“I’ve talked Ling off of a lot of ledges before.” I looked back out into the yard. “Maybe I can talk her off this one too.”
Unfortunately, I didn’t actually believe that.
Neither did Lexi.
And when she looked at me the way she was now, worried and tense, I felt the need to be real with her, even though I probably shouldn’t have. But I meant it when I said I didn’t want secrets between us. “She doesn’t have a weakness, baby.”
No hesitation. “Sure she does. We all do.”
“She’s more snake than person, Lex.” My posture stiff, I added an irritated, “Full of a poison that I put there. Ling is a monster of my own creation. She’s barely human, and I nurtured the animalistic side of her. I fed it and watched it grow and did that shit happily because, at the time, I could use that part of her. And what happens as a result of that—” I blew out a breath. “—is my own fault.”
My woman laid it out, no holds barred. “I know you’re worried. I’m worried too. But you don’t need to because I’ll protect you.” The words were whisper soft.
A small snuffle escaped me, and when I turned to my wife, I caught her expression and my smile waned.
She was serious.
Dead serious.
My expression stone-faced, I uttered a rough, “Think I spent six fuckin’ years away from you for you to go and risk your life for me?” I shook my head slowly. She needed to heed my hard words. “Not happening.”
I saw the exact moment she got me. Her face fell and her pretty pink lips parted slightly as she swallowed hard. The term of endearment trembled. “I love you.”
“Don’t do that.” I clicked my tongue in annoyance, my spine stiffening.
“What?”
“Don’t...” It hurt to say it. My voice quieted, “Don’t say goodbye. Not now.” A solid pause. “Not yet.”
Yes, Ling was leaving a trail of bodies behind her, but as my woman moved slowly, resting her forehead on my shoulder, her thick brown hair hanging in waves as she hugged my arm tightly as though I were already dead, I decided I wouldn’t be one of them.
***
Molly
It was stupid to say, “Don’t stress,” to somebody who was very clearly stressed, so I followed up softly with, “I won’t let anything happen to him.”
Lexi smiled tiredly as she kept her eye on the little monster eating toast at the dining table and keeping conversation with a bunch of contract killers. “I know you won’t.”
Her certainty in me lifted me to a higher power, had me leveling up.
So when it was time to head off, I took my little dude by the hand and walked him to the car with a confidence that surpassed me. We waved from the driveway and I took off down the street, peering back at him through the rearview mirror. “Hey, bud,” I started. “I know it’s a little crowded at home these days, but soon, everything will be back to normal, okay?”
A.J. examined me with wisdom beyond his years. “When the bad lady is gone?”
This child. Jesus. The intensity he exuded was completely unnatural for a boy his age, yet coming from him, it was expected.
“When the bad lady is gone,” I clarified.
We drove on, and just before we reached the school, his little voice sounded. “Molly?”
“That’s my name. Don’t wear it out.” I winked in the mirror then smiled, trying to ease the tension radiating from him.
His soft brown eyes widened, and he pointed towards the road wearing an expression of pure terror. “Look out.”
I didn’t see the black Mercedes Kompressor run the stop sign, but as I hit the brakes and spun the steering wheel to avoid the impending collision, my head throbbed and I gritted my teeth as the front end of Big Red screeched to a stop on the footpath without being hit. A cloud of smoke covered the car and the smell of burnt rubber had my nose bunching.
My heart beat out of my chest. “Oh my God,” I panted as my hands shook.
“Molly?” the little frightened voice said quietly.
Without a moment’s hesitation, I swallowed hard and pulled out my phone, hitting the panic button Happy had installed on it then undid my seatbelt and knelt on the front seat to look back at my little monster. His silent cries made my chest ache. “Are you okay, buddy?” I looked him over. He didn’t look hurt, just shaken, and when he nodded like the trooper I knew hi
m to be, my body slumped and I let out a relieved sigh. “Oh, buddy. I’m so sorry.”
From outside the car came an alarmed but feminine, “Oh, God, are you okay? I saw everything. Do you need help?”
“No.” I reached out for A.J. and he put his trembling hand in mine. I squeezed it tight, thanking God things weren’t any worse than what they were. “We’re okay.”
“Are you sure?”
Suddenly, the worry from the woman’s voice was gone and was replaced with menace, and my heart stuttered. I turned slowly, and the second I saw her, my insides shriveled.
Oh, fuck, Molly. What have you done?
Ling blinked at me through the open window and her brow lowered. “You don’t look good.”
“Back off,” I growled through gritted teeth as it hit me hard.
She was never after Twitch.
It was A.J. she wanted.
“You’re hurt,” Ling insisted as she threw open the passenger door. It all happened so quickly I had no time to react. One second, I was conscious, then next moment, I wasn’t. I fought it. God. I fought so hard, but as she continued to Taser me, I lost the battle.
And as the darkness took me, I heard her utter, “See? Not fine at all.”
***
Ling
Inwardly gloating, I watched the young woman’s body shake with the force of fifty thousand volts. I observed happily as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she shook like she was being electrocuted because, well, she was. I held the Taser to her stomach and gloried in the way she shuddered spasmodically. When she began to foam at the mouth, I stopped, rather reluctantly.
I didn’t want to kill her. I just wanted her to suffer. And suffer she would when she at last woke to find her ward snatched out from under the safety of her steeled wing.
Molly would suffer.
They would all suffer.
I had plans for this little boy, this beautiful little boy whose parents were a pair of fucking assholes. Selfish, self-absorbed assholes.
My grin was hidden under my stone-faced expression, and even though I didn’t reveal it, I felt it so damn hard I wanted to lift my head heavenward and laugh into the morning sun.
Oh, yes.
I would make them hurt in the cruelest of ways.
“Help!” I screamed as loud as I could, garnering attention from the street.
My eyes wide, I slipped out of the car and rushed to the few people surrounding the close call. “Somebody help!” I put my hands on a man, gripped his shirt tightly, and sputtered, “I know this woman. Call an ambulance!”
The man already had his phone out, dialing, and I internally smirked but rushed back over to the car, and called into the window. “Molly? Can you hear me, Molly?” I panted loudly for good measure, then uttered a wavering, “You’re going to be okay.”
Forcing tears out of my eyes, I made my lips tremble, as I yelled out to nobody in particular, “Somebody help my friend!”
A small crowd had gathered around the car, and as I opened the back door, I reached out to the little boy I had loved before he even existed. My heart full, I muttered, “Come to me, A.J.”
But he just sat there, watching me with wide eyes. He was terrified, and I did not like that. Not at all.
“I know your parents, sweetie,” I told him. “Come with me. I’ll take you home.”
When his eyes settled on the back of his guardian’s head, he turned back to me, and uttered, “Is Molly okay?”
Who gives a fuck? “Yes, sweet boy. She’ll be fine. She just fainted is all.”
He hesitated, peering down at my hand.
Come to me.
“Come here.” My voice was low, commanding, and when I saw him push himself back into the seat, away from me, I internally reprimanded myself. “Don’t you want to go home to your mummy, Alexa? And your daddy too?”
Come to me, my baby.
The little boy nodded slowly, cautiously, and I smiled softly. “Come with me, sweetie.” He put his hand in mine, and my insides uncoiled. I hadn’t known I was holding my breath until I let out the shaky exhale.
He had come.
He’d come to me willingly.
My soul ached.
How bad of a person could I be if this sweet soul came to me freely, eagerly?
This child would be my redemption. He was my chance at a better life.
My tone whisper-soft, I said, “Let’s get you home.”
As he allowed me to pull him out of the car, I lifted him in my arms, and as I settled him onto my hip, my lips began to tremble as I wrapped my arms around him and held him close to me.
The feeling... oh, God.
My heartbeat slowed in that moment.
The feeling of holding your child for the very first time was nothing short of awesome.
“Oh, shit,” I whispered as I pressed my lips to his head. For the first time in my life, I felt my heart might just burst from fullness. My eyes closed at the sheer force of the emotion I felt right then. It was hard to breathe past the thickness in my throat.
Holding my son close, I walked past the crowd, and when I was noticed, a man called out, “Hey! Where are you taking him?”
I didn’t bother responding.
A mother did not defend how she protected her child and protect him I would, even from his own parents.
I walked the short distance to my black Mercedes Kompressor and put my little man in the backseat, buckling him up before running a gentle, loving hand down the side of his face. Sliding into the driver seat then turning on the ignition, I drove and drove, and I wasn’t sure how long passed before the sad little boy in the back seat uttered an unsteady, “I want my mum.”
“Sweetie.” My brow furrowed as I peered into the rearview mirror. “Don’t be sad.” I kept my smiling eyes on him as I revealed my little secret.
“I’m your mummy now.”
***
Twitch
My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out, putting my coffee mug down. I looked down at the screen before answering. “What’s up?”
“Molly lit the distress signal,” said Happy.
He was on speaker in a car. He was driving, and as I heard cars honking around him, I knew he was driving fast.
Without a second to spare, I bolted out the front door and spoke into the phone. “Where?”
“The street before the school.”
I was already in my car, and as I turned the ignition, I saw Lexi rush out of the house barefoot, her eyes wide in question. I didn’t have time to stop. I pulled out of the driveway so fast the tires spun.
My chest thumped as I drove toward the school.
And for the first time in my life, I prayed to a God I didn’t believe in that this was only a caution.
I arrived to a scene of chaos. Molly’s car was smoking from under the hood, all the doors were open, and I couldn’t see anyone inside. The car was stationary on the sidewalk, a long trail of skid marks leading to where it had come to stop. Happy was talking to a paramedic, and when he doubled over, holding his head in his hands, I stalled midstep.
My heart stopped beating.
The heaviness in my chest weighed me down. I couldn’t move.
Happy straightened. He spotted me and started to walk over, but I stepped back, away from him. He kept coming, and the moment he reached me, he put his hands to my shoulders.
I shrugged him off. “Where is he?”
“Molly’s in bad shape. She’s barely breathing. They’re taking her to—”
Right then, I didn’t give a fuck about Molly. “Where is he?”
“—the hospital.”
Suddenly irate, my eyes widened, as I panted out, “Where is he?”
Happy swept his tongue out along his lower lip and placed his hands onto his hips. “She ran ‘em off the road, a witness said. Got out of the car and did a pretty good job of convincing the crowd that she was a friend.” He looked at me meaningfully. “Allowed her to get close.”
/> My eyes flashed. Pushing against his chest, I gripped his shirt tight and curled my lip, letting out an ominous, “I swear to God, bro....”
Happy didn’t flinch as he spoke the words that had my head imploding. He said it quietly, wretchedly. “He’s gone, Twitch.” I pushed at his shoulders and watched him stumble. “She took him.”
Fuck.
My head spun.
Shit.
My heart broke.
No. No. No, no, no.
This wasn’t happening.
Wandering aimlessly, I put my hands to the top of my head and blinked into nothingness.
I wanted to blame Ling, but the truth made my chest cave.
This was my fault.
***
Lexi
The sound of the car pulling in had me stepping out to meet him, my throat tight. As Twitch stepped out of the car, his eyes bleak, avoiding my gaze, my breathing turned shallow.
That was when I saw it.
The school bag hanging from his hand.
Police cars pulled up in front of the house, and as I blinked without focus, my entire world crumbled. I shook my head and peered over at Twitch, utterly dazed. When he finally met my eyes, the raw emotion I saw behind those soft brown eyes had me putting a hand to my throat, and stating, “No.”
One man stepped forward, and I heard him speak, but none of it really sunk in.
“Ms. Ballentine, my name is Gabriel Blanco. I’m with the Australian Federal Police.” He took his time, speaking low and calming. “Can we come in?”
I turned slowly to Twitch. My vision blurred with unshed tears. My voice was little over a whisper. “Where’s my son?”
Twitch stepped forward holding the small blue schoolbag in his hands, and it hung there like bad omen. He spoke softly, “We were wrong.” Reluctantly, he amended his statement. “I was wrong.” His hesitance spoke volumes. “She wasn’t after me.”
“Oh,” I breathed out as my throat closed over and the first of my hot tears trailed my cheeks. I fell to my knees, unblinking, and let out a hushed, “I see.”
We were wrong.
Dear God, no.
My heart began to race and my breathing turned to heavy panting as the gravity of this situation hit me.
We were so wrong.