I wouldn’t I’ve taken many lives and not one has affected me his sure and the fuck wouldn’t.
“Love you too asshole.”
Climbing into my car I don’t wait for Kevin I don’t wait for anyone. I was on the road and headed to the house that was supposed to be safe.
A place I left Lily thinking it would be okay. Who in their right fucking mind would touch what belonged to me? I made my presence known walking there with them.
I could feel the real me the man who killed and tortured. Maimed and destroyed, taking over. Tonight I would take lives and relish in it.
Chapter 20
Bethy
The house looked perfect from the outside. Lights were on and to any bystander, it would like like everything was as it should be.
The more I stared the more it hurt. I knew they were gone long before I opened the door. It was quiet. The stairs loomed before me.
The way to Joyclns room. My feet felt heavy, almost as if weighted with cement. My lungs seized in my chest as my heart skipped.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to find. So many what ifs squirted my subconscious. What if they were all dead? What if Jocln was dead and the girls missing?
I wanted to scream as they floated around my mind. Placing my foot on the first step took more strength than it should have.
The blood rushing through my veins seemed so loud it drowned out the silence. Spots danced before my eyes little purple specks.
I was going to pass out. Releasing the breath I didn’t know I was holding I inhale with all I had. The house smelled clean, no coppery sent no stench of death.
Not that I knew what death smelt like, but everything I’ve seen on tv told me it left a smell in the air. My other foot touched the second stair.
The more I climbed the less I could breathe. It should have been easier the closer I got right? At least I thought. My stomach tightened painfully.
I feared I would never eat again, it was that painful. Darkness danced at the edge of my vision. Suck it up Bethy! Lily needs you.
It was like a switch was flipped I ran the rest of the way up the stairs the door to the room, I knew was going to change my life was slightly ajar.
Opening it could destroy me. Pressing my hand against the door I give a slight push. My eyes closed and refused to open. Could I face reality? Be strong, I chanted as my eyes opened and my world crumbled.
Chapter 21
Lark
The drive was eating at me. I should have been there. I should have stayed with her. The more miles my car ate, the more it plagued me.
I already knew Bethy wouldn’t stay put. She was right where I didn’t want her to be. Some things can’t be unseen. Kevin was riding behind me.
His second Sam or Silent man as Tessa called him riding beside him. I did my work alone, so having them with me was both irritating and a slight relief.
I had no fucking clue what I was walking into and for the first time in my life fear ate at my insides. This is what others felt when I came for them.
Not something I thought I would ever feel. The more it ate at me the angrier I became. I was going to kill the sons of bitches responsible.
The real question is how slow and messy I was going to make it. I could make it last weeks. Months even. Kevin asked who the fuck would be stupid enough to fuck with me.
To touch my family. I could think of none. No one. I could finally see the house. The door was open and I knew Bethy was in there.
My heart skipped painfully. What the fuck was she seeing? What the fuck happened? Climbing from my car the questions eat at me.
So loud I barely heard Kevin and Sam pull up behind me. What was she seeing that I couldn’t fix. Silently I walked up the steps and through the front door.
The lights were inviting their warm glow a contradiction to tonights events. Using my hands, I direct Kevin and Sam to look here on the ground floor.
I slowly climbed the oak stairs. Pulling my gun from my coat as I climb. The top loomed in front of me. Could I save Bethy from this?
Was there any chances of bringing her back from wherever the darkness will take her? All three doors were ajar. Not knowing the layout pissed me off.
A sob had my fingers tightening on the hilt of the gun. I knew the lyrical sound it was Bethy. Rushing into the first room I drop to my knees.
Wrapping my arms around her I pull her close. Comforting someone was foreign to me. Looking around the room, I take in the queen size bed.
There was a phone sitting on the floor next to the bed broken. Its black screen useless. The closet doors ripped open and stuff pulled out.
It looked like someone held on to the items in an attempt to stay hidden inside the tiny space.
“She’s gone.”
Her voice was so hollow it hurt to hear.
“I’ll find her.”
Behty presses her face into my chest. My hand cups the back of her head.
“I know.”
There was no doubt in her voice. She trusted me completely to find and bring our girl home.
“Come on Tesoro Mio. Let me get you home.”
Pulling her to her feet before pulling her into my arms I hold her close. I feared letting her go. Carrying her to the car I turn and look at Kevin and Sam both give me a negative.
They found nothing.
“Follow me.”
Placing Bethy into the car I close the door.
“How many were here?”
Looking at Kevin over the top of the car.”
“One woman and two little girls.”
One of those girls was mine and that was the biggest mistake whoever took her could have made. Climbing into the drivers seat I head to Bethys house.
Tonight I would hunt.
Chapter 22
Bethy
There was this emptiness inside me. I felt hollow like a chocolate easter bunny. Lily was gone. Lark pressed his lips to my forehead as he placed me on my bed.
I took comfort in the simple gesture. Reaching for his face I cup it between my hands. My eyes meet his. I try to tell him without words that I understood.
That I wanted him to do what he did. I wanted him to kill them all. His lips press to mine. Warmth suffused me. I could feel his love for me his need to make us whole again.
His eyes dark and full of anger locked with mine. I knew tonight was going to be bloody.
“Bring her home.”
I barely heard the words as they left my lips. As if I was afraid to speak out loud. That if I said it loud enough, it would make it more real more devastating more unfixable.
It hurt. The pain I felt at her loss. She was out there somewhere waiting to be found waiting for me. My body turned on me.
I physically hurt. Pain had my muscle shaking and my skin tightening. Emotional pain became physical.
“I’ll bring her home Amore and I will kill every mother fucker who stands in my way.”
His cold words warmed my blood. I wanted to bath in their blood. I wanted to watch him gut them like the spineless fish they are.
“Make them pay.”
The words filled with cold, dark anger as they passed my lips had my eyes closing. If I wasn’t sitting right here in this moment I would never have believed I could say something so heartless.
His fingers gripped my chin the gentle yet firm touch, pulling my attention to him. Our eyes collided and I could see it. I could see everything.
They all were going to die no one was walking away.
Chapter 23
Lark
Her blood lust fueled my own. I could see her mother instincts screaming at her to take action. Kissing her fingers I release her.
The longer I stayed here the longer shes away from Bethy. Pressing one last kiss to her forehead, I pull my phone from my pocket.
I needed more than just me on this I needed my cousins.
“Lark.”
Jaxsons voice was smooth. Sarah probably finally calmed down.
“I need help.”
Speaking the words pissed me off. I hated asking for help so much so this is the first time those three words passed my lips. The quick intake of breath told me he also knew this.
“Anything.”
“They took Lily.”
“The child of the woman you're watching?”
“Mine!”
The words erupted from me. They weren't just a fucking job they were mine.
“Shit man rain, it in.”
I wanted to reach through the line and grab his throat family or not.
“Who took her?”
“That’s why I'm calling.”
He was the only one I could trust with this information Kevin was in sequential and so was sam. Killing them would be nothing, just like blinking or breathing natural.
“Ok, give me a moment.”
It felt like forever standing here in front of my car Kevin standing off to my side just far enough out of reach I couldn’t touch him.
“Alright, it has something to do with Joe that guy Jace killed. The reason you're watching his… your family.”
The knife in the door and the note. Hanging up, I slip the phone back into my pocket. I knew where I needed to go.
“Follow me.”
I don’t look at them, I don’t wait for a response. I sure as fuck didn’t need to hold their hand. Climbing into my car I head in the direction I staked out a few days ago.
I already knew all I needed to know about this place.
Chapter 24
Lark
The air was crisp and the night gave me the shadows I needed to creep up to the door. I wasn’t taking my time here, there was no going slow.
A switch has been flipped the calm, collected me slipped away. Looking at the men behind me, I give them little warning before entering the door.
Both guns in hand, I open fire. Bullets destroyed knees before entering chests of the men around us. A few well placed bullets between the eyes.
The only sound to be heard were the thumps of bodies as they hit the floor. All of them to surprised to return fire. Stepping over the bodies I make my way down the hall.
Opening one door at a time only to find them empty was both infuriating and a relief. She was here somewhere and so were the other two.
Pressing against the wall I open the last door and there they were. All three sitting at a table the girls coloring and the mom fighting tears.
Ah and the man of the hour made his move reaching for my hand as if my gun would just slip away. With quick movements I pressed it under his chin the barrel digging deep.
“Wait man I didn’t touch them. As soon as I found out who she was…”
Pressing the barrel deeper I growl at him. I wanted to pull the trigger and watch his brains what little he had spray the walls and floors behind him.
Lily’s sweet face swung my way her eyes as big as the smile that spread over her face.
“Look what I made!”
Her excitement was a relief she was untouched and unharmed. She holds up this coloring book like it was a wrestling belt and waves it around.
“Beautiful Bunny.”
“I dids good huh Lark?”
“YesCucciolo you did good.”
Her little giggles warmed some of the cold that surrounded me.
“You have two fucking seconds to get from my site and if I ever lay eyes on you again protecting her from nightmares of you won’t stop me from putting a bullet in your head and redecorating the walls in your blood.”
His eyes widened as he shook his head. I almost thought they were going to fall out. Grabbing him by his tie I pull him in close, letting the weight of my stare prove my words were true.
“Fuck with me again and there will be no place to hide. I will hunt you like the pray you are and pull your insides out and show them to you before you die.”
Tears of fear fill his eyes and I smile. He tried to talk, but his voice left him. Instead, I got a very hard head nod. Releasing him I give him a shove.
Kevin and Sam would make sure he disappeared not that I worried about that the man was one blink from pissing himself.
“Come on Bunny.”
“What abouts my stuff?”
“My friends will get your stuff/”
She looks at them standing behind me. I watch in fascination as she eyes them slowly as if weighing whether or not she could rely on them.
Crouching down I open my arms and wait. Whatever reservations she was having disappeared as she threw herself at me.
“I missed you.”
“I missed you to Bunny.”
Standing I scoop her up and carry her out of the room.
“Close your eyes Bunny.”
“Why?”
“Because I want you to tell me your biggest, happiest moment and to get it right, I need you to close your eyes.”
Her little nod followed by her eyes closing had another smile spreading over my face.
“I’s gots lots of good ones.”
“I just bet you do. How about you share one with me now?”
“I had cookies and ice cream. Lots of them and I was coloring at auntie Bethys house.”
“That does sound really good.”
“Oh, it was so yummy.”
Pressing out the exterior door, I make my way to my car.
“Okay Bunny you can open them.”
She shakes her head in negative.
“I'm sleepy.”
“Okay Cucciolo get some rest we will be home soon.
Slipping her into the back seat I kick myself for not having a car seat. Without looking for Kevin or Sam I climb into my car and head to Bethy.
With a quick look in the reaervieaw mirror, I watch as Bunny falls asleep. Pressing on the accelerator I let the darkness swallow me and my car eat up the miles of pavement between us and home.
Chapter 25
Bethy
How long has he been gone? Minutes? Hours? This cold has settled on my chest and weighted me down. I needed them home, I needed them with me.
How long would I have to wait? The sound of the door closing and footsteps climbing the stairs had the breath in my lungs stilling.
I wanted to jump and run to him. Fear kept me planted here on my bed. What if he didn’t find her? What if… I couldn’t go down that road.
Squeezing my eyes tight I fight the tears that wanted to leak out of them. Then he was in the room. Standing beside the bed in silence.
My body didn’t react to him no tingles at his closeness nothing. It hit like a slap to the face this wasn’t Lark. Cruel hands grab at me.
I try to scream but one meaty hand covers my mouth. Opening my eyes, I look at the overweight man dragging me from my bed.
The air in my lungs freeze and everything in me revolts at the snarling face I just caught a glimpse of. He was going to die. They all were going to die the one question plaguing me was I going to be saved before they…
I couldn’t think of that now. I wouldn’t let my mind wander down that road. I needed to stay in the now. I smiled against the hand when I thought of what Lark was going to do with them.
I wanted to gloat at their impending deaths. I try to be strong as my heels drag across the floor. The wood underneath was smooth, but it pulled at my flesh.
When we reached the stairs my eyes widened. The very thought of my body being dragged down the steps had fear clamping down.
It was going to hurt. Bracing myself for the pain I was surprised when I was lifted and swung over his broad shoulder. The air was forced from my lungs in a wosh as my stomach made contact.
Oh it hurt. Tears stung my eyes as my muscle protested every step he took. The slight bounce had me slamming into his shoulder over and over.
Breathing was impossible. Looking at my door through blurry eyes, I had a moment of shock, he was walking right out the front door carrying me over his shoulder like a rolled up carpet.
Someone had to see, right? Surely someone would help? All my hopes crashed into
ash lit up like flames on gasoline. My back hit the rear seat of the black SUV hard.
I tried to catch my barrings I wanted to escape, to run, but I couldn’t get my lungs to collect enough air. Screaming wasn’t an option.
Kicking my feet I struggle to stall them. Pain erupted in my cheek as a man leaned over from front and punched me hard. Spots danced before my eyes.
I tried to shake it off to fight the darkness, but it swallowed me and any chances of escape.
Chapter 26
Lark
The door stood open. Something was wrong. Looking at Bunny I try and run through everything. She wouldn’t have left not without knowing where Bunny was.
I left Kevin and Sam back at the house and I had a moment of regret. A feeling ive never had before.
“Listen to me Bunny. I need you to stay right here do not move.”
Her eyes full of impending sleep nods. Climbing from the car I lock it before making my way to the front door. The silence was disturbing.
The air held a hint of cologne confirming what I already knew she was gone. Reaching for my phone I dial Kevins number.
“Lark?”
“I need you to pick up Lily.”
“What?”
“Bethys gone and I need you to watch Lily.”
My voice wavered. My first sign of weakness exposed.
“I'm coming.”
Without another word I end the call and dial Jaxson.
“Lark?”
“I need another favor.”
“Did you not find her?”
“Bethys gone.”
Every time those words left my mouth a dagger pierced my heart.
“Fuck.”
He knows what this means. I’ll burn the fuck city to the ground to find her. I will light a match and watch the world go up in flames. I ask him the same questions I asked myself.
“What would you do to keep her safe? Kill one man? A hundred?”
Silence.
“I would kill them all for her.”
The darkness in my voice had him inhaling deeply. I would kill millions to bring her home. He didn’t answer my questions, but I already knew his answer.
Lark (Carter Family Book 1) Page 6