“We’re going to see that you stay away.”
I don’t answer. I push myself up and deck her in the face. The sting crawling up my arm.
A hand grips my hair and yanks me back as a foot connects with the back of my leg, knocking me to the ground again. I can feel the skin rip on my knees, and I cry out. The bitch grasping my hair laughs and yanks me back to a standing position, spinning me around to face her.
“Nowhere to go, little mouse. The cat caught you.”
Oh, my God. That voice. I’ll never forget it. My gut twists in a hundred knots as I take her in. She looks crazed and possessed. As if something foreign has taken over her body.
I search the woman’s face for a sign of rationality as I try to make sense of her involvement. There’s no way Logan would ever be with her. Not after what her sister did to Lane.
My stomach clenches. What if she was involved with Logan before? No, I shove that doubt away. He would have told me. Whatever she’s doing here has to do with Lexi.
“What are you doing, Sadie? What did I ever do to you? Lane was right; you don’t care about Lexi at all. Well, lucky for her we won’t let you see her ever again. Back away or you’ll be—”
She grips me by the throat, her face so close to mine I watch in horror as her pupils dilate to damn near black. I’m shocked, disturbed, and wholly grateful she will never be alone with Lexi.
If not from Lane’s hatred, definitely after this.
“I’ll be what, shoved to the side again? He did that once for my sister. Lexi should have been mine, and once I frame him and Logan for murdering these ladies who are eager to get a piece of you, the court will give her to me. You see, Lane needs to pay for what he’s done, and you, Ellie, are the first part of his payment.”
Her voice is low enough for the women not to hear. I heard it all. Every last delusional word.
“You have lost your mind. When you’re caught, you’ll wish you never laid a finger on me.”
I shove her, push another out of my way, but I’m not quick enough to escape from the clutches. I scream. I continue to do so even when I’m spun around and punched in the stomach.
“Stop, you need to listen to me. Whatever Sadie told you is a setup. You need to run,” I wheeze through the loss of breath, unable to finish telling them what Sadie has planned.
“We’ll be running, alright. Straight into Logan’s grieving arms,” someone says right before a fist hits me hard enough to fog my mind.
I’m dizzy; my mind turns into a cloudy haze.
I want to break free. To fight back. Hurt them like they’re hurting me, but I fall and struggle trying to free Sadie’s hand that once again circles my neck, fighting to pry her away. My windpipe is being crushed, making me gasp for breath.
“You’ll never get your hands on Lexi.”
“Oh, but I will. If my sister wasn’t hell bent on coming back and making things right, she might still be alive. I would have killed Whitney too if I didn’t need her to help me. You see, they never gave a shit about her the same as they never did me. You, though, Lane cares about you. He never did her, the same as he never did me. An eye for an eye. A life for a life.”
I’m drifting into unconsciousness, unaware if my mind is playing tricks on me over the top of Sadie’s screeching as she bears down on my throat, I hear what sounds like Renita, Norah, and Gabe.
I don’t know what happens next as something smashes into the side of my head. I can’t do anything but listen to the sounds around me. I gasp for air, struggle for a breath, and what feels like strong arms catch me before I fall to the ground.
The sounds of heels dragging across the pavement, groans, and car doors closing assault my ears. I should see what’s happening, tell whoever it is not to hurt those women, but a piercing, sharp pain slices through my abdomen that I gasp for breath.
“Oh, God, my stomach.”
A hand rests against my shoulder and I wince.
“Oh, my God. Ellie, sweetheart, it’s okay, you’re going to be okay, sweetheart.”
Voices.
I hear them, but I can’t see them.
I’m drifting, floating toward a blinding light. The strangest sensations migrate through my veins, through my stomach and I look down to see blood coating my sweats between my legs.
Cramping. So much cramping and something warm and what feels clotty gushes out of me.
“What, what is that?” I cry, doing my best not to let my lids shutter closed.
“Oh, no. Ellie, are you pregnant? Oh, God, Norah call an ambulance, please. I think Ellie might be losing her baby. Oh, sweetheart. Please God, no.”
I shake my head; there’s too much noise. Too much light behind my stinging eyes to understand what’s happening.
The pain is excruciating in my head and my pelvic area. I pant as tears fall from my eyes.
“Ellie, you can’t fall asleep. Stay awake.”
“Baby, no,” I whisper. Did someone say I was losing my baby? That can’t be. I’m unable to get another word out when the world around me begins to blur, and everything goes black.
Chapter 18
Logan
“This isn’t your fault, Logan. You didn’t force those women to hurt Ellie. You blame yourself, and it’s not going to do you or her a bit of good. You need to get the hell out of this town.”
Lane stands before me; concern etched in his voice. Worry creasing his brows and guilt bleeding out of him.
I rest my forearms on the hood of my SUV and bow my head. My mind is swimming with questions to which I don’t have answers because all I can think about is Ellie and the things she whispered to Renita when she finally came to. If it weren’t for Ellie being worried about Lexi through the devastation she was going through herself, we wouldn’t know what the fuck went down and why Sadie did what she did.
“Lazaro has his private jet waiting at the airport. You will get on it, and you and Ellie will lean on each other. You will let me and Rocco handle the club, and you will let me take care of this, Logan. There’s no room to argue over this.”
There’s plenty of room to argue over this, preferably with a gun to peoples’ heads.
“When the fuck will this end? The constant of people, getting away with things they shouldn’t get away with? They hurt Ellie; they stole something from her and me. We will never get it back. Lane.” I run my hands down my face. Tears welling in my eyes. “Fuck!”
My tight chest gets tighter as he moves into me, grips me by a shoulder and pulls me in for a hug. I take hold of my brother to steady myself. Everything inside me hurts.
Hell, I didn’t even call Lane to tell him what when down. Gabe did because I no sooner got here when Lane showed up with a sleeping Lexi in his arms. I stared at the precious little thing in his arms and about lost my shit when she woke and started asking why we were at the hospital. When Lane partially lied and told her Ellie fell and bumped her head. Then Lexi started crying because she was scared for Ellie. That was the moment everything hit me at once.
The hell our little angel would go through if Gabe would have killed the woman responsible for heading up the attack. The hell my brother is going through because he can’t. Me, Ellie. Our entire families. If I thought I lived in hell before, I was dead fucking wrong. This is hell, this is pain and what went down is unbearable, unexplainable agony like never before.
A loss none of us will ever forget.
Discomfort as I’ve never felt, passes through my skin. It breaks out in a cold, damp sweat. It coats my stomach, seeps into my brain, and it’s a trip to Hell that will last me a lifetime.
My mouth is dry. My hands are shaking. I mentally and physically ache. And, Ellie, I can’t even begin to imagine what’s going through her mind.
Hatred and anger and loss.
“I don’t know, Logan. I am so sorry, brother. So damn sorry. Mine, Rocco, and Gabe’s primary concern are you and Ellie. Everything else doesn’t mean shit. Do you understand?”
I don’t und
erstand anything except I have a woman I would die for who was beaten and miscarried our child neither of us knew she was expecting.
A baby.
Mine and Ellie’s.
“That’s easier said than done, Lane. If it weren’t for Behind Closed Doors and the life I led, none of this would have happened. I can’t just forgive myself and move on.” Guilt digs a nice hole in my bones and nearly cripples me thinking the last time I spoke with Ellie she left the club angry. So, yeah this is my fault. The circle starts and ends with that club.
I refuse to let Lane take the blame for this. He did nothing but stand by a woman he knocked up. A woman who now that I know the truth, had cleaned her act up and was determined to do everything to make it up to Lexi.
A woman who was killed by her own sister.
“That’s bullshit. We don’t make choices for others, Logan. You of all people know this. Once you get past the emotions that are eating away at your conscience, you’ll see I’m right. If this is anyone’s fault, it’s mine.”
I knew he’d take the blame when in truth it’s neither of our faults. It’s the fault of an unstable woman who somehow got in good with women from my past, and every single one is going to get away with murdering my child and beating Ellie. Sadie because of who she is and those women because if half a dozen were reported missing, the investigation likely would lead them to the one connection they have.
Behind Closed Doors, and that’s what Sadie had planned all along.
Ironic how we wanted to protect their names along with everyone else when Whitney stole my laptop, and here we are protecting them again.
“You going to practice what you’re preaching?”
Lane’s lips turn downward and briefly, he glances to his truck where Gabe is keeping watch over a passed out Lexi who should be tucked away in her bed. Lane tried getting her to leave with Gabe hours ago, she threw a fit and said she wasn’t leaving until she saw Ellie. Thank fuck Lexi fell asleep before she got the chance.
“We have no other choice at the moment, Logan. When I spoke with William, he claims he didn’t know Sadie killed Stephanie. The man could hardly get a word out, he’s a mess. I know grief and guilt when I see it and he is feeling it ten times over. He covered up Stephanie’s death to protect himself. Because of that, plus him hiding the fact he had a daughter who abandoned her own, I don’t trust him, but I honest to God don’t think he had anything to do with this, Logan.”
“You’re putting a lot of trust in a man who covered up his daughter’s murder.” I can aim my piss farther than I trust William Benoit. The dear old governor that has citizens eating out of the palm of his hands.
“With what happened to Ellie, yes I am. With him being the one to help Shadow, yes on that too. William might be corrupted, but he wouldn’t go as far as hurting Ellie. If I find out he did, you know I won’t let him get away with it.”
A nauseating scheme settles over me as I take a step back and glance toward the exit doors of the hospital.
“It doesn’t make what he did right. It doesn’t make it right those women did what they did. If I could kill them all, I would. We have to trust William will lock Sadie away. I’m done with that family. They are out of my life, out of yours. Do you hear me?”
“This all leads back to Whitney, the cunt is trying to finish me off from the grave.”
Whitney was steps ahead of me in this game that cost my unborn child his or her life. The thought ripples anger through my veins, fiery and abrupt — taunting me with knowing my hands are tied.
“She was a manipulative bitch. Wouldn’t surprise me one bit if she helped Sadie kill Stephanie just to get back at our family. Somehow those two got in good with the warden. Not sure if it was before Whitney found out about Ellie or after. For once, let me take the lead on figuring it all out, Logan. Let me find out what’s going on. Let me be the one to protect you. You need to focus on you and Ellie.”
I’ve no doubt how they got in with the warden. They spread their legs and my dead wife offered him money she thought I’d give her just to get her out of my life.
The thing is, when you put two unstable women together, one or both is bound to go over the edge.
Whitney is dead, the other is more than likely hidden away and sedated in some psychiatric hospital. Answers aren’t going to come as easily as we wish they would.
“You’re right about everything except it being your fault, Lane. You find out anything, don’t you keep it from me.” I don’t have it in me to think about this anymore. I’m exhausted, worried, grieving, and pissed.
“That’s something you don’t have to worry about.”
I know I don’t. Can’t seem to help myself. As of late worry has been my goddamn best friend.
Fuck what I feel and think for the time being. Fuck all these people who have done the unthinkable for the time being. It’s the woman I love I’m concerned about. The agony she’s going through because she blames herself. Ellie’s where my thoughts need to lie. Her state of mind. Her peace and I need to say to hell with everything else and focus on her, and I will if I can get her to agree to disappear with me for a while. That is if she doesn’t hate my guts once she comes out of her shocked state.
There is no way out of what was taken from Ellie. No amount of money or time can bring it back. No death. No torture. Not a damn thing in this world will make this right. Not even a sincere I’m sorry.
Death, it knocked on our door and stole a part of her once again.
Why?
I want to be livid. I want this vortex that’s mine and Ellie’s life to swallow us whole. I want to rip limbs off the women who did this to her, to me, and everyone else we love. Right now, I can’t think past the intense silence that fell in the small hospital room that somehow hit my ears as if everyone in there screamed with horror.
Worse, the way Ellie’s face went chalk white. Her entire body going immobile except her hands that went for her stomach and the look on her face when she glanced up at me that made my blood run cold as the doctor delivered the unexpected, devastating news that felt like a hundred arrows nailed me at once in the chest.
“I’m sorry, Miss Wynn, you miscarried.”
I will never get Ellie’s shattered look out of my mind. All emotions drained from her gorgeous face.
She looked more damaged, more injured, more crumbled than on the video.
Ellie looked empty, and there’s no amount of protection I can give her to ease her mind.
“Ellie should be out soon. Get the hell out of town and stay gone for as long as you need. Gabe is going to fly to Michigan and tell Seth we’re closing the club. He’s not going to tell him what happened. Behind Closed Doors will be no more, Logan.”
Right. I barely remember hearing Rocco tell Lane he doesn’t want the club after this. Can’t blame him. Lord knows I never want to step foot in that place again. They can burn it down for all I care.
Guilt heats my blood as I watch Lane walk toward his truck at the thought of him taking on everything when he should be home with Lexi, but it evaporates the minute I see the sliding doors open and Ellie being wheeled out.
Opening the door to my SUV, I stare at the woman coming out of the hospital in a wheelchair, a bandage around her head, hand on her stomach, bruises on her face and I thank God she’s alive.
This incredible woman is balancing a hell of a lot on her shoulders right now. Not only was she beaten and lost something neither of us knew was growing inside of her but would have loved with all we had, she lied to the doctors and the cops about what happened to save mine and Lane’s ass.
She told them she had no clue who attacked her. Straight up lied and claimed she was jumped from behind when she went outside to accept a call from me. One I was trying to make to warn Ellie to stay inside until I got there.
I snatched my jacket and left not more than five seconds after Sadie’s name popped out of Lauren’s mouth. It wasn’t until I got on the road that I grabbed my phone out of my jack
et pocket and saw I had a missed call from Ellie. I heard bits and pieces of the attack. Enough that it had me breaking every traffic law there was.
But I was too late to save her. Too late to protect when I promised I would.
I’ve never cared about the way I used to go about obtaining anything in my life before I met Ellie. Not a goddamn thing meant shit to me except revenge and family. Survival in this fucked up world that gives you a slice of happiness and then turns around and kicks you where it hurts the most.
A thief. That’s what life is.
I’ve fucked up with Ellie more times than I deserve to be forgiven for, and after what happened to her there is no way in hell I’m fucking up again.
If it weren’t for Renita and Gabe doing their best to set my ass straight that what happened to Ellie wasn’t my fault when I arrived here, I’d be consumed with more guilt than I have for everything that went down.
“Ellie, you don’t worry about the store, do you hear me? You will take time off like the doctor said. Logan is taking you on a trip. Norah went home and packed everything you need. If you need anything else, let me know.” Renita tries to choke back a sob as she stands there as helpless as me and watches the nurse help Ellie out of the wheelchair and guide her into the front seat. The sob erupts from Renita’s throat when Ellie pulls the seatbelt across her lap, secures it and her hand goes right back to her stomach.
“Thank you,” Renita acknowledges the nurse who nods with a sad smile on her face and leaves us.
I didn’t think there was any way possible to feel more pain than before, but there is a lone tear slips down Ellie’s face and I force a smile around the emotion as I reach out and brush it away. “I love you. You know that, right?”
She has to feel it. Fuck, don’t let me lose her over this. We’ve come so far. Gained so much and lost even more.
Only when she glances directly into my eyes, do I see that strength trying to burst its way through the sadness she’s holding inside.
Ellie doesn’t answer; she nods her head, grabs the door handle, and shuts it after I pull my hand away.
Undone (Unbound Trilogy Book 2) Page 18