by Piper Flynn
Cocking her head in an exaggerated fashion, she watched Emma for a second with a grotesque smile on her face.
Emma’s heart was racing. “Please, I don’t know what you want from me.” Holding her hands up in the air, she started slowly walking toward Ava. “Let me go check on Connie. If it’s money you want, take it all. I just want to get him medical attention.”
“I don’t want your fucking money, you stupid whore! And that fucking queer is lying in a ditch somewhere feeding the local wildlife. You know that full-circle shit. Predator becomes the prey.”
Emma stopped walking as Ava leveled a gun at her head. “What do you want? What could I have done to you, Ava? What could Connie have done to you?”
“Is poor little Emma still confused?” Ava’s face transformed into a mask of pure rage. “Then let me explain it to you, you fucking slut. I’m going to kill you. I’m going to fucking cut your heart from your chest and then I’m going to kill your boyfriend, and his brother. Last but not least, I’m going to slowly peel the skin off that traitorous whore, Katherine Robertson. She’s the reason I can’t be with my Master.” By the end of her tirade she was screaming, spittle flying from her mouth.
“Please put the gun down, Ava. Let’s talk about whatever has you so angry and confused. We can fix this without anyone getting hurt.” Emma lowered her voice and tried to sound as calm as possible.
“You are right, Emma. It can be fixed.” Swinging her body to the left, she fired a single shot into the older man, who fell face first onto the floor. “Problem number one, fixed. Gosh, Emma. You’re so smart. That was easy. You’re next but you aren’t going to get off so easy. I want you to hurt.”
Before Emma could react, Ava aimed and fired at her. A searing hot pain in her left arm sent her to the floor.
“Hurts, doesn’t it? That’s nothing compared to what I’m going to do to you. You caused my Master to discipline me harshly.” Ava laughed maniacally. “’Harshly’ doesn’t begin to describe it, you fucking cunt. He had the flesh flayed from my back, legs, and chest. It took me months to recover. I almost fucking died.”
Emma struggled up from her knees, clutching her arm close to her body. She had to find a way to reason with her. A shot to the arm seemed to have cleared her head completely. The lawyer had represented Andrew Stone at his trial. Ava kept saying her Master. It could be the only explanation. “Ava, please. Stop and think about what you’re saying. A Master isn’t supposed to hurt someone in his care. They are supposed to love us, cherish us, as we do them.” Maybe she could reach her.
“My Master hurt me because I needed to be cleansed of my failures. To be purified for him alone. He knew I was weak and wicked. I’ll never go to another, never.” Ava rocked back and forth as if she’d suddenly gone into her own head.
Emma watched her shudder at some memory before regaining control of herself.
“As for cherishing me, how will he do that, Emma? He’s beyond my reach. We will never know the joy of each other’s bodies as we were meant to. Never will he stand over me with blade or whip. No man will ever do that again. Your refusal to just fucking die has stripped all that away from me. My Master has made it so that the thought of a whip causes my stomach to churn. How would you feel if you could no longer find pleasure? You, Emma. You caused all that I held dear to my heart to be stripped from me. I no longer have a place anywhere with anyone. You will suffer.”
“He’s a madman, Ava. You know this. You know he killed and tortured all those women.” Emma was starting to feel lightheaded. Blood was pouring over her fingers despite her effort to staunch the flow. Her tongue was starting to feel thick in her mouth.
“He’s brilliant. Just because you don’t understand our ways, our needs, doesn’t make him crazy. It makes you intolerant and ignorant. Those Kincaids have persecuted him unjustly. Katherine Robertson should have felt honored to be singled out by Master Stone. He chose her, out of all the women he could have. He chose her,” she muttered, pulling on a lock of her red hair. “Always her.”
“Why would you want a man who chose someone else, Ava? It doesn’t make sense,” Emma asked the disturbed woman.
“Because he chose me to avenge him. He chose me to make his vessel of wrath. I will kill them all. It’s what he wants. Even his fair Kat is going to die. So you see, he really loves me. Why else would he give me this important mission? Don’t you see? Of course you don’t. You are too dumb to see anything.”
Emma flinched as Ava walked closer to her, holding the gun still loosely but at the ready. It was apparent from her relaxed handling of the weapon she was familiar with firearms.
“Maybe you really don’t see. I think I might have nicked an artery with that shot. Poor itty-bitty Emma. Is the world growing dim?” Ava chuckled delightedly. “Oh no, my dear. You aren’t getting off that easy. I’m going to hurt you more before you die. I tried to kill you quickly but the universe itself foiled those plans because it knew you needed to suffer.”
Emma tried to lurch back from Ava when she saw her reach for the knife on the counter, but the blood loss slowed down her reaction time and she felt the sharpened blade enter her side all the way to the hilt. The pain stole her breath. Oh my God, she was going to die. Stumbling, she tried to right herself only to feel the blade sink once more into her body, this time her thigh. She tried to hold back the scream of agony but couldn’t.
“Scream, bitch. That’s all I did for three days. You’re getting off lucky,” Ava whispered into her ear as she sliced lightly across her forearm.
Emma couldn’t hold herself up any longer. She felt her body slumping to the ground and Ava followed her down, straddling her with the knife still in hand. Again she felt the knife enter her abdomen. The pain this time wasn’t as sharp. She barely felt it, oddly enough. Looking up, she saw Ava’s mouth moving but she couldn’t really hear what she was saying. It was mumbling. Why was she mumbling? She’d been screaming earlier. Maybe Ava was finally tired, like her. She’d just close her eyes for a minute and rest. Ava should close her eyes and rest too. Just a small nap before Ronan picked her up. She allowed herself a small smile at the thought of Ronan’s face just as her body began to feel light and weightless. She didn’t feel the knife entering her body again. A sense of peace overcame her, urging her to close her eyes and embrace it. Just as she reached for that peace she thought she heard Ronan’s voice yelling at her.
Such a bossy Dom, she thought, before her mind blanked and her body let go.
* * * *
Ronan buried his head in his hands, trying to ignore the sounds of the hospital working around him. It had been eight hours since they’d taken her back to the OR. She’d crashed twice in the ambulance on the way here and once before they could get her upstairs. The doctors had told them her chances of survival were slim. She’d lost so much blood. The bullet wound had nicked an artery and one of the stab wounds had also. Ronan felt bile building in his throat as his mind flashed back to the café. That hellish scene just kept flashing through his brain. Mocking him.
He’d pulled up to the café and seen a body lying half in the semi-closed door. He’d rushed inside to something even his worst nightmares couldn’t have conjured up. Emma had been lying behind the counter in a pool of blood with a woman straddling her, stabbing her over and over with a knife. He’d roared in rage and pain, knocking the woman from Emma’s poor battered body. Kneeling by the woman he loved, he’d picked up her cold hand, yelling at her to open her eyes. She hadn’t responded to anything—not his touch, not his voice. Her body had been completely limp and lifeless.
He’d dialed 911, frantic to get help, and tried to staunch the bleeding with his hands. But it was useless. She was bleeding from so many places so he’d simply pulled her into his lap, cradling her close, yelling at her, then begging her to not leave him. He’d finally started threatening her right before the ambulance had arrived.
He hadn’t given a thought to the assailant he’d knocked unconscious. He’d just wa
nted to get Emma to the hospital. She couldn’t die. She just couldn’t. Living without her wasn’t an option. She couldn’t expect that of him. He’d go crazy without her. She had to survive. She just had to.
Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he looked up to find Jack standing there. “She’s going to make it.”
Ronan nodded once before again dropping his head. It was the mantra he kept repeating in his head. There could be no other outcome.
Jack walked over to a red-eyed Kat and sat down. This couldn’t be happening. All this shit should have been behind them by now. But somehow that sick fucking bastard had reached out from a prison hundreds of miles away, and hurt his family again.
Emma’s assailant, Ava Mims, was being held at the local jail for murder and two counts of attempted murder. After an hour-long search of the countryside they’d finally come across Connie, unconscious and bleeding. Ava had used a crow bar to knock him out and then dumped him in a ditch not far from the lake. Luckily he’d woken up in the ambulance and seemed to be recovering fine in another section of the hospital.
The sheriff said Ava was bat-shit crazy. They’d put her in a strait jacket for her own safety. She was ranting about killing anyone who stood in the way of her Master’s glory and freedom, saying everything was done to please her Master, the murderous bastard Andrew Stone. Frankly, he didn’t give a shit if Ava took her own life. He wished Briggs had left off the jacket. Looking again at his brother, he worried that Stone still might succeed in his master plan. Ronan would lose his mind if Emma died. Emma’s brothers both flanked Ronan, in much the same posture. Shock and sorrow etched over both their faces.
“Jack, she can’t die. She just can’t. Emma is like my sister,” Kat whispered plaintively next to him.
He squeezed Kat’s hand as her eyes once again welled with tears. “Hush, baby. She’s not going to die.”
“Listen to Jack, sugar. That woman has an iron will to survive.”
Ronan tried to block out the noises around him but he heard Chase trying to reassure Kat. Looking up he saw Jack’s quick nod of thanks directed at Chase for the help. According to the doctor, Emma had been stabbed multiple times and shot at least once. If he was being honest, he hadn’t a clue how she was still alive. He prayed her small body could hold on.
* * * *
Ronan looked up at the utilitarian clock on the wall as another hour passed. Still no word from any of the nurses or staff. Standing up he started his hundredth trek around the bland waiting room. Seven steps to the right took him to the doors of the OR. Ten steps to the left took him to the burning coffee pot. He tried not to notice the pitying looks being sent his way as he paced back and forth. He didn’t need their pity. His Emma was going to make it. She was a fighter. As he made his second pass toward the OR doors, he heard the distinct swooshing sound they made when opened from the other side. Striding through them was the doctor who had operated on Emma. He looked tired and his scrubs were covered in blood.
The Black brothers stood at his appearance and a hush fell over the packed waiting room. He felt Jack step up beside him and knew his parents were on the other side. His heart was pounding furiously. He was terrified to speak. Afraid of what the answer might be.
“Who’s here from the Black family?” the surgeon asked, looking around.
“All of us,” Ethan Black answered.
“Please, tell me she’s going to be all right.” Ronan heard the break in his own voice.
“She’s a tough one, I can tell you that. I’ve seen men twice her size succumb to the amount of blood and tissue damage she sustained. We went through ten units of blood, but she’s going to be fine. It’ll be a long, painful recovery, but with rest and then some PT, I expect her to recover fully.” The man smiled as he delivered the good news.
Ronan almost dropped to his knees. She was going to be okay. He felt himself being engulfed in a bone-crushing hug from Ethan, then his brother. Stephen was standing there looking dazed, tears streaming down his face. Kat had walked over to him and gave him a hug, which seemed to bring him back to himself. He hugged her back so hard she squealed.
“When can we see her?” Ronan asked.
“I want her to sleep for at least the next twelve hours. Her body needs rest. She’s got a long fight ahead of her. Her and the baby. The kid has her mom’s spirit, I can tell you that.”
Ronan’s heart stopped. The entire room seemed to come to standstill. “What? The what? Did you say baby? She’s pregnant?”
The doctor nodded. “Can’t be more than two months along. I take it this is a surprise, by your reactions?”
Ronan could only nod as both Black brothers moved up to surround him. “Did he just say Em’s pregnant?”
“I’m going to be a dad. Holy shit, I’m going to be a dad.” Ronan couldn’t believe it.
“Congratulations, old man,” Jack said, chuckling from behind him.
His mother pulled him down for a hug and kiss through her tears, and his father gave him a few hearty slaps on the back.
Kat had started squealing the moment she’d heard and was now talking with Marty Kincaid about nursery colors and clothes.
The doctor waited until everyone had calmed back down before speaking. “As with all surgeries, there’s always a chance of infection or complications. Not that I expect there to be a problem but her poor body has been through a lot. And the baby adds to all the work her body has to do to heal itself. So don’t think it’s going to be an easy road for a long while.”
“Of course, doctor. Anything she needs, we’ll see to it,” Stephen said quietly. “We just want our sister to be whole again.”
Before he went back through the doors, he promised he’d have a nurse come out and show them back so they could look in on Emma. But under no circumstances were they to wake her, or try to wake her. The look he shot all three of them promised severe retribution if they tried.
Ronan sat down in the hard chair with a thud. She was alive—and having his baby. Holy shit, a baby. He’d stopped using protection months ago and knew it was a possibility but still—a baby.
“Congratulations, Ronan. I heard the good news, and then the good news after that,” Sheriff Briggs said with a smile of genuine happiness. He was glad Emma was going to pull through. He had a feeling he’d been arresting every person in this room and lost a prisoner if she’d passed on.
“Thanks, Briggs.” Ronan shook the outstretched hand. “Sorry I punched you earlier. I was out of my mind.”
Joshua Briggs shrugged it off good-naturedly. “You weren’t in your right mind, Ronan. No harm, no foul.”
Ethan and Stephen both sat down next to Ronan. “Any more news for us? What are you going to do about Stone? This shouldn’t have happened. He shouldn’t have been able to touch anyone again.”
“He’s a smart, sadistic bastard, I’ll give him that. None of us could have seen this type of thing happening. Seems he found a follower in Ava Mims. You haven’t been here long enough to have heard any of the rumors about her but she comes from a piss-poor family. Her mother and father were abusive, mentally and sexually. Her brothers used to use her for, well, awful things. It was a stain on the community that so many years passed and no one realized the horrors visited on that girl. So they tend to not talk about it or her. A social worker finally had her removed from the house but it seems it was too late. Her mind had been twisted. She did tell us Stone’s plan, though. He sent her to kill all the Kincaids and everything the Kincaids loved.”
“Can you prove he was involved?” Ronan asked tiredly. It seemed they’d never be rid of Andrew Stone.
“Soon as the prison office opens in the morning I’m requesting all surveillance footage from the visitor’s room. Should put her in his vicinity. She confessed to the entire thing on camera, even went so far as to tell us it was her Master’s grand plan. He’ll be banned from receiving visitors other than legal visits, which unfortunately we can’t stop. There could also be new charges brought against him. I
think I’m also going to petition a transfer to a supermax facility in Colorado. It’s lovingly referred to as the Alcatraz of the Rockies. Twenty-three hours of lockdown, no visits.”
“Please keep us in the loop, Briggs,” Ethan said, extending a hand. “Anything we can do to keep that bastard as far away from our loved ones we’ll do. I’m sure Emma will do whatever necessary.”
“She won’t do anything that’ll put her in danger,” Ronan growled at Ethan.
Stephen slapped a hand on Ronan’s shoulder. “Face it, man, she’s going to do whatever she wants in that regard and you know it. It’ll be better to help her than have her fighting against us.”
Ronan hated it when her idiot brothers had a point. But he’d be with her every step of the way. He didn’t know if he’d ever be able to leave her side again after this. He’d quit the damn company. He had plenty of money. Jack would have to understand. Being a company had never been his dream. The business world suffocated him. He’d never envied Jack his position as head of it all. Turning, he looked at Jack.
Jack smiled a bit lopsided. “I know. You don’t have to say anything. I’m going to need to find someone to take your place. I get it, I do. You’ll always have a place if you change your mind, but I have a feeling you’re going to have your hands full.”
Ronan started to answer just as a nurse walked out and asked for members of the Black family. He stood, striding to the door beside her brothers.
The nurse looked at the three large men walking her way and knew no way were they going to let her follow hospital regulations of only two people visiting at a time. Some battles just weren’t worth fighting. “You can only be back here for five minutes,” she said, turning and striding down the hallway. The men hurried to follow. “You aren’t to try and wake her or disturb her in anyway. She needs rest. So don’t even think about waking her up. I’m meaner than I look.” Turning, she stopped abruptly, causing Ethan to almost plow her down. “Do I make myself clear, Mr. and Mr. Black?”