by Penelope Sky
“Not my family…”
“You shouldn’t have touched mine, then.” I pulled out the blade, the knife that had killed most of his men that night. “And I will kill them exactly the way I’m going to kill you, the way I executed all the men who surrendered. I put them on their knees, yanked their heads back, and sliced their throats down to the bone. You’re next, asshole.”
He started to shake. “Don’t. Touch. Them.”
“What are you going to do about it?” I kneeled in front of him, holding the bloody knife in my hand. “Huh?”
His jaw was clenched tight as the blood poured down his chin.
“That’s right,” I said. “Nothing. You will do nothing because you’re my bitch now. You will die in the room that used to be your throne. You will be powerless to protect the ones you love. I will never be powerless. Any man who ever touches my family will pay the full price in return.”
“Mercy…”
“You forfeited mercy the instant you touched my woman.”
“Please…” He started to cry, tears running down his face. “My oldest son is only five…”
I didn’t feel any pity in my heart, none at all. “It’s sad that an innocent child will die because his father became too arrogant. You really thought this stupid plan of yours was going to work? I’m a hitman. I’m paid to kill people. It’s nothing personal. But asshole, you made this personal.” I pointed the knife at him.
He no longer seemed afraid of his own death, just for the safety of his family. “Not my children…not my wife.”
“You touched my woman.”
“And I’m sorry for that…”
“Oh, you’re sorry?” I cocked my head to the side. “She was chained up in a room like a goddamn slave. For that reason alone, I’ll kill your entire family. Your mother is still alive, so I’ll throw her in there too.”
“No!”
“Enough with the small talk.” I pressed the edge of the blade right against his throat. “Last words?”
He held my gaze as he breathed hard. Acceptance slowly entered his puffy eyes, along with the resignation. “My family is innocent. Please—”
I sliced his neck and let him fall to the floor.
I wiped my blade on his shirt then returned it to the sheath before I walked away. The gunfire had stopped because the war was over. All the men in the palace had been killed, and most of my men had survived. Any backup that might have been coming to the son’s aid had driven away, knowing there was no one to save.
I walked past the graveyard of bodies, kicking aside limbs when they got in my way. Vanessa had been saved, and I’d killed everyone who remained behind. But my blood lust wasn’t satisfied. He took my family away from me, the most important person in my life. She was my whole world—and he touched her.
I wasn’t finished yet.
I would track down the rest of his family—and burn them alive.
I walked to the entryway of the palace and found the last man that I hadn’t killed, the one Vanessa asked me to spare. I never had a chance to ask why he was worth saving. Since I didn’t know what her reason was, I let him live.
He stared at me, visibly starting to shake now that every man in that palace was dead. He slowly crept away, his hands in the air in the form of surrender.
It was hard for me not to kill him, almost impossible. But I didn’t pull my knife because my woman had requested that he live.
She better have a good reason.
I stepped outside as Crow spoke into my ear. “Griffin, are you there?”
I’d turned off the headset during battle, knowing he would just try to talk me out of staying. “I’m here.”
“Are you alright?”
“More than alright. Everyone is dead.”
He sighed over the line. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“How’s Vanessa?” I hadn’t even gotten a chance to kiss her.
“She’s staring at me right now, crying because she knows you’re alright.”
I wanted her tears to soak into my t-shirt. I wanted to taste those tears on my tongue. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and tell her I would never let anything happen to her again. I wanted to apologize…for everything. “Tell her I love her.”
“She knows, Griffin. You just proved it.”
And I wasn’t done yet.
“We’re at the rendezvous point with the chopper. We’ll wait for you before we take off.”
“Don’t bother.”
Crow was quiet for a moment. “Do you have other arrangements?”
“I’m not done here. There’s some business I have to finish. When I’m done, I’ll head home.”
“Griffin, what business?”
“I killed the man who started all of this. But I promised I would kill his family—because he touched mine.” I’d never been a moral man. Life and death were boring to me. Everyone experienced both, so if death came prematurely, it didn’t matter to me. I’d never killed a man’s family in my life, not out of vengeance. But this man crossed a line no one else ever had. They touched my woman, the person who should be untouchable. They took her when I wasn’t there, knowing they wouldn’t have been able to get to her through me. It was pathetic—and it pissed me off even more. If I’d been there, Vanessa wouldn’t have had to go through this at all. I wasn’t sure what the men did to her, and I wasn’t even prepared to think about it.
“Griffin,” Crow said gently. “I understand you’re angry—”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
“But killing his family isn’t right,” he said.
“They took Vanessa.”
“Which was wrong. But don’t kill an innocent family—”
“I don’t care, Crow.” I’d made up my mind, and I wasn’t going to change it. “You can keep talking to me, or you can go home back to your wife. I suggest you do the latter.”
Crow was quiet for a while before he spoke again. “Vanessa wanted to talk to you.” He handed the radio over.
I was staring at the mountain from the front of the palace, the sun rising in the distance and casting the landscape in beautiful colors. The Atlas Mountains started to come alive as the smell of blood rose into the air.
Her beautiful voice sounded over the line, heavy with tears. “Griffin…”
“Baby.” My heart softened slightly, but not like it did before. I was still too livid to think rationally, to love her the way I usually did. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. They didn’t hurt me.”
“Good.” But that didn’t change my rage.
“Don’t do this…”
“I have to, Vanessa.”
“No, you don’t.”
I wasn’t going to change my mind. Fear and respect were the same in my world. If I wanted no one to fuck with me ever again, I had to scare them shitless. “It’s how it is, baby. Go home with your family. I’ll see you when I get back.”
“Griffin…” Her tears were heard over the phone. “I don’t want you to do this.”
“I love you, baby. But I don’t care what you want.” I was being harsh to the woman I loved because I couldn’t think clearly. I was so enraged by what these people had done to us. If they’d tried to kill me, I would have brushed it off without caring. But to touch my woman…was an idiotic move.
“Griffin, you killed all the men there. That’s enough. Don’t hunt down a woman and her kids. You took your revenge and protected me, but going after innocent people will just make you a monster.”
“Maybe I want to be a monster.”
“No, you don’t.”
“They took you. It’s only fair.”
“Don’t be like them, Griffin. You’re better than this. This isn’t you…”
“Maybe you don’t know me that well.” All I wanted to do was kill and kill some more.
“I do know you,” she whispered. “I know you better than anyone. You’re still angry right now, as you have every right to be. But this doesn’t so
lve anything. You killed the men who crossed us. You accomplished your goal. Now come back to me so we can go home and be happy together. Killing innocent people isn’t going to make you feel better. It’ll only make you feel worse. Not right away, but eventually.”
I stared at the mountain, silent.
“Griffin, please. I need you right now. I need you to hold me and kiss my tears away.”
I breathed hard, my chest rising and falling as I greeted the rising sun.
“If I’m the most important person in your life, then you need to listen to me. I’m telling you that I need you. I’m telling you not to hurt those innocent people. I’m telling you, commanding you, to get your ass over here so we can go home. Don’t make me tell you again.” Sassiness mixed with tears came over the line, sounding like the woman I fell so hard for.
But I still wanted to keep killing.
“Don’t you want to marry me?” she whispered.
The odd question caught me off guard. “Yes.”
“Then prove it. Come home with me, and let’s do it.”
“They deserve to die…”
“No, they don’t. And if you do kill them…I won’t love you the same way. The man I love is hard and vicious, but only when he needs to be. The rest of the time, he’s loving and devoted. He’s protective of the less fortunate. Don’t turn into someone else, someone I didn’t fall for. You’re better than this. I know you are. So don’t make me ask again. Come to me now—and let’s go home.”
I’d accomplished the impossible by slaughtering all the men in that palace. I only spared one man and butchered all the others. But the reason I did all of those things was because of the woman I loved. She fueled my rage as well as my joy. If this was that important to her, then I needed to let it go. I had to remember why I did all of this in the first place—to save my woman.
“Griffin?” she whispered.
I resisted the rage burning in my blood and focused on the woman asking for me. She needed me, and killing more people wouldn’t give her what she wanted. I folded, subdued by the need in her voice. “I’m coming.”
Seventeen
Vanessa
We waited on the outskirts of the border, the chopper ready to take us away the second Bones showed up. I was still disturbed by what he told me, that he wanted to kill the wife and children of his enemy. He butchered everyone in that palace and accomplished the impossible. I didn’t want bloodshed, but I understood it had to be done.
But to hurt the family was a line I wouldn’t cross.
I couldn’t let him do it, regardless of how angry he was. He was a different man when I spoke to him, his rage clouding his judgment. The second those men took me, Bones turned into another person. He regressed back into the man he used to be, the man I originally met. The second I was taken from him, all his civility was gone.
My father stayed by my side, keeping his hand on my shoulder to comfort himself more than to comfort me. When I was back in his arms, he didn’t hide his tears. He told me he loved me, squeezed me as he wept, and showed a vulnerable side to him that I’d never witnessed before.
It broke my heart.
He squeezed my shoulder, keeping his hand on me like he might lose me. “You did the right thing, tesoro. He would have regretted it.”
I looked across the desert, waiting for a car to appear with Bones inside of it. “He wasn’t thinking clearly.” I had to believe he would have come to his senses on his own, that he wouldn’t have murdered innocent people.
“When it comes to the people we love, we never think clearly. If the same situation happened to your mother…I would probably do the exact same thing.”
“I really hope not.”
“It’s hard to understand, tesoro. But when a man wants to protect his woman…he’ll stop at nothing.”
I would stab a man in the heart for hurting Bones, but I would never stab his wife. I crossed my arms over my chest as I waited, wanting to touch the man who’d saved me. I was never afraid he wouldn’t come for me, but I still wanted to feel him, see that he was safe without bullet holes in his flesh. “I hope all of this doesn’t change your opinion of him…”
He lowered his hand and followed my gaze across the horizon, watching the sun rise. “No. He got you back. That’s all that matters. He quit that line of work, so this should never happen again.”
“No, it shouldn’t.”
“I was so scared, tesoro. But I also felt better knowing he would stop at nothing to get you back. He’s a strong man, one of the strongest I know. If anyone could save you, it would be him. I know he’ll protect you for the rest of your life.”
“He will.” My eyes narrowed at the horizon when I finally saw a black vehicle in the distance. Dust kicked up into the air as the wheels propelled the SUV forward. It approached quickly, covering the distance rapidly because it was driving as fast as it could. “That must be him.”
Father walked away and shouted to the crew. “Get the chopper ready. We need to leave as quickly as possible.”
The rotors started to circulate, and my hair began to fly in the wind.
The SUV finally arrived, and Bones hopped out of the driver’s seat. He looked like he was in perfect condition, not a drop of blood anywhere on his clothes. His eyes appeared to have sustained the most damage, the pain and rage still throbbing from my kidnapping. He closed the door then marched toward me, the same look in his eyes as when I shot him in the snow. His shoulder took the bullet, but my insanity only made him want me more. With nostrils flared and a fire in his eyes, he closed the gap between us then grabbed my face with both hands. He kissed me hard, just the way he did right against the van in the middle of the snow. Indifferent to my father and uncle standing right there, he embraced me like we were the only two people in the world. With crushing force from his mouth and a tight grip with his hands, he held me so fiercely, it seemed like he would never let me go. Words failed him, and he expressed himself the only way he knew how—with his touch.
Once I felt him hold me like that, all the fear I’d held for the past twenty hours evaporated. I knew he would save me, but now that we were together, I felt at peace once more. He annihilated everyone who wanted to do us harm so there was no one left to haunt us.
He pulled his mouth away and looked into my face, still possessing that maniacal gleam in his eyes. He breathed hard as his fingertips dug into my neck. He moved his lips to my forehead and kissed me as he wrapped his arms around me and held me close. His heavy breaths fell against my skin, and he gripped me so tightly I could hardly breathe. His palm moved to the back of my head, and he cradled me like I was fragile. “Fuck. I’m so sorry, baby.” He rested his chin on my head, his chest pressing against my body every time he took a deep breath. “I’ll never let anything happen to you ever again. You have my word.”
“It’s okay—”
“It’s not okay.” His voice broke, the emotion entering his words and forcing him to stop speaking.
I knew he didn’t want me to look at him like that, so I kept my face against my chest. I remembered the day he’d left me, the way his eyes glistened and turned red. He was a man of limited emotion, preferring anger and rage over anything more vulnerable. But with me, he wasn’t the same man. “I knew you would save me, Griffin. I knew you would come.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“It’s over now.” I pulled away and lifted my chin to look into his face.
His eyes were so wet, a tear formed and dripped down his cheek. He maintained a serious expression, his mouth still and his eyes unashamed. He couldn’t combat the emotion, but he didn’t let it increase either. The tear made its way to his chin.
I kissed it away.
He closed his eyes at my touch, and when he opened them again, the emotion was cleared away. “I slit their throats. Every last one of them.”
I didn’t want to hear this, but I didn’t interrupt him.
“I didn’t go for the quickest kill. I forced them all to thei
r knees, and one by one, I put a knife to their throat. They pissed and shit themselves. They begged for their lives, but I didn’t flinch. They took you away from me—and I made each one pay the price.”
“I know, Griffin,” I said gently.
His hand cupped my cheek again, and he stared into my eyes. “That will never happen again. This, I promise you.”
“I know.”
His thumb brushed across my cheek, and he sighed quietly under his breath. “Did they hurt you?”
“No.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
I held his gaze, showing my sincerity. “I’m not, Griffin.”
“Did they…?” He took a deep breath because he couldn’t finish the sentence. The thought pained him too much, more than the idea of them hurting me.
“No.” Thankfully, that didn’t happen. But if Griffin had taken an extra day to arrive, I probably wouldn’t have been able to give the same answer. “That man I asked you not to kill…”
His eyes shifted back and forth as he looked into mine.
“He tried…but I told him I would protect him if he stopped. I told him you would come for me, and when you did, I would make sure you spared him. So he didn’t do it. He changed his mind…because of you. Even when you weren’t in the same room, you protected me. That’s how powerful you are, Griffin.”
He closed his eyes and stepped back, unable to swallow the grief that filled his body. Crisis had been averted, but the fact that I had to leverage my freedom still killed him inside.
“Whether we’re together or apart, you always protect me, Griffin.” I pressed my hand to his cheek and willed him to open his eyes again. “We’re together now. Everything is alright. Let it go.”
He refused to look at me. “Losing my mother was the second worst thing that ever happened to me. She never came home, and until I was taken by the orphanage, I didn’t understand what had happened to her. It wasn’t until years later, when my classmates had birthday parties and celebrated holidays, that I understood what I was missing…that my mother should still be there. The worst thing that ever happened to me was losing you.” He opened his eyes and held my gaze, the fury deep within the look. “I can’t go through that again, baby. If I couldn’t save you…I would have put a barrel in my mouth and pulled the trigger.”