Once we finished eating, we packed everything back up into the basket and trudged back through the sand to the car. He slipped his hand into mine, making me feel warm all over.
"Thanks again for bringing me out here. It was nice to get out for a while," I said. He nodded.
"I think we both needed it. Besides, it's always nice to do things as a couple that feels somewhat normal."
His phone rang as soon as we got to the car. I slipped into the passenger seat as he loaded everything back up into the backseat before getting in the car next to me.
"Yeah," he said upon answering, starting the car. I clicked my seatbelt into place and settle into the seat looking over at him. A look of dark anger passed over his features as he listen to someone on the phone. "He what?"
"What's wrong?" I mouthed. He held up a finger to me and continue listening.
"Fuck," Bennett hissed, his hand tightening on the steering wheel. "Is he okay? Has someone called the doctor yet?"
"Is something happening at home?" I asked, my heart beating a little faster as I noticed the slight panic on his face.
He ignored me and continued listening to the person on the phone. "Yeah, I'm on my way home. Heighten security around the perimeter and make sure the inside is secure. Put a guy in the bunker to protect the kids. I'll be home soon," he said and hung up.
"What the hell is going on?" I asked as we quickly backed out of the parking space.
"KC intercepted some of Wilson's texts. He found Brian so he's at the house to 'end this' feud once and for all," Bennett ground out.
"Did someone get hurt?" I asked, expecting the worst.
He sighed deeply. "Saint’s been shot," he said, his voice tight.
My heart raced in my chest. And just like that, the peaceful time I'd had here was shattered by mafia business. The only thing I could hope for was that Wilson was dead by the time all of this was over tonight.
When we sped out into traffic, I clutched onto the door handle as anxiety coursed through me. I didn't even have to worry about Wilson killing me; Bennett would kill me before we even made it back home.
"Is he still at the house?" I asked as Bennett weaved in and out of traffic.
"KC said that his men retreated, but no one saw Wilson leave, so I don't know." He glanced over at me. "When we get home, you need to be careful. I don't know what we're walking into.”
This was the moment I had been waiting for, the moment that I sacrificed everything for. It was one thing to want to do this, almost to the point of obsession, but I was terrified now that the time was finally here.
“How are we going to make it back home on time to catch him?" I asked. We were still at least a half hour to forty-five minutes away from the house, and that was only if traffic continues to move steadily as it was.
"We're in a Lamborghini. We’ll get home in no time," he said. I couldn't help but smirk. Always the calculated man, never doing things without a reason.
We raced through traffic, dodging in and out of lanes. We'd gotten so close to hitting a few cars that I nearly had a heart attack. Bennett looked over at me and grinned, putting his hand on my belly.
"Don't worry; Daddy's got you," he said, just as he swerved into another lane.
"If you keep driving the way you are, I won't even survive to make it home," I said, suddenly feeling nauseous. "Your driving is literally making me feel sick."
"We're almost home, gorgeous," he said.
After a half hour of road anxiety, we finally reached the gates of the house. Everything was chaotic when we arrived, the property teeming with more security than I knew we had. The gates opened and Bennett drove through, stopping in the garage.
"Leave that stuff in here," he said and jumped out of the car.
"Okay," I said, adrenaline coursing through me as I followed him. We walked over to his weapons arsenal in the back of the garage. I stared in wonder at the multiple guns before me, ones I'd only seen in movies. I had no idea what any of them were other than the standard pistol. He was so skilled as he grabbed a couple of guns that were mounted to the wall, putting magazines into them as a couple of his men came into the garage. The vulnerable man that had just been at the beach was long gone, now replaced by the hardened, killer mafia boss that I knew. He passed the guns off to them as they appeared before he turned to me.
"Part of me wants to lock you in the panic room until I secure the house,” he started, holding up a hand to stop me when I opened my mouth to object. "But I know you won't do it."
I looked down at the gun he held out to me. My hands trembled, anxious to spill Wilson’s blood as I slowly took it in my hand, the realness of this situation finally settling in. This was it, the final showdown that I was so desperate to be a part of.
"I need for you to be the dark princess I know you can be. This is life and death right now. It won't be anything like it was at the safe house when you went against the Russian on your own."
"I know," I stated.
He smiled. "There you go," he said. He put a couple of magazines in his pockets and passed me two for my pistol. I stuffed them in my pockets and followed him into the house where chaos ensued. Men were huddled around someone bleeding on the kitchen floor, a growl of pain sounding out.
Bennett rushed over to them, the group parting at his presence. Saint was against the wall holding his side, his navy blue T-shirt soaked in blood.
"What the hell happened?" Bennett asked Nyxin, who was applying pressure to Saint’s wound.
"I have to get to my baby, man," Saint groaned, trying to stand up but the pain stopped him.
I moved over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, assessing the damage. "Giselle will be fine," I said to him. "She is in one of the safest places in the house."
"I have to get to her," he panted. He looked a bit more pale than usual, more blood being on the floor than what should be in order for him to have a fighting chance of surviving. He looked at me, his expression pained. Tears glistened in his eyes, but I was certain it wasn't because he's been shot. "If things go bad, tell her that Daddy loves her."
Tears burned my eyes as I looked at him. I couldn't imagine the turmoil that came with thinking you were going to die and leaving behind a kid that wouldn't understand why their parent suddenly didn't come back to them. As I looked over at Bennett, who attempted to give Saint comforting words, I couldn't help but think that this was the very same life that he and I would give to our own child soon. There would be times where he and I would be in situations that could result in us not coming home, and I was sure we would feel this very same turmoil that reflected in Saint’s gaze.
I took his bloody hand into mine and squeezed it. "I will tell her no such thing,” I said, a single tear rolling down my cheek. "You'll be fine, and then you can tell her yourself."
"Just in case," he whispered. "Tell her just in case I can't. Promise me.”
I nodded and squeeze his hand a little tighter. "I promise," I said. "Matter-of-fact, I'll go check on her right now and tell her that you'll come see her soon."
He gave me a small grin and nodded. "I can live with that," he said softly. Bennett looked to one of the guys next to him that I wasn't very familiar with and nodded toward the bunker door.
"Take her to the children and guard her," he said. "I swear to God if anything happens to her, you better hope you're already dead by the time I get to you."
"I'll protect the queen at all costs,” he said and jumped to his feet. I let go of Saint and followed the man over to the door leading to the bunker, walking in when he unlocked and open the door. I walk down the steps with him on my heels, closing the door behind him. No sooner than we were at the bottom of the stairs, a gun went off, and he dropped like a rock. I whirled around toward the dark hallway that led to the bunker that kept the girls. Wilson slowly came out of the darkened corner with his gun raised.
"We meet again, slut," he growled. My heart raised in my chest as he continued to advance on me, his gun still rai
sed. With Bennett's security guy dead, I was now trapped in the bunker. You couldn't get in or out without an approved fingerprint. Since it was soundproofed, no one on the main floor would hear anything down here no matter how loud I screamed. When he was close enough to me, he reached out and snatched the pistol from my waistband and tossed it down the hall behind him. ”Walk.”
"Walk where?" I asked, my voice trembling.
“Just fucking walk until I tell you to stop,” he growled, pressing the gun to the back of my head as he pushed my shoulder forward to signal me to move. I did my best to remain calm as we walked down the hallway. He stopped me when we got to the door of the Retribution room. I watched as he pressed his thumb on the security pad outside the door and it clicked open with ease. “You’d think my idiot son would remember to disable my access to the house I picked and set up for him.” He roughly pushed me inside and slammed the door shut behind us.
He flipped on the light switch, his eyes wild and angry as he stared at me. I slowly moved away from him as my gaze swept around the room. Now that he’d disarmed me, I had to find another way to kill him. I couldn’t get out of this room on my own, so it was either kill or be killed at this point.
“I should’ve fucking left you were you were,” he growled, spittle flying from his mouth. “Ever since you came into the picture, you’ve been nothing but trouble.”
“You caused your own trouble,” I threw back. “It’s not my fault that the truth finally came out after you took me illegally.”
“Your father was a fool who knew better,” Wilson countered. “He knew there was no real way out. He was just unloyal just like the rest of them.”
“And that’s how you treat the people that pledged your organization?” I scoffed. “You’re always harping about loyalty but you don’t have a single loyal bone in your body. If you did, we wouldn’t even be in this situation.”
His nostrils flared in untamed anger as he stared at me before he raised his arm and shot a bullet into the ceiling. “You don’t even deserve a bullet,” he finally said and smiled, the action sending a shiver of fear through me. “I’m going to make you suffer for as long as I can before I give you the gift of death.”
“Bennett won’t let you do that,” I stated, trying my best not to portray the terror I felt. It was like being trapped in a cage. With Bennett attending to Saint, he wouldn’t realize I’d been gone too long until Saint was taken care of.
“Bennett won’t be alive to care,” he sneered and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “How about we go ahead and call him up? Then we can really have some fun.”
I watched him as he pulled up Bennett’s number and called him, his eyes remaining on me as he put the call on speaker. I looked around the room, despair filling me. Everything that could’ve potentially been a weapon in here was locked away, only Bennett having the key.
“So much for your plan,” the voice said. “He’s going to kill Bennett and take us.”
He won’t. I just need to think, I mused.
“I’ll kill you when I see you,” Bennett growled upon answering.
Wilson only chuckled, as if he didn’t take Bennett seriously. “Well, today’s your lucky day. I’m downstairs with your wife and it’s not looking too good,” he said and tsked.
“Bennett, he’s just trying to lure you down here. I’m fine,” I called out. The last thing I needed was for him to come down here and get himself killed as soon as he opened the door.
Wilson pointed the gun at me and fired it, hitting me in the arm. I cried out and clutched my wound, the burning sensation going all the way down to my fingers.
“She’s not fine anymore,” Wilson growled.
“I swear to fucking god—”
“Come down here alone. I have my own men at the base of your stairs down here that will pick everybody off that isn’t you. And then, they’re gonna go visit those precious children that you don’t think I can reach,” he growled. My heart dropped at his words. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that he’d been able to get into the Retribution room with his own fingerprint instead of Bennett’s. There was nothing stopping him from going on the other side of that dead end wall and killing the children.
“Who’s to say he hasn’t already?” the voice asked.
Knowing Wilson, I wouldn’t be surprised if he already had.
In less than two minutes, the door to the Retribution opened and Bennett stood in the doorway, his shirt and hands now stained with Saint’s blood. He glared at Wilson as he walked in.
“Don’t move a single step toward her,” Wilson growled. Bennett frowned and continued walking over to me anyway, pushing me to stand behind him.
“You can’t give me instructions in my own house,” he said. “And you damn sure can’t tell me that I can’t protect my wife.”
“Once I’m done here, your ‘wife’ is going to be a big slut on the black market livestreams,” Wilson said and chuckled. “I already have a list of clients ready to fuck her until she miscarries.”
My eyes widened and I fought the urge to whimper. He knew about the baby after all.
As if reading Bennett’s and my expression, he grinned. “Hacked the doctor’s records to see why he was here so often. I’m disappointed that you didn’t tell me the good news,” he said, shaking his head.
“Why the fuck would I tell you anything? We’re no longer family,” Bennett growled.
“We’ll always be family, Bennett,” Wilson said and pointed his gun at the both of us. “But sometimes you have to punish family that’ve wronged you.”
Bennett was quick when the gun went of, turning and knocking me to the ground as the bullet hit him in the shoulder. He growled in pain as he grabbed his gun on his good side and fired twice, taking out Wilson’s legs. Wilson bellowed in agony and fired again, the bullet ricocheting only centimeters from Bennett’s head.
“I should’ve killed you the night I had Stephanie killed,” Wilson ground out. “What kind of person turns on their own family?”
“I should ask you the same,” Bennett snapped back before firing his weapon again. He hit Wilson in the wrist, causing him to drop his gun. It slid a couple of feet away from him, leaving him defenseless. Bennett raised his gun to fire again, but I stopped him.
“No,” I said.
He narrowed his eyes at me and frowned. “What the fuck do you mean no? You wanted him dead.”
“I know and I do. But not like this.” I looked over to Wilson as he lay on the floor bleeding, anger and hatred still blazing in his eyes. “A bullet would be too easy for him.”
Bennett winced and passed me the gun, using his now free hand to clutch his shoulder. “Go hit the red button on the wall,” he panted. I jumped to my feet, pain radiating down my arm when I moved it. I grabbed Wilson’s gun just as he reached for it and kicked him in the face before running over to the wall. An alarm went off when I slapped the button and I went back over to Bennett, who was losing way too much blood. His skin looked a bit pale as he laid there with his eyes closed and I could only hope a major artery wasn’t hit when he was shot.
“Remember what I said,” he forced out, finally opening his eyes.
“About what?” I asked, panic starting to settle in at the severity of his situation.
“If anything happens to me, you leave.” He winced. “Bruce has copies of my cards and anything you’ll never. He has orders to give those to you if you decide to go.”
“You’ll be fine, Bennett,” I whispered, confused as to why tears burned my eyes. I shouldn’t be sad about the idea of Bennett dying. He’d put me through hell from the moment he stepped foot into my life. He’d taken so much from me and broke me in ways that I’d never be able to fix, so he didn’t deserve my sadness. But it didn’t stop the tears from falling as I looked down at him. “You’ll be fine and one day you’ll be able to tell our kid how you took a bullet for me.”
He gave me a weak smile but it faded just as soon as it appeared. “Just in case I
’m not around to be able to tell them that, tell them about the man I tried to be for them. For you.” His eyes glassed over as he looked at me. “I really fucking tried, Aurora.”
“I know you did,” I said, my vision blurring as tears burned my eyes. “I know.”
Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Bennett’s men swarmed the room. Someone lifted me to my feet as a couple of people in white coats rushed over to me and Bennett. I couldn’t register everything people were shouting, as if I were underwater. Wilson’s yelling cut through the fog, Bennett’s men dragging him out of the room. Despite his injury, Bennett was still giving orders as he was put on a makeshift stretcher, his blood loss making him too unsteady on his feet.
“He has to go to the hospital,” Bruce told me, his voice registering in my mind.
“Then I want to go with him,” I protested.
“We need to get you cleaned up, ma’am,” a woman in a white coat said.
“I need to go with him,” I said breathlessly, but they wouldn’t let me. All I could do was watch him leave and pray that he made it out of this alive.
I looked around the room. “Where are they taking Wilson?” I asked.
“Probably in another room to finish him off,” Bruce said with a shrug. I shook my head.
“No,” I said. “He’s not dead because I don’t want him dead that easily. He doesn’t deserve something as simple as a bullet.”
“Well, look at you. The dark princess is more like her husband than she cares to admit,” Bruce said with a chuckle. “What do you have in mind, boss?”
“Boss?” I asked.
He nodded. “As queen, you’re second in command when the top boss isn’t here. Until Bennett returns, everyone answers to you. So what do you have in mind, boss?”
You Will Obey (Rules of Bennett Book 4) Page 18