by K. G. Reuss
Moments later, we piled out of Enzo’s car and rushed into Ethan’s house. It looked like a tornado had struck. Blood was everywhere.
“Fuck,” Enzo snarled.
We rushed to Ethan, lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood.
“Ethan,” I rasped out, my throat tight as I took in my friend.
He’d lost a lot of blood. Too much.
Fox shared a look with me. We were both thinking the same thing. Ethan wasn’t going to make it.
Enzo dropped to his knees and gently pulled Ethan onto his lap, putting pressure on his chest wounds. “Get something for his wrists!”
Fox ran to the bathroom and came back with an armful of towels.
Enzo snatched one and pressed it to Ethan’s chest as Ethan tried to drag in gasps of air.
“Fuck!” I sobbed, yanking at my hair as Ethan’s breathing became more strangled. “Fuck!”
“We need to leave room around the wound,” Enzo grunted. “Sucking chest wounds need to suck.”
Fox ripped a towel into strips and moved to Ethan’s wrists. Enzo shouted commands to him.
“Tie above the wounds. Tight. I don’t give a fuck if he can feel his fingers. We’ve gotta slow the bleeding.”
Fox tied the bands of towel tightly around Ethan’s torn wrists and stepped back.
“T-Took her. H-hur…” The words faltered on Ethan’s lips.
“Stay with me, Ethan,” Enzo murmured, pressing tight against Ethan’s chest. “The ambulance is on the way. Any minute.”
“F-Fin-Find h-h-h-her,” Ethan choked out. “P-P-Please.”
“I love you, Ethan,” Fox said in a wobbly voice. “Cole, let’s go.”
I sank to my knees and kissed Ethan’s forehead. “We’ll find her. You better fucking be alive when we get back.”
Ethan gave me a weak smile, his face waxy and gray. I got up and locked eyes on Enzo’s.
“Do what needs to be done. I’ll make sure it gets cleaned up,” Enzo said, darkness oozing from him.
Enzo started coming into his own weeks ago, taking on new roles within his father’s organization. We all knew what he was destined for. And I trusted him completely.
I gave him a nod and followed Fox out to the car. We climbed in, Fox behind the wheel, and drove off, scouring the area for signs of them. It was dark, and we had no idea where to even fucking look.
“Are you scared?” I asked Fox as we drove well over the speed limit down a side road.
“Terrified,” he whispered.
“Ethan’s going to die.”
He nodded tightly.
“We can’t lose Rosalie and the baby too,” I continued, my heart hurting. I hadn’t even gotten to tell her I was sorry.
“We won’t.” Fox didn’t sound like he believed it. His hands trembled on the wheel as he made a hard right.
We were out of town now. Ian’s place was dark. No one was there.
“What the fuck is that?” I called out as I caught sight of a fire blazing ahead on the side of the road.
“An accident.” Fox sped up.
The night was dark, too dark. The flames from the burning vehicle lit up the deserted side road.
“That’s Ian’s car,” I shouted. Fox hadn’t even put the car into park before I was already out, racing to the scene.
The car rested inside a tree. Most of the damage appeared to be on the driver’s side, but the front end was on fire, flames and smoke blanketing it. Inside, I could see Rosalie’s lifeless body in the passenger’s seat, the deflated airbag in front of her.
“Fuck!” Fox shouted, throwing himself against the window when the door wouldn’t open.
I watched in horror as he repeatedly banged and pounded on the glass. Then I raced back to Enzo’s car and opened the back hatch. After a moment, I found what I was looking for and darted back to the burning car.
“Get back,” I shouted at a hysterical Fox.
He stumbled back as I smacked the window with the tire iron. On the third hit, the glass shattered. I reached in and unlocked the door. I pulled Rosalie out.
Ian groaned from his seat, his face so covered in blood that he was nearly unrecognizable.
“Leave him!” I screamed at Fox who ran to Ian’s side after unlocking the doors. Fox didn’t listen. He dragged Ian out of the car and tossed him into the road. Fox grabbed the gun from the console before returning to me.
“Rosalie?” I whispered softly, my voice trembling as I held her limp body in my arms. “Baby. Please. Don’t go. Don’t leave. I didn’t even get to tell you how excited I am about the baby or how much I love you.” I pressed a kiss to her battered and bruised forehead, noting she wasn’t breathing like she should.
“S-She’s dying,” I choked out, sobbing. My tears fell on her face. I rested my hand on her abdomen. There was so much fucking blood. “Don’t fucking do this, Rosebud. We have a whole life to live together. Us and the baby.”
Fox was on the phone again. He was the fucking ambulance whisperer, calling them to every scene. He dropped to his knees beside me and took Rosalie away, cradling her in his arms.
“I love you, Rosie. I love you. I love you.” He repeated the words over and over as he held her, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Don’t you fucking leave me. Don’t leave me. God, please don’t take her. Please, Mom,” he cried out. “Please, Mom. Anyone listening. Help me. Fucking help me!” he bellowed the words loudly, his bottom lip trembling. “Rosie. I need you. I need you.” He pressed his lips to hers and breathed into her. And he did it again and again, offering his breath to save her.
I swallowed hard as Fox wept between breaths.
Then I turned to Ian in the road. Numbly, I staggered to my feet and made my way to him. He stared up at me as I loomed over his body.
“Is she dead?” Ian asked, his voice barely above a whisper. He was burned badly. His shirt was seared to his chest.
I shook as I sank to my knees next to him. They say there’s a turning point for everyone. A point where you’re faced with two different paths. One of good. One of bad. Based on your choices, it determines how your life will end up. Every fork in the road, every choice I’d made, led me to my knees on the center of that old road in the middle of nowhere, staring down at the monster who’d tried to take my world from me. Whose father had already started an ugly domino effect five years prior.
“I hope I killed that fucking baby. And she’s next. She won’t live.” He let out a rattled cough. “I hope Masters makes it, so he can live with knowing I killed that bitch and his kid.”
I leaned closer to Ian, my eyes locked on his. “The baby was mine, not Ethan’s, you fucking maniac. I was the one she chose. Not you. I hope that fucking eats your soul all the way into hell.”
Ian let out a strangled laugh. “I don’t believe you.”
“Doesn’t matter. In the end, she chose a horseman, not you.”
I looked away from Ian over to Fox, who still wept and breathed for Rosalie.
My best friend was losing his best friend. The mother of my child. The girl who meant everything to all of us.
“Juliet is going to take you down. I know she will. It doesn’t end with me. Not even fucking close.” He let out a sputtered laugh, blood on his lips. His breath rattled in his chest. “She’ll finish what was started,” he rasped, turning his head to where Fox cradled Rosalie in his arms, his mouth on hers as he tried to give her life.
A tear trickled out of Ian’s eye, his breathing becoming more labored. “None of you will ever love her like I fucking did. Rosalie will follow me in death. I’m not sorry.”
I ripped my gaze away from Fox and Rosalie and glared down at Ian.
“Me either,” I answered softly. I reached down and placed my hands on Ian’s chin and the top of his head then twisted.
The crack of his neck echoed in the night, the vibration coursing through my body as he let out his last breath.
More than one person died on that old cracked, paved road that ni
ght.
Some of us would just wake up the following morning, reborn into something else entirely.
Thank you for reading In Silence. Please consider leaving your review. It helps more than you know <3
To Be Continued in In Chaos: A Black Falls High Novel
books2read.com/inchaos
Flip ahead for a sneak peek at In Chaos, book three in Black Falls High!
Acknowledgments
Huge thank you to my alpha readers. Kalli, Crystal, Mahida, and Erika: You guys rock my socks. Thank you for all you do. I’d be lost without you guys.
To my editor, thanks for putting up with me and all my unputtogetherness (that wasn’t a word until just now).
Here’s to my husband for taking those midnight strolls with me and listening as I vented about this book. Seriously, the guy deserves a gold star or something.
To Kiki. I started writing this series for you because I knew you needed the perfect book to take you on an adventure. I may have gotten carried away.
And finally, to my survivors. I see you. I got you. May you all rise from the ashes and kick some ass.
About the Author
Known mostly for being strange, USA Today bestselling author K.G. Reuss knows what it takes to wear the crown of town weirdo. A cemetery creeper and ghost enthusiast, K.G. spends most of her time toeing the line between imagination and forced adulthood.
After a stint in college in Iowa, K.G. moved back to her home in Michigan to work in emergency medicine. She’s currently raising three small ghouls and is married to a vampire overlord (not really but maybe he could be someday).
K.G. is the author of The Everlasting Chronicles series, Emissary of the Devil series, The Chronicles of Winterset series, The Middle Road (with co-author CM Lally) Black Falls High series and Seven Minutes in Heaven with a ridiculous amount of other series set to be released.
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In Chaos
Enzo
“How was Rosalie this morning?” My father, Anthony, asked as he straightened his tie in the back of the black SUV which was taking us to the funeral.
“Alive,” I answered, sighing.
He nodded. My mother patted the top of my hand reassuringly, but said nothing. Mom liked Rosalie, at least what she’d met of her when I’d brought her home that one time. Father never had the pleasure.
“I’m impressed with how you’ve handled everything. And how you cleaned it up,” Father continued.
“Learned from the best.” I glanced at Emilio who winked at me. Emilio was Father’s righthand man. The guy he trusted with his life. He was a second father to me, teaching me all the ways to take care of business, including cleaning up a crime scene. Six months ago I’d have laughed at it, now, I knew all those hours sitting in a car watching my father’s men work with Emilio at my side had been worth it.
As much as I tried to deny it, this was my life. I was the son of a mob boss, not some rich kid from the ‘burbs. Playing the part was tiresome. If anything from this entire shitty situation taught me anything, it was that I needed to handle shit. I’d watched my friends fall apart the past week. Hell, I’d watched them fight for their lives too.
“The world is an ugly place,” Emilio said. “Too bad you have to see it, kid.”
Father studied me with his dark eyes. “Can you handle it, Lorenzo?”
I locked eyes with my father. “I wasn’t made for this job, Father. I was born for it.”
“That’s my boy.” He patted my knee.
Something snapped inside me that night nearly a week ago. Holding Ethan in my lap as we waited for an ambulance to come kept replaying in my mind.
“Hang on, E,” I encouraged, pressing down on his wound, his blood soaking my hands and clothes. “Fox and Cole went to get Rosalie. They’re going to find her. She’ll be fine.”
“He h-hurt her.”
“Shh.” I swallowed hard at the information. What kind of sick prick hurts a woman like that?
“H-He t-t-tried to t-take the b-baby.”
My guts twisted at the thought of my poor Rosalie becoming the victim to such a fucking lunatic. Anger boil low in my guts as I tried to keep myself focused, but all I wanted to do was turn the knife on Ian and send him to hell.
“H-He t-tried to r—”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” I choked out. “Think of happy thoughts. Think of Rosalie’s smile. The way she always smelled like lavender and a summer’s breeze. How she kissed and touched. The way she loves you.”
A smile touched Ethan’s lips. My hands shook as I continued the pressure on his chest. His skin was so pale and waxy. He looked like a corpse in my lap.
“Yes. Just like that,” I murmured. “Do you remember when you saw her for the first time?”
Ethan nodded, the smile still on his lips.
“She was the most beautiful girl in the room. Remember when you told us about the first time she talked to you?”
He shook in my arms, the light fading in his eyes.
“Come on, stay with me, E. You need to be here for when she gets back,” I said, my voice shaking. Sirens wailed in the distance. “She needs you. We all do. You’ll break her heart if you leave.”
“I-I drew her a p-picture. Make sure s-she gets it?”
“You give it to her your damn self,” I grunted, holding him tighter as I fought my tears off.
A banging on the front door signaled the arrival of help.
“In here!” I shouted. The door burst open and the police came in before the medics.
Ethan was taken from me immediately as the medics began working on him. I stumbled to my feet as law enforcement swarmed in. I was covered in my best friend’s blood.
“Lorenzo De Luca. What a surprise,” one of the officers called out.
I didn’t bother saying a word, intent on watching Ethan as they clicked the belts into place over him and carted him off to the back of the ambulance.
I made to follow, but someone called out to me.
“De Luca. We have some questions for you.”
“Did you hear what I said?” Father’s voice brought me back to the moment.
“Sorry,” I muttered.
He sighed and repeated himself. “I said, look the part. Say nothing. If anyone says anything to you, don’t show your feelings on any of it. We’re here for looks only. Got it?”
“Capito, Father,” I said, sitting straight. Father didn’t like to see weakness. No tears. No slouching. No emotion. Only cool, calm restraint.
He nodded as the car pulled up to the church. Benny, our driver, got out and opened the door. Emilio stepped out first followed by my father. I got out next and buttoned my black suit jacket, designer aviator glasses in place, and held my hand out for my mother. She took it and stepped out in her black dress.
Fall was in full swing, the trees surrounding the church lit in varying shades of gold, red, and yellow.
The season of death. I scoffed at the fitting notion.
We walked together into the church and took a seat near the middle. I wasn’t surprised when Cole slid into the seat next to mine.
Father liked Cole. To be fair, he liked all my friends, but he always told me Cole would make a great addition to the family and had encouraged me to recruit him. I never thought it was a good idea until I learned of Ian’s fate and the reaction it got from Cole.
He’d wept in my arms for all of a minute before he drew himself up and wiped his eyes. He’d never cried over the moment since, at least as far as I knew. And I don’t think he wept over killing Ian. I think he wept because he knew what Ian had done to Rosalie.
“Fox will be here soon. He’s taking a call outside. Mrs. Bishop called and wanted to talk to him.”
I nodded, not saying a word.
/>
Cole continued in a whisper. “Docs say they might let Rosebud off the meds soon, so she’ll wake up from the coma they have her in.”
I nodded again.
“I want to be there when it happens.”
“You will be,” was all I said.
We sat in silence as students from school filled into the empty seats. I could see Ian’s mom and brother sitting in the front. His father stood off to the side, his eyes raking over the crowd.
“My parents are in the back,” Cole grunted. “Think Daniel will cause a problem?”
“Doesn’t matter if he does,” I answered. “We’ll solve it.”
Time past quickly and it wasn’t long before Fox was sliding in next to us.
“How’s Rosalie?” Cole asked, clearly worried something had changed in her condition in the last thirty minutes.
“Still a sleeping beauty,” Fox said.
“And Ethan?” Cole pressed.
“The same. Docs said if he continues to improve, they’ll try to take him off the ventilator tomorrow morning.”
“And if he doesn’t?” I glanced to Fox. A muscle feathered along his jaw.
“Then we just try again later. His parents are positive he’ll pull through. So are the docs last I knew an hour ago.”
“It’s been almost a week,” Cole grumbled.
“He needed the rest,” I said, hoping they’d at least appreciate some humor.
Fox’s lips twitched up. “I’m going to tell him you said that.”
“Good. I hope he kicks my ass.” I fucking meant it too.
Preorder In Chaos here:
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Also by K.G. Reuss
Emissary of the Devil: Testimony of the Damned
Emissary of the Devil: Testimony of the Blessed
