by G N Wright
Marcus is the only one who will lock eyes with me, the rest glare at the phone as Greg speaks. When I reply my voice is flat. "Yeah, and what's that?"
"It's really quite simple. I don't want our daughter. I have no use for her, not yet at least.” His words turn my stomach at the thought of what use he could have for her. “You however, you I have a lot of use for.” I close my eyes, cutting off Marcus because I know Greg well enough to see inside his sick mind. I know what he wants before he says it. "I want a wife."
I feel River's flinch from across the room even with my eyes closed, as Ash snaps back at his brother, "Take your pick from your fucking hoard of kidnapped girls."
"Funny,” he responds dryly, “But no. I don’t just want any wife. I want the perfect wife. One born for this world, with her own fortune, blood on her hands and already willing and able to give me heirs."
I can't speak. Not one word. I open my eyes, but Marcus' gaze is hardened and focused solely on the phone.
"Willing?" he scoffs. "Fucking willing. What about raping a fucking child, screams willing to you? If you think that she is going to marry you then you are more fucking delusional than I thought."
That’s the thing they don’t realize though, he really is delusional. Greg’s sense of reality is different. Elliot is an evil man; his crimes would make most men weep. His son, however, isn’t evil, he’s soulless. Doesn’t feel anything, guilt, regret, remorse, love. None of it. A true psychopath living in his own world and that makes him more dangerous than anyone. Greg is the type of person to think that I belong to him, and is now more than ready to claim me, no matter what the cost.
"Really? Because her silence is deafening," Greg taunts and his words hit their intended target as every single guy turns my way. I see all of them take in my expression and the exact moment they realize the reality of the situation we are in. Right now in this moment, they see just how far I am willing to go to protect my daughter.
"I'll let you think it over, we can talk again soon. In the meantime, I will look after our girl." The line goes dead before I can respond, and the silence descends further into the room as we all let his words linger. We lost. The game, the upper hand, my daughter. All of it gone.
My thoughts are messy and unfocused, just like earlier when I found Zack lying on the floor, and look what that almost cost me. My daughter was gone, my brother lay dying and because I lost control, I almost ended up in my own blood next to him. I can’t let that happen again. I turn and pick up the phone next to the computer and dial a number I know by heart from the secure phone we keep there.
“Z, my man, how are you?” His cocky, friendly tone hits my ear and I breathe my first sigh of relief as memories assault me from our time together. Grounding me in a way I so desperately need.
“Max, it’s me,” I croak into the phone, my voice wavering as the emotions begin to build again.
“Elle?” I hear his confusion, but he quickly adds, “Where’s Zack?” I can tell from his change in tone that I have his immediate attention with my unexpected call.
Max is an old friend of Zack’s, they trained together when they were younger. Him and his guys are all ex special ops who now run their own private security company. Zack pays them a lot of money for a variety of things. Max helped Zack with all my training and said he would always be here for us. I only ever use a couple of his guys for cleanup. We’ve never needed Max himself or his other services. Until now.
“He was shot in the chest, Arthur’s working on him, nothing more I can tell you.” I am blunt and to the point because I don’t need him as a friend right now. He can’t do anything to help Zack, except help me with what I need.
“What do you need?” I hear the unmistakable tapping of his fingers as he starts doing whatever he does before I even give him any instructions. I ignore all of the guys, Asher and Logan both know Max from the training we shared, but he isn’t someone I would have ever told the Rebels about. His reputation precedes him, but that reputation doesn’t include his real name or what he looks like. Just that he is lethal, deadly and always gets the job done. That’s why I need him. Him and his guys are the best of the best.
For the first time since I came home, I push Cassie to the side of my thoughts as I try to think of everything, I need to keep everyone else safe. “Full security detail at the house, full house sweep for devices including vehicles. Access to a private, secure medical facility for Zack and a security extraction of Lily from college.” I see Logan perk up at the mention of his sister's name, but I press on. “Safe house with full protection detail for Arthur, Helen and Lily, for however long it takes and a full arsenal of every weapon and tech you have on hand.”
He blows out a breath. “This is a big job. It’s gonna take all of my guys,” he starts but I cut him off.
“You know money is no issue, offer them whatever it takes to get them here, and you will report to me and only me.” My voice remains void of emotion, but that doesn’t mean I can’t feel the cracks in my throat, the pumping of blood in my veins. I am so close to snapping the thread of my control that I can taste it in the air.
“Roger that. We will be there in sixty minutes,” he confirms.
“Make it thirty,” I snap, only to be met by silence. His silence almost winds me, forcing me to take a deep breath.
“Elle?” He says my name carefully. “What happened?” It’s the softest tone I’ve ever heard from him and if I didn’t just hear it, I wouldn’t think he was capable.
“They took Cassie.” I barely let the three words linger before I am slamming the phone down and taking in another breath.
“Who was that?” Of course, Lincoln is the first to speak, unable to be in the dark about anything, but I don’t have it in me to feed him the information right now.
“Backup,” I reply simply.
I don’t give any of them a chance to speak before I turn and focus my attention on the screens in front of me. I pull up the camera feeds and push back until I find what I'm looking for. I press play on the video, turning the sound on and we all watch. I watch as the van pulls up and the gate opens. I watch Greg and his men stalk after the few guards we keep on the property and shoot them. Nearly all of them point blank in the back of the head, before dragging their bodies into the trees. Then I watch them walk through the back doors, no key, no code, they just open for them and I also see why. One of the guards let them in.
I see Zack storming through the house to get Cass to the panic room, I see as he leaves her there, locked away safely. Or so he thought. I watch as he is stabbed, shot and left bloodied on the floor. But none of it fucking affects me the way it does to watch Peter walk back into the room with Cassie asleep in his arms. I watch in fucking horror as my baby girl is handed over to her rapist sperm donor. The Devil in fucking disguise. The absolute scum of this town. She sleeps soundly as she is carried off into my worst nightmare. I watch them climb into the van they came in and drive away in the darkness of the night.
I snap.
Chapter 4
MARCUS
The start of tonight was perfect. I had my brothers by my side and my girl on my arm. When she walked down the stairs in that red dress, she looked like the queen of hell itself, ready to take on the world. When I found her alone with Greg, I thought I couldn’t get any angrier. The rage I felt when he was close to her, when he touched her, smelled her. It took everything in me not to kill him right there. If I’d had any idea how the rest of the night was going to pan out, I would have. Fuck the consequences.
Sitting in the car with my brothers as we listened to Jack talk about some business down at The Ring, was finally starting to relax me. He was going on about some of the members from the local motorcycle club, who had come to fight and wiped out one of our best guys. I had to admit I was impressed, but wary. Everyone knows as well as I do that the Hallowed Crows MC are controlled by Elliot Donovan. Whether by choice or force it doesn’t matter, he still has them under his thumb, so we listened
to what Hanson had to say intently.
The second I heard that gunshot my world fell apart. I’ve never experienced fear like that. The thirty seconds it took me to get from the garage to Elle were the longest of my entire life. The relief I felt when I saw her was wiped out in an instant when I took in the scene before me. Zack bleeding, Elle crying, a dead body and a broken Asher. All of it unbearable to see. The moment she locked eyes with me I knew we had lost. The sight of blood had me frozen to the spot. The last time I saw someone I cared about covered in blood, it was my father.
I saw the fear etched onto her face and the terror embedded in her very bones, but she didn’t falter. She remained strong and in charge and battled against every emotion to stay in control. She’s been trained for this, she’s told me multiple times that she was, but it wasn’t until the moment she was attempting to keep her brother's blood from pouring, that I truly understood what that meant.
She hasn’t just been training to fight, she’s been training to stay alive and keep those she loves alive too. No matter the cost. The second Greg offers Cassie in exchange for her, I feel it, I know I’ve lost her to her own mind. She will do whatever it takes, be whatever it takes, as long as it results in getting her daughter back.
I get it because I would do it too. If I could trade my life right here and now for Cassie to be back in her arms, I would. I would use my last breath to give my life for hers. To protect her, protect them, whatever the cost. But the consequences of losing them both? That would be unbearable.
I watch as the van barrels away from the house on the CCTV with Cassie inside. I flick my gaze to Elle just as the van goes out of sight and prepare myself. She finally breaks. Ripping the screen off the wall and smashing it to the ground, before reaching for the other to do the same. The third one, she launches across the room into her revenge board, shattering them both to the floor.
Anything she can get her hands on gets destroyed. Her rage uncontained and bursting, she isn’t the Elle I know right now. The Elle I know, and love has ceased to exist, she stopped being her the second she walked into the house tonight and found her daughter gone.
I look at the guys and see them all watch her with the same broken expression as mine. Asher has the most powerful surname in this town. My brothers and I pretty much run the whole South Side, and Logan has the money to do whatever he wants. Yet all five of us are powerless. Metaphorically brought to our knees. Our fate entwined with that of a three-year-old girl and her mother.
Jace is the first to move to try to comfort her. He approaches her and wraps his arms around her waist from behind, ignoring her attempts to fight against him.
“Shh Elle, it’s okay. I got you.” None of us miss the crack in his voice, but still Ells continues to thrash. “Come on, sweetheart. I’m here, I got you, I promise.
She falters on hearing the word sweetheart, and I know immediately that she is thinking of Zack, he always calls her that. Her shoulders drop in defeat and he loosens his arms slightly to turn her around in his embrace until he is hugging her. The sight causes my heart to ache even more, not even my carefree brother can fix her now.
She finally reaches round to hug him back, a sob breaking out of her. She holds onto him so tight that her hands turn white against his back. I hate seeing her like this when I know I can’t do anything. I look at them both in their bloodied embrace and feel nothing but pain and regret.
I move towards them, unable to bear being away from her any longer. Jace acknowledges me immediately, dropping a kiss to her head and moving to pull away, but she doesn’t budge. I crowd behind her, letting her feel my presence as I put my arm around her shoulders. Locking eyes with Jace, I nod, and he moves with me so we can lift her until she lays in my arms. As soon as she feels the movement, she rips her arms from him and throws them around my neck and continues to cry.
I don’t even stop to look at any of the other guys as I leave the room and move through the house. I avoid the living area and make my way upstairs to her room. Her cries never stop. Not as we walk through the house, not as we reach the bathroom, not even when I step under the hot spray of the shower, still fully clothed. She cries and I hold her. I don’t know how long we stay there, huddled together under the water, but I can’t stop. I feel like my arms are holding her pieces together and if I stop for even a second, she will truly disappear.
The only sound is the water, but I swear I hear her mutter a ‘thank you’.
After I shower her and put her in some fresh clothes, she is silent. We have gone from one extreme to another. The screaming and crying have subsided and now I am left with an almost catatonic calmness. I think I preferred the crying, at least then I knew she was feeling something, letting her emotions out. Now there is nothing. No fear, no pain, no terror, just pure blankness.
I speak carefully, “It’s okay to break, baby. I’m here, I promise I won’t let the darkness take you.” I know my words probably won’t mean anything to her at this moment in time, but I can’t bear the silence.
She finally looks at me and the usual sparkle of her eyes is nowhere to be seen. She gets up slowly and without a word, leaves the room. I have no choice but to follow. I follow her until we reach Cassie’s room, and she doesn’t hesitate to push inside. I expect the crying to start again, but still nothing. She just stands and stares at the crumpled-up blankets that haven’t been made since Cassie slept here. It pains me to see them, so I know it must be breaking her.
We stand together in silence until she finally speaks. “What if we don’t get her back?” she whispers, turning to look at me. “What if all this was for nothing? Because that is what I am without her, Marcus. Nothing.”
Marcus, not River. Fuck. I’m losing her.
“She is my reason for everything, my reason for breathing.” She pauses, catching her breath, like she really can’t do it without her. “She is the reason that I can handle that fucking awful night.” No emotions cross her face as she talks, she is void of anything. “The reason that I can continue to live, the reason that I can fight, the reason that I can look into Asher’s eyes and not remember the look on his face after everything he saw.”
She says the words without the smallest sliver of pain in them, and yet every single one feels like a knife in my heart. “It was all for her. Without her I don’t know if I can survive if I want to survive. She is my lifeline and now they have her. They have my baby, River.”
A lone tear tracks down her face and I don’t think she even feels it or realizes it’s there. Her eyes remain vacant as she stares at my chest. I can’t handle it, I grab her cheeks. “Listen to me Ells,” I tilt her head back so she can’t look anywhere but in my eyes. “You cry, you scream, you shout.” I push my head against hers. “Whatever the fuck you need to do, but you do it with me. Whatever you need to do to keep fucking living. Because we are all fucking in, baby. For you. For her.” I tighten my grip. “All of us together to the very fucking end.”
I pull her into my arms until she is molded against my body fully, embracing her with everything I have. “I promise you we will get her back. I don’t care if it fucking kills me. If it’s the last thing I ever fucking do. I promise you I will bring our girl home to our family. Home to you.”
She takes a deep breath as she processes my words. Pulling back, she looks up at me this time, she seems a little lighter and she goes to speak, but the door opens, stopping her.
“Max is here.” Logan's voice is just as monotone and lost as his sister’s. I can truly see the effects this will have if we don’t get Cassie back. I look back to Elle and see the little light I saw spark back into her lifeless eyes, has disappeared once more.
She breaks out of our embrace and takes a step back, casting one last look around the room and then nods to herself before walking out. Logan and I both watch her leave without a word and then follow her, just like always. She is the center of all of us, the glue that holds us together. Yet now she is just as fucked up as the rest of us, and I don�
��t know if she can do this on her own.
My strong and beautiful queen is broken beyond repair and I don’t have the tools to fix her.
Chapter 5
ELLE
Before Cassie, I would have said that the only person I truly lived for was my River. He and I have a long and complicated history, but one thing has always been a constant with him, he’s always had my heart. I fell in love with Marcus Riviera before I even knew what love was. We went from children to teens and our relationship, although changing, was still a very permanent thing in my life. A bond like that would always be hard to break. It wasn’t the bond that was broken, though. It was me. Broken beyond repair until I met my daughter.
Marcus' words almost work on me, they almost bring me back from the ledge I know I have to jump off. Almost. But even him, even his love, is not enough. I know what I have to do, and that is fucking anything. Whatever it takes to get my daughter back with me. If everything fails and I have to marry the fucking Devil just to do it, well, I’ll book the fucking minister myself.
When I reach the main part of the house again, I follow the voices until I find them. Max Foster is standing around the large table in Zack’s office with five of his guys, Elijah, Mason, Liam, Oliver, and Tyler. All of them I know and recognize from training with Max.
He runs a large operation, but these are some of his most trusted. Asher is standing directly between Max and Elijah barely holding himself up and still covered in blood. Jace and Lincoln are standing off to the side slightly. Their shoulders are almost touching as they hunch together against the wall, laser focused on the new guys in the room.
They all stop speaking when I enter and every eye hits me as I feel Marcus and Logan come up behind me. I ignore them all apart from Max. He is 6ft 3 with brown hair and blue eyes, built like a fucking linebacker, and covered in tattoos. He is wearing his usual fitted black t-shirt, combat pants and black boots like the rest of his guys. The only color is the embroidered logo that sits over his left pec with the words ‘Infinite Security’ underneath it.
