by K. J. Dahlen
Peaches began to weep while Iceman held her. He looked enraged.
Cassie knew this was a horrible story but she had to get it out. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “He liked her pain. He beat her up pretty bad, then he took from her the one thing she wanted to give to the man she would one day fall in love with. He shattered her. He broke her body that day, along with her spirit.” Cassie wiped the tears off her cheeks.
Peaches was crying quietly as Iceman held her and tears rolled down his cheeks as well. Ice wasn’t in his veins today.
Cassie’s hands shook as she went on, “I had to wait until he was asleep to find my way in there. I got in through a small window in the bathroom. He didn’t hear me because the TV was blaring loud enough to cover whatever noise I was making. I checked Peaches first. She was scared to death and couldn’t or wouldn’t meet my eyes but I gave her something to wear and she got dressed. Then I went over to the bed where he was sleeping. I looked at the man with nothing but hate in my heart. The hate was a rage I couldn’t control. I-I didn’t want to control it. He’d hurt my sister and by god—I was gonna hurt him worse!”
The men all looked incensed, like they wanted to kill.
Deke held her close as she shook.
Cassie’s eyes glazed over as she remembered what happened in that motel room. “I remember picking up a heavy glass ashtray and hitting him in the head. I hit him so hard the ashtray broke and sliced him up good. There was blood everywhere by the time I was done with him. He opened his eyes and stared straight at me, so I hit him again and again. Peaches finally had to drag me away. His face and head were covered in blood. I think I even got his neck at one point. I’d thought I’d killed the bastard. We went to the front door and I remember grabbing his wallet and car keys on the way out…” She paused then looked up at Peaches. With a ghost of a smile on her lips she told them, “First time I drove a car was that night. We tore out of the parking lot and I almost hit a light pole but we got away. I drove down the road toward the place we were staying. I knew we had to leave town. He cost us both a paycheck, so I took the cash in his wallet but I left the credit cards we had left enough blood in the car to tell the police there was something suspicious going on with him, then I drove the car over a ravine. It smashed up pretty good but the ravine was in a place I knew the police would find it as soon as it got light out. Peaches and I would be long gone by then but I hoped the guy would get arrested.”
“My god, Cassie…” Sam muttered. “Was she okay?”
Cassie glared at the stupidity of the man. “No she wasn’t ok. She was shattered. I tried to get her to talk about it but she couldn’t or wouldn’t. She was too ashamed of what happened to talk about it. For over a year, she couldn’t tell me what he’d done to her. I tried to tell her it wasn’t her fault but she wouldn’t listen to me.”
“I’m so sorry,” Peaches cried. “I was useless to you. I couldn’t even go outside.”
“Oh love, it wasn’t your fault! None of it was!”
“What did you do then?” Leon asked as he looked furious.
“Huh, I dragged her skinny little ass to church,” Cassie told them.
Peaches laughed a little through her tears.
“Church?” Deke asked while feeling perplexed. “Why?”
Cassie got a crestfallen look on her face. “I wanted my friend and sister back, not the ghost I was living with by then. Yes, I dragged her ass to church. She needed to talk to someone about what happened and I knew she could talk to a priest in confession. A priest wouldn’t blame her for the acts she had no control over. I thought maybe a priest could help her see she’d been a victim.”
“And did he?” Calerone wondered out loud.
Cassie nodded slowly. “Yeah, he finally did. She broke down and told him everything and Father William helped her through it. The shame, and guilt, even the thoughts she was having about murdering the bastard. He helped her where I couldn’t. I was so happy for her when she got it all out. She really did need to talk about what happened. It took a lot of time to work through everything but Father William took the time. He made her see that what happened wasn’t her fault. He helped her accept what happened and move on with her life. She came back to me a changed person but closer than we’d been before.”
“Why did you ask about his name before?” Deke questioned.
Cassie shrugged. “That was the one thing we didn’t know, his name. He never told her his name and I never thought to look at the name on his credit cards. We just got the hell out of there and never looked back. I didn’t know he was still alive until you mentioned that scar and his voice. He tried to scream that night but couldn’t hardly make a sound. The ashtray I had in my hand cut his throat pretty bad at some point, that’s why I thought he was dead all this time. But I was too late when I got there. That bastard hurt her, he hurt her bad.”
Peaches reached out and took her hand. “But you did find me. You found me and I too, thought you killed him that night.”
Cassie shook her head. “I should have made sure I got the job done. I’m so sorry.”
Peaches stepped away from her husband and father to wrap her arms around Cassie. “Don’t you dare be sorry! You don’t have anything to be sorry for. You didn’t give up on me. You tracked that bastard down and taught him a lesson. A lesson he had to live with the rest of his miserable life.”
“What happened next?” Leon asked. The rage he held inside him hardly showed but Calderone saw it. It was a reflection of the rage he felt himself.
Peaches took up the story, “Cassie moved us away from that town. She got a job in the new town and she held me every night when I cried my eyes out. She was there for me when I needed her the most. She tried everything to get me to talk about what happened but I just couldn’t. I couldn’t bear to see the disappointment in her eyes. I knew that she never would have given in to that bastard. She would have fought back and I didn’t. But Cassie was always so much stronger than I ever was. I couldn’t fight back.”
“Oh sweetheart, I never blamed you for what happened,” Cassie cried out in horror. “Is that what you’ve thought all these years? That I blamed you? Oh god, Peaches I never did. The blame for what happened belonged to that fucking bastard, never you. When I thought of going to the church, I was desperate by then. She needed to forgive herself and I thought she could talk to someone there anonymously and they could get her to see she was the real victim in all of this.”
“It must have worked,” Leon sated as he stared at Peaches, his gaze looked concerned and full of tenderness.
Cassie and Peaches both nodded their heads.
“Father William brought me to confession. He told me he would never judge me but he would listen and advise me after he found out what happened.”
Iceman gathered her close to him.
“We spoke for hours, days even.” She turned to look at Cassie. “She was there for me every time I went to see Father William. She stayed and waited for me so I wouldn’t have to be alone. She waited in the church for me, so I wouldn’t have to walk home alone. She wouldn’t leave me alone at all and by this time a year had passed from the time he took me.”
“I missed the girl I grew up with.” Cassie looked troubled. “I wanted her back not the broken shell you were after the attack. Finally, after a very long time that girl came back to me. She wasn’t the same girl I knew before but close enough.”
Peaches looked at her with love. “Father William convinced me the attack wasn’t my fault. I was only a child and couldn’t protect myself.” She chuckled a bit. “I don’t think he believed me when I told him what you did to the man who hurt me.”
“I was pissed.” Cassie shrugged.
Deke chuckled. “And everyone here knows what happens when Spitfire gets pissed.”
The men all nodded solemnly in agreement.
Peaches nodded as well. “You were there for me. You helped me get over the attack and for that, I’ll always be grateful.”
; “But I brought it all back to you today and for that I’m the one who’s sorry,” Cassie whispered. “I was hoping that you would be strong enough to handle the news. You have a husband now and your dad and granddad and me to help you get through this.”
“You also have every member of the MC standing behind you too,” Sam added.
“I know that,” Peaches said softly. “And you’re right…I am stronger today than I was then.”
“I wanted to be the one to tell you. I didn’t want you to get this news as a surprise.”
“Thank you for that.” Peaches accepted her reason. She looked over at Deke and the others. “The real question is what are you going to do with this monster?”
“This man is dead. He just doesn’t know it yet,” Leon announced in a cold voice.
“I agree,” Calderone stated through gritted teeth. “He’s a dead man walking for now but his time on this earth is very short. Never again, will he do what he did to you… to another child.”
Deke met Leon’s gaze. “This is the same man I told you about.”
Leon nodded. “I’m glad we came. I worried about this after you called me.”
Peaches walked over to where Iceman was waiting. She looked him in the eyes and asked quietly, “Are you mad at me?”
Iceman grabbed her and hugged her hard, almost cutting off her breath. Then he kissed her wildly. When the kiss broke, he demanded, “Why the hell would you ask me that? I love you. This is on Jonah Rossi and he will be the one who pays the price. That is a fucking guarantee.”
Peaches looked relieved and hugged him back. “It’s just that I never told you. I love you too baby.”
Leon walked over to Cassie and took her hand. Raising it to his mouth, he kissed the back of her hand reverently. “Thank you for being there for our girl. The debt we owe you is something we can never repay.”
Cassie felt Deke’s arms wrap around her. “You don’t owe me anything, not now not ever. She means the world to me and I will always be there for her.”
Leon squeezed her fingers in acknowledgement. He lifted his eyes to Deke. “I want Jonah’s blood.”
The most deadly men in the mafia just decreed a certain death sentence for this scarred monster and they all knew this.
Deke nodded. “So be it.”
A pact was born between the two men.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Jonah Rossi stared out into the darkness of the parking lot at the warehouse. He was angry and frustrated. His head ached but he was used to that. He’d had the same headache for the last ten years and he knew it was something he had to live with. In fact, he was very lucky to be alive at all.
The little bitch that beat his head in with an ashtray damn near killed him that night. If Victor hadn’t heard the assault, Jonah would have died due to loss of blood. He heard the car take off and when he came into Jonah’s room he found him dying.
The Emergency Room staff worked their asses off to save his life and three days later when he finally came around again the police were there to question him. They had found his car but Jonah had been able to put them off with a lie about meeting a woman that night that slept with him them rolled him for the cash he had and left him to die when her boyfriend beat the hell out of him.
That had been the only time he thought he was close to dying. In all his escapades that had been the only time, he’d been close to getting caught. He turned and looked over his shoulder at the man tied to a chair behind him. Lester Pearlman. What a fuckin loser. Jonah’s eyes skimmed over the man.
He was a small man with a big mouth and a nasty temper. He also owed him a lot of money. Thirty five thousand dollars he couldn’t afford to pay back.
Jonah reached into his pocket and brought out a photo. It was of Lester’s four year old daughter. She was a sweet little thing and as he stared at her face, his body responded is a way that thrilled him. She was so small and helpless, just the way he liked them. She would be easy to train. He realized as a flash of desire ran through him.
He had to turn back when he heard a knock at his door. Slipping the photo back into his pocket, he called out, “Enter.”
The door opened and Victor ushered a nervous woman inside his office. “Who the hell are you and what do you want here?” Jonah asked her harshly after looking her over carefully. She was too old to suit him and at the moment had too many bruises to work in his crib of whores.
The woman trembled and tried to speak but the words wouldn’t come out of her mouth. She kept looking over at Lester.
She wouldn’t look at him at all and Jonah frowned. “Woman, I asked you a question and I expect an answer.”
Lester opened his swollen eyes and looked around the room. When he saw Mona, he sneered. “She’s my wife.”
Jonah moved toward and grabbing her arm he demanded, “Where is the girl? You were supposed to bring her here with you. Where is she?”
Mona cringed at the hold he had on her arm. His fingers were biting into her arm but she knew better than to cry out. “She’s not h-here. I couldn’t get her back today.”
“What the fuck woman?” Lester growled. “Why the hell not? You’re her mother ain’t you?”
Mona nodded and was almost standing on her tiptoes as Jonah crushed her arm in his grasp. “When I left her there, the head bitch called in DSS. I didn’t think she would do that but she did. I couldn’t go there, not looking the way I do.” She whined.
Lester sneered. “If I was free, I’d give you more bruises bitch. All you had to do was bring the girl here and you couldn’t even do that right.”
Jonah pushed Mona away from him. He didn’t even look at her when she fell on the floor. Instead, he kicked her out of his way as he walked over to Lester. Raising his hand, he brought it down on the other man’s face. “I think I’ve been very understanding about your debt to me, haven’t I Lester?”
Lester spit the blood out of his mouth and nodded. “Yeah Mr. Rossi, you have been.”
“And now you’re time is up and I don’t have the money you owe me or the girl you promised me in lieu of the money. What do you suppose I’m supposed to do about that?” Jonah leaned down to glare in his eyes.
Lester swallowed hard. “I can get her, I swear.”
“But your time is up, my friend,” Jonah said almost kindly. He reached behind him and brought out his gun. He primed the gun by pulling back the slide.
“No wait!” Mona cried out. “Please don’t kill him. I’ll get her back for you. I will… I promise.”
Jonah snapped his head around to glare at her. “I’ll give you twelve hours, then I’ll just kill you both and take the girl anyway.”
“I’ll get her I promise,” Mona vowed as she glanced at her husband. “Just please don’t hurt him anymore.”
Jonah sneered at her shaking his head. “You would give up your daughter for this bag of shit?” After a moment, he had to ask, “Why? Why would you do that for a man who beats on you?”
Mona shrugged. “I make mistakes and Lester loves me enough to be patient with me. He’s teaching me how to do things the way he wants them done.”
“He’s using you. He doesn’t give a shit about you or your feelings. One of these days, he’s going to end up beating you bad enough to kill you. Then he’ll walk away like you never existed.”
Mona looked shocked. “No he wouldn’t. He needs me. He loves me. He does.”
Jonah glanced at Lester and noted the paleness of his skin. He looked like he could puke at any moment. He watched as Lester stared at the wall rather than look at the woman who just declared the fact that he loved her. Jonah shook his head. “You poor fool. He doesn’t love you. He can’t even look at you now.”
Mona glanced at her husband. “Lester? Is he telling me true? Do you love me or don’t you?”
Lester still couldn’t look at her. “Of course I love you, you’re my wife. But you need to go get Destiny. He’ll kill me if you don’t bring her here. You don’t want that do you? You don�
�t want him to kill me, do you?”
Mona shook her head. “No of course not. I’ll bring her here tomorrow morning. I promise.”
“Don’t bother coming back if she isn’t with you.” Lester growled. “And know that if you don’t get her, I’ll be dead. And that will be your fault. You will have got me killed because you can’t fuckin do your job right. Remember that woman.”
Mona shook as she stared at him, then she turned around and left the room.
Jonah chuckled as he glared at Lester. “What the fuck are you playing at Lester?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Sure you do.” Jonah nodded. “You don’t love that woman any more than I do.” He snorted. “You don’t even love that kid of yours, do you?”
Lester grimaced. “No, I don’t. I never wanted any kids and she knew it. She tricked me she did. All that brat did was cry when she was little. About drove me nuts, her crying all the damn time.”
“Well then I guess I’m doing you a favor then by taking her off your hands.” Jonah stared at him for a moment then shook his head. “There’s still the matter of what to do with you.”
“But I thought once you had Destiny I would be free of the debt?” Lester looked horrified.
“She’ll cover the debt amount but what about the interest?” He shrugged. “There’s always interest on any debt.”
Lester began to sweat. “What kind of interest are we talking about here?”
“I think I’ll settle for your life.” His words were cold and harsh.
Lester began trembling. He knew there would be no way out for him. He heard Jonah cock his weapon again and expected to feel a bullet tear through his head but instead, they both heard a knock on the door.
