Ruthless Protector

by Sherilee Gray

  I moved toward him on shaky legs. I had to believe that Jude would get here in time to save Tilly, that whatever was about to happen in this room, would buy her enough time.

  I chanted Jude’s name in my head over and over again, like somehow, he’d hear me. That he’d find us before it was too late.

  He tugged my hands over my head. There was a rattle of chains and then he clamped old style manacles around my wrists.

  He stood back and looked at me. “Perfect.”

  The door opened, and one of the guys who brought me here walked over with a glass and handed it to Donny. He grabbed my jaw, and held it to my mouth. “Drink.”

  I jerked my head away, pressing my lips tightly together.

  He squeezed my jaw harder. “Either you drink it, or your niece will.”

  Tears filled my eyes. I had no choice. I opened my mouth and swallowed down the bitter liquid.

  Then the pair of them walked out, leaving me to face what happened next alone.

  I don’t know how long I waited, listening for the sound of someone coming. It felt like moments, but it could have been hours. I was shaking and sweating, my arms aching, losing feeling, so filled with terror, I didn’t know how my heart was still beating. My head spun; whatever they’d made me drink made me groggy, and it was a struggle to keep my feet under me.

  Then I heard it. Slow footsteps, distant at first, each step getting louder, closer.

  The door swung open and a tall figure filled the doorway. He was wearing all black, pants and a jacket, black leather gloves. But what was most terrifying, was the black leather mask that covered his whole head and face, holes cut for his eyes and mouth.

  I yanked on the cuffs around my wrists, my fear so visceral, I thought it might choke me.

  His eyes looked black behind that mask, glittering in the lamp light. He stepped inside and quietly shut the door behind him, walked over to the chair in the corner that had been brought in during my bath, and sat down.

  He was in shadow now, concealed in one of the dark corners.

  I waited, eyes straining to see him, each breath exploding in and out of me, so wild and unmeasured, my throat stung.

  He didn’t move, didn’t speak, he just sat there.

  Watching me.

  I whimpered and tugged on the cuffs again. The drug they’d given me was taking hold, and no matter how hard I fought it, I couldn’t hold my heavy eyelids open. My mind felt like there was a strobe light going off inside my head, flashes of the room, then darkness.

  I jerked, my eyes snapping open. I scrambled, trying to hold myself up, to stop the strain on my arms.

  The room was spinning and when I managed to focus, he was somehow closer, his seat moved forward, just a little. His shiny pointed shoes and black trousers were now in the lamplight. I shook my head, trying to fight the fog, the weight of my lids.

  Everything went black again.

  When I jerked awake for the second time, oh God. He was closer again, his face now in light as well, casting terrifying shadows across that mask.

  I had no idea how long I’d been out each time. I had no sense of time.

  He was playing with me. Doing his best to terrify me. The manacles, the drug, all used to make me feel as helpless as I did. He wanted me to know what was coming, and he wanted to make sure I knew there was nothing I could do.

  Hot tears streaked down my face as that heavy weight came over me again, when my eyes tried to shut without my say-so.

  He stood suddenly and strode toward me. I saw a flash of silver, before it arced down, slicing into my upper arm. I screamed in pain as he retreated, back to that chair, his body again still, his black eyes glittering.

  I glanced down at the cut to my arm, blood dripping from the wound, and again, everything went black.

  Jude

  Several bodies lay around us, writhing, groaning, bleeding.

  Donny stood across the room, gun aimed on me.

  “You’re outnumbered and outgunned, Morgan. You want out of this alive, you’ll put down that gun and tell me where you took Willa.”

  “I can’t do that,” he said. “That’s not the plan.”

  I’d taken a shot to my right bicep, and there was no way I could go for my gun quick enough, not with it strapped to my chest, and I couldn’t reach it with my left. Ruby and Zeke had their guns on him, Hunter, Van, and Neco covering the guys on the floor, in case one of them had a death wish and tried to take another shot.

  “What plan?” I said.

  He smiled. “God’s plan.”

  The way his eyes darted around the room, the manic grin on his face… The guy had lost it.

  “Where is she, Donny?” I demanded.

  “Paying for her sins, like all whores should.” He spat on the floor. “Like they all did. We saved them. We set them free.”

  “Who? Who’s helping you?”

  He shook his head. “Time to set you free as well.” Then he lifted his gun.

  Two shots echoed through the room, Ruby and Zeke both hitting their mark. He dropped to the floor and I ran to him, going down to my knees. “Tell me?” I roared. “Where is she?”

  He grinned, blood staining his teeth. “In hell.”

  I shook the shit out of him. “Who has her? It’s Jethro? It’s him, isn’t it?”

  He collapsed back, and stared blankly up at the ceiling.

  “Fuck, he’s dead.” I stood, pacing away. “Now we’ll never find her. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” I scrubbed my hands over my face. “You should have just let him fucking shoot me.”

  “Jude?” Zeke said.

  “At least then she’d have a chance, we’d get him to talk.” I knew they did what they thought was right, but I didn’t want to be here if Willa wasn’t. I couldn’t lose her. I wouldn’t survive another loss like that. I didn’t want to.

  My gaze dropped to the floor, to Donny’s body, lifeless on the floor. Dirt, red tinged in color, it marked the floor where he’d stood, coating the bottom of his shoes. I dropped to my haunches and got a closer look.

  Ruby dropped down beside me. “What is it?”

  “This dirt, it was at Willa’s house, two sets of prints.” I lifted my head. “Anything like this outside?”

  Hunter took off to check.

  “What are you thinking?” Van asked.

  “I’m not sure.” My head was so full of grief and anger, I had to fight to think clearly. This was something, my gut told me it was something.

  “When my folks laid concrete for their patio, they added a dye to it, looked kinda like this,” Zeke said.

  “Isn’t there a new build across the street?” Ruby said.

  Hunter walked back in and lifted his boot. Red dirt. “There’s nothing around this building. But Ruby’s right. I got this across the street. Why do you think our friends here would spend time at a construction site? There’s a building behind it, two levels, windows boarded. Three cars parked out front.”

  I was already heading for the door, and no one was stupid enough to try and stop me.

  We split up and moved across the street. We passed the new build, walking through red-colored dirt. Two bags of concrete dye sat against the fence, torn, and the wind had blown it around, covering just about everything.

  Van and I headed for the front. Zeke and Ruby moved to the rear, and Hunter and Neco moved down one side, checking the perimeter for guards before they’d follow us in.

  Van quickly picked the lock and we moved in.

  The room we entered was large, open, with a staircase against the wall on the right. It looked like it had been used for storage. Ruby and Zeke walked in through the opposite side of the building, the same time as a guy with a gun charged out from under the stairs. Ruby roundhouse kicked him, knocking the gun from his hand. He grabbed a chef’s knife from the table in front of him, and came back at her.

  Ruby dodged the wild slash, spun, and kicked again, the blade flying from the guy’s hand as well, then she advanced. She took him down and
Zeke cuffed him as Van and I moved up the stairs.

  “That can’t be it,” Van said, as we hit the top. “Some dude with a fucking Ginsu Knife.”

  There were two doors up here, and as if on cue, one swung open, and two big fuckers with guns walked out of the one on the left.

  That’s when it started.

  Willa’s screams.

  And she was screaming my name.

  Willa

  I screamed as the knife slid into my flesh, this one deeper than the last.

  Every time I surfaced from my drugged haze, he either sat and stared, that chair even closer, or he cut me. I wanted to stay in the dark, but my mind kept fighting it, kept fighting the drug, fighting total oblivion.

  He hadn’t cut anything vital yet. Arms, thighs, one to the side of my breast, the last one was the side of my thigh again. My blood soaked the white robe, that now hung open, making it feel wet and heavy. It dripped from the fabric and pooled at my feet.

  Every cut drained a little more of me. It wouldn’t be long now, until I wouldn’t be able to fight the darkness anymore. I couldn’t let it; I had to get through this, for Tilly. I screamed Jude’s name over and over in my mind now, then I realized my throat was raw. I wasn’t screaming for him in my head anymore.

  I kept screaming until no more sound came. It wasn’t until I quieted that I realized the psycho in the mask had frozen in the middle of the room, knife still in hand, my blood dripping from the blade.

  Grunts and growls echoed through the door.

  A gun went off.

  Then there was a roar, so loud and fierce, it lifted the hair at the back of my neck. My eyes were getting heavy again, the darkness trying to take me away, but I fought for all I was worth.

  The door flew open, and Jude stormed inside, gun raised and blood dripping down his arm.

  Van ran in after him, followed quickly by Ruby and Zeke.

  Then Jude was beside me, lifting me, supporting my weight, while someone else furiously worked the cuffs around my wrists, setting me free.

  “Oh fuck, what have they done, what have they done to you,” he said, as he clutched me to him. “It’s okay now. I got you, beautiful. I’ve got you.”

  “Tilly,” I said, still fighting the blackness closing in.

  “She’s safe, sweetheart,” he said. “Your baby girl is safe.” Then he lifted me into his arms. “Ambulance is on the way.”

  That’s when Van tore the mask off my attacker.

  A woman stared back at him.

  “Jennifer?” Van said, the shock in his voice clear.

  “You know her?” Zeke said.

  “She’s used to work at the club. She’s tight with Raul and Fay.”

  “Why was Donny helping you?” he demanded.

  “Her son,” I managed to get out.

  Donny’s mom, Fay’s best friend, was a cold-blooded killer.

  She looked eerily calm.

  Van cursed. “Why?”

  Some of her calm vanished. “I came to this city an innocent, and Samuel Esposito took advantage of me. He made me a whore, made me disgrace myself, like his son has done to the whores working for him.”

  “Raul doesn’t make his girls do a damn thing,” Van said.

  “I was going to leave him alone, just target the city clubs, for Fay’s sake,” she said, not hearing him, shaking her head. “But then Raul set his sights on Fay, he put his filthy hands on her, made her think he cared. He fooled her to get what he wanted, like his father fooled me. He’s taking her away from me, when I just got her back. He doesn’t love her. The Esposito men don’t know what love is. I do. I love these girls enough to set them free. I needed to set his girls free too.”

  “You’re a cold-blooded killer and you made your son as twisted as you.”

  She shook her head violently. “I’m saving them. I made them suffer. I sent them to heaven repentant, washed clean. They don’t deserve to go to hell. I won’t let that happen.” She shook her head again. “Daddy said I’d go to hell when I went home. He punished me, he tried to wash me clean. He said I’d always be dirty, but I did it. I did it on my own.”

  She opened her mouth and screamed, charging for me. Van took her down before she’d taken more than a step and Jude strode from the room.

  I tried to hold on, to keep my eyes open, but I wasn’t strong enough.

  Everything went dark.

  27

  Jude

  I looked down at Willa lying in that hospital bed, looking so damn small and fragile. Walking into that room after hearing her scream my name, seeing her like that, the blood. Christ, I wanted to hold her to me and never let her go.

  White bandages covered her upper arms; the rest I couldn’t see, concealed under her covers. But I knew what was there, I knew the scars they’d leave, and not just marking her skin.

  Since Jennifer’s arrest, we discovered a lot more about her. Her father had been a minister, but left the church to form his own. It was more like a cult, and she’d run to escape it. She met Raul’s father, Samuel, and after working for him in the club for a while, they started a relationship. Jennifer struggled, her religious background causing her guilt, and she eventually broke it off with Samuel because of it and went home. Whatever happened back there wasn’t good, and between then and now, she’d formed her own little cult, her son Donny being her righthand man. She’d never gotten past her father’s disappointment, his abuse, her fear that her “sins” would send her to hell. Somehow in her twisted mind, she’d decided killing those women would set them, and her, free.

  I scrubbed my hands over my face, and went to stand, needing to move. There was so much restless energy, so much anger I didn’t know what to do with, still throbbing through me.

  Willa’s fingers curled around my wrist, stopping me.

  I didn’t even know she was awake. “You’re back,” I said. Christ, was that my voice?

  “I knew you’d come. I knew it,” she said, voice raspy, raw from screaming.

  Her words annihilated me where I sat. “I’ll always come for you, sweetheart, always,” I choked out.

  “I know.” Her fingers tightened around mine. “Thank you. For saving Tilly, for saving me, for being here now.”

  “Don’t thank me for that, beautiful. Christ, I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” I said, brushing her hair back from her face. I was exactly where I was supposed to be, and I wasn’t leaving her side.

  Tears overflowed, streaking down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry, Jude. For what I said…for what I…” She started to shake.

  I kissed the top of her head. “Hey, don’t talk now. You just rest, can you do that for me?”

  She nodded again, and another wave of tears slid down her cheeks.

  Shit. I wanted to take it all away, all her pain and fear, all the memories. “You close your eyes and rest. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

  “Promise?” she whispered.

  Another gut clench. “Promise.” I kissed the top of her head again. “You’re safe now. Tilly’s safe. Just rest.”

  I was about to move to the chair across from her bed, but her hand shot out again and she grabbed onto me. “You promise you won’t go?”

  My throat tightened. “I promise. I’ll be right here.”

  I’m never leaving you alone, beautiful. Not fucking ever.

  Willa

  Tilly clutched my hand as we walked to the bus.

  She hadn’t said much about what happened a month ago, but she was having regular counseling sessions, and she seemed to be handling everything okay. Thank God. She was resilient, a fighter. I liked to think she got that from me.

  Trent was being held in custody until his court case, and Jude told me Tomas had spread the word that I had nothing to do with any debts Trent might have, and if anyone touched us, it was a direct attack against him and The King agency, which would be considered a declaration of war.

  I didn’t ask what that meant, I just appreciated the hell out of it. Appreciated the he
ll out of all of them.

  Jude had been by our sides every step of the way. But we hadn’t discussed the future or my decision to leave before everything that happened. I hadn’t had the energy to deal with the boxes and suitcases I’d packed, and I hadn’t thought anything of it until I noticed him looking at them this morning. We hadn’t really had much in the way of alone time. I’d been in hospital for the first week, then Tilly had slept with me for the next few. I’d also been healing, and Tilly had needed to be close to me, we’d both needed it. He hadn’t left us, though, watching over us, making sure we were okay.

  “You happy here, Tils?” I asked my niece.

  “Yep, it’s the best.”

  “I think so, too,” I said. “Your mom, she wanted me to look after you on my own. Her and I…we haven’t exactly had much luck with guys, she thought it should just be you and me,” I said. My decisions affected her, she should have a say. We were in this together now.

  Tilly frowned. “Why would she want that?”

  “She thought it was the best thing for you, I guess.”

  She shook her head, chin stubborn, and crossed her arms. “Dad hurt Mom, and Evan hurt you before we left Ashwood Falls. But Jude’s nothing like them, he never could be. He’d never hurt us, Willa.”

  This kid, she was too smart for her own damn good. “I know…”

  “Mom’s gone,” she said. “She never met Jude.”

  “No, she didn’t…”

  “She loved me, right?”

  I tugged her to a stop. “Of course, more than anything.”

  “The lady you took me to talk to after Mom died said she wouldn’t want me to be sad all the time. Well, Jude makes me happy. He makes me laugh and smile, and he has a cool Harley.”

  “He does…”

  “And he makes you smile and laugh, too, Willa.”

  A lump formed in my throat. I nodded.

  “If Mom wants us happy, that means she’d want us to stay here, to stay with Jude.”

  My heart pounded behind my ribs as everything she said hit home. “You’re right, I think she would too.”

  We carried on to the bus stop and after I waved her off, I headed back to my place. As I passed Fay’s house, the door opened, and Raul walked out. He pulled Fay in for a long kiss, then jogged down the stairs and left.