Hard as Stone (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnnon Sisters)

by Sarah O'Rourke

  Harmony wondered if she could truly believe everything this man was telling her. After all, he was a drug-runner who had allowed her family to be terrorized up to this point Was there any reason to trust? “All we want is for this to be over,” Harmony replied shakily, rubbing her hand over her forehead. “I want to go home to my daughter and the man I love. Please Diego, let us go. If you don’t, I guarantee you that all hell is going to break loose and a lot of people are going to be hurt.”

  Diego opened his mouth to speak just as the back door slammed against the wall, and he watched as both women jumped in the chairs in front of him, gasping as they looked over their shoulders at their uninvited guest. Glaring as Tanner Suarez strutted into the kitchen, Diego rose from his chair. “What the fuck are you doing here, Suarez?” he barked, his eyes blazing as he faced the other man.

  Grinning at Diego with a wicked smile and gleaming eyes, Tanner laughed. “I see you received the gifts I sent you, Diego. If you haven’t sampled one yet, I suggest you start with the younger one,” he chuckled, reaching a hand out to touch Honor’s hair and pulling a shriek from her lips. “I’m betting she still tastes just like a peach on a hot summer’s day.”

  Chapter Fifty-four

  As Jake and Zeke picked their way around the last body Slade had left in his wake, he shook his head as he stared down at the dead man at his feet. “Jesus. That guy’s like the fuckin’ Terminator,” he muttered. “They called me the Widowmaker, for Christ sake, but this guy makes me look like a fuckin’ Care Bear.” So far, they’d come across three other kills Slade had made. The guy at Jake’s feet had his throat slit, but the others had their necks broken. It was good to know that Slade could be versatile, but this shit was beginning to alarm even him.

  Zeke glanced at the man on the ground and shrugged his shoulders, unconcerned by the carnage they’d encountered. “Slade loves his cousins, and the man’s a machine when he’s on a mission.” Nodding to where the tall man waited about twenty yards from where the tree line ended, he murmured, “He’s spotted something.”

  Turning, Jake walked quietly toward the waiting man, careful to step around the broken twigs on the ground. He knew one misstep could give away their location, and they needed the element of surprise on their side. “What do you see, Slade?” Jacob asked when he reached the man, still staring at the house in the distance.

  “That your guy keepin’ watch on the porch?” he asked, nodding to the lone man standing on the steps of the ramshackle cabin.

  Squinting, Jake spotted Luis standing there, almost as if he was waiting for him. Nodding, Jake murmured, “That’s him.” Dragging his phone from his jean, he texted his former partner quickly, lifting his eyes to watch if the other man checked his phone. Relieved when the man lifted a hand and tugged his ear, Jake’s shoulders relaxed marginally. “He got the message. That’s our sign to come ahead,” he told the two men with him.

  “You sure?” Zeke grunted.

  “I worked with the man a lot of years, Zeke. Put my life in his hand countless times. He’s an undercover agent playing a role, but he’s clean,” Jake said before moving toward the tree line. Staying low, he moved toward the house, aware of Slade and Zeke at his back as Luis lifted his gun and scanned their surroundings.

  Climbing the porch steps quickly, Jake growled in a low voice, “You got my woman?”

  “She’s not hurt, Jake, but we got a problem,” Luis replied as the men heard a commotion inside the house. “Diego’s with them, but we got company,” the DEA agent growled. “Tanner’s just got here. I saw him go in through the back. He’s armed.”

  “You’re standing out here while the guy that hurt our women is in the house with ‘em? What the fuck?” Jake bit out, his fingers tightening around his gun. “And here I was telling these guys that you were clean, Luis. Tell me, you gone over to the other side?”

  “Fuck you, Jake. You know me better than that. I was waiting for you and your guys, asshole, but I’m telling you we need to play this smart. Any cowboy shit could get these girls dead,” he said tightly, looking around at the grim-faced men surrounding him.

  “We’re not playing at all, you son of a bitch,” Zeke growled. “Either you’re with us or you’re in our way and we need to handle you. Choose. Now.”

  Running a hand over his sweating face, Luis shook his head. “Jesus, fuck!” he snarled. “It’s like the Wild Fuckin’ West out here. Can’t wait to get through with this shit and take my ass back to the Gang Task Force. This operation is good and fucked anyway.”

  “Not an answer, Luis,” Jake spat.

  “I’m fuckin’ with you, man,” Luis muttered, glancing over his shoulder and into the house. “Look, Diego knows who I am,” he began, lifting a hand when Jake’s face turned thunderous, “I’ll fuckin’ explain later, but suffice it to say, in a fight between us and Tanner, Diego is on our side. He doesn’t want your women hurt, either, so don’t fuckin’ shoot him. DEA is gonna need him. Tanner, though, he doesn’t know I’m an agent. Let me go in there as Diego’s man and feel out the situation. Jake, you and your sheriff, come in behind me. And Mr. Muscle, there,” he said, nodding toward Slade, “He can go around back and see if he can get a clean shot through the window. Look alive, though, Diego has four of his men out scanning the grounds.”

  “Those four men are no longer a problem,” Slade informed the other man tonelessly, his eyes meeting Luis’s in a look that shared he could give a shit less about what he’d done.

  “Holy fuck,” Luis breathed, his eyes dilating slightly.

  Looking toward Slade, Zeke warned, “Ice is tryin’ to get up high. Try not to block any shot he could take. He won’t miss if he gets one.”

  Slade nodded once and disappeared around the side of the house.

  “That son of a bitch took out all four guys?” Luis whispered, watching as Slade edged around the corner of the cabin.

  “He’s in a bad mood,” Jake snapped. “And we’re all running short on patience. Get your ass in there before I put a bullet in your head myself and do this my way.”

  Returning Jake’s irritated look with a baleful glare of his own, Dante opened the door to the house with Jake and Zeke following closely behind him.

  ~~***~~

  “What do you say, Diego? You ready to get this party started?”

  Harmony’s stomach dropped as she heard Tanner’s sickeningly familiar drawl behind her. Watching as her sister paled, blanching a shade of white she’d never seen before, she felt her temper rising. For Christ’s sake, it was enough. More than enough. And when Tanner’s hand drifted over Honor’s shoulder to cup her breast, twisting her nipple painfully and pulling a scream of sheer terror from her mouth, Harmony decided it was time to let the bastard know she’d reached her limit.

  “These bitches still giving you trouble, Diego?” Tanner asked from behind the women. “I got something that will help with getting that cooperation you need, amigo.” Pulling a long wicked blade from his waist, he slid it between Honor’s breasts. “You remember this don’t you, sugar?” he asked, bending his head to whisper against Honor’s neck as he pressed the blade to her skin. “You and me had some real good fun with this steel, didn’t we?”

  Honor screamed, trying desperately to twist away from the blade as Diego growled low in his throat and Dante strode through the kitchen doorway. Her panic increased as he cut the button’s from her shirt, the sides of her blouse parting and exposing her scarred chest. “Stop!” she screeched, clawing at the material with one hand as Tanner laughed.

  “What the fuck! Tanner, drop the knife, man!” Dante spat, drawing his own gun in one smooth movement as Diego did the same.

  Harmony raked her nails down the side of Tanner’s face as Honor wrenched her body out of her chair toward the door. Diego and she watched helplessly as Tanner twisted his hand cruelly in her sister’s hair, wrenching her backward and off balance. Gasping as Honor fell backward, striking her temple against the sharp edge of the kitchen counter and
falling to the floor in a heap, rage bloomed inside Harmony’s belly. Whirling, she slapped her ex-husband’s face. “You bastard! Just let her be, you sick fuck!” she shrieked a second before her open palm made contact with the side of his face.

  “Still a fucking wildcat, I see,” Tanner sneered, lifting a hand to wrap his hand around her neck and squeezing painfully, cutting off her airway while he trailed his knife over down her cheek to her neck. “Should have killed you the night you thought to test me. Stupid of me. I was so fucking trashed, I didn’t do the job right. I’m looking forward to rectifying that fucking mistake with you and your sister now. Waited a long fucking time for that moment. As soon as you and that bitch sign over that land, you’re mine. Diego might not have any use for you beyond that, but I’ve got a whole fucking lot I plan on doing to you. First, I’m gonna teach you the lesson you never got around to learning about fucking with me and then, I’m gonna make you watch me fuck that precious sister of yours in every hole she’s got. You’re gonna be there to see it when I slit her fucking throat from ear to ear! I’m gonna love hearing you beg for mercy, bitch,” he spat in her face as she struggled against him, the blade drawing against her skin as a thin ribbon of blood leaked down her neck.

  “Tanner, release the woman now!” Diego snarled, aiming his weapon at Tanner as he held Harmony in front of him. “I will take care of them. Your role here has been played!” he barked, trying to find a clear shot around Harmony’s head.

  “Do it, Tanner,” Dante advised harshly, edging closer to Honor as she whimpered on the floor, her body curling into a tight ball as she rested at Tanner’s feet.

  “Stay where the fuck you are, Dante, or I’ll stick this bitch right now. It’s not like she’s the one we really need anyway,” he threatened, pushing the blade deeper against Harmony’s neck. He chuckled in an ugly way, his beady eyes moving to narrow on Diego’s hardened, enraged face. “These bitches got to you, didn’t they? Fuck,” Tanner growled against Harmony’s cheek, “What is it about you cunts that makes strong men stupid? I had this one’s pussy for years.” Tightening his arm around Harmony’s torso while he kept her in front of him, he blocked any shot the men could have made. “And I’ve had her little sister on the floor. They’re good, hombre. Shit, their cunts are tight as fuck, but they’re not good enough to disappoint your papa. Not nearly good enough, man. So, let me do you a solid and take these whores out back and show ‘em what happens when they disappoint the Fuentes cartel. Trust me, when I’m done, I’ll get you that land.”

  “We’d both rather die than give any of you what want you want, Tanner,” Harmony snarled, wincing as the knife bit into her flesh again when she turned her head and tried to see her sister. God, she hated this man. If she had to listen to much more of his twisted perversion, she was going to completely lose what was left of her mind.

  “You know, that can be arranged. It’s your baby sister that Diego really needs, bitch. You, you’re really just in the way,” she heard Tanner threaten as his hot rancid breath fanned against her cheek turning her stomach. “Maybe, it’s time to put this bitch out of her…”

  “Tanner!” Jake barked, the swinging kitchen door bouncing against the wall as he moved into the room followed closely behind by Zeke. “Don’t do this. Let her go and we’ll allow you to walk away,” he bargained even as his spine tightened at the sight of Harmony’s crimson blood rolling down her neck and dripping on her shirt.

  “Honor!” Zeke bit out, looking at her still body on the floor before turning enraged eyes on Suarez. “So, help me God, I’ll kill you for this.”

  “Sheriff,” Diego murmured, keeping his voice steady as he glanced toward Zeke. “Your woman is still breathing. She’s stunned, but alive. Calm down.”

  Tanner’s lips twisted cruelly. “Lookie here, baby,” he whispered in Harmony’s ear. “Your own personal protective detail has shown up. They’re a little late though, ‘specially since I’ve got the fuckin’ knife at your throat and I got zero problems with the thought of tearing it out for you!” His angry eyes moved to Diego and he shook his head as it registered that Diego was standing on the opposite side of the law from him. “You’re fuckin’ working with the goddamn law? Daddy’s not gonna like that at all. You just cut your own fuckin’ throat!”

  “Esteban will never know,” Diego stated softly. “You don’t realize this, but you aren’t leaving here alive, Tanner. You are what they call a dead man walking. You’re a ghost already; you just don’t understand that you are dead. Let the woman go and we’ll make this quick and painless. Hurt her, and I’ll make your death a torture you’ve never dreamed about in your worst nightmares.”

  “Jesus, Harmony, you fuck him that good before I got here? That snatch of yours so good that you can pussywhip a motherfucker like Diego Fuentes? Or was it your sister? Now, from what I can remember, her pussy could definitely have done the trick,” Tanner asked, enjoying the flush that climbed up Jacob’s neck and the way the other man’s jaw clenched at the innuendo. The low growl that emanated from Zeke’s throat as he took aim only heightened Tanner’s enjoyment. “How’s it feel to know I’ve owned both your women’s cunts?” he asked them with a vicious smile. “Do you like knowing how they both howled for me long before either of you?”

  “For God’s sake, shoot him, Jake!” Harmony screamed, her fingers clawing at the hand holding the knife to her throat. “He’s going to kill me anyway! Just shoot the damn gun!” she ordered shrilly, silently willing him to end this nightmare for all of them.

  “Darlin’, stay calm,” Jake ordered, keeping his voice low and calm but his eyes trained on the man standing behind her, holding the woman he loved in a punishing grip with a lethally sharp blade to her throat. One wrong move on any of their parts, and that knife would cut through her carotid artery like butter. “What’s your plan here, Tanner? Doesn’t sound like your buddy, Fuentes, is gonna be offering you any kind of sanctuary. So, whatcha gonna do?” Jake asked, praying to God that Slade or Ice could find a shot from outside the house.

  “I’m takin’ this bitch and I’m out of here,” he growled in response, dragging Harmony a step backward. “You follow me and I promise, I’ll kill the bitch slow. Maybe you’ll find a piece or two of her when I’m done with her. Then again, maybe not. I can tell you, you try to stop me now and I’ll gut her right here. You might put a bullet in me but not before you watch her bleed out in front of your eyes.”

  Staring at Jake, Harmony’s eyes watered as she felt the knife biting into her flesh and blood rolling freely down her neck. He was like stone. Cold and still, the only sign of his heightened emotions was the regular tic in his jaw. “Take the shot,” she pled, her mind begging him to look into her eyes and see that she needed this to end. “Just do it, Jake. Please! I’d rather die by your bullet than by his hands!” she screamed. “DO IT!”

  Jake saw Honor move from the corner of his eyes, slowly climbing back to unsteady feet as she turned and searched the counter behind her. He didn’t dare shift an inch and call attention to her. Holding his breath as he saw the young woman lunge for something on the counter, Honor’s low scream echoed off the walls as she fell toward Tanner, burying something in his back that made him yowl at the top of his lungs as his back arched, his belly bumping into Harmony and shuffling her forward in his arms.

  “No more!” Honor screamed as she pulled the butcher knife that she’d found on the dirty countertop from his back and brought it viciously down again, plunging it into his back as blood sprayed her face. Twisting the steel violently inside his body, she heard his flesh tearing. “NomoreNomoreNomore!” she shrieked, finally letting go of the knife and stumbling back against the counter again when Tanner twisted toward her, one arm reaching out to grab her.

  “Honor, down!” Zeke roared the command in a booming voice that shook the room.

  Feeling Tanner’s arms slacken around her, Harmony hurled herself from his grip toward Jake as she saw the hand holding his gun lift and steady. Almost
instantly, she heard the blast of multiple weapons firing, the sound tearing through her body and causing her to sag against Jake. Turning as the man she loved caught her in one arm against him, she watched as bullets tore through Tanner’s flesh, taking him to his knees before he fell to his back on the floor.

  As the smoke cleared, Harmony leaned heavily against Jake as he curled an arm around her, holding her tight to his side, his face buried in her neck. “Thank Christ,” he muttered against her skin. “Thought I’d lost you. Didn’t know how I was gonna get a shot off around you and I couldn’t handle the idea of shooting you to get to him.” Unable to tear her eyes away from where her ex-husband lay writhing on the floor as his blood spread across the dirty tiles, she shook her head. “I’m okay. We’re all okay,” she whispered, turning into his embrace and burying her face against his chest.

  “Honor!” Harmony heard Zeke call out gruffly, his voice thick with worry. Lifting her head, she searched for her sister and found her kneeling in a pool of Tanner’s blood, her eyes glued to the dying man’s face. “Oh, God!” Harmony cried, her throat closing as she got a good look at her sister. “Honor!” she moaned, awkwardly lurching toward her youngest sibling.

  Crawling on her hands and knees toward Tanner, Honor shook her head. “No! Don’t you dare die,” she yelled at the fallen man, slapping her hand against one of the holes in his chest. “Not until you tell me who else there was!” she screamed, her voice thin and hysterical. “Tell me who else hurt me, you bastard!”