by G N Wright
Zack bursts out of the door of the front one before it even has a chance to fully stop followed by a few more guys. They are all dressed in black from head to toe, with weapons out, ready to fight. When Elle sees him, she sags with relief and barrels towards him and he engulfs her in a hug, relaxing himself.
He pulls back nodding to us before looking down at her, “You okay, sweetheart?” he asks, with concern taking in the cuts on her face from our earlier fight.
She nods, “I’m all good, it’s just been a long night,” she exhales, and he nods back at her.
“Ash filled me in. Let's get you out of here,” he says, looking around as the other men from the two vehicles case the area before settling his gaze on us, “You three too, come on.”
Elle turns to us and smiles, “Looks like you're gonna be North Breds for a while, too,” she says with a tease and how she even has the power to make a joke right now astounds me. We move towards the vehicles, but her gaze moves past us and her smile drops. Before we can stop her, she is rushing back towards our burning home.
“Ells, what the fuck are you doing?” Marcus shouts but it’s too late she is already next to the flames bending over and picking something up before she rushes back towards us. She’s holding a bunch of orange roses and an envelope with her name on. She rips in open and reads it quickly before grimacing.
“Fighting fire with fire only gets you ashes,” she repeats what is on the page before flipping it over in her hands to see if there is anything else.
“The fuck does that mean?” Jace asks, but she looks at me and then to Marcus.
“It’s a quote from Abigail Van Buren,” I muse, she nods.
“Of fucking course, you would know that too,” Donovan mutters into my ear.
“It means Elliot Donovan is coming for us,” she states, and we are all silenced by her words. This is no longer a simple revenge mission; we aren’t sneaking up on him and slowly taking his business apart piece by piece. No, that’s over now. He knows we’re coming, and he isn’t waiting. The war is coming to us and it’s time to fight harder than ever before.
Chapter 31
MARCUS
What the fuck happened tonight? No what the fuck happened in the last three years? I thought the worst thing that could ever happen to me was finding my father’s dead body, murdered in cold blood. I was wrong. The worst thing that could happen to me would be to lose Elle again. Something I have been close to feeling twice in the last twenty-four hours alone, and not just her, but my boys too. Tonight, I lost my home, my bike, my car, and everything I own. At least I still have my family.
I think the only person getting any sleep tonight is fucking Cassie. The rest of us sit in silence around the island in the Royton’s kitchen island. It’s already 4am but I doubt any of us feel like sleeping after everything that happened. I never thought after being complicit in eight murders, that my night could get any worse. But then as usual, I underestimated Elliot Donovan.
Helen is fussing over us all as she hands out hot chocolate. She squeezes my shoulder as she pauses and drops a kiss to Elle’s head. It’s funny isn’t it? She isn’t the biological parent to anyone in this room, yet the love I see in her eyes every time she looks at Elle and Zack is so pure. I haven’t seen love like it since I lost my father, taking them out of it, Michael Riviera is the only parent between us worth a damn and he’s dead. Zack's parents gave him up, Elle’s parents let the devil take her, Jace’s parents cared more about drugs than him or
his sister and Lincoln’s, well, he doesn’t talk much about his past, but you don’t typically end up in foster care with good parents. I know his past is dark as the rest of ours, if not more.
Zack is furious. In the few times I have met him and all the times I have spoken with him, I’ve never seen him like this. He is usually a blank mask of no emotion. Calm, cool, collected, someone hard to work out, a force to be reckoned with, especially in business. I never thought a man like him could have a soft spot but apparently it comes in the form of his half-sister and niece.
“Why are we even surprised this happened? It’s not like we didn’t know he put a hit out on her. He has wanted her gone ever since he learned she was back. I told you we should have put a security detail on her, but no one listened to me,” he rants in a rage as Arthur tries to calm him down.
“No one could have imagined this, son,” he says, clamping a hand on his shoulder, but Zack shrugs it off.
“Oh really? Why? Because Elliot Donovan is such an upstanding member of society?” he snorts a laugh. “Every person here knows he is the devil in disguise, he spends his spare time trafficking children and raping teenagers, in what world did we think he wouldn’t come after her again?” he roars.
Elle flinches slightly as he raises his voice, but her focus doesn’t move to him, even though I can tell by the frown on her face that she is listening to every word. Listening, planning, plotting.
“Zack,” Arthur tries again to calm him.
“No, dad, do you not realize how lucky we are to have saved her the first time? I met my sister in the middle of the woods covered in blood. I could have gone in there and killed him with my bare hands, fucking all of them, but instead I did the sane thing, the right thing. I ran and never looked back, not until she asked me to.”
I tense at the image he just painted in my head; it goes along with the others already there that I try not to fucking conjure up. I don’t want to think about her like that. I look at her now, as she stares silently into her untouched hot chocolate. She has barely spoken a word since she picked up that note outside the loft. Dangerously quiet. She’s barely even aware of us at this point, just stuck inside her own mind, which I am sure is a dark place to be.
“Maybe coming back here was a mistake,” Helen muses, looking worriedly at Elle.
“So, what, should she leave again?” Zack responds, and his words hit me hard. Would she leave again? Pack up and run once more without looking back. I’d like to think she would never do that, but she’s done it before, she could do it again.
“I think we are past that. Elliot clearly knows she is here,” Arthur points out. “What good would leaving do now?”
“It would keep her safe,” Helen argues in a pleading tone, looking at Elle with a tear-filled eyes.
“We kept her hidden and safe for three years, we could do it again,” Zack agrees.
“I am not fucking running,” Elle snaps, breaking her stoic state. Silence descends upon the kitchen.
“Sweetheart,” Zack starts, but she cuts him off.
“No,” she stands pushing back her stool. “None of you were there. You don’t know what it was like. You didn’t feel what I felt, the pain, the defeat. You didn’t come face to face with not one devil but two. How can I run from that? How can I let them keep doing to others, what they did to me? What if they got me again or worse, got Cassie? I’d rather die fighting than live in the shadows, while they run free.”
She doesn’t wait for anyone to respond, just turns and stalks away, and all we can do is watch her go because she’s right. How can we turn our backs on their crimes just to save ourselves? I look back to my brothers and see them looking after her too. She really has become one of us, the center we never knew we needed. Can we avenge her and keep ourselves intact at the same time?
“You boys should get some sleep,” Helen interrupts my thoughts with a tired smile. “Take any room you like on the second floor for now. I’ll have them adjusted to your tastes.”
“That won’t be necessary Mrs. Royton. I’m sure they are more than good the way they are,” Lincoln replies.
“Nonsense,” she scoffs. “This is your home now and I want you to feel that way. Whatever you need just ask, and I will sort it out for you,” she says, standing as she gestures for us to follow, before turning around and adding, “And it’s Helen.”
How this angel of a woman wasn’t blessed with a child of her own is beyond me, but at least she was here for those who
need her most. My brothers and I dutifully follow her from the kitchen as she leads us upstairs and down the hall until we reach a cluster of doors.
She turns to us again, “I had Zack leave some fresh clothes for you all. They should fit okay until the shops open in a few hours. Oh, and there are fresh towels in the bathroom, which is just behind you,” she points to a door over our shoulders. “No one else sleeps down this way so it’s all yours. Anything you need just write it down for me, and I’ll get it tomorrow, or today I guess.”
Jace steps forward and throws his arms around her shoulders startling her slightly, “Thanks Mrs. R., you’re the bomb,” he says, pulling back with a smile and a wink.
“Yes, Helen, thank you,” Lincoln adds, ever the proper gentleman.
She just nods and smiles, “Alright then, I will leave you to get settled,” she says, turning to leave us as she makes her way back down the hall.
“Oh, and boys?” we all pause at the doors of our rooms to look at her, “No random girls in the house,” she speaks with a smile before adding, “That means you too, Jace Conrad.”
Jace mocks a surprised look, “Why me?”
“Elle told me you're the slutty one,” she shrugs, and Lincoln and I laugh.
“Oh, and Marcus isn’t?” he gestures to me and Helen follows his gaze to mine.
“I think those days are far behind him,” she winks at me and then leaves us with a laugh.
My brothers give me a nod before both entering their rooms, no doubt to probably try to get a few hours’ sleep if they can. I don’t even bother pretending that I am gonna be sleeping in here and make my way back down the hall to go find Elle.
I know exactly where she will be, so I don’t waste any time and head in that direction. I find Zack sitting in the lounge sipping from a tumbler. He looks up when I enter and gestures to his glass, “Want one?” he asks, but I shake my head and move to continue past him.
“Marcus?” the way he says my name stops me in my tracks. “How far are you willing to go?” he asks, I frown so he continues, “Elliot Donovan murdered your father practically in front of you, and you never went after him, why?” He questions me and I can tell he is genuinely interested in my answer.
I shrug, knowing the answer is simple, “I wasn’t ready.”
“Are you ready now?” he inquires, and I nod.
“So, I'll ask again, how far are you willing to go?” he says again taking a sip from his tumbler with his intense stare locked on me.
“As far as it takes,” I reply without pause and he just nods. When he doesn’t speak again, I turn and go back on my way.
I find Elle exactly where I thought she would be. I enter Cassie’s room, where she has pulled the armchair over to the side of the bed, and is curled up in it, watching her daughter sleep. I move silently across the room before scooping her up into my arms and sitting in the chair with her curled in my lap. We sit silently for a while just listening to the rhythmic breathing of Cassie's soft snores, watching the simplicity of her chest rise and fall. I wonder what she is dreaming about. Hopefully, it's of a world far better than this one.
“Hey,” Elle whispers eventually.
“Hey, baby,” I whisper back into her hair.
“Sorry about the loft,” she says softly with a touch of regret in her voice.
I reach down and grip her chin between my fingers and tilt her chin until my gaze can collide with hers, “Don’t ever apologize for the workings of the devil.”
“If it weren’t for me this would never have happened. Zack's right. I should have never come back here. I am putting you all at risk,” she says, trying to pull away from me but I don’t let her.
“I’d risk the wrath of the devil every day, for a minute of you in my arms, little King. Ever since you came back here, I feel like I can breathe again. I will die a thousand times if it means saving you once. So, don’t ever fucking apologize or think about leaving again, you hear me?”
“River,” she whispers, “Look at my fucking life, how could you possibly want to be part of that? It’s not like it’s even just me,” she adds gesturing to Cassie.
I roll my eyes in exasperation, how is she not getting this?
“I love you, Elle King, and in loving you, I will love your daughter with everything I’ve got. Protect her and you with all I am until the day I die. You are it for me, always have been, always will be. I don’t care if I have to kill a thousand men, it will all be worth it to spend my life with you. Having Cassie be part of that just makes it even more worthwhile, even more so when we give her some beautiful little brothers and sisters to play with.”
She closes her eyes, breathing a sigh of relief, “I wish I was selfless enough to let you go,” she breathes into the night before opening her eyes to me, “but I can’t do this without you, River, I don’t want to.”
“As if I would fucking let you,” I scoff at her even thinking she could get rid of me now.
“Pinky promise?” she pleads lifting her finger to mine and I smile.
I twist my own around it as I respond, “On all the fucking stars in the sky, baby girl.”
Elle King is the other half of my soul. She settles something inside of me that I never realized was missing, completing me in a way I never knew possible. What happens now? How do I be enough of a man for these two amazing girls?
How do you go against the devil and survive?
Chapter 32
ELLE
Ibarely slept an hour all weekend and arriving at school I feel like a drunk zombie. I am so exhausted it hurts. We spent the rest of the weekend laying low and getting stuff delivered to the house for the guys, so they could feel at home. They lost everything because of me, because I chose to come back here and seek revenge on those who wronged me. A plan that only a few months ago seemed so simple and easy to execute. I was going to come back, dismantle the Donovan’s’ empire, and leave without a second thought. Move on with life, happily knowing that I had ruined the devil’s dynasty and have zero regrets. Now, not only have I not managed to be successful in my revenge, but I have also painted a target on three more people’s backs.
We came away unscathed this weekend, but what happens next time when we aren’t so lucky?
I feel like I did on the first day of school. As I ascend the steps into Hallows High, I feel that same sense of dread in my gut like I did the first time I took this path. That first day I was worrying about seeing Marcus again for the first time. Now I am on edge thinking that Elliot is going to send someone else to try and finish me off. I am paying so little attention that I smack right into someone as soon as I walk through the door.
“Shit, sorry,” I start, until I look up and lock eyes with Cherry.
We both just stare at each other, at an impasse of how to handle the awkward situation we have found ourselves in. Of all the people I could run into, why the fuck did it have to be her? Her face is set into a grim line until she looks over my shoulder. She plasters a huge fake smile on her face, confusing the shit out of me. Until I feel him, he doesn’t touch me, he doesn’t have to, I just sense he is there. Like he is part of me.
“Cherry,” he says in acknowledgement, coming into view and looking at me, “Everything okay here?” he asks.
She smiles wider, “What? Oh, of course it is, Elle just bumped into me, but I’m sure she didn’t mean it right, Elle?” the tone of her voice is so fucking fake that all I can do is just stare at her in bewilderment.
“I’m sure it was an accident, right, Ells?” Marcus says and I swing my gaze to his to see if he is really buying this shit and it seems he is. The other two Rebels join us and sense the tension and look at me as if I’m causing it. What the fuck?
“Anyway, I best get to class. You guys all have a nice day,” she says with a sickly-sweet smile, before she turns and sashays away into the sea of people who were all pretending not to watch our interaction.
I stare after her in disbelief, when Marcus cuts into my line of sight, �
��Don’t get stabby. She deserved better than what we did to her, at least she is being nice.”
“You’re fucking dumber than I thought,” I scoff at him and Jace chuckles beside me. I shoot him a death glare, “That was the fakest shit I’ve ever seen,” I say, stamping my foot and Marcus smiles.
“It’s really hot when you're jealous, baby,” he says, pulling me towards him but I am having none of it and move from his arms.
“I am not fucking jealous of that cunt,” I hiss, furious now, and my voice is getting louder but I can’t bring myself to care. “You invited a snake into your life, and you think I’m mad because I’m jealous? Are you fucking kidding me?”
His flirty smile disappears, and he looks like he hasn’t a clue how to handle me right now. Well, I’m fucking glad. I hope it pisses him off. “I'm sure it’s nothing, Ells,” he starts again, but I just scoff before turning away from him.
“Sort your fucking shit out, Riviera,” I grit, turning to stalk away from them and flipping off the people who are unabashedly staring at us now. Fuck this high school bullshit.
I suffer through morning classes with barely any attention given to whatever was being taught. I am too distracted, too on edge. How is one expected to learn about American History when you have a hit out on you and spent the weekend being shot at and almost barbequed?
It doesn’t help when I get a message from Asher telling me he has some stuff he needs to update me on. I have barely heard from him all weekend, which I’m sure had him on edge, just as much as me. I always notice the darkness in him is that much stronger the longer he spends away from Cassie.
By the time lunch rolls around, I am more than ready to go home, but on the off chance I survive Elliot Donovan and his fucking demons, I want to be able to graduate. The Rebels are quiet at lunch, they have been all weekend, but I guess the last few days have been a lot to swallow.
