Decay (Heart of Stone Book 13)

by Sidebottom, D H

  Going straight to my wardrobe, I shifted the back panel and took out Barbara. She felt solid in my hands, safe. Checking the ammo, I filled up a few clips and pushed her into the back of my jeans.

  My fingers fell to Mason’s M1911. A smile touched my lips. He refused to update his piece. And tonight I was glad. Because I would need a piece of Mason with me. He was coming with me, and fuck, did I need him there.

  Loading up a few magazines, I slipped them into the inside pocket of my jacket.

  “Mum?”

  I turned to find Katie stood in the doorway.

  “We’re ready.”

  I gave her a short nod, and she left.

  My eyes moved to the wedding photo sat on my dresser. He was so beautiful, so handsome. He filled my heart so much, ever since the day I had walked into that room and he had turned to look at me. I still remembered the look in his eyes like it had been just yesterday. I still remembered every second of our life, and the happiness that he brought me. And even though it had been tough, I would do it all again, just to see that smile, just to hear my name on his lips, to feel his touch on my skin, and his love in my heart. By God, I would do it all again.

  I knew I would never survive life without him. Yet, oddly, I was ready to go. I was ready to end our journey. Hand in hand.

  Touching my finger to his face, I closed my eyes. “We do this together, baby. You fight right beside me. One last fight. And then we find our peace.”

  Hating myself for it, but unable to stop, I turned my face upwards. “If he gets there before me, Katie. You look after him for me.”

  I nodded to a ghost.

  And then I joined the army waiting to avenge their Boss

  Twenty

  Katie

  “Who the fuck are you?”

  I smiled, flashing my teeth at him in the darkness. “Justice.”

  His blood sprayed my face, making me blink quickly when I dragged Louise straight across the front of his throat. His gasp for air gave me a shot of adrenaline, my system running on pure energy and feeding me for the fight. I nudged open the door that the idiot had been guarding with my hip as I held my gun high defensively.

  “One,” I whispered into the tiny microphone attached to my earpiece as I wiped my face with a cloth I’d brought for that very reason.

  “Eight,” I heard Frank announce as various others confirmed each identified target had been hit.

  The door led into a utility room and I slipped through, turning to lock it behind me in case some fucker decided to sneak up on me. An industrial washing machine suddenly went into spin, making me jump but providing me with a little cover as I peeked through the crack in the door.

  Two men were sat at a ginormous kitchen table playing cards. Numerous beer bottles and food packaging littered the table and a pile of cash sat bang in the middle as each man concentrated solely on the cards in their hands.

  A gun lay on top of the table next to the ginger bloke but I couldn’t see any weapon near the blonde one. This meant he had his piece on him. That also meant it could go either way; one, he had quick access and could take me down, or two, it was tucked away neatly and by the time he managed to reach for it, I had the opportunity to take him out.

  Dipping back behind the door I screwed the silencer onto the end of my gun. My heart beat so fast that the high was glorious, the adrenaline racing through my veins providing a drug-free stimulant. My mouth watered and my nose twitched in anticipation of the coming gory aroma.

  “Nine,” Mum said into her mouthpiece, and into my ear, confirming one of her targets was down.

  “Currently fourteen heads remaining,” Carrie, one of Jake Devine’s girls, notified us. She sat tucked away covertly in a small van outside the large building. Thermal imaging from inside the Vaughan command centre was being transmitted via satellite to a little receiver. This way we had total control over who, and what, we were dealing with.

  On initial count-up there had been thirty three of Vaughan’s men. And just as we’d all dispatched into the surrounding zone, a car had driven up the long driveway and another four had appeared. This was the very reason we liked to keep track of the headcount.

  “And our two hot shots,” Carrie added, referring to Rich and George.

  Making a quick decision, I gradually slid the muzzle of my gun through the gap in the door and aimed it at Ginger’s head.

  I was lucky. By the time Blondie spotted the hole in his companion’s forehead and spun round, his hand reaching inside his pocket for his tool, I’d already planted a piece of metal in his brain.

  “Two and three, confirmed,” I spoke quietly and slipped into the kitchen, my guard up in case someone happened to stroll in.

  Moving quickly, I dragged the two bodies into the utility and shut the door.

  The kitchen was huge, but then again I supposed it had to be to feed all of Vaughan’s minions. Voices sounded outside the door and I shifted behind one of the large islands.

  “K1, you have two runaway rabbits heading your way.”

  “Confirmed,” I whispered, shaking my head at Carrie’s choice of description just as the door opened and I heard them move inside.

  The blood in my veins turned to ice when I recognised Rich Vaughan’s voice. My heart rallied, furiously pumping with fury as I pictured Steed’s eyes on me right before he took his last breath.

  But when I heard the first sounds of heavy kissing and muffled moans, I realised why Carrie had used the term ‘rabbits’. Shit. Were they going to fuck while I was hiding behind the goddam counter?

  “Rich,” a female moaned, causing me to close my eyes in dismay. Yep, they definitely were going to fuck while I was hiding behind the goddam counter.

  As they continued to mumble and moan it occurred to me that Rich hadn’t even realised two of his men weren’t securing the area they’d been designated. What kind of idiots were they?

  Hearing a thud, I figured Jessica Rabbit had dropped to her knees; the sound of a zip being drawn verified that.

  Fuck! I couldn’t sit here while they got it on!

  “K1, please confirm your status,” Carrie beckoned in my ear, checking in on me.

  Unable to speak, I pressed the tiny little button on the edge of my earpiece, sending her a confirmation signal.

  “Affirmative, K1. Do you need back up?”

  Did I? It depended on how long Jessica could vacuum cum from his dick.

  “That’s it, harder,” Rich urged. My stomach vaulted at the world’s noisiest blowjob in history, Jessica’s slurping louder than a fucking cyclone.

  Scanning the vicinity, I found only two doors. One the way I had entered, and the other right behind the lovers.

  Fuck.

  “K1, do you require assistance?”

  Gnawing on my lip, my mind replayed my mother’s words. ‘Rich is mine.’

  Hatred slithered through my veins. The memory of my husband’s eyes broke my heart. And vengeance rocked my soul.

  Looking into my hands, I tipped my head.

  Thelma, or Tommy, my gun?

  Knife, or bullet?

  A slow smile crept over my face.

  Waiting tolerantly until the fucking bunnies decided to step things up I sat twiddling my thumbs.

  My patience finally paid off. I listened to each movement, ascertaining their positions from each sound, and when I’d determined that Rich had Jessica bent over the counter and was at full stroke, I popped up.

  His eyes widened, his jaw dropping as I aimed the gun right at his forehead.

  “Mr Vaughan, don’t stop on my account.”

  Jessica screamed. I quickly silenced her. Guilt didn’t bode well with me. She may be an innocent fuck but she was in the Vaughan’s headquarters, and that made her guilty by association to me.

  She fell to the floor, leaving Rich stood staring at me with his trousers bunched at his knees and his cock swinging precariously in the still room.

  “K1?”

  Clicking off my headse
t, I slowly made my way around the counter.

  Rich shuffled to face me, his eyes narrow. When he reached down to pull up his trousers, I tutted at him and shook my head. “Nah, leave it. It’ll do it good to get some air. Might make it grow a bit.”

  His expression changed and bravado slicked over his pale face. “Such the big woman, Fox. So what? You just gonna shoot me with my dick out?”

  His face paled further when I pulled Thelma from her sheath. “Not quite.”

  I chuckled, unable to hold back my grin when he pressed back against the worktop. “I swear I’m gonna kill you, bitch.”

  “Is that before or after I make a dildo out of your cock and fuck you with it?”

  “You think you’ll get away with this? You’re well outnumbered.”

  Tutting again, I sighed heavily. “Well, see, last headcount was three. Now I’m here with twenty eight others, my mother included… and she counts as five… seven when she’s angry. Oh, and I got an A star in my last maths exam, so I’m good at working out such little problems. Even so, it doesn’t take a genius to work that sum out.” I frowned at him. “I can see you’re struggling. I’ll help you out. Nine to one, Vaughan.”

  Stepping towards him, I aimed Tommy at his flaccid cock, the wrinkled foreskin making my lip curl in disgust, and then lifted it back to his face. “You took my husband from me.” I spoke clearly, refusing to allow him my grief. “And I think I should take someone, or something, from you that’s just as important.”

  He squealed when I shot his cock, testicles, pubes and blood splattering over the pristine white cupboards.

  “Oops, cleaners not gonna be impressed.”

  He fell to his knees, his hands instinctively covering his groin in a futile attempt to stem the pain. His face dropped into Jessica’s ample bust as he tried to bite onto something. Poor love, she wasn’t having it good.

  Face down he was easy prey. I screwed the end of my gun into the back of his neck. He was still rocking but I could tell he was trying to still.

  “You owe me, Vaughan.”

  “Fuck you, whore.”

  Tutting quickly, I lifted his chin with Thelma. His wet eyes stared up at me with utter contempt.

  “Do what you want but you’ll never see me grovel.” The pain covering his face was pleasing, the sight of the blood seeping from his groin making my bones quake with excitement.

  “Grovel?” I repeated. “Oh, I don’t want you to grovel. I want you to scream like a little girl.”

  He stilled when I poked at his Adam’s apple with the tip of Thelma, a dribble of blood oozing over the steel and down the front of his throat. When he made a move I pressed the gun into his forehead again. “Uh-uh. Nice and still.”

  Dilemma crossed his face. Attempt to escape, or ride it out? With a hole for a cock and a quickly draining life-force it didn’t take a miracle to figure out which was best for him.

  He didn’t have to wait long to make a choice.

  I stabbed Thelma straight through the flesh at the side of his neck. He really was a girl. His hands shot from his lap in panic as he tried to press them into the other hole I’d given him.

  Tears leaked from his eyes. And the sight was mighty fine.

  “Tell me,” I asked, dragging Thelma down into the dip at the base of his throat. “How many it took you to take on my father?”

  My dad was my hero. As loving and soft as he was with his family, he was a ruthless man. He was cold, brutal and malicious when needed to be. As much as I endeavoured to be like him, no one would ever touch the kind of violence that lived within him. I had only ever witnessed it once, and it was only then that I realised why people looked up to him like they did. Faces in our world all craved to be him, to have that level of control affordable to them. But no one would ever come close. Even my mother - who was a fine second.

  Despite the raging agony and the level of blood loss that was quickly taking his heartbeat, Vaughan grinned up at me. His face was pale, his eyes hooded over with pain and exhaustion.

  “Just one, Katie. Just one.”

  Shaking my head, I sneered at him. “Liar.”

  He laughed, the sound peculiar when he began to cough and splutter. “I never touched him. And your daddy dearest did nothing to defend himself.”

  Now I knew he was lying.

  He managed half a grin. “Your brother is quite something with a blade.”

  My jaw shook, my teeth vibrating under the pressure.

  “Quite the creative young man. I’ve never seen someone work so… fluidly. Especially on their old man.”

  His left eye was the first to pop under the pressure of my blade, blood squirting like ink from a pen all over my nice AC/DC t-shirt. My knee ruptured his nose, the sound of shattering bone a balm to the rage dragging me under. I brought Louise into the back of his neck when he keeled over, the serrated edge making a nice pretty pattern in his flesh.

  His screams soothed the storm inside and gave me the fuel I needed to take him apart piece by piece, making sure I kept him alive as long as possible so he felt every single fucking ounce of my wrath.

  “You evil bastard,” I screamed as I sliced his ear from his head and then force fed him the blood that coated Thelma, the blade down his throat tearing his neck open. His wide eyes stared up at me and it was only when I felt arms come around me, someone lifting my feet off the floor, that I realised Vaughan was already dead.

  “NOOO!” I screamed. I wanted him to pay more, I wanted to hear him beg for death.

  “Katie!”

  Hands firmly encompassed my face, twisting my head until my eyes focussed on Mum.

  “Stop!”

  I struggled in Sam’s hold, flipping and bucking. But he held on harder, trapping me beneath his fierce embrace.

  “He’s dead, Pumpkin,” he told me softly, using the pet name he’d used since I could remember. “He’s dead.”

  I froze when I spun around. George was held by Mark and Jake Devine. He was calm, stood watching me as if he expected me to attack him. He probably did. He probably looked forward to my pain.

  Fury exploded and I lunged for him. “You sick, evil fucker! I’m going to kill you, George. I’m going to fucking annihilate you!”

  Mum’s eyes closed as she tried to hide her horror, but she couldn’t bury something so powerful. None of us could.

  “Take him,” she ordered quickly.

  I managed to spit in his ashen face before they carted him away. His eyes flicked to mine and I stilled in Sam’s arms.

  There was a recognition in his gaze, an acceptance of what was to come. But what shocked me was the decay I saw through him, the corroding glue that held our family together. Our lives crumbled right before all of us and no amount of hope or prayers would ever fix it again.

  Nothing would ever be the same. Our lives just changed forever. George knew that, knew that his time had come to an end. Yet, he welcomed it, begged for it even.

  “It’s yours, sister.”

  He meant his life, the final beat of his heart.

  Giving me a nod, he turned himself and allowed the two men to take him away.

  Only me and my mother would follow. And only I would witness his last breath.

  Twenty One

  Ava

  Theresa smiled at me when I walked into the room. It was almost silent apart from the regular beeping of the machines keeping Mason alive.

  “Well, I’ll say this,” Theresa whispered, not wanting to wake Kade who had fallen asleep with his head beside Mason’s hand. “Your husband’s a fighter.”

  She narrowed her eyes, her gaze scanning my face. “You need that checking?” she asked, referring to the split in my eyebrow where some bastard had caught me unawares with a blade. Jemma, the Fox’s ‘private’ doctor had been on call to patch us all up after. She’d sutured the wound perfectly but I supposed Theresa was just watching out for me.

  “Nah, I’m good, but thanks.”

  She nodded, giving me a quick smile. �
��Mr Hamilton has been here all night.”

  “And Mason?” I asked, trying to keep my gaze away from the man I didn’t recognise laid out practically dead on the bed.

  Her smile faded and she sighed. “Well, his heart’s still holding out.”

  A machine was breathing for him, the frequent wheeze from the equipment already making my hairs stand on end. Bandages covered ninety percent of his body, and his face was unrecognisable due to the swelling. There were wires and tubes inserted into every orifice, and a handful of different screens conveying the strain his body was under. That man wasn’t my man, it wasn’t my glorious bastard under the mess.

  “Hey,” Kade murmured. He sat up and stretched. “Everything okay?”

  I nodded.

  Flicking his eyes to Theresa he gave her one of his smooth smiles. “Give us two minutes, sweetheart, please.”

  She nodded, sighing appreciatively at Kade’s attention. I wanted to roll my eyes and smirk but I didn’t have the energy.

  “Is it done?” he asked immediately when Theresa closed the door.

  “Yeah, Katie…”

  He nodded, not needing to know anymore. “And George?”

  My stomach dropped. “He’s… waiting.”

  Looking at me with a sadness in his eyes, he took my hand and guided me until I was perched on the edge of the bed. “You can’t do this, Ava. You’ll never come back from it.”

  “I will. I have to.”

  “But he’s your son.”

  “Who took my best friend in the most gruesome way. He had a hand in killing Steed. And…” I turned to look at Mason, my heart choking me. “How could he do that to his own father? He’s not right, Kade.” I turned back to him. Needing to touch him, I placed my hand on the side of his face. Instantly he nuzzled into my caress, covering my hand with his. “We both know…”

  He nodded when I was unable to finish the sentence. “I love you.” His statement was blunt but he knew I needed to hear it right then. His eyes shifted to Mason. “He’ll come back to us. You think he would dare leave you.”