FURIOUS
Page 23
First, I had to find him, though. He’d left me bleeding out in the hallway as he’d gone searching for Molly, his insane ranting echoing through the house as he called her name.
I’d seen her behind him but she’d vanished and from the sound of his cries still echoing in the distance, she gone off and hid somewhere pretty well. If I had anything to say about things, she’d never be tortured by this asshole again.
I limped down the front stairs towards his voice and the smell of smoke hit me all at once.
“Fuck!” I growled in anger, when I saw the living room engulfed in flames, the fire spreading rapidly through the house and up the front staircase. The kitchen was quickly filling with smoke and I ran through it and out the back door I’d come in, gasping for fresh air.
I looked up at the house, trying to assess the situation quickly. I pulled out my phone, called 911 and reported the fire, before turning back and trying to figure out how to get back in.
A movement above caught my eye and I saw a knotted sheet come flying out of a small window on the third floor. I squinted my eyes and saw Molly and Benji standing at the window, throwing what looked like an endless stream of sheets tied together to the ground.
“Fucking brilliant kids,” I muttered, running over to them.
“Hey!” I yelled up to them. “I’m here! You’re going to be safe. You’re doing the right thing, just climb down and I’ll help you. Tie the sheet to something inside!”
“We did!” Benji called down.
“I can’t leave Lucky!” Molly cried. Molly was still holding her dog in one hand but there was no way she could climb down with him still in her arms. She only had one to work with anyway, the other still in the cast.
“Shit,” I muttered, my mind racing.
“Throw him down to me first!” I called, holding out my arms. “I’ll catch him.”
“No way!” Molly said. “What if he falls? He’ll die!”
“I promise, Molly,” I called up to her. “I know you don’t know me, sweetheart. But I love dogs. I’d never let him get hurt. It’s the only way. You’re going to need to trust me. I promise I won’t let him fall.” I nodded, my heart heavy, knowing it was entirely possible something might go wrong and I’d have a dead dog to explain. I took a deep breath and put my arms back up.
“Do it now!”
“O-o-okay,” she muttered, tears falling down her face. She held his wiggling, fat body out the window with trembling hands and let go.
Like a loaf of bread tumbling out of the window, he spun in a circle, his short little legs flailing in the air as he fell. I stood just below him, my heart pounding as he neared. Bending my legs slightly, I made a basket-shape with my arms, and he landed heavily in them, firmly and squarely. Safe.
I breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at the kids with a smile.
“He’s okay!” I cried up to them. “Now, Molly come down first. Just hold on tight to the sheets.” I put the dog down and pulled on the sheet first to make sure it was secure and then nodded.
“Come on,” I said.
“I’m scared,” she said, climbing out gingerly.
“You can do it, I know you can,” I said. Benji stood at the window holding her hand as she climbed out onto the roof before taking her feet off the roof and letting them dangle, clinging tightly to the sheets with her one good arm.
I ignored the flames flickering inside the windows downstairs. I ignored the fact that the entire house could blow at any moment. All I could do was get these kids down here safely. My rage and desire for vengeance would have to wait till they were safe.
All I could do was hope the house didn’t explode before I could get my hands on Green. If the Universe denied me that pleasure, I’d probably never get over it.
Molly’s little body wiggled down the sheets like a pro. When her feet hit the ground she cried out in joy.
I grabbed her and spun her around away from the house.
“Get your dog and run towards the woods, okay? Benji will be right behind.”
I turned back and saw Benji was already scurrying down towards us as fast as he could. As soon as he hit the ground, he wrapped his arms around me.
“Thank you, mister!” he cried.
“I’m just glad you’re okay,” I said, leaning down. “Take Molly to your house, okay? I already called the fire department.”
“But you gotta get Jackie!” he said.
“Jackie?” I asked, panic rising in my throat. “What do you mean?”
“She’s in there! She told us to stay in the attic, but she never came back for us. I think she was looking for you. We told her you were shot.”
The panic turned to terror as I faced the house, now almost entirely engulfed in flames.
“Take Molly to your house, Benji,” I shouted, running towards the back door as fast as I could. “Go now!”
CHAPTER 60
JACKIE
Red and orange flames licked the walls around me. I found a blanket in a hall closet and wrapped it over my head, running down the flame engulfed hallways and staircases looking for Fury.
Coughing and blinded by smoke, it became more difficult to breath with every step. I rounded a corner and saw Bodhi at the end of the hallway stumbling towards me.
Stepping in front of him, I lifted the blanket from my head and stared him down.
“What the hell are you doing here, you bitch?”
“I came for answers, Bodhi,” I said, my voice rising over the roar of the flames.
“Answers?” he said, snarling. “You think I owe you answers?”
“Yes, I do,” I said, watching the flames grow behind him. “And if what you said earlier is true, then you owe me a lot more than that.”
“Why would I lie?” he cried. “I owe you nothing.”
“So, it’s true?” I shouted, my heart breaking. “You raped my mother? You’re really my father?”
“Yes, goddammit,” he yelled. “But none of that matters now! It’s all over! I’m not about to let anyone bring me down. I call the shots! I say when it’s all over. Not you! Not Will! Not the fucking FBI! Nobody! If I’m going to die, then it’s going to be at my own hand!”
He raised his arm and that’s when I saw the gun he was holding. The flames were right behind him now, the blaze once hugging the walls of the hallway now eating at the carpet, meeting in the middle behind him and forming one huge sea of hungry flames.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I said, shaking my head.
I lurched forward quickly and pushed him backwards, hard.
He stumbled, his limbs flailing, the gun falling from his fingers as he reached down to break his fall.
He landed in a pile of flames, the fire licking at his tux, the fabric quickly catching.
He cried out in pain, screeching like a dying animal, the flames licking at his face, his signature red hair melting away.
After a few moments, he fell silent, wiggling around helplessly on the floor, consciousness fading from his charred, evil soul.
With a slow, serene smile, I watched as the fire engulfed his body right in front of me.
The immense heat, the roaring sound of the flames whooshing around me like a tornado, the smell of burning flesh and hair…
I drank it all in like the sweetest cup of revenge.
Revenge for my family, revenge for me, revenge for his daughter…
I watched him burn until the flames grew closer to me, the heat threatening to take me with him, but still I watched, frozen in place, unable to walk away. I didn’t care if I went with him.
I would have gladly paid that price.
Given my life to witness his demise. Given up my future to ensure that his torturous reign didn’t continue another day.
It was worth that to me.
To know he was gone, completely gone.
The flames grew closer, closing in on me, surrounding me now in their violent dance.
I closed my eyes, raising my arms over my head, submitting to the
heat, to the flames…to death.
But fate had a different ending in store for me.
Life wasn’t done with me yet, even if I was ready, even if I was practically begging the flames to consume me.
Fury’s hulking frame burst through the flames behind me, his thick, strong arms snaked around my waist, pulling me back from the orange flames licking at my feet. Dazed, I allowed him to throw me over his shoulder and carry me from the burning house and out onto the lawn as firefighters ran in after us.
Gently, he laid me back onto the grass, his dark, frantic eyes searching mine.
“Jackie! Jackie, are you okay?” he cried.
I nodded slowly, my eyes glued to the destruction that continued to rise in front of me.
The destruction of all the pain Green had ever caused.
The destruction of all he might ever cause again.
The destruction of years of lies.
The destruction of a lifetime of secrets…
In one fiery night, it was all gone, it was all over.
He was gone.
A firefighter burst out of the door, holding Marilyn Green’s limp body in his arms.
“She’s dead,” he announced, placing her on the ground and running back in. My eyes snapped back to the burning house and slowly, I shook my head in shock.
“He can’t hurt you anymore, babe,” Fury said, holding me tight.
“He can’t hurt anyone ever again,” I whispered.
“I love you, Jackie,” he whispered in my ear, his words filled with passionate, frantic desperation. I turned to him and kissed him hard, my arms wrapping around him.
“I’m never going to let anyone hurt you ever again, babe, I promise,” he said, pulling away and staring into my eyes.
He pulled me into his strong arms just as the house exploded behind us. His huge body landed on top of mine, shielding me from flying, flaming debris. I looked up at him, the entire weight of the world lifting from my shoulders as I gazed up at this beautiful, strong man.
“I love you, too, Fury,” I whispered, nodding, tears flowing down my cheeks. “I love you, too…”
EPILOGUE
TWO WEEKS LATER
Molly sat on the porch swing at the clubhouse, Oliver and Olivia snuggled up in her lap like a couple of dogs. Lucky wasn’t sure what to make of the two tiny owls, his big round eyes growing bigger the longer he watched them.
Jackie sat at her side, lovingly stroking her hair. Now that both of Molly’s parents were dead and her house had burned to the ground, she had nowhere to go.
Jackie took in her in, gently explaining that they were half-sisters and they should be together from now on. It was only right for Molly to be with family.
Molly didn’t mind. She’d always liked Jackie a lot, and at least she could stay there in Greenville and still be close to Benji. It had been his idea to tie the sheets together and climb out of that window. If they’d not done that, they may not have been found before the house exploded in a huge blast moments later.
She was sad, though, of course. She’d lost her Mama, her Daddy and almost everything she’d ever known, but at least she was still alive.
And Benji and Lucky were alive, too.
She hadn’t lost everything.
Lucky cuddled up next to her thigh, becoming bored with the owls already.
The Gods of Chaos clubhouse was quiet tonight, but they’d been invited to join them for a nice supper, prepared by a nice woman named Cherry that had red hair, just like Molly’s.
Grace and Ryder and Fury and all the rest of the Gods had been super kind to her and she almost didn’t want to leave, but she was ready to start her new life.
She was curious what it would be like.
What it would be like without being afraid all the time.
Without the pain and embarrassment her Daddy caused her by hurting her all the time.
Will was going to take over her Daddy’s business now. He’d already begun to let people change the names of their businesses, insisting he was going to let them keep all their income, as well. Grace set up a meeting with Ross, Conner, Will and Dottie last week and she’d handed over the crow bar. Now that Bodhi was gone, they agreed to place all the blame for Bryce’s death squarely on Bodhi, so that everyone could move on with their lives. They’d even dug up his body so Dottie could give him a proper burial. That’s all she ever really wanted.
Ross, Connor, Will and the rest of the community members had been very generous, making sure Molly and Jackie had everything they needed to start their new lives, too.
Fury walked over and Jackie stood up, putting her arms around his neck. He kissed her, right there in front of everyone, without a care in the world.
Molly smiled, wondering if anyone would ever love her the way Fury loved Jackie. Each time Jackie smiled at him, her eyes lit up like fireworks.
“Are you doing okay, babe?” Fury asked, smiling down at Jackie.
“I’ve never been better,” she whispered. “I can’t thank you enough for everything. You’ve done so much.”
“It was nothing,” he shrugged, humble and quiet as always.
She shook her head and smiled up at him.
“It was everything,” she insisted.
“You’re everything, Jackie,” he replied, his voice gentle and loving. “You’re the stars in my sky, my love.”
“I’m going to miss you,” she said.
“I know,” he replied. “But you know I’ll visit every chance I get. Long distance relationships aren’t that hard.”
“Promise?” she asked, her voice full of hope and love.
“Promise. Cross my heart and hope to die,” he said, crossing his fingers over his heart.
“Don’t say that,” she said, wrinkling her brow.
“Don’t worry, babe,” he said, smiling. “I’m too angry to die.”
He leaned down and kissed her softly, his kiss absent of any trace of anger, or rage, or fury, consisting of nothing but pure, immeasurable, never-ending love.
THE END
A note from the author…
Thank you so much for reading the Gods of Chaos series. When I began writing Remember Me, the first book of the series, my father had recently died and I left my heart on the pages. I never expected the series would get this far and that the Gods of Chaos would become so dear to my heart, but that’s what has happened.
I didn’t start the series off intending to focus on rape trafficking, but that’s also where the story went. Rape trafficking and abuse are heavy subjects and I strive to avoid exploiting that aspect of the stories, in any way. I firmly believe in women’s rights and equality and that everyone, regardless of gender, has the right to be strong and safe and free from abuse.
As always, I welcome feedback and discussion about my books. Feel free to leave me a review or contact me directly at honeypalomino@gmail.com.
Again, I thank you so much for reading. I couldn’t do what I love without you, the reader.
I’d like to give a special thanks to my wonderful husband, my amazing daughter (who will never read this), Ivy Hover who helped with the beautiful cover, and some wonderful friends who continue to help me every day — Vivian Lux, Jordan Marie, Jenn Allen, and Donna Parrott and so many other wonderful people that would take an entire book to name.
Life is crazy. Writing is the only thing that keeps me sane sometimes. I hope it provides you a little escape from the wildness of the world, if only for a little while.
Thank you a million times,
~Honey Palomino
If you’re interested in checking out the rest of my work,
you can do so at: www.amazon.com/Honey-Palomino/e/B00DR2B2J6
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