That breath that was knocked out of me, it draws right back in when her lips split into the biggest smile I’ve ever seen. Bright and blinding. This woman is so much stronger than I’ll ever be.
Stunned.
For the second time since bringing her home with me the night we met, Ellie Wynn has blown my mind.
“I love you, Logan, I do, so much. Are you sure you’re okay?” she whispers. Those words I never thought I’d hear again bring moisture to my eyes.
“I’m okay, Ellie. We’re all okay. I love you too, so much. My strong woman. God, baby.”
I want to weep, and so I do. The tears I’ve been holding fall, the pent-up misery, anger, and grief break free, and I cling to it, letting it flow through me — a reminder of who’s to blame for her condition — the cocksucker who needs to die.
My heart stops when my vision clears, and Ellie lifts her trembling arm out toward me. Her right eye opens wide, giving me a slight glimpse of her mesmerizing blue. Nothing has ever felt as good in my life when I lean in and she runs her fingertips down my face, collecting my tears.
Jesus.
“A wise woman once described the difference between want and need to me. When the two combine, they equal desire — a wish, a craving that only the person you love can hold. There are lots of things I want, Logan. Right now, there’s only one thing I need.”
A gasp tears from Renita. With that, I know who the wise woman is. Never a doubt about it in my mind.
“Ellie, you need to rest,” I whisper, overcome with emotion that only she can bring out of me. It erupts from the spot in my chest belonging to her.
“I will right after you kiss me.”
If it’s possible, I fall in love further right there.
Pull and tug.
It slackens with each passing second that I think about refusing because her lips are cracked and puffy. I’ve caused her enough pain. But when Ellie sheds a tear, I lean in and lightly brush my lips across her forehead, down her face to the sensitive corners of her eyes. Reaching her lips, I slant my mouth over hers, gently giving in to the passion that lives like a fizzling wire between us.
I’d give anything to part her lips and sensually dance with our tongues, so I settle for the gentlest of one. It’s enough for now.
“I missed you,” she says, her face pinching in pain.
“I missed you more. Sleep, baby. I’ll be right here when you wake.”
Frantically, she shakes her head.
“I need one more thing from you. You didn’t answer me, is Shadow dead?”
“No, we have him, Ellie. He won’t get away with what he’s done. Not this time.”
She breathes deep; a sign talking is overexerting her.
The gush of air releasing from her body, the way she clenches her fist, the way she glares with hatred tells me all I need to know before the next words leave her mouth.
“I need you to go kill Shadow. I heard Lane and you talking. I heard Seth. I heard everything; I just couldn’t speak, couldn’t move. You have to kill Shadow right now, Logan. You have to tell Seth and Rocco thank you. I know they saved my life. As I said, I’m home, and…” She pauses, licks her lips and flutters her eyes shut. “This home, my heart, my everything is with you. I…” Her words rush out in what I sense is panic — the last thing she needs is to have an attack.
“Hey, you’re safe. I know I’ve said that before. This time, you are.”
“I’ve always felt safe with you. Please, get rid of him. I’ll be right here waiting when you return.” The desperation in her voice is what has me looking up at Renita. A silent plea bleeding from my eyes for her to switch places with me.
“Ellie, I’d much rather be here with you. You are more important to me than killing Shadow.”
Love. I see so much of it staring back at me I about slide off the chair.
Transparent.
“I know you do. I need to tell you something. Shadow didn’t rape me, but…” She pauses, lips trembling slightly. “He has some of my dad’s guns; I don’t know where he has them; he placed one inside me. I was so afraid he was going to shoot me with it. He deserves to die by your hand, holding the trigger of that gun. That’s what I need you to do.”
I know where Shadow got them from, and it makes me want to open up and tell her. Think I’ll hold off until she’s a little more herself.
Sickness churns in my stomach. My hands ready to unleash. Once I get them on Shadow, I’m going to make him pay.
“Go, please. I’m going to sleep until the pain goes away. I need some water, please.”
I nod, taking my time while I push out of the chair, watch Renita give her water, and take care of her the way only Renita can.
I wait for Ellie’s breathing to even out. Relief hitting me that Shadow didn’t rape her.
Doesn’t mean what he did to her with the gun doesn’t set worry ablaze that it’ll affect her the same, the entire drive to end this once and for all.
* * *
Before Lane cuts the engine, Gabe and I are jumping out. Adrenaline picking up speed, every muscle in my body is coiling with tension as I notice a couple of men flanking the yard like soldiers. Shaking my head with the knowledge of how quickly my family pulled this off, I make my way up the sidewalk and enter the house.
Years of pent-up anger, hatred, and determination give me the strength to ignore the twinging pain in my shoulder. None of this is about me, or the years I spent trying to ruin Shadow and Whitney, it all has to do with the woman who means everything to me. The woman I will spend the rest of my life making up every sleepless night Ellie has ever had by Shadow’s hands.
A woman I spent years protecting only to have her taken from her home.
Her family.
From me.
More recollections involving Shadow than I care to count flicker through my mind faster than the speed of light as Gabe hands me a knife.
“I used this knife the first time I killed someone. Seems fitting to me you use it to make your last kill. I told you a good woman would stand by your side if she loves you. A good woman can also change a man if he loves her enough. The past few months I’ve watched you change, son. Gut that motherfucker, then shoot him between the eyes and get back to your woman. We got it from here.”
Gabe’s words echo in my head as I grip the hilt of the knife firmly in my hand. Giving him a solemn nod, I look to my right as light flickers across the floor.
I notice Rocco. His form is barely visible, but the determination on his face is evident from the flashlight parked in his mouth. Without completely turning around to face me, he says, “You have about fifteen minutes to make him pay before I have this place wired. Seth has him upstairs. Shove that knife up Shadow’s ass and leave it there.”
He doesn’t have to tell me twice.
With that, I follow the low lights along the wall allowing me to take the stairs two at a time — the smell of death, the taste of revenge and redemption ripples through the stagnant air.
Heading toward the only room with lights, I pause at the doorway, plow my boot covered foot into the face of the dead body on the floor just for the hell of it and feel every ounce of blood drain from my face when I take in the blood-stained sheets on the bed.
“Well, would you take a look at this? If it isn’t the Mitchell brother you wanted to see, Shadow. Wake up and get ready to take your last breath.”
Briefly taking notice of Shadow hanging from the ceiling like a punching bag, I meet Seth’s eyes where he sits in a chair in the corner. For a split second, I see the little boy clinging to our mother’s leg. The one I vowed to protect for life. Just as quickly, the vision is gone. In its place is a man much like me—A brother who’d sacrifice his life for those he loves.
I ought to beat his ass.
“You want to kill him with that knife or with this gun?” Seth holds up a 9mm Beretta in his hand. “Asshole must have gotten tired of keeping his mouth shut while he was locked away. Either that or he thoug
ht he’d get to me by letting me know about a storage unit full of things belonging to Ellie’s family. It would be a shame not to use her father’s gun on him, don’t you think?”
I smirk.
Seth’s brows raise. He doesn’t know that after giving up years ago in my search for anything belonging to Ellie’s family, I received a call last week from Andrew telling me he stumbled upon an overlooked receipt in my file dated years ago. How it got there, he wasn’t sure.
With a bribe to the owners of the storage facility that costs more than most people’s yearly house payment, they let Andrew in, and that’s when he found the ring amongst several boxes of other things. I was set to tell her about it when she lost our baby.
I should have hired someone to break in and brought the stuff to the house. If I had, Ellie wouldn’t have gone through the traumatization with that gun I won’t ever be able to wrap my head around.
“I agree. You okay?” I ask, eyeing the blood on his jeans and arm.
“Yeah, prick still doesn’t know how to fight with his hands, slashed me with a razor, looks like Ellie got in a slash across Shadow’s face of her own.” He chuckles, no humor behind it, only that same deep sadness I feel. “I saved you a few fingers. You might want to make it quick before he bleeds to death. I wrapped his hand to stifle the bleeding. Figured if you weren’t here soon, I’d take off the rest.”
That’s my girl.
“You could have cut them all off as far as I care. One for each year.” I shake my head, take the gun from his hand when he reaches me. My eyes never wavering from his as I silently tell him Ellie is going to be okay.
“He’s all yours, brother.”
Turning around, I tuck the gun in my back pocket, drop the knife, and prepare to end this long-time war.
I snarl, fury fizzling in my gut when I lift my gaze in the direction of the man who’s about to die. In an instant, my snarling turns into laughter; it’s cold, calculating, and deserving of the position Seth has Shadow in.
“The hell did you do, Seth?”
With a groan, Shadow raises his head, eyes narrowing, and takes a couple of deep breaths. Arms twitching in the ropes he’s confined in.
While we stare each other down, I can see the wheels spinning like a motherfucker in his head. The man is still trying to read my mind.
“You always said you wanted to hang him by his balls, so I prepared him to be hung by his balls. You owe me for that. I had to scrub my hands at least a dozen times. Still don’t feel clean.”
There’s a rope tucked down Shadow’s jeans that are hung low around his hips. It’s pulled tight and twisted around his body, his neck, his hands, and wrapped around the beams on the ceiling that he hangs from with the end laying at his feet. How the fuck my brother did that, I’ll never know.
“Well, it sure the fuck is fitting.” The only thing better would be for me to have use of both my arms so I could show him what it’s like to have his ass beat.
I’d love nothing more than to untie him, let him loose, and the two of us go at it while we talk about every goddamn thing he’s done to bring us to this pivotal moment for Ellie. I’m not taking any more chances when it comes to ending his life. Pussy already has me at a disadvantage with my shoulder.
Bottom line. Today is the day Shadow is going to die — end of the fucking story — his anyway.
I say nothing more as I take in the rigged up concoction.
“You killing me with that gun isn’t going to erase what I’ve done to Ellie. I’ll live in her nightmares long after I’m dead or…” Shadow tsks, eyes going wide, doing a victory dance as they jump around. “Are you here because she’s dead?”
Flashes of my life slip past my eyes — images of Ellie broken and battered hit me upside the head like a hammer to the skull.
Hostility vibrates through me.
“Ellie is very much alive. Now Whitney on the other hand, she is dead. I beat her to death. Crushed her fucking skull in with Ellie’s dad’s baseball bat. There’s one thing I forgot to do when I dumped her into the bayou, care to know what that was?”
He shrugs, lips stretching into an upsetting smile, but he doesn’t answer. Not this crazy psychotic fuck. He keeps staring me down, wondering if I’m going to drag his death out or give him the luxury of easing into it nice and quick.
“I forgot to send her off with some of her money.”
Taking a step toward him, I pull a penny out of my pocket and toss it at his feet. Grab hold of the rope and give it a slight tug, smirking when Shadow winces. “If you can untie yourself, I’ll give you every penny I have, plus the club. If you can’t, you die how Ellie wanted you to die. I find it funny in a sickening way you’ll understand that Ellie wanted both of you to die by something that once belonged to her father.”
My smile grows wide as Shadow bares his teeth. All I want is to snuff out his life and get back to Ellie. The thing is, I want him dying with knowing a thing or two.
“Now that doesn’t come close to being as funny as me dying with knowing I had Ellie first. You can kill me, but you’ll never erase me from her mind.”
His words strike me as if he carved my heart clear out of my chest.
I refuse to let him goad me, to give him the satisfaction of knowing what he did to Ellie will forever live inside her.
“You are deadly wrong. There’s a difference between rape and having someone. Did you know that I’m the only man she’s been with who didn’t force himself on her? That’s right, all this time, all these years, Ellie’s pleasure was waiting for me. Her body, her heart, her mind, her begging. They belong to me. I’m the only one who has ever tasted her pussy. The only one, Shadow. Every inch of her I’ve touched. I had her first, and I’ll have her last.” I pull the ring box I took out of the dresser drawer after showering and wave it in his face.
His eyes go wide as he tries to keep his shit together, trying to conceal the anger I know has to be coursing through his body that I not only have Ellie, but I know where he got the gun, and it won’t be long until Ellie has it all like she should have all along.
Snapping it closed, I shove it back in my pocket and stare him down.
I’d visualized this moment for years. Strummed up every evil way I could think of how I wanted to end Shadow’s life. Now that the time is here, the adrenaline in my veins is like gasoline pouring over an already roaring fire.
As much as I would love to stand here and torment him with Ellie, he isn’t worth the time.
And, that’s what this is all about. What it’s always been about.
Justice for Ellie.
She needs me more than I need to torture him.
“You fucking hurt her,” I yell, everything inside of me breaking loose as I yank hard on the rope. Shadow bellows out a hiss, sweat instantly forming across his forehead. I pull a little tighter, hand the rope off to Seth and with a smile that would impress the Devil, I pull out the knife, fling it and nail Shadow in his crotch.
“Fuckkkkkkkkkkkkk,” he roars. Tears start falling down his gaunt face, blood soaking his jeans like a sieve. It’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in my life. The squirming he’s doing like the worm he is, body unable to coil in on itself because he’s slowly dying. Not to mention, he can’t free his arms.
Wrath erupts in my veins. I take a few steps forward, grab the hilt of the knife, and draw it upward. His yelling increases, eyes bulging, veins popping out in his neck. His filthy fucking blood is running down my hands.
I tune out the sounds of his whimpers as his body continues to spasm and jerk the last bit of life out of him.
Closing my eyes as I take a few steps back, I look at him, and all I see as I glare at him hanging in the air by what’s left of his balls are the tears streaming down Ellie’s face. The bruises on her body from years ago, the way her words stumbled out of her mouth when she described to the police how he raped her.
It all comes back, the violation, the years he tormented her, the things he said and did to the
woman who owns me.
“Ellie is mine. She’ll always be. This is for her, our baby, her father, our families, for me. One bullet for every year I waited to seek revenge for Ellie. Rot in hell, motherfucker.”
I pull out the gun, wince when I lift it with my bad arm and pull the trigger ten times nailing him right between his stalking eyes.
As I turn toward the door, I spin around and nail one more for him, drawing blood out of my baby brother.
Chapter Eleven
Ellie
I can hear the waves crashing against the shore from where I stand on the deck, arms resting on the railing. The few minutes I’ve been standing here has begun to clear the last bit of cobwebs in my mind.
When I woke, I expected to see Logan next to me. Instead, it was Norah. I didn’t mind; she helped me shower, let me know Logan had come home and was asleep across the hall. As far as I know, he’s still sleeping as he should be. She also told me Shadow was dead, and not to be surprised if I turned on the television to hear Cole’s house had mysteriously exploded and burned to the ground.
I couldn’t help it; I laughed so hard it brought happy tears to my eyes, but when I caught her reflection in the mirror, my laughter died right along with a piece of me. It had nothing to do with how unrecognizable I looked.
She looked at me as if I was going to break at any second. It angered me. It brought back many memories of her and Renita doing the same thing as before. The only difference? This time, I wasn’t forced by anyone to talk about what happened. Neither have asked me questions. If they never do, it is fine by me. They didn’t bring up the video, which makes me think they don’t know about it. Among all the gratitude I owe the men in life, that is the one thing I’m thankful they kept to themselves.
After I was settled back in bed from taking the quickest shower known to man because the sting from the water about dropped me to my knees, I tended to my wounds, and a smile spread when Renita waltzed into the room carrying a tray of comfort food. Tomato soup and grilled cheese along with a pitcher full of water.
Unbound Trilogy Boxset Page 50
