Page 125 of Ruthless Beasts

I turned, leaving the library behind as I ran for the hall. My fingers clenched against the banister as I rushed downstairs. I needed to save him. It had to be me. I didn't have time;hedidn't have time to wait for Mercer and Ace. I ran past the downstairs hall, then paused long enough to make a split decision before I turned down it. I followed Lady's bark to Mercer's room and opened the door, releasing the dog before jogging toward the living room and the backdoor to the outside.

"Come on, girl," I called to the pup, who followed, an intense look on her face as she growled, sensing the tension.

The rain pounded hard against my skin the second I entered the outside, announcing my arrival to the world. The thunder clapped, feeling so close I swore the ground shook with it. Lightning cast across the sky, lighting up the beautiful rose garden, practically telling me the destination of where I'd find my husband.

The rose garden. Of course, he would pick a place of beauty to taint with the ugliness of his soul. But I'd not let him ruin something we'd worked so hard to restore. Not when I looked at those roses and thought about Ace with his white dress shirt digging holes. I loved that memory too much to let someone like Joseph Accardo ruin it.

I stopped just below the library balcony, searching around the grass, with Lady jumping at my feet. "Where is it? Where the hell is it?"

I shielded my eyes against the slanted rain, trying to make out more than a few feet in front of me. Lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the grass in front of me. The shiny exterior of Adam's gun twinkled in the light, and I rushed forward, snatching it from the grass. The metal was ice against my palm, slippery with the rain, and for the first time, I wished I had taken the time to learn how to use it. I just hoped it wasn't that hard.

Lady rushed forward, moving faster than I could as she let out a bark, announcing her presence. My head still pounded, but it did little to deter me. My steps were unwavering as I held onto my stomach, gripping the globe gingerly, hoping I didn't lose my balance and slip on the slick grass. Lady disappeared out of sight before turning back and running toward me. I held my breath as I approached the opening to the garden, afraid of what I'd see.

Could I handle the worst?

No. I didn't think I'd survive it. Not when these men had become my everything in such a short time. They were a bundle. I could not have one without the others. I refused.

I stepped through the door and covered my mouth, hiding the gasp. Adam, my strong and ruthless husband, lover, friend, was strung up from the oak tree. His hands were behind his back, his neck strained, his bone protruded from his leg, and a rope held him tightly in place as Accardo held a knife to his throat.

The rain pounded down so hard I couldn't hear the words, but it didn't matter. Judging by the look of things, they weren't friendly.

"Lady," I whispered the dog's name, and the single word was like a command. She charged forward, her soft little body plowing into Accardo until he stumbled backwards, dropping his knife as he tripped over a rock.

My breath was coming out in pants as I held one hand to my stomach, and the other held up the gun. Adam's eyes met mine, sorrow and longing so strong I could feel it. He mouthed words, but I couldn't make them out. It was too dark, the surroundings too loud.

"You won't shoot me." Accardo laughed as I stepped further into the garden.

"I might." I would.

"You're too weak. Just a little spoilt child," he taunted, his eye on my shaking hand, watching as I struggled to hold up the gun. I’d never held one before, never realized the weight of it in my palm and how rapidly holding it up could strain my muscles. How could my men walk around with these things on their bodies each day and not feel the strain?

"Let him go," I demanded.

"Your demands have no power, little girl."

I cringed, hating the nickname that Mercer so freely used, falling from a man like Accardo's lips. Did he know? Did he know that Mercer's term of endearment could be so repulsive coming from him?

"That man. Yourhusband," he spat with disgust, "killed my son. Did you not think I wouldn't have come for him, eventually?"

"You killed his family," I reminded him.

Lady growled when he stepped closer, but the sweet puppy didn't know what to do. She looked at us all in confusion, not quite understanding it all. Accardo laughed. "It appears he's made a new family, with my very own grandchild right in the center. Doesn't seem like he's hurting too bad, now does it?"

"He's taking care of me. Something none of you had ever planned to do," I shouted over the rain.

"You were a girl." He said it so simply that it pained me. As if the simple fact that I had a vagina meant I was useless in hiseyes. This was the family my daughter would have been raised into. A family who hated her just for existing when my men worshipped her before she even took her first breath. "Girls are useless except to advance our alliances. You should know that. You grew up in this world."

That I did, and I spent every second of my life — until Mercer threw me over his shoulders — hiding and pretending that the person inside of me didn't exist. But she did. And now that they’d freed her, she could never go back into that cage. Fear might have wanted me to escape initially, but now I never wanted to be apart from them. I couldn't. My heart beats were linked to their next breaths.

The clap of thunder roared, causing me to shift uneasily from foot to foot as I tried not to take my eyes off this man. This man who had been a danger to me and my men far longer than I realized. "You need to leave."

"I don't think I will." His eyes roamed over me. "Not when you're looking perfectly tousled for me. Tell me, would you have screamed my name?"

"Not a fucking chance," Adam growled as he strained against the rope.

Lady whimpered, and I stepped toward her, walking in a half circle so I stood a few feet in front of my husband. "Our guards will come."

I tried to lie, hoping he wouldn't question it. I knew he had killed some, but someone had to be left. Someone had to hear our desperate pleas for help if we shouted loud enough, right?

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