Page 67 of Forever Filthy

Thomas shoves her to her knees beside me but doesn’t release his hold on her hair as he forces her to remain there.

“You ungrateful bitch.” He sneers and he wipes the corner of his mouth with his thumb. When he sees blood on his finger he snarls, then releases Tate’s hair only to backhand her.

“Stop!” I snap. My outburst costs me. Thomas kicks my injured leg, drawing a sharp pain filled cry from me.

“You bitches will learn. I had planned to keep you and teach the ways of The Brotherhood and marry you to a good friend but now, you will die alongside her and her traitor of a fucking friend,” he says to Tate. My stomach is tied up in knots, does he have Nova? Panic starts to set in again for the hundredth time tonight, I can die without complaint so long as Nova and Tate are safe.

“I’d rather rot in fucking hell than ever have anything to do with you,” Tate fires back with venom dripping off each of her words. Thomas’s answer comes in the form of a slap across the face. Tate topples to the side but doesn’t make a sound which just seems to further aggravate Thomas, so he kicks her in the side. The force of the kick has her wincing and clutching her ribs.

“Get the others,” Thomas barks at Leo who scurries off like a good little dog. I remain silent but keep my eyes on Tate and Thomas, the latter pulls his phone from his pocket and begins typing. When the door Leo disappeared through opens again, Thomas smiles. It shouldn’t surprise me to see Drew Anders and Ford Booth among the men who enter the room, but it does. Both of them leer down at me. I keep my face blank of everything and stare each of the traitors in the eye as they come in. There are too many of them to fit in here, so Thomas instructs them to head into the viewing room and turn the speaker on so they can hear and watch through the glass window.

Some of the members of the Saints that are here tonight I knew were lying sacks of shit, but some of the others I thought were real and almost considered them friends. It hurts to see them here ready to watch me die.

“Brothers, we are here tonight to put an end to the reign of this wannabe lordess.” The men cheer like a paid crowd. “The Brotherhood will be returned to its former glory and we will reclaim what she tried to take from us.” More cheers ring out.

“Kill her!” Ford calls out, shocking the fuck out of me but I don’t let it show. Thomas cackles like what he said is something so normal.

“You are all fucking sick,” Tate snarls with disgust thick in her tone.

“That the bitch you gonna give me, my lord?” Drew asks. Tatum’s eyes widen in horror.

“I had planned to, but it seems she isn’t trained as well as I thought,” Thomas answers, feigning pity.

“I’m not scared of a little work. I’ve wanted to break that sweet pussy in since I saw her at Lividica.” Drew mentioning my club has me gritting my teeth, no matter what they do to me they will never get my club and that knowledge keeps me from ripping these cocksuckers a new asshole.

“We’ll discuss this matter later, my friend.” At Thomas’s answer, Drew smiles sinfully down at Tate who visibly shudders in revolution. “Now, on to the matter at hand?—”

“Why the need for the show? You had them all on your side, so why not just get them to tell you where I was? Why drag this fucking thing out and hurt so many innocent people just to get to me?” I cut in and ask, none of this is making sense to me.

Ford tries to come at me with his hand raised but Thomas stops him with his words. “After your little stunt I had to prove myself worthy to the brothers and show them that a true leader won’t stop until he wins. Plus, some scumbag we called a brother was hiding your tracks.” I reel back in confusion. “The deaths were my way of showing you what happens to traitors.”

“Kelly wasn’t a traitor, you bastard! She was your fucking wife and my best friend’s mother. She had nothing to do with this—” My reply is cut off when Thomas slaps me across the face. I fall to the side with the grace of a toddler.

“Don’t touch her!” Tate shouts but is silenced by a backhand from her father. Thomas forces me back to a sitting position bythe hold he has on my hair. My scalp is raw and aching but I refuse to make a sound. He kneels down and gets right in my face. I can smell the whiskey on his breath and it takes strength not to gag at the smell of it.

“You listen to me, you little cunt, that bitch was a means to an end. Killing her was for me, it was my way of sayingfuck youto that little bitch of a daughter of hers. Killing her was joyous. I knew her death would ruffle you all and force those other little cunts to come back to Hollow Hills, what I didn’t expect was for them to be those masked fucks.” My nostrils flare and I bite the inside of my cheek to remain silent. “Oh, don’t worry, we’ll be hunting them next. We know they have been picking off brothers and now they will be judged for their sins.”

“You lay a single fucking finger on my men or my brother and I will fucking ruin you and make hell seem like a vacation.”

“Bring him in!” Thomas shouts right in my face, then releases me with a hard shove. I catch myself on my elbows just as Tatum shuffles forward and wraps an arm around me to help me up. My discomfort is muted when Leo leads a handcuffed, beaten and bloodied David into the room. My bottom lip instantly trembles at the sight of my friend. His right eye is swollen shut and blood is crusted on the side of his head. His shirt is stained with blood, leading me to believe there are more wounds beneath his clothing that I can’t see. His face is littered with bruises but it's the look in his eye that has me whimpering. He limps forward, wincing in pain but doesn’t make a single sound as he stares down at me with a regretful look.

“Everything is done, you did it, Lordess.” His voice is laden with pain and it breaks my heart to see him like this.

“I’m so sorry,” I choke out. He tries to smile but winces in pain.

“How touching,” Thomas mocks, causing all the others to laugh. “David or should I saySpecial Agent Green.” My eyeswiden in shock as I stare at him. “Oh, she didn’t know?” Thomas asks in a sickly sweet tone.

David blanks his face of all emotion as he turns to Thomas with a sinister look in his eye. “You gonna keep talking or get this over with?” I look at Thomas who is turning a shade of red from his anger, my mind is still reeling that David is an undercover fed.

“You will pay for the crimes you have committed against this brotherhood. You will burn in hell for what you have tried to do,” Thomas sneers.

“The wordtryimplies that I didn’t accomplish what I set out to do. I accomplished my job and more. Do your worst because you’re running out of time.” Thomas’s face hardens, his eyes narrow and it's obvious for all to see that David is getting under his skin which makes me proud.

“Heat the furnace!” Thomas barks. My eyes widen in horror. Vaughn, one of the newer members of The Brotherhood, does as he’s told and that’s when it hits me. His mother is Belinda, the owner of this place, the very same place I sent Kelly to be cremated. “How long before it’s ready?”

Vaughn turns to Thomas. “A couple of hours to fully destroy the evidence but three minutes to be hot enough to burn him alive.”

I choke out a scream. “No, please don’t hurt him!” I beg. David looks down at me with a resigned look on his face while Thomas smiles wickedly. “Take me instead,” I plead.

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