Page 71 of Forever Filthy

“My ship is fine,” Thomas snarls.

“No, you’re on the Titanic and it's about to hit the iceberg and you can’t even see it happening.” It fills me with great joy to seethe doubt in his eyes. “You can kill me but The Brotherhood will never survive the aftermath of my death. I knew these fuckers weren’t loyal, so I made sure to have a contingency plan in place especially with the Night Of The Saints fastly approaching.”

Thomas cuts a glance to Ford who looks ruffled, he can try to hide it as best as he can but I see through the facade. I run my gaze over all of them, each one of them looks uncertain and when you have your back up against the wall with no other allies, all you need to do is build doubt in their minds and they will turn against their leader. The greed each of these selfish assholes possess is sickening, they would sell their soul to the devil if it meant they could remain rich and untouchable.

“She’s bluffing. The Saints have covered the cost for the expansion, she has no money.” Ford is trying hard to believe the bullshit he is spewing out of his mouth but it’s obvious to all that he is grasping at straws.

“Fuck this, take her now!” Thomas roars. Fear erupts inside me as Leo and Vaughn step toward me. Tate’s hold on me tightens but I know it's futile, she doesn’t have the strength to fight these fuckers and nor do I. I thought I could hold them off until help arrived. Leo sneers down at me as he extends his arms to grab me, but the lights cut out. I know we are in a crematorium and given everything that has happened and about to happen its only now that it registers to me that we are in a place of the dead and it could be fucking haunted!

“Fan out, find the circuit breaker,” I hear someone shout.

“Fix this!” Thomas bellows. Chaos breaks out as everyone begins shouting, they all reach for their phones to try to light the area but it's not enough. I feel Tate yanked backward and I grunt in effort to remain upright.

“Get the fuck off me!” she snaps.

“Shut the hell up, it’s me.” I freeze at the sound of his voice. “Let go now, I need to get you out of here, he’ll kill you after hefinishes with her,” Nexus whisper shouts loud enough for only us to hear.

“I can’t leave her,” Tate argues. If I survive the night I know I will probably regret my decision but for right now, I won’t because I can’t have her death on my hands. Giving into this means letting this rapist go free for a second time.

“I can’t carry her, I can only get one of you out,” Nexus argues.

“He’s right,” I hiss. “Go, Tate.” I push.

“Vivian, I won’t leave you to die,” she claps back.

“It’s better me than you.” I twist and force her arms to release me, I can make out their silhouettes but that's it. “Take her and keep her safe.” I can feel Nexus’s gaze on me and it makes my skin crawl but I swallow down my hatred for him. Him being here and going against his father to save her shows me that heartless bastard actually does care about someone aside from himself, which I never thought was possible.

“I’m sorry,” Nexus bites out, then I feel Tate’s heat vanish from behind me. I sigh in defeat. I’m happy she will be safe and live to fight another day but a part of me is envious my rescue party isn’t here.

“Ahhhh,” someone cries out followed by another painful shout. All the phone lights turn toward the front of the room, where the noise came from. The sound of the men pounding on the glass in the viewing area sounds out. Everyone swivels to face the glass but we can’t see anything.

When another round of screams rents the air, everyone grows still, my heart beats faster as equal parts hope and fear swirl inside me.

Did they reach me in time?

When the lights flicker on, I slam my eyes closed to stop the burn from the sudden assault of brightness. I quickly blink them open and gasp at the sight surrounding me.

They came!

My guys stand in front of me, forming a shield. The three of them wear their masks and have both Ford and Leo on their knees in front of them. Hayze and Archer have their guns pressed against the backs of their heads. I twist to look behind me, surprised to see Alex and a couple more guys who I assume are his men.

“Where you will rest for eternal life no favor will be asked. Your stone will have no markings. A favor was asked by one and it has now been granted. The debt to be collected is your life. A favor asked is a debt owed,” Ez says. He doesn’t use his voice distorter, there isn’t a need as they would all know their cover has been blown now. I asked the favor to help me take down the Saints and they are here to grant it. Tears well in my eyes at their presence, they didn’t leave me. They came for me because they love me and that notion has the tears spilling down my cheeks.

“You fucking fools, you can kill them but we will slaughter all of you before you get a chance to fire a second round,” Thomas says with a cocky lilt to his voice. I can see him through the gap between Archer and Ez and he looks pleased at the sight of them which worries me. “I knew you would come to save your whore—” Hayze lifts his gun from the back of Ford’s head to point at Thomas.

“Call her that again, I dare you.” The venom that drips from his tone has me growing warm. Hayze broody and angry is a fucking sight to see.

“Welcome to your final night,” Thomas says with a wicked smile. The men surrounding him don’t seem to relax like their leader. When Alex circles around me to come stand beside Archer Thomas’s eyes widen at the sight of the imposing man. “You,” he breathes out.

“You seem surprised to see me, Thomas,” Alex says in a calm tone.

“You’re supposed to be locked up,” Thomas splutters.

“Yeah, no thanks to you,” Alex growls. “You see, the problem with severing heads and sending them to the lordess without claiming the kill had her thinkingThe Butcherhad come after her.” Thomas cuts his gaze to me, I smile. “You and your men have two minutes to surrender and drop to your knees or we put bullets in each of your heads.” Before Thomas can utter another word, Ez pulls his gun in one swift move and shoots Leo in the side of the head. I scream in fright. Archer pulls the trigger and shoots Ford in the back of the head pulling another scream from me. Everyone begins shouting and shifting around the room but freeze when Alex steps forward toward Thomas.

“Don’t kill him!” I blurt out. My three guys turn and stare down at me. I look at each of them imploring them with my eyes to trust me. I think they will agree to my terms but the second Archer’s gaze travels down my body and he sees my leg everything changes. He whirls around and goes to charge Thomas but Alex intercepts him.

“Get the fuck off me,” Arch roars.

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