Page 52 of Unfulfilled Promises
He tilted his head and his green eyes shone brightly as he barked, “Stand.”
I knew not doing what he demanded would result in longer ‘sessions’ with him. But now that he owned me, I feared I wasn’t going to make it out of this alive. Standing in front of him, he stepped closer and lifted my chin so I was looking up at him. Defiance coursed through me, but this wasn’t the time to challenge him. I would wait for an opening and make my move, or I’d finally leave this plane of existence and be free of all the pain and misery.
Gripping onto my upper arm, he forced me out of the dining room and through the front door of the house I’d been trapped inside for months. The sun was bright, and I tried to shield myeyes with my free hand as he pulled me down the stairs and into a waiting vehicle.
That was the last morning I didn’t wake up in pain, wishing he would end it once and for all. For three months, I suffered at his hands, and by a freak chance, someone captured me on a phone camera that was equipped with Callahan software. Another two days later, I was awakened by someone kicking in the door, and when I was lifted into James’s arms, I trusted his whispered promise that I would be okay.
But Giovanni had slipped past his reckoning. I made a promise the day Devlin and James rescued me that when it came time for that demented bastard to die, I was going to do it myself.
Just so I would know, without a doubt, that the monster from my nightmare was finally gone.
Chapter 25
Seth
Regan was sleeping hard against my chest when we pulled up to the small airport. James and Rhys turned around to look at Regan as I said softly, “I’ll carry her inside so she sleeps as long as possible.”
Rhys quietly asked, “Should we have Stella come pick her up so she can get the rest she needs?”
It was Booker who leaned forward and lifted his middle finger into the air and shook his head before pointing down to Regan. He mouthed, “She’s coming.”
Rhys rolled his eyes, and James smiled before they opened their doors and exited the vehicle. I didn’t want to wake her, but if I got out to pick her up, she would fall onto the seat against the arm with the stitches. Booker tapped me, and I watched as he carefully placed his hands near her head. With a fluid motion, I opened the door and slid out as he placed his hands against her head and shoulders, supporting her until I could reach in and lift her out.
She stirred but didn’t wake as I supported her against my chest, careful not to put pressure on her wound. The stitches were gnarly when she ripped her bandage off, and I was glad Doc tended to her while we were having a meeting with Gunner and Skid. Stepping onto the runway of the small country airport, I looked down at her beautiful face and wished I could have saved her from all the pain she’d endured throughout her life.
Devlin and Lucian were speaking with the pilots as Rhys, James, and Caldwell climbed the stairs and disappeared insidethe metal tube. Booker matched my pace as I carried Regan to the plane, and purposely keeping his voice low, he said, “When it’s time to do what needs to be done, I’ll have her back, the same as yours.” He paused and asked, “She’s yourone, isn’t she?”
I looked at him, then down to her, and nodded. “She’s it for me. I never thought I’d find someone who drew me in like she did, but her strength and the goodness in her soul after facing everything she’s faced . . .” I shook my head and didn’t say anything else, because there was nothing else to say.
He smiled as we approached the plane and said, “I’m happy for you, Seth.”
Devlin and Lucian turned from their conversation as we got closer, and I could see worry in Devlin’s eyes. The madman had a cold-blooded streak running through his soul that made normal men piss themselves in fear. And for those who’d wronged him, he had no mercy. If anything, he found that evil part of himself that his father thrived on and let a little of his crazy out.
“Is she going to be up for this?” Devlin asked as I hoisted her higher in my arms. “I don’t . . . can she handle this?”
I looked at Regan and then back to Devlin before rationalizing, “Whatever she needs, she gets. If killing Giovanni Marcora gives her peace, then that’s what she gets. When the time comes, if she can’t do it, I’ll make sure he’s dead. But no one will tell her what she can and can’t do, and no one will deny her this. She’s suffered enough, so the rest of her life will be beauty and happiness.”
Our eyes locked in the faint light of the rising sun, and when he gave a single nod, I knew he agreed. There were a lot of women in our lives, and most, if not all, of them have suffered some kind of pain, abuse, or betrayal. Regan was born into pain, raised on suffering, and had experienced betrayal deeper than anyone I’d ever met.
And the shitty part was most of her pain came from her mother.
Taking the stairs, I felt Booker behind me as I climbed up with Regan in my arms. The aisle of the plane was wider than most private planes but still narrow, so I turned sideways and shuffled down until I got to the couch at midplane. Regan stirred in my arms but didn’t wake as I carefully laid her on the couch.
James appeared with a pillow and blanket as Rhys rose from his seat and came back to check on her. “How’s she doing?” he asked as James placed the blanket over her and I slid the pillow under her head.
“She’s tired, but she’ll be okay,” I remarked and stood from getting her secured in the seatbelts.
“I haven’t said anything about the two of you and the age difference,” Rhys began, and I stepped closer.
Lowering my voice, I warned, “And you’re not going to. Regan is a grown woman and there’s only eight years between us. But in life experience, she’s older than me, so leave her alone and allow her the chance to live.”
“He’s right, Rhys,” James remarked. “We sheltered her for years, thinking we were keeping the ugly parts of the world away from her, but we didn’t know what she’d already suffered. She became a master at keeping secrets, and for some reason, Seth was able to get past the armor she’d wrapped herself in. She trusts him, and until he proves otherwise, which I know he won’t, he has my support. So, give her space and let her be.”
Rhys’s mouth opened and closed but he didn’t say a word. He was Regan’s half-brother by blood, but like Devlin, James chose her as his sister and not his cousin. He’d been front and center since he discovered her existence, and if Rhys tried to intervene in her life going forward, James would be pissed.
And a pissed-off James Callahan wasn’t something I wanted to see.
James stepped up to Rhys and clapped him on the back as he joked, “Let me buy you a drink while we strategize.”
