Page 77 of Unfulfilled Promises
With that, I pulled the trigger. The sound was deafening, and the smell of cordite was overwhelming as the gun ripped a massive hole through his hand, sending chunks of flesh and bone flying. He screamed, and I repeated the action on the otherhand, ensuring if he does somehow survive, he won’t ever be able to drag someone into the darkness ever again.
James and Seth released their hold on Ricardo, who fell face first onto the table. I was sure he’d passed out from shock, but I didn’t care. Handing James the gun, I looked at Seth. “Can we leave?”
“Whenever you’re ready,” he replied with a smile, and I stepped around the table to him.
Both our hands were covered in blood and bits of bone and flesh and a bottle of water appeared for us to wash them off. “Thank, Booker.” I remarked and he smiled, showing his white teeth in the dark camo paint covering his face.
We went to walk away, and I turned to see Caldwell break something and waive it under Ricardo’s nose, jolting him awake as James wrapped his mangled hands with some rags. I looked at the men who allowed me into the madness and had one request. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Name it,” James answered, and I smiled across the room at him.
“Can you make him suffer?”
“For every second he’s alive,” James replied with a look in his eyes that showed the cold darkness inside of him.
“Did you get what you needed?” Seth asked as he took my hand and guided me out of the room.
When he closed the door, shutting us off from the carnage that was about to take place, I stepped up to him and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him to me. Without answering, I pressed my lips to his and when he opened his mouth, I pushed my tongue in, needing the connection.
Screams echoed out of the room as Seth gripped the back of my head and leaned me back, aggressively kissing me as the sound of my tormentor’s torture filled the room. When we broke the kiss, I fought to catch my breathe and as we turned andwalked out of Devlin and James’s warehouse of death, I couldn’t help but smile.
The people responsible for my two years in hell are dead or dying, I had a man who would fight the world to keep me safe, and a family who didn’t hesitate to spill blood to protect all of us.
In the big scheme of life, who could ask for anything more?
Chapter 36
Seth
10 days later
We’ve been scouring everywhere for Waylon, and no one’s heard a peep from him. He sent the email to Ricardo, somehow secured Giovanni inside his rental house, and seemingly disappeared. Devlin and James put trackers on his accounts, flagged his car tag in case he’s running, and have their system looking everywhere, but we’re still no closer to finding him.
Ricardo had information, but nothing we didn’t already know. He explained how after Sergey died, Kelly became de facto leader until one of the families stepped up and took control, but she kept them as odds with each other, playing everyone to gain control. It was her idea to kidnap Rylee and Hannah and Ricardo said Kelly was livid about the initiation being interrupted.
She believed if she could gain members, she would rise to the top, but the ceremonies continued to be raided, and the families were dwindling to almost none. He said it was her idea to seek out the illegitimate children, but it seemed too convenient to the brothers that everything was Kellys fault. Devlin told me afterward that James barely kept his rage contained and as soon as they were sure he’d told everything, they let Rhys and James at him.
The two of them beat Ricardo for over an hour, and he finally died choking on his own blood. He was placed into a barrel of acid and sealed up until he was liquified. Then, they neutralizedthe solution and poured him down a drain, so he could float in the sewer for eternity.
James told me he pleaded to save Waylon, that it wasn’t the kid’s fault his mother warped his mind. And besides him securing Giovanni, and when he kidnapped Hannah until Kelly’s orders, he seemed to have clean hands. But if he was the financial backer as suspected, then he was guilty and had to be dealt with.
I was staying at Rhys house with Regan, and I could tell he wasn’t happy, but it was his request that she not go far until Waylon was caught that had us here instead of my house. We still hadn’t gone past simple making out, and the few times she let me go down on her, and I could tell the wall she’s struggling to break down, allowing us to be intimate, was starting to frustrate her.
Yesterday, we went to my house for dinner and Edgar kept headbutting her, demanding attention. When we left to go back to her place, she picked the fuzzy asshole up and smiled as he hugged closer to her while she carried into the car. I stood, shocked and speechless that he let her pick him up and that he seemed happy about a car ride. I got behind the wheel, and she smiled over at me as she scratched his head and he purred contently.
Now, the little asshole’s asleep on her bed and in the middle of the night, he crawled between us and bit my hand that was resting on her hip. I yelped, she jumped, he scratched me, she consoled him, and I sat bleeding alone on the bed, confused.
“Good morning,” Regan said as she walked into the kitchen and took a seat next to me at the island. She looked at the small bandage on my hand and pinched her lips as she asked, “Are you okay? I’m sure he didn’t mean to bite you.”
I gave her a crazy look and replied, “Little asshole intended to bite me, and you can’t convince me otherwise.”
She giggled and reasoned, “I’m sure he’s sorry and promises not to do it again.”
My head flopped over and I shook it at her. “He’s not sorry. He’s a fuzzy asshole.”
My statement had her laughing until tears rolled down her cheeks. Every time she would get it under control, she’d look at my hand, then me, and start all over again. Seeing her so free spirited and alive was amazing. However, I wasn’t going to give up sleeping with my woman just to make Edgar the asshole happy.
“What’s so funny?” Hannah asked as she walked into the kitchen.
