Page 10 of The Madman's Nightmare
Hannah stepped forward and placed her hand on my covered ankle. “I agree with Hawk. You are feared, and not secretly. People are actually terrified by you and what you’re capable of, so start thinking about how they were able to get inside your head and find a way to beat them.”
“What if it’s not the siblings?” I asked, speaking my worst fear out loud. “What if it’s someone else I pissed off that took her?”
Hannah asked, “Do you really think it wasn’t them?” I shook my head and she shrugged. “One thing I’ve learned about you is that your gut is always right. So, why are you second guessing yourself now? Just because one of the people is a woman you used to be involved with?”
“It was more than that,” I answered.
“Who gives a fuck what it was,” Stella said as she stood from the bed. “It’s been over for years, and now, this crazy bitch and her brother think it’s okay to kidnap your wife and shoot you? No, fuck that and fuck her. Get mad, Devlin. You wouldn’t be like this if it was one of the Syndicate who took her, would you?”
“Fuck no,” I responded and pushed myself up, their words lighting a fire deep within me. “Get my doctor in here. If I’m not going to die, then I’m getting the fuck out of here and finding my Lamb.”
Hawk nodded and gave Stella a sly wink before he turned and left the room. I looked at my sisters and remarked, “I need someclothes, so unless you want to see me naked, I’d suggest you get something for me to wear.”
Hannah smiled and pulled her phone from her pocket before tying something into the device. She waited until it chimed and looked up. “Seth is on his way with some clothes for you.”
I flipped the covers back and pulled the hospital gown down from my shoulder. There was a large bandage taped to my right shoulder and chest and carefully, I pulled it down to look at the wound. It looked like they shot me with a small caliber, otherwise the damage would be worse.
Swinging my body to the side, I left my feet dangling off the edge of the bed, and when I felt Stella and Regan each grab onto an arm to help me stand, I gave them a nod as I got my feet onto the floor.
Hawk returned with an older man in a white coat who seemed like he was frustrated at my demands to leave, but he didn’t remark as he redressed my wound and gave Stella clean bandages and a few prescriptions. The only comment he made was, “If he starts bleeding again, you need to bring him back immediately. The bullet missed an artery by less than a millimeter.”
Without looking back, he turned and left the room. Hawk shrugged and leaned against the wall as I shuffled carefully to the bathroom. It took a minute for me to get steady on my feet, and once I finished using the bathroom, I washed my hands and stared into the reflection in the mirror.
I had to stop feeling guilty or remorseful about what happened in the past and I had to find the angry part of me that I had tried to push down over the last few years. Gripping onto the sink, I let my head hang down to my chest for a moment, and when I lifted my eyes back to the reflection, I saw the madness dancing in my eyes.
The same madness I embraced when I was twelve years old and was cast out by my father into the unknown. A feral smile broke out on my face as I pushed away from the mirror and opened the door. Seth and Hawk were standing in the room, and both of my sisters were absent.
“Thought it would be better if we helped you get dressed,” Hawk remarked.
I walked over to Seth, and he handed me a bag. I took it and sat on the bed, pulling out everything I needed. I was able to pull on my boxers and jeans before I felt the room spinning. Looking up, I made eye contact with Hawk, and he and Seth approached the bed before helping me get a shirt on and put socks and shoes on my feet.
Pushing off the bed, I stood and felt my body swaying before Seth and Hawk steadied me. Glancing at the two men, I was met with understanding eyes as I started to walk out of the room. When I opened the door, Stella and Hannah were waiting for me. Hannah had a wheelchair, but I shook my head as I turned and began to walk down the hospital corridor.
The doctor was standing at the nurse’s station and shook his head as we walked past and onto a waiting elevator. The ride was over quickly, and as I walked through the hospital lobby, I looked at Stella.
“I need a cell phone. I can’t find mine.”
“James has your cell and wallet with him. Everyone’s in your conference room back at the building in Pierce Bluff and they’re expecting you,” she returned as we walked out of the hospital and into the unseasonably cool fall afternoon.
An SUV pulled up, and I saw Hailey, Stella’s daughter and my niece, in the passenger’s seat. Her ol’ man, Jacob—or Hatchet as he was called within the Death Hounds—was driving. Hannah helped me get into the backseat before she, Seth, Stella, and Hawk walked into the parking lot.
I assumed they were getting their rides and would meet us back in Pierce Bluff. Glancing back at the hospital in Portstill, where both my sons were born, I vowed that I was going to bring Elise home and prayed she wouldn’t have to come here before she came home to us.
During the thirty-minute car ride back to Pierce Bluff, I wanted to ask questions but didn’t think anyone in the vehicle would have any answers, and without my phone, I couldn’t call for an update.
So, I just looked out the window at the passing scenery. I didn’t realize I had fallen asleep as the memories of my first meeting with Kendra and Bradon played in my head.
James and I were sitting in our living room, looking through the cameras Marco had installed in the Flats, deciding what our next move was going to be. Killing Marco was a spur of the moment action, but I’d do it again if it meant keeping Elise off his radar. I’d already made a declaration that all whorehouses were to pack up and leave the Flats or risk my wrath. One of the pimps tried to test me, and I slit his throat in the middle of the street, daring anyone to challenge me.
The few houses still running were closed within a day or two, and now, I had to decide what to do with the cameras aimed at Marco’s former businesses.
“Should we use the houses for some of the guns? Like a storage facility?” James asked, and I shook my head.
“Even though the cops aren’t coming into the Flats, I don’t want to risk it. I think we should rent the houses out, or maybe turn them into youth centers,” I suggested.
James didn’t seem too sure of my idea, but he wasn’t one to disagree right away. He would weigh the pros and cons of my ideas, and only then, once he saw a fuller picture, did he offer pushback.
A knock on the front door drew my attention, and James grabbed his laptop and started typing on it. He looked at the computer screen, watching the camera feed from the front porch before he looked at me with confusion. I turned the computer and saw a young woman and man standing on the front porch.
