Page 2 of Blood and Honor

“Your eyes are swollen, so that’s why you can’t see well, but the swelling’s going down now.” Dad bit his lower lip in the way that he always did when he was trying to control his anger. “Your vision should be normal in a couple of days.”

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing would come out.

“No, don’t say anything, honey. Just focus on getting better. You heal.” Dad leaned over me and kissed my forehead, stroking my hair back as tears and anger filled his eyes. “Don’t worry about anything else. We’re going to get the bastards who did this to you, and I’m going to cut off their balls myself and put them in jars on your dick shelf.”

I chuckled, but it hurt. I stopped, instead, squeezing his hand. Then I slowly pointed to myself.

My father laughed without humor. “You want to cut their balls off?”

I slowly nodded.

“That’s my girl.” He leaned in and kissed my forehead again, but even that hurt.

“I’m here, Addie. I’m not going anywhere,” Eli said, rage brightened his angry eyes. “We’ll find them. I have my men scouring the city, too.” He took my hand and kissed it ever so gently.

I nodded, hoping that when they find them, they hold them for me. I wanted to inflict as much pain—or more—on them as they had on me. Right now, it was the only thing keeping me going. Keeping me alive.

Revenge.

They had beaten and gang-raped me, then left me for dead, in an attempt to get me to conform. To do their will. To reinstate the sex trafficking business. But I memorized each of their faces. And when I’m well enough, I’m coming for them.

They don’t know who they’re messing with.

There was no concept of time in my room. A man, who vaguely looked familiar, came in and out of the room and checked on me. He placed his hand on my forehead, checking me for a fever, and feeling my pulse. He must have been a doctor who owed my father a favor or some shit and agreed to keep it quiet. If the police got wind of this, I wouldn’t have a shot at them.

And I was going to take my shot.

Eli and my father disappeared out of my field of vision and the doctor sighed. “Well, her body is more bruised than anything. Nothing appears to be broken.” He looked upon me with pity and compassion. “You need to stay in bed and rest.” Then he turned to my father. “I’m not telling you how to do your business, but I’d keep a guard outside her door around the clock.”

My father smirked. I could hear it, even though I couldn’t see that far. “You’re right. You don’t tell me my business and I don’t tell you yours. But thanks for the advice.”

He shook my father’s hand and then was out of my field of vision again. “I’ll come by tomorrow to check on her again. Call me if you need me.”

“Thanks, Doc,” my father replied. “I will.”

I was unable to speak. Unwilling to try. Anger… no, rage… filled my chest, and I didn’t trust what I might say to the people here who had been so kind. My family.La mia famiglia.We were the Kingsley Crime Family, and you didn’t cross us unless you wanted to pay the ultimate price. And they were going to pay.

As I laid there, I contemplated all the different ways I was going to kill the bastards. But I would make them suffer first, until they were begging for death.

While nothing was broken, everything hurt. I wasn’t in constant pain. It was more of a symphony. The pain started in my side and then branched out, pulsing as it moved around. Every time I tried to move. Every time I took a breath, my ribs tightened around my lungs. I could only take shallow breaths.

But as time went on, the pain eased until I could sit up on my own. And I could breathe better.

Eli came to visit when he could, but I didn’t want him to see me this way. It was strange. We were finally getting our shit together emotionally, getting on the same page, and this happened.

“Your father called a meeting.”

Nate’s voice slithered through the darkness, but I didn’t move to turn the lights on and neither did he.

“You need to come down, if you can.”

Wordlessly, I sat up. I wasn’t sure how many days had passed, and I wasn’t going to ask. I followed him out of the room and down into the dining room.

The men of the family, dressed in their black suits and ties, sat around the table. They looked like they were going to a funeral. None of them looked me directly in the eye. They all knew my fury. I sat down at the end opposite my father but said nothing.

“You all know what happened. What those… animals… did to my daughter.”

I felt the pressure of eyes on me, but I didn’t look up to see who it was.

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