Page 30 of Ruthless Vengeance

What even is normal now?

My world has been turned upside down, and I imagine this is how Dr Strange feels when he enters a parallel universe. Everyone I believed to be good is suddenly the villain, and yet, I’m not entirely sure where that leaves me and Zak and Maddox. They don’t play by the rules, they aren’t lawful but lawless, yet they seem to be the better men.

And me?

I was in a realm of limbo after I was practically forced from my job, a job I loved, neither one side or the other, but my little time in a prison cell and having been betrayed by a fellow cop, someone I considered a friend, has forced me to face the fact that the institution I believed in, placed all my faith in, is no better than the criminal underground I now find myself immersed back in. In all honesty, it’s worse. At least there is transparency within the underworld, there is no facade, it’s just the cold and harsh reality of the world.

Star, Zak and Smithy disappear just as Hughes turns around, and a small frown creases her brow as she realises I’m now alone.

Kavanagh gives me a nod as he trails behind Hughes, who is making her way towards me.

“Where are the man and woman that were helping you a moment ago?” she demands as she comes to halt beside the counter. Her eyes drop to the scissors and blood-soaked gauze littering the top.

“You must be mistaken, there is no one else here, Officer Hughes.”

Her nose turns up like someone wafted shit under it, and her eyes narrow, full of disdain.

“We’re done here, thank you, Officer Hughes. Let me show you out,” Kavanagh says, dismissing her, his hand held out towards the exit.

She looks me up and down, and I smile sweetly, despite really wanting to lay her out on the floor, but this pisses her off and brings me a small level of satisfaction.

As she passes me, she whispers, “See you again soon,Whitmore.”

“Let’s do lunch, BFF,” I say excitedly, giving a little wave just to really ramp up the sarcasm. The paramedics arrive just as Kavanagh and Hughes leave. After assessing my wound and determining I need stitches and possibly to see a plastic surgeon, I’m busy refusing to go to hospital when Kavanagh walks back in. Catching on to the gist of our conversation, he quickly ends the argument.

“She’ll go to the hospital.”

“Er…excuse me! I will not. And you don’t get to decide for me.” I glare at him, and in my mind, I’m burning a hole right through the middle of his head.

He simply watches me, then a voice I know so well rings out. A voice that makes my heart stutter in my chest.

“You will go to the hospital, Roxy.”

I turn toward the door and find Mitch standing there with his arms folded and some damn overprotective father look on his face.

I hear Kavanagh tell the paramedics that I’ll be out in a minute, but he underestimated me if he thinks Mitch being here will make me go.

I had planned to call him after finding out about Star because he’s always been the one person I could call when I needed someone, but then I got caught up in the shit at The Watchtower. I’ve no idea what I would have said to him, and I have even less now he’s standing in front of me.

“Come to spin me some cock-and-bull story about how you only wanted to protect me, and you cared about me? I’m not interested, and you have no say in what I do or don’t do. You’re not my father, Mitch.”

I see him wince at my words, and whilst they hurt me to say, they are the truth. He steps into the room, passing Kavanagh, who leaves us to it.

“Be that as it may, and despite what you think, I do and have always cared about you, Roxy. I’m not your father, no, but I do love you like one,” he admits, stopping in front of me. “Blood doesn’t make a family, Roxy. You only have to look at Maddox and Zak to know that.”

His words cut deep just as his betrayal has. But I also know he’s right. I’m reminded of Kavanagh and Star earlier. It hurt like hell to see the obvious bond the two of them have, but it’s a bond no less. One that’s not out of a blood borne duty, but one of circumstance, a situation you have no control over, yet it’s one that creates a stronger bond because you want to help, you want to love them and not because you feel some familial obligation. In Kavanagh and Star’s case even more so as she is effectively the illegitimate child to the Rogers organisation…Holy shit.

“Does Rogers know who Star is?” I blurt out, then I realise Mitch doesn’t know about Star or that she’s alive.

“Roxy, what about Star? Have you got a lead?”

I slide of the stool and lean in to give Mitch a hug while whispering, “Hold that thought. I have news but not here.” He wraps an arm around me, and I add, “I’m sorry.” He squeezes me tight before letting me go.

“I’ll explain everything later, but first let’s get you to the hospital and that arm sorted.”

“Oh, no, no, I’m not going to the hospital. I need to get home.”

Kavanagh strolls back in, and I point at him. “You must know a guy?” I laugh at how ridiculous that sounds, but come on, doesn’t every family have their own doctor.

---