Page 84 of Problems

"Calm down Cian. You're going to bounce a damn hole in the car floor," Finn groaned. As we slowed at the stop light he looked at me in the backseat. "Both of you get your heads on straight. We will find him and bring him home. No losing your shit till he's safe."

I bit the inside of my cheek filling my mouth with the coppery tang of blood. The pain did little for me but it was enough to push everything back.

"Okay."

"Cian," Finn growled.

"They took him from me."

Normally Cian was confident, boisterous, and annoying but what he sounded like now was defeated.

Finn punched him. "That means you need to get him back. Are we clear?"

Cian nodded. "Ya."

I didn't blame Cian. It could have been any of us and it'd been quiet for the past two weeks. Nothing had stood out to us, but that apparently had been the chance they'd been waiting on. I swore the moment Jack was back in my arms, I was never going to let him go.

* * *

We slipped outof the car and traveled by foot to the secluded area on the horse ranch. There wasn't a single animal in sight. Gravel and sand crunched under our feet. Finn gestured for each of us to take a side. Cian went to the right, Finnian taking the left that meant the back was on me.

I skirted around the house slowing down as the light of the porch became more visible. A man paced the back porch with a cigarette in his hand. A phone was pressed to his ear. I couldn't hear him clearly, but a few words hit my ears and I knew he was part of the triads. The moment his back turned, I rushed at him. My hand wrapped around his mouth and the other cupped his chin. It all happened in less than ten seconds. I jerked to the left with all my strength. The first crack was okay, but it was the second one that I was looking for. The resounding pop hit my ears and I let the body drop to the ground. I didn't bother moving him as I opened the back door.

The farmhouse layout was open and I made quick work of seeing if Jack was around. A bullet zipped past me and landed in the sheetrock behind me. I dropped down and rolled back into the kitchen. The gun was in my hand, my muscle memory coming to the rescue. I fired off a few shots and dodged the ones coming my way. There was even more noise outside. Looked like I wasn't the only one caught in a fight,hopefully one of the guys found Jack.

A bullet landed in the cabinet three down from my head. I fired back and moved the moment I heard the grunt followed by a body hitting the ground. I ran over to the man scrambling for his dropped gun as he pathetically put pressure on his lower abdomen. I kicked the gun away and went to shoot him when something shiny caught the corner of my eye.

Cian crashed in with two guys. I spared him a glance, but he'd already killed one of them and was fighting the other. Blood splattered him from head to toe.

I picked the bracelet up off the floor in the living room.Jack.My heart felt as if it was ripping in two. My vision blurred for a second before I forced down my emotions. My stomach tightened as I pocketed the bracelet. There were no signs that indicated Jack was dead. For now, I'd go off the notion he was alive and waiting for us.

We're coming for you, baby boy.

The man on the ground scrambled away on his hands and knees. If he thought he was going to escape me, he thought wrong. I snatched his ankle and yanked him toward me. His hands slipped from under him; his face slammed into the floor. His feeble groan did nothing for me. I held his leg up and slammed the heel of my booted foot down on his calf.

The wet cracking noise filled my ears and pulled at a piece of my soul I thought was buried deep inside of me. The bone in his leg cut through the soft fabric of his pants. It was easy to make out the bloody muscles still clinging to the broken bone. The bellowing, aching screech that I wrenched from the man's throat was just as satisfying, but it did nothing to ease the pain that continued to radiate in the middle of my chest.

I flipped him around and shot one hand. I grabbed the other. I brought my knee up and his arm down, snapping it like a twig.

Finn stepped into the room and took one look at the man on the floor and then Cian behind me sitting on a corpse. "Where is Jack?" Finn asked. His eyes were wild as if he was barely containing himself.

Cian was a lost cause. He was stabbing at a body on the floor sitting on top of it. The blood wasn't even splattering every single time he drove the knife into the body. It was a corpse. Most of it’s blood was a pool under its body. Cian's blue eyes were dull as if no one was home.

"I know nothing." The man spat.

Finn didn't need to say anything as I dropped the man’s hand and held his head. I pushed my thumb into his eye. His screams were nothing more than white noise. The pop of his eye echoed up my fingers and traveled the length of my arm. Hot blood gushed out as I scooped the rest of what was his eye out. Stringy pieces clung to the thin flesh as I ripped it away and flung it to the side. More blood splattered on the ground as I made my way to his other eye. No man who'd seen my boy should be allowed to see again.

I paused as a thought occurred to my muddled brain. "Did you touch him?"

The man was too busy screaming that he didn't hear my question. I glanced over at Cian. He glared daggers at the man. I knew he wanted to be the one torturing him. The fact he let me do the honors spoke wonders of our growing bond. I don't think I could sit patiently by as we waited for this piece of shit to answer us.

The man trembled as blood coated the entire right side of his face. "I—" His mouth opened and closed as he shook in front of us.

"He's going into shock," Cian said.

I crouched down and slammed my knuckles against his sternum. His eye widened. The empty socket gushed more blood. He sucked in a breath choking on it instantly. The distant look in his eye vanished.

"You're wasting our time," Finn said.

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