Captured (Devil's Blaze MC #1)(70)

“Next, boss?”

“Take out his planes.”

One by one we go down the line of precious things we’re destroying until we arrive at the yacht that Colin and Matthew keep off the coast of Tybee Island. I smile because I know this one will hurt the most. This one, they use constantly. Word has it that Colin even lived on the yacht for a year. It’s his favorite, though, if the intel Torch was getting holds true, Redmond is the one who controls the purse strings and is the actual owner. Doesn’t matter; I’m taking all of them down. Colin, Matthew, Redmond… I don’t f*cking care. No one messes with my woman.

“Let’s get this done. I have a woman to find.”

“Got it, boss. Punching the last of the codes in now,” Torch answers. I hear the beeps and the rattle of his keyboard.

“What the f*ck?” I yell, jumping out of my seat to go to the monitor. “Jesus f*cking Christ! Stop it, Torch! Stop the blast! Abort it!” I yell, standing in front of the screen. My heart pounds a million times a minute and my body feels like it’s on f*cking fire. There on the screen is my sweet Beth. I know it’s her. She’s wearing the same beautiful pink dress she had on this morning, and her hair is pulled back and clipped high on her head so the rest swings down. She’s being held by two men and her hands are tied behind her back. They’re all but dragging her up the wooden dock to the ship.

“Torch!” I scream. “Stop the motherf*cking bombs!”

“Goddamn it, boss, I’m trying!”

“Jesus!” one of the men behind me exclaims. “Holy Mother of God!” shouts another. “Stop it, Torch!!” I scream myself, hearing the others, but they don’t matter—nothing matters except stopping this bomb.

“I’m trying, boss! I’m trying!”

The screen blinks out once and my breath freezes in my f*cking body because I know that’s it. Then, it comes back on. She’s at the top of the yacht now.

I’m f*cking losing it.

“No. No. No. No! Motherf*cker! Stall them, Beth!” I scream at the monitor. “Torch!”

“Boss, there’s some kind of interference. I… I can’t get the codes to go in. I’m almost there, just one more sec and—”

That’s all he gets out before the middle of the ship explodes. A split second later, another charge goes off right in front of Beth. The explosion is gigantic, the biggest one yet, because I wanted this motherf*cker in so many pieces that parts of him could be found in every ocean.

I drop to my knees, screaming as I watch the flames erupt all over the one woman I love more than anything in the world, devouring her. I cry out in agony, my arms wrapped tight over my head and pulling it down, trying to block what I just saw. It can’t be true. It can’t.

“Oh my God, I killed her. I killed my Beth. No!” I scream as loud and as long as I can, trying to make the Heavens hear me so they can fix this. “Oh, God, please don’t let this be real… Oh, God! Baby… mi cielo… What have I done? W-What have I done??” I just keep repeating the words as the sobs rack my body. “What have I done?”





Three Days Later

I sit on the pier, the same spot I’ve been sitting every day since I destroyed my world. Bottle in hand, I watch the water and try to decide if I shouldn’t just jump in and join Beth. I feel so cold… so motherf*cking cold that I could swear I’m dying, piece by f*cking piece. Beth brought out the man I had forgotten I was, the man mi madre raised. She held the darkness, the beast down inside, at bay. Strangely enough, her death has silenced him. He’s just another part of me that’s rotted away.

I raise the bottle to my mouth to take another drink and find it’s empty. I toss it into the water, then bring a hand to Beth’s locket. I’ve cleaned it, but since then, I haven’t taken it off. I never will. It’s a reminder of what I had… and destroyed.

The area where the yacht was has been taped off with yellow and black caution tape that reads “Do Not Cross”. It didn’t stop me. I went through every inch of the remains, whatever was left. The rest had either disintegrated during the explosion or sank down to the bottom of the ocean. No bodies were found. The coroner said they may never find them. I wanted to believe that meant Beth was still alive, but that would be impossible. I saw the explosion. I saw the way it rocked her body and how the flames… ignited and swallowed her. I still see it. Every time I close my f*cking eyes, I see it. It haunts me.

“Boss?”

“I’m nobody’s boss,” I tell Torch, not bothering to turn around and acknowledge him.

“The club needs you. There’s… things we need to figure out.”

“There’s nothing to figure out anymore, Torch. Nothing matters. The only thing that ever mattered is gone and there’s no one to blame but me.”

“That’s not true, boss. There’s a person to blame. Redmond.”

The name alone makes hate coil up inside of me, but I don’t hate that bastard half as much as I hate myself. Colin either, for that matter. They weren’t the ones who acted so carelessly with Beth’s life. They weren’t the ones who not only failed to protect her, but… killed her.

I killed her.

“Boss, something has happened,” Torch tries again. He’s ruining the numbness the alcohol has helpfully lent. I need to be numb right now. I need to be alone.