Hush (Black Lotus #3)(67)
“Where is he?” I scream out as Declan walks up the circle drive. “Where is he?”
“Baby, please.”
He reaches for me, but it isn’t his touch I want so I slap his hand away, seething, “Don’t f*cking touch me!”
He reeks of guilt.
“Tell me where he is!”
He stares at me with pity. “He’s gone.”
“Where?”
“Let’s get back in the car.”
“NO!”
I can’t move.
I can’t breathe.
All I can do is stand here, a bleeding mess as every part of what makes me human blisters in monumental agony. They grow, filling with the acid of heartache only to pop and sear me from the inside out.
“You knew,” I accuse bitterly, my hands fisting at my sides. “You knew, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“You unimaginable bastard!” I shriek, slapping him across his face, and he takes it. I slap him again, and then hammer my fists against his chest, causing him to stumble back.
He doesn’t fight me as I yell at him through my tears, “How could you?”
Another searing slap.
“Are you done hitting me?”
“No!” I spit out as I ram my palm into his shoulder, and that’s when he grabs ahold of my wrist.
“How could you not tell me?”
He jerks my wrist, forcing me into his arms, but I don’t want his embrace—I want my dad.
I fight against his hold, but he dominates my strength and forces me back down the driveway and into the car. Shock riddles my system as I stare at the For Sale sign in the front yard.
Declan gets into the car and speaks in an even and controlled tone. “I am so sorry, baby.”
The salt of my pain eats away at my flesh when I turn to face him. “I need answers.”
“He got caught,” he confesses.
“No, he didn’t,” I cry, unwilling to believe him.
“They allowed him to have this one last day with you while they emptied the house.”
“No.”
“He’s gone.”
“NO!”
And it was in that moment the world fell from its axis and tumbled into nothingness. I only existed in a realm of blank space. I don’t know what happened next. I don’t remember the drive back to the hotel. I don’t remember going to bed. Nothing existed that night. I suppose the pain must’ve been so incredibly excruciating that I couldn’t tolerate it and all my senses seized. Maybe it was something greater that was sparing me of having to carry that memory around with me for a lifetime. Whatever it was that saved me from the horror of that night—thank you.
I SIT IN my car with my gun and watch Archer and his daughter on the beach. I’m far enough away from their cars, so they don’t take notice of me, but my eyes never leave them.
I’ve been anxious ever since I got the phone call on their new whereabouts, and that anxiety is at an all-time high now that I’m here. When someone does you wrong, it doesn’t simply disappear. It festers and marinates, growing like wildfire. I think of my brother who lost his freedom. He’s been sitting in prison for over a decade. His wife lost her husband. His children lost their father. My parents lost their son. It’s a ripple of destruction, and Archer will pay for all that he’s destroyed. But this isn’t my payback—it’s my brother’s.
As this little family reunion wraps up, I go ahead and pull my car out and wait down the street for Steve’s car to pass. It doesn’t take long for him to leave, and I cautiously trail behind him. Once we make it over to Gig Harbor, the traffic thins out. Winding through the heavily wooded backstreets, it’s go time.
I hammer my foot on the accelerator, and swerve across the double-lines. When my car evens up to his, I jerk the wheel and run him off the road into a ditch. In rapid-fire movements, I’m over to his car with my gun aimed on him.
“Open the f*cking door.”
He does, begging, “Take whatever you want, but pl—”
“No talking.” I shove the muzzle to his forehead as he looks at me in horror. “This is vengeance for my brother. You ratted Carlos Montego out to the feds, and now he’s spending the rest of his life behind bars.” His eyes flinch when I mention my brother’s name. “He told me to kill you, but I’m going to give you a choice,” I tell him, f*cking with him, because no matter what he says, he’s dying. “I know your daughter is here and staying at The Pearl’s Edge.”
“No, please don’t—”
“Choose. You die or she dies. You have five seconds.”
I pull the slide back and chamber a round when he pleads urgently, “Kill me. Don’t hurt my—”
BANG.
BANG.
I fire two shots into his head, and he falls lifelessly to the ground, maroon blood oozing out of him. Quickly holstering my gun, I look around, but there’s still not a car in sight. I grab him under his arms and drag his body out into the woods. The adrenaline pumping through my veins helps me move at a velocious rate. Tossing this f*cker behind a pile of brush, I run back to my car and high-tail it out of there with the thrill of vengeance roiling through me.
It’s finished.