Shattered (LOST #3)(89)

Now, if he could just get his hands on a really sharp knife . . .





Chapter 17

I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU FUCKED HER,” MITCH SAID. He’d wiped the blood off the knife. Now he held that gleaming edge up, letting the light from the lanterns bounce off it. There was no electricity in the old home, because Jax hadn’t connected the power yet.

Jax recognized the house. He’d had plans for this place. Those plans sure hadn’t included dying there.

“I mean, I get that Sarah is hot. A nice piece of ass, but you knew who she was.” He laughed then. “Oh, wait, you didn’t know everything about her father, did you? You didn’t know that he was the one who—”

“I know he killed my parents,” Jax rasped. “He told me.”

Mitch looked momentarily surprised. “You . . . talked to Murphy?” What could have been fear cracked in his voice. The emotion was mirrored in the flash of his eyes.

I guess we’re all afraid of something . . . or someone. “That’s where Sarah and I went . . . you know, when you were busy dropping a body in my house.”

Mitch smiled. “Did you nearly shit a brick when you saw him? That one was too good. I almost didn’t blow the house because it was such a good way to tie you to old Ron’s murder . . . but then I realized, hey, his DNA will still be there. The cops will find some pieces of him left. And you got to lose out on that fancy-ass house that you never should’ve had.” Mitch stalked toward him, that knife gripped tightly in his left hand. “I like the fire. It’s a pretty bitch when it burns.”

Mitch was insane. He’d always been, Jax just knew it now.

Mitch leaned toward him. “Murphy lied to you.”

Jax tilted his head back as he stared up at the guy.

“Oh, he killed your old man, all right . . . sliced him apart. But he didn’t kill your mother. Your mother, sweet, stupid Charlene, was with you all along.”

“No,” Jax said. That wasn’t possible. The guy was jerking him around. Playing mind games, just like Murphy.

“I killed her.” Mitch smiled.

“You’re fucking lying! Charlene wasn’t—”

“She was so afraid Murphy would come after her. She dyed her hair, changed her whole life . . . said that the woman she’d been died. That she was someone new.” His laughter was mocking. “She even used to tell you that she was someone new, that she was different. Made you repeat that shit with her over and over again.” His eyes gleamed. “In case you didn’t know it, your mom was crazy. Murphy’s attack did that to her . . . she never got over it.”

Your old life is over . . . He could see Charlene in his mind. Staring at him, with tears in her eyes. But I promise, I’ll protect you. I’ll be with you. It won’t be like it was before.

“No,” Jax said once more. Forcing that word out. Mitch was just screwing with him. It couldn’t be true . . .

I love you. Charlene’s words whispered through his mind. But you can’t ever go home. You have to stay with me.

“I killed your bitch of a mother. Just like I’m gonna kill Sarah, and then I’m gonna kill you.”

Something seemed to switch off inside Jax. He wasn’t afraid. Wasn’t angry. He wasn’t anything at all. “You won’t hurt Sarah.”

“You’re tied up, and I’m about to slash your veins wide open. All you’ll be able to do is bleed and watch.” He seemed to consider that. “I wonder which one of you will go out first. Do you want Sarah to die first? I mean, the expression is . . . ladies first, right?”

“I’m going to break your neck,” Jax told him softly. “I’ll do it with my bare hands this time. There won’t be any doubt that you’re dead when you hit the floor.”

Mitch’s hold tightened on the knife.

“I loved my mother,” Jax said. “She loved me.” Charlene’s tear-filled gaze flashed in his mind.

Mitch didn’t move.

“And I love Sarah.” He yanked hard against those ropes and felt the thick hemp slice even deeper into his wrists. He didn’t even mind the pain.

“You think Sarah loves you? She’s like Murphy, she can’t love, she can’t—”

“Like you fucking can.”

Mitch looked at the knife, then he drove it into Jax’s arm.

“DEAN IS ON the way,” Emma said as she put down her phone. Emma was in the front of the car and Carlos was leaning forward from the backseat. “We’ll beat him there, but he wants us to wait—”

Carlos lunged forward, grabbed Emma’s head, and slammed it into the passenger side window.

Sarah screamed.

Carlos pressed a knife against her side. “Just drive.”

The knife sliced into her.

“Drive the damn car. Keep going just like you’d planned.”

When she’d gotten in the vehicle, Sarah had put her gun in the glove box. Dammit. She needed that weapon! She cast a fast glance over at Emma. Blood trickled from her head, and Emma’s eyes were closed.

“She’s still alive,” Carlos muttered. “And if you keep driving, you will be, too.”

He pulled out his phone.

“You’re working with Mitch,” Sarah realized.