Sacrifice, page 15
I wish I didn’t know this feeling.
That it didn’t feel familiar or normal to be rushing through the emergency room doors late at night, searching for someone who could tell me where my daughter was so I could wrap her up in my arms and cry just for a few minutes before I pulled my shit together and became the strong once again.
The young lady behind the desk saw me coming.
She knew instantly.
“Kadey’s mom?” she questioned before I even reached the desk, stepping out from behind it before I’d even answered.
“Yes, where—”
“This way,” she said, hurrying down the short corridor to her left and scanning her keycard at two large doors. There was an audible click as they unlocked, and she pushed one side open, nodding for me to go through. “She’s in cubicle eight with her dad.”
“Missy.” Hawk pinched my chin between his fingers, forcing me to focus in on him. “I know it worries you. Every single time you take Kadey somewhere, you check that it’s in her bag. Even if we’re just going across the road for Sunday lunch.”
It did worry me.
It was something that scared the crap out of me because I’d seen Kadey’s throat close. I’d seen her struggling to breathe and wondered whether I was going to lose her. Then I’d sit in the hospital, feeling the guilt pile on as I waited for doctors.
Wondering if they were judging me.
Wondering whether they thought I was a shitty parent because we were out at a park, and she picked up some sandwich a kid had discarded that had mayonnaise on it, sending her into full anaphylactic shock.
Reinforcing all the words my parents had said the day I told them I was pregnant and that I was keeping her.
You’ll never be able to do it.
You’re going to get that child killed.
“Baby, they’re just a precaution,” Hawk continued. “I’m still learning what she can and can’t have. And so is Calli. I just wanna make sure if shit happens, Kadey will be okay.”
I climbed off the stool and leaned in, pressing my lips to his for a moment before letting out a soft laugh. “You’re killing me, Swayze,” I whispered, shaking my head, not sure I could really believe what the hell was happening. “How am I ever supposed to make things even after this?”
He reached for my hips, his thumbs hooking through my belt loops as he pressed his forehead to mine. “Move your shit into my damn house.” I let out a burst of laughter and leaned away, but he wouldn’t let me escape. “Not fucking kidding, Missy. You can keep your apartment. I’ll even pay for it for as long as you feel you need it there. But now that you and Kadey have been with me for, like, two damn weeks, I don’t want to go back to not having you fucking there.”
“You want us to move in?”
“Call it whatever the hell you want,” he answered with a shrug. “I just want you there.”
I’d gone by the apartment a couple of times in the past two weeks, but for the most part, Hawk’s house had become home. Not just because we were sleeping there but because of the people who were around.
Calli and Bishop.
The boys from the club.
Hawk.
I wanted to be there with them.
Not in that cold, damn apartment.
“I finish at ten. I’ll head over there after work and get some of our stuff.”
“You don’t have to do it tonight,” Hawk said. “I have some club things to attend to, so I might be out until late.”
“I don’t want to wait.”
This was it.
If I was going to do it, I was going to do it now.
He smirked. “Thank fuck.”
MISSY
Shouldering open the door to my apartment felt strange.
I sighed heavily, flicking over the locks and hanging my bag on the back of the door.
I’d just grab some of my things and head ou—
I caught the movement out of the corner of my eye before I saw the man. He was dressed entirely in black—shoes, pants, and a long-sleeved turtleneck pulled up over his mouth and nose. His icy blue eyes and the short blond hair on his head were the only two identifying characteristics.
My heart stopped for a second, and my entire body froze as he slipped out of the bathroom. Our apartment was tiny. Both of the bedrooms and the bathroom came directly off one side of the living room, so we were suddenly standing in the same space.
A strange man.
In my apartment.
“Where is she?”
“Who—” He launched forward, and I jerked back, my back hitting the wall hard, knocking the air from my lungs and halting my escape. He grabbed a chunk of my hair in his fist and pulled my head forward before slamming it back against the wall.
I felt the plasterboard crack, and a painful jolt shot down my spine like I’d been hit by lightning. Squeezing my eyes closed, I tried to fight past the throbbing pain as he moved away again. Doors opened and slammed closed again.
“Where is she?”
Fighting the urge to vomit, I forced my eyes open again, watching him destroy my apartment through my hazy vision. Keeping my mouth shut, I slowly inched along the wall, using it for support as my body shook. My flight or fight instincts were battling one another.
I’d just flicked over four locks on my front door. There was no way I could get them undone before he caught me. So essentially, flight was now off the cards.
Inhaling deeply, I tried to slow things down a little.
I needed to be smart.
He was bigger than me.
If he got hold of me, he’d have the upper hand, for sure.
I had to put something significant between the two of us so that if he came at me, there would at least be something to slow him down, and I would have time to react. “Where is who?” I finally questioned, taking another step backward, determined to make it into the kitchen. Our table was pressed into the corner of the room, so backing myself into that would only give him the upper hand.
So, the plan? Put the kitchen island between us and find something fucking sharp.
“The girl,” he answered, coming out of her room and focusing his narrowed glare on me once again. I couldn’t stop the shudder that rushed up the back of my neck, his robotic voice like something I imagined hearing in a serial-killer movie, completely devoid of emotion. “The little girl.”
Kadey?
He wanted Kadey?
My hand gripped the kitchen counter, and I used it to steady myself as my legs began to shake.
He wanted my baby.
It was like a shot of adrenaline straight into my veins. It is hard to explain that mama-bear feeling to someone who has never experienced it. For me, I felt more comfortable having Kadey in the house with me than when I was alone because I knew, without a doubt, that I’d do far more to protect my daughter than I would to protect myself.
If someone came for me, I was going to fight.
If someone came for her…
… I was going to kill.
“Why do you want my daughter?” I questioned, finally making it to the edge of the kitchen island. I purposely leaned into the hard surface, trying to make myself look less intimidating and more vulnerable. “She’s just a little girl. She hasn’t done anything.”
“Not yet,” he answered, finally taking a step toward me. “But she is going to do something great.” There was something deep and dark within his stare. It didn’t falter for a second, glued to me as I crept slowly, the kitchen counter now firmly between us. It was almost like he knew I wasn’t going to escape.
That was why he’d let me lock the doors and hang up my bag with my cell inside before letting me know he was here.
He wanted to make sure there was no escape.
No one to call.
This entire situation was calculated.
“What the hell are you talking about? Who are you?” I demanded, my voice cracking despite trying to keep my tone steady and calm like I wasn’t fucking petrified.
In my mind, I was trying to list the items in the apartment, things I could use as a weapon that would do enough damage to at least slow him down.
“She is the chosen one.”
“Chosen for what?” My hand settled on the drawer handle, and I slowly inched it out, gritting my teeth as I reached inside. The cool metal handle of a butcher’s knife felt like heaven against my skin, but I didn’t risk rattling everything else inside to grab it.
He took another step toward me, and my stomach twisted.
I wanted to puke.
Or pass out.
Or both.
Fight.
You have to fucking fight because if he kills you, he’s going to leave here and go looking for Kadey.
If you don’t get out of this alive, you can’t protect her.
“Where. Is. She,” he finally snapped, stepping up to the other side of the island and slamming his hands down on the counter. “I will find her, one way or another.”
“Fuck you. You’ll never find her.”
That did it.
He leaped straight up onto the counter and rushed forward.
Gripping the knife tightly in my hand, I pulled it out just as his fist connected with my cheek. The force threw me to the right, and I slammed into the refrigerator, the sharp blade slipping through my fingers before clattering to the linoleum floor. I dropped to my knees, blinking through the tears, my hand searching for the cold metal.
“Tell me,” he ordered, and the floor beneath me shook as he jumped down from the counter.
The knife!
It kept slipping from my grip because something slick coated my hand.
I was too focused on his footsteps as they came up behind me, holding my breath and fighting the urge to run.
“I’ll find her,” he whispered, grabbing my hair and jerking my head back so I was looking up at him. “With or without you.”
“Over my dead body.”
It only took a split second.
With one swift movement, I jammed the six-inch blade straight into the center of his stomach, burying it to the hilt with a warrior-like scream I wasn’t expecting.
He released me, stumbling backward. His eyes grew wide, the exposed whites glistening in the light while his mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. I guess that’s kind of what he was. This man was trained to hurt people, trained to use his strength to get what he wanted from them. He wasn’t used to things not going this way. He was a man who obviously never lost.
Until now.
The shocked look on his usually emotionless face was a little satisfying, although it changed quickly. Before I could get to my feet, he was rushing at me again, only now it was more of a desperate stumble.
The only thing near me was the fridge.
I opened it hard, and he hit it with a heavy thud.
The half-empty wine bottle in the door screamed at me, and I grabbed it by the neck, using the door to help me to my feet, though my head was spinning and the room was tilting, making me feel like I was on a ship.
“How dare…” He heaved, his words no longer sharp or strong. He clung to the counter, one hand wrapped around the knife handle like he was trying to decide whether or not to rip it out. His chest was rising and falling heavily, each breath looking harder than the last. “They will come…” His legs slipped out from under him, and his head connected with the countertop as he sank down.
The sound he made when he hit the floor was like nothing I’d heard before.
The squeak of the linoleum as his shoes slipped through the blood.
The thud of his lifeless body.
I held the wine bottle like a weapon, slowly stepping back toward the door, watching him carefully, though I was fairly sure I could no longer see his chest moving. I didn’t put my weapon down, though. I kept it at the ready until I got to my handbag and reached inside. My phone was hard to grab, and when I finally managed to pull it out, I realized how much blood was on my hands, though I had no idea whose it was.
His or mine.
“Dammit!” I cursed, struggling to get the screen to work but finally managing to pull up his name.
The second I saw it on the screen, I sucked in a sharp breath, tears breaking free.
They will come.
I put the phone to my ear, counting the rings and trying to hold my breath so that when he finally answered, I could actually speak.
“Hey, baby.”
A sob escaped my mouth that I couldn’t stop. “I killed someone.”
His response was instant.
“I’m coming.”
HAWK
I killed someone.
It wasn’t the statement but her broken voice that resonated in my head as I broke every fucking speed limit and traffic violation humanly possible to get to her apartment.
My boys rode behind me, six Harleys roaring through the streets of Detroit, followed by two blacked-out SUVs carrying weapons and other essentials that I thought we might need, given the fucking state of Missy over the phone.
She couldn’t talk, couldn’t say anything other than I need you, and I need to find Kadey.
The fact that it was the dead of the night meant we got there in half the time we would have if we’d been contending with traffic. The guys pulled up onto the curb behind me, and Bishop, Scoop, Cain, Blue, and Drew lined up their rides with mine directly in front of the apartment doors. Ian and Bounty pulled the vehicles into the handicapped parks at the curb.
Thankfully, while the building had keycards, residents could buzz the door from their apartments.
I threw open the back of one of the SUVs and grabbed hold of the shotgun I’d tossed in, my brothers following suit. If there was anyone in that fucking apartment with her, they were coming out in pieces.
In one swoop, I dragged the heavy weapon from the trunk and let it hang by my side as I pulled out my cell and hit call.
It barely rang once before she answered. “Hi.”
“Let us in, baby.”
The door buzzed before I could even finish, and I kept the call open, taking two stairs at a time to the second floor. The pounding of boots coming up behind me echoed loudly against the walls like we were a fucking army going into battle, which wasn’t far from the truth.
Missy was my old lady.
I may not have made it official yet, but everyone fucking knew, and my brothers were coming up behind me armed and ready to do whatever the hell they had to do to protect her.
It could be because they knew how much she meant to me. Or maybe because of how much she meant to them.
And then there was Kadey.
The kid had these men wrapped around her sassy little finger.
Me included.
Missy’s door was already cracked when we reached her apartment, her face peeking through the gap.
I tucked my phone back in my pocket and pressed my hand to the door. “Baby…” The door slowly swung back, the light from the hallway illuminating her face. “Motherfucker,” I cursed, seeing the darkening bruise across her cheek and the swelling around her eye. There was a split in the corner of her mouth, and her hair was a mess—matted and sticking up all over the place.
But it was the blood that had me standing taller.
“Your blood or theirs?” I ground out through my teeth.
“Both, I think.” She lifted one of her hands, and it was completely stained red. I reached out, pulling it closer, and instantly noticed the deep slice in the side of her pointer finger.
“Cain, call Doc, tell him to meet us at the clubhouse,” Bishop ordered, assessing the wound over my shoulder. “That’s gonna need stitches, Miss.”
Her eyes fluttered down to where I was still holding her hand, and she huffed. “I honestly didn’t even notice.” She was fighting it, trying to keep her chin high and her shit together, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before the rush was gone and the crash came.
And when it hit, it was going to hit hard.
“Well, you’re gonna notice very soon when that adrenaline wears off,” I answered, slowly directing her backward into the apartment so we could get out of the hall. The last thing I needed right now was for someone to see us armed in the hall and call the fucking cops. “How’d you cut this?”
She frowned, tilting her head to the side as she studied the wound. She was dazed and in shock. I wanted to wrap her up and promise her it would be okay, but first, I needed to make sure the situation was sorted so I knew she was safe. “Probably when I grabbed the knife from the drawer.”
Fuck me.
“Okay, where’s the knife now?”
She pointed to the kitchen, and at first, I couldn’t see what she was trying to show me, so I finally let her hand go and stepped carefully around her and into the kitchen, trying my best to avoid the blood smeared across the 1990s linoleum so it wouldn’t get on my boots.
“Fucking hell,” Blue muttered, shaking his head as he walked in from the other side of the counter, both of us seeing him at the same time.
“Male, dressed in black, face covered,” I announced to my men before looking to Missy and adding, “Large knife sticking out of his stomach. Blood everywhere.”
“I killed him,” she whispered, her lip trembling. “He came at me and attacked. He kept talking about her.”
“Check the other rooms, then make the call to get this place cleaned up,” Bishop ordered as he slipped in beside Missy, placing his hand on her shoulder and turning her toward him. Cain and Bounty instantly moved to the bedrooms with their weapons drawn. “Talking about who?” Bishop questioned, his brows raised.
I placed my gun on the counter, certain the threat was gone.
“Kadey,” Missy answered, her tone much more solid as she talked about her baby. “He kept asking where Kadey was.”
I placed my palms on the counter and leaned in, my muscles tightening at the thought of this asshole being here for Missy’s little girl. What the fuck would he want with her? I didn’t want to think about it. “Have you checked on her?”
She shook her head. “I’ve been calling Jared. He won’t pick up, but he’s like that sometimes.”
“You did good, baby,” I told her, her eyes meeting mine. She had been petrified, scared as fucking hell, but she’d fought back, and she’d won. “We’ll go round and check on her soon.”
