Aaron
I stood over my sleeping wife’s form, looking down on her. Admiring her. The bruises on her face had healed and most were gone from around her wrists. The emotional marks still lingered, however. Just a few hours earlier, she’d awaken from another terrible nightmare. I leaned down and pressed my lips to her forehead.
I was caught off guard when her eyes opened, staring at me. She remained silent for a while, instead taking in my all-black ensemble. She stared at me from head to toe before speaking.
“You’re going now?”
I narrowed my eyes. I hadn’t told her where I was going but she didn’t seem surprised to see me dressed to leave so early on a weekend morning. She moved, sitting up on her knees, her hands going to my shoulders.
“I know where you’re going.” Her hands moved up, cupping my face. “After this…” she trailed off, her gaze going over my shoulder before moving back to me. “He gets no more of our energy. After this, it’s done,” she said with finality.
My heart swelled at the conviction in her voice and I pulled her to me, crushing her lips to mine. I moved back before I could get too absorbed in the kiss. I pressed a kiss to her forehead, and then leaned down to kiss her slightly rounded belly. Her pregnancy wasn’t obvious to others just yet, but I had every centimeter of her body memorized. I could see even the most minute changes.
I pulled back and went to the bedroom door, taking one last look at my wife. The fear and anger at the thought that she’d almost been taken away from me permanently, pushed me out the door.
I opted to drive my own vehicle this time, not wanting a driver to know where I was going. Plus, I had security beefed up around our home and community. No need in taking security off my family for this trip. Within minutes, I was speeding down the road in my Tesla, hands tightly gripping the steering wheel, my body rigid with anxiety. I’d waited three weeks too long for this day. The son of a bitch who tried to take my whole world from me was not going to survive until the end of the day.
****
“We’ve been waiting on you,” Joshua stated as I stepped into the darkened, concrete room. I took in the gleam in my brother’s eye. He loved this type of shit. Joshua has his dark side just like the rest of us Townsends. It was an added bonus for him that I was about to take out the scumbag that stalked and attacked my wife.
I took in his all black ensemble before looking around the room, spotting my two other brothers, arms folded over their chests, staring ahead at the center of the room. Tyler’s green eyes turned on me, narrowing before he turned back to the middle of the room. He was still pissed that he wasn’t there to help the rest of us locate Patience.
I pushed past Joshua, moving to the middle of the room where Sam was seated, hands tied behind his back in a wooden chair. There was an overhanging light, illuminating Sam and the space around him.
“Untie him,” I barked out.
Joshua moved past me. From the corner of my eye I caught the glare of the knife in his hand. Sam lifted his face, color draining from his already pale face when he saw what Joshua was holding.
“No, no, no!”
“Shut the fuck up!” I yelled, frightening him even more. My entire body warmed in satisfaction at the look of fear on his face.
Joshua moved behind him, cutting the zip ties that’d bound his wrists.
“He’s been fed properly, right?” I grunted, eyes locked on Sam but asking the other three men in the room.
“Fed, warm bed to sleep in, and kept comfortable the last three weeks, as per your request,” Carter answered behind me.
“For the life of me, I don’t know you’d want this piece of shit kept comfortable,” Tyler growled.
I moved closer to Sam, bending my knees and peering up at him. “I have my reasons.” A sardonic smile creased my lips. “Isn’t that right, Samuel?”
I heard grunting behind me but paid it no attention.
“Look at me!” I ordered.
Sam blinked a few times, his eyes peering down at me. They narrowed on me. He was growing angry.Good.
“My wife…” I paused, grinning even more when I watch his eyes glaze over at those two words. “Mywife,” I repeated, “thinks I’m a good man. She tells me almost every day.” I shook my head. “She is my lifeline.”
“You don’t deserve her!” he yelled.
I nodded. “That, we can agree on.” I cocked my head to the side. “She’s wrong. I’m not a good man.” I rose to my full height, standing over him. “A good man wouldn’t do what I’m about to do to you.” I took a step back. “Stand up.”
“Fuck you!” he yelled.
A chuckle broke free of my lips. “I said, stand the fuck up!” I kicked the chair out from underneath him as I repeated my words.
