33
HARPER-RAYN
Ahhh, what a beautiful day for revenge.
Call after call comes through from Knight, Hunter, Ace, and Diesel, and not wanting to deal with the onslaught of getting my ass verbally handed to me, I turn off my phone before entering the gate code at the bottom of Elias’s driveway.
I don’t make a habit of ignoring Knight’s calls. I usually can’t get enough, especially when he’s all worked up and making demands, but I know exactly what’s going to come out of his mouth if I answer his call, and I can’t stand hearing the fear in his tone when he eventually figures out where I am. He’ll beg and plead for me to turn around and run as fast as I can, and if I allow him to, he’ll make me crumble. I’ll cave like a little bitch, but not on my watch. Not today.
I’m not holding back. Elias took my baby sister, and now it’s time to pay.
The large gate begins to open, and I hit the gas, sailing up the long driveway and parking my car right in the very front. I storm out of the car and straight up to the door before trying the handle. It’s locked, but I should have seen that coming. Instead, I make my way to the living room window, take the gun, and smash the glass until there’s a hole big enough for me to stride right through.
I welcome myself into the massive home, the gun tucked safely in the back of my pants, and while there might have been a time when I was impressed by this monstrosity, now I only find it cold.
Making my way into the heart of the home, I stand in the one vantage point where I can see everything. The stairs, the office, the kitchen, the living room, and as I glance around and take it all in, I realize this house isn’t a home. Not even close.
The handful of times I’ve been here have always been during a dinner party, where Mom had a team of people decorate—to put on an elaborate show and bring warmth into the house—but without all of that, it just seems lonely. But I’m not here to fault Mom’s lack of interior design skills. Instead, I focus on the camera that’s situated on the ceiling.
I open my arms wide. “You got me right where you want me, Elias,” I call toward the camera, my gut telling me he isn’t far away. “You’re never going to get a better chance than this.”
I clench my jaw, my heart racing with fear, but I also feel a strange clarity knowing that I’m here for a reason, and not a damn thing is about to stop me from finally putting an end to the bullshit.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
I walk circles around the open space, my gaze jumping from one direction to the next, before always looking back again and checking my six. Elias won’t get the drop on me today.
“Oh no! Look at all this unbruised skin,” I taunt. “Surely there’s a messed-up psychopath around here desperate to ruin it. Whatever shall I do?”
The seconds turn into minutes when I start to get bored. “Don’t be foolish, Elias,” I call into the big house. “You know just as well as I do that Knight has his whole team tracking my every movement. It won’t be long before he’s busting this door down, so if you want me, you need to strike while the iron’s hot. Are you really going to let me slip through your fingers again?” I wait another minute, and all I get is silence. “Just as I thought, weak.”
A low laugh rumbles through the mansion, and ice shoots down my spine, chilling me from the inside out as I whip around and find Elias standing in the entrance of the kitchen, probably having come from his torture chamber hidden within the butler’s pantry. “I am a lot of things, Harper, but weak is not one of them.”
“Cowardly, I suppose.”
He scoffs. “I am no coward.”
“You had a tantrum and beat my mother until her lung collapsed. You murdered her unborn baby because you caught her with another man. You are the pure definition of cowardly. You are vile and sick, and I can’t wait to watch you pay for the things you have done.”
Elias smirks at me. “Is that what she told you? That I beat her because she was fucking another man?” he says. “That’s amusing, but truth be told, beautiful Harper, I couldn’t care if your mother fucked her way through every man in Blackstone. She is nothing to me. A means to an end. An access road directly to you.”
Bile rises in my throat, and I ignore his comment about having access directly to me, because it’s never going to happen. “That doesn’t explain why you beat her.”
Elias takes a few casual steps toward me, and I whip the gun out from the back of my pants, aiming it directly at his chest. “Don’t even fucking think about it,” I growl. “That’s close enough.”
He looks at the gun as though it’s nothing more than a child’s toy that needs to be kicked aside. “What do you think you’re going to do with that?” he asks, his dark gaze dancing with excitement. “Do you even know how to use it?”
A deep rage ravages through me, and without a second of hesitation, I squeeze the trigger, the bullet shooting from the chamber as the blowback threatens to dislocate my shoulder.
BANG!
Elias roars in agony as he drops to the ground, clutching his thigh, and all I can do is stare in shock. I actually did it. Holy fucking shit. Knight’s going to have a real reason to use those handcuffs on me now.
A wave of confidence booms through my chest, and as he writhes on the ground, spilling blood onto the expensive Italian stone floor, I begin to move toward him, keeping the gun trained directly at his chest. “How’s that for not knowing how to use it?”
“Little fucking bitch,” he spits as blood seeps through his fingers, though unfortunately for me, it looks more like a flesh wound. There’s not nearly enough blood pouring from that wound. “You’re going to pay for that.”
“You know the thing I’ve noticed about men with too much money? They don’t have the ability to see when they’ve lost,” I tell him. “They’re so used to getting whatever they want, whatever the price, that they can’t even tell when someone can’t be bought. And you are no different. I have you exactly where I want you. I could take your life with the slightest twitch of my finger, and you still think you’re in control.”
