Bender sighed. “I know, I know. But if we’re going to do anything about it, we have to start preparing now.”
It wasn’t the ideal scenario that I wanted to walk back into, but for the first time in months, I smelled an end to this entire nightmare. If this was our only shot to get the jump on that good-for-nothing asshole, then I’d take it. And as I stood to my feet, I stared every single one of my men down.
Before I held my head high as I spoke.
“This ends now. We come up with a plan to get those women onto safe soil, and then we slaughter anyone who gets in our way.”
Bender slowly stood. “Even Bullet?”
I pinned him with a stare. “You leave that motherfucker to me. His blood is mine to spill.”
I couldn’t have held back their erupted applause if I had threatened their lives. I knew it was the move they had wanted me to make from the very beginning, but my old bones had been doing this for way too long. Weren’t there other solutions? Better solutions? Solutions that benefited both of our crews while staying out of the darkness? Maybe so. But it had been made very clear to me that Bullet and his crew wanted everything or nothing.
So, I’d make sure they were left with nothing.
Not even their fucking lives.
“It’s about damn time!”
“Yes, President! Yes!”
“God, I’ve never been so happy to clap in all my life.”
I barked with laughter as I held up both of my hands. “Okay, okay. All right, already! Calm down.”
The clapping, whistling, and rejoicing trickled down to nothing before I lowered my arms. And as I watched relief spread across everyone’s face, I knew I had made the right decision.
Even though it pissed me off that I’d have to take more lives.
I’d do it for the sake of my men. For my family, and their families. But, I didn’t like it. I wasn’t a murderer. I wasn’t a beast. I hated taking a life unnecessarily, I’d never had the stomach for it. But those motherfuckers had pushed my hand much too far, so now they got to witness what I was born to do best.
“What happened to you down there, Fangs?”
Angel’s question pierced the silence, and I simply drew in a deep breath. If they wanted to know, then I’d tell them. I’d spare no expense in the process, though. I told them about Julia and her sister. I told them how I met up with Julia and how I was wary of her. How I was still somewhat wary of her, despite the things she had done and showed me. I told them about Theresa and how she’d scream bloody murder and beg them to stop right over our heads every motherfucking night. And I told them about the men I killed with my bare hands while we escaped.
The dumbfounded and impressed faces scattered across the room shocked me, because I was ready to vomit. I mean, in less than four hours, I’d killed multiple men. For a good reason, sure. But that didn’t stop me from dwelling on the lives that had been taken by my own decisions. And after my story was done—after the guys continuously congratulated me and offered me their redemptive hugs—I found myself standing alone in the round table room.
Alone with my thoughts.
Alone with my feelings.
Alone with the phantom blood that still coated my hands.
And as my stomach turned over onto itself, I lunged toward the nearest track can and threw up.
10
JULIA
The sound of water running jolted me awake and I bolted upright in bed. I whipped my head around, trying to figure out where in the world I had ended up. I looked down at the black and brown sheets thrown on top of my body and shoved them off to the side. The navy blue sheet that wrapped itself over the edges of the massive bed I had found myself on looked freshly-washed, as if I had been the first person to sleep on it after being pulled out of the dryer.
But when steam wafted in my general direction, I followed the trail back to a door in the corner.
A door that was cracked open.
“Okay,” I murmured, “everything is all right. You’re okay. You’re safe, and nothing is going to go wrong.”
I silently slipped off the bed and tiptoed toward the cracked door. The sound of running water became more poignant, and as I peered through the hazy crack, I realized that there was a shower running behind the door. The door led into an ensuite bathroom attached to the bedroom I had woken up in.
