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Chapter Twenty-Nine

SKYLA

I take a deep breath, my heart skipping beats as I drive.

I don’t know what I’m going to find when I get there.

The message makes me think he’s alive for now, but I don’t know how long he’s going to stay that way. But then again, the bitch could be lying, and I may already be too late.

My chest hurts, and my eyes sting, but no tear falls.

I can’t think about him being gone. Not now. I just have to focus on getting there.

Traffic is a bitch like always, the minutes passing as I sit there and wait for the cars in front of me to move. None of them are going fast enough, though.

I lay on my horn, looking around and trying to find a gap in the endless stream of cars. Something that I can weave through and get around.

There has to be some way to get there faster.

All I want is to get to him. To save him before she kills him.

I know she’s going to take her personal vendetta against me on him, punishing him for choosing to be part of the family.

I can’t let her do that, even if he wants nothing to do with me.

This is my mess, and I’ll clean it before I let him go.

If I can’t get to Joshua in time, Aiden might be able to.

With shaking hands, I reach for my phone in the passenger seat, scrolling through until I find Aiden’s number. All I can do is hope that he answers, and that he’s at the port.

After exhaling long and hard, I dial the number.

The endless ringing of the phone will haunt me forever. I already know that.

“Aiden. Leave a message.”

“Aid, it’s me. We’ve got a problem. Zoe took Joshua.

She’s at pier four with him. Down by where your warehouse is.

I’m stuck in traffic, and I don’t think I’m going to get there in time.

” I swallow hard, preparing to promise him the one thing I never wanted to give.

“If you save him, I’ll do whatever you want.

I’ll be whoever you need me to be for the family while we deal with the Rinaldos. I promise.”

I end the call and toss the phone into the seat beside me.

It’s no surprise that I’m on my own. It’s been that way my entire life.

Though I could call one of my other siblings, I doubt that they’re going to be any more likely to pick up the phone. They’re all still going to be reeling from dinner, and if there’s one thing I know runs in the family, it’s how to hold a grudge.

Gia might answer, but I don’t want to put her in that position with her sister. Not when she has a daughter to come home to and a baby on the way.

I can do this.

Maybe.

I might be able to.

If I don’t lose control.

When I get my hands on that stupid bitch, she’s going to die.

Her death is going to be as slow and painful as I can make it.

Taking my time with her is going to be so sweet. Her warm blood is going to stain my hands, and she’s going to beg for me to stop.

She’s woken a beast she didn’t know was lingering beneath the surface.

I haul back the steel door, my pulse steady and calmness settling over me.

Stalking my prey is what I’m good at. It’s what I’m used to.

Grinning, I take careful steps into the building, looking to one side and then the other, my gun firmly in my grasp. “Zoe.”

A low groan comes from the middle of the warehouse, and when I look in that direction, there’s Joshua hanging from the ceiling by his wrists, heavy shackles wrapped around them.

“I’m here,” a soft voice whispers just behind me.

Glancing over my shoulder, I let out a slow breath.

Aiden stands behind me, a fierce look in his eyes.

He glances around the warehouse, drawing back slightly. “It doesn’t look like anyone is here.”

“We’d be idiots to think that she’s not watching us. It’s what I would be doing right now.”

Joshua groans again, and it’s only when I get closer to him that I notice the thick streams of blood rolling down his body.

Cuts are open all over his skin.

There may not be a thousand of them, but it looks like that’s how she’s intending on killing him.

I hurry over to him, trying to keep my voice low and soft. “It’s okay. You’re going to be okay. We’re going to get you out of here, and I’m going to make her pay for this.”

He opens his swollen eyes, dark circles already forming beneath them. “Leave.”

“Not happening.” I glance at Aiden as he hurries up the stairs and along the catwalk to the rafters the chain is looped around. “We’re going to get you down. You just need to hold on and try not to bleed out on me, all right?”

Joshua swings a little as Aiden starts working on loosening the chains from where they are looped.

The door on the other side of the warehouse slams shut, heels clicking against the floor.

Zoe claps slowly as she approaches me. “I didn’t think you were going to get here in time. You must’ve broken every speeding law there is and then some. I’m impressed.”

“Leave, Sky.” Joshua’s voice breaks. “Please. You have to go. She’ll kill you.”

I smooth my hand over his leg, only briefly wondering where his pants went. “You can’t kill evil, Josh. It’s going to be okay.”

I have to keep telling myself that, even though it feels like I’ve lost all sense of control.

The world is spinning, and I don’t think I can find my footing. Not right now. Not when Joshua might die.

As Zoe strides closer, I stand between the two, making sure she can’t get to him.

I roll my shoulders back, keeping my gun at my side. I don’t know what she wants or what she has planned.

Shooting her now, when I don’t know about any traps she may have laid, would be a stupid decision.

Zoe looks up at Joshua, an amused smirk crossing her face. “You would not believe how long it took me to make all those cuts. Your fake husband is quite the fighter, Reaper. You should be impressed.”

I smirk, putting out a false sense of self-control that I don’t have right now. “Let him down, and I’ll let you go. For now.”

She scoffs, her eyes flashing with hatred. “Do you really think I’m going to do that? After all your family has done to mine? After all the people you’ve taken from me?”

“That was Aiden, not me.”

“And yet, here you are, with your husband hanging in chains while Aiden struggles to get him down.” Zoe laughs and shifts to the side.

I follow her steps, staying between her and Joshua. “Enough of this.”

Zoe stops, the energy in the room shifting.

“You want him? Why? You going to kill him? I’ve read all about you and the things you used to do to men.

I’ve heard about the way you would stalk them through the night.

Or the way you would seduce them, luring them in, and then, when they decided that you weren’t enough—as we all know you never were—you killed them. ”

My teeth grind. “You don’t know the half of what I’m capable of.”

She smirks and looks up at Aiden. “You don’t think he’s here to help you, do you? In the choice between his supplier and his serial killer sister, he’s going to choose his supplier.”

I lunge at her.

Zoe is ready for me, catching the gun in my hand before I can whip it into the side of her face.

She rips it from me and tosses it to the ground.

I sweep my foot behind her knees, grabbing her collar and pulling her at the same time.

She collides with the ground, her head smashing off the cement.

Blood stains the floor as I dive on top of her before she can get to her feet.

I grab her by the hair, slamming her face into the ground again, grinning at the sickening crunch that fills the room when her nose breaks.

I rip her head back as hard as I can. “You’re going to think twice about fucking with my family.”

She starts laughing, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the ground. “It’s too late.”

“Skyla!” Aiden shouts from the rafters as thick, black smoke begins to fill the room. “Fire. I need your help!”

Zoe thrashes enough to slam her elbow into my thigh.

She sends me off balance enough to throw me to the side.

Moving with her is difficult, but I do, taking a few hits to the face until the taste of blood fills my mouth and stars dance across my vision.

I get on top of her again, driving one knee into her chest and pulling out my knife.

I flick it open, placing the blade beneath her chin. “I’m going to take my time with you. I’m going to do things that you wouldn’t think of doing in your worst nightmares, and when I’m done with you, you’re going to be begging to die.”

“Is that the worst you have?” She laughs, black bruises already forming on her face.

“Skyla!” Aiden shouts before he starts coughing. “You need to get below him now! I can’t lower him down safely!”

Zoe smirks. “What’s it going to be, Reaper? Lose your prey and save your husband, or lose your husband and kill your prey?”

I stare down at her, hate filling my veins and seeping through every pore.

Each and every cell in my body is begging for me to kill her. To slip the knife between her skin and end her.

She uses the moment of hesitation to rise up and take the knife, ripping it from my hand and slamming it into my thigh.

I scream in pain as she shoves me to the side before getting to her feet.

Chase the bitch.

Save Joshua.

Kill her.

Save him.

With gritted teeth, I make my way over to him, the smoke sinking deep into my lungs, making it harder to breathe.

I cough and choke as I get beneath Joshua, watching Zoe escape through another door out of the corner of my eye.

Aiden starts to lower Joshua, all of our joined coughing filling the room as the place grows hotter, and more smoke fills the air.

I wrap my arms around Joshua’s legs, helping ease him down, trying to support his weight the best I can even though it feels like I’m about to be crushed.

Joshua mumbles, but I don’t think he’s conscious.

His blood is hot and sticky as it smears against me.

I allow his weight to lean into mine, bracing myself until he’s almost standing.

As Aiden continues to lower him, I shift around to his back, supporting him beneath his arms, trying to keep him from hitting his head.

My lungs are on fire as I lower him to the ground, the black smoke so thick now I can barely see through it.

Sweat pours down the back of my neck and my forehead.

We’re going to make it through this. We have to.

Aiden’s footsteps come thundering down the stairs. “Skyla!”

“Over here!”

Heavy footsteps come my way, and through the haze, Aiden is there.

He doesn’t say another word as he scoops Joshua up over his shoulders.

After he shifts Joshua into the most comfortable position that he can, we take off for the door, coughing and struggling to see through the smoke.

Fire licks around my heels, the heat in the room nearly unbearable as I crouch low and lead the way out of the building.

We burst into the fresh air as the fire continues to crawl through the building.

The knife is still in my leg.

It burns as I glance down at it.

By the looks of things, Zoe missed the artery, but I’m still not going to rip it out.

Just in case she nicked it.

I have to be alive to see Joshua. To make sure that he is going to be okay.

To make sure that he’s going to forgive me for getting him into this situation in the first place.

Even if he is still walking away after.

Tears stream down my cheeks as we load Joshua into the back of Aiden’s car, and I slip in beside him, running my fingers through his hair.

Blood is caked into it, the soft strands slick and sticky.

“It’s going to be okay,” I whisper, keeping one hand in his hair and using the other to keep the knife stable in my leg. “We’re going to get you to the hospital, and everything is going to be okay.”

It has to be.

Because I can’t live in a world where Joshua isn’t there. Even if he is not mine.