Page 38

Aries

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Clay hangs by his hands from the ceiling. The metal cuffs cutting into his wrists.

He glares down at me, the tattoos on his face almost unrecognizable courtesy of the heel of my boot meeting his face.

“Well, well. We meet again.”

Slowly, Clay lifts his head, and the second his evil eyes meet mine, he smiles.

“If it isn’t the infamous, Aries Clark. Took ya long enough to find me.”

Boone flanks my side, his knife ready to flick right between Clay’s eyes at any moment. He hasn’t had the chance to reunite with Rayne, and I know he is itching to do so. But judging by the death glare he is giving Clay, I know this has to come first.

I casually walk to the table of weapons Boone so graciously laid out for me. “Hmm. What shall it be?” Picking up a mallet, I flip it in my hands, catching it by the handle and slamming it down on the metal table. “Mhmm. Nope. Too soft.”

Clay jumps and I chuckle.

Placing the mallet down, I pace back and forth as I comb over the wide assortment. “What shall it be? Oh. I know just the perfect thing!” Stopping at the end of the table, I pick up the set of brass knuckles, chainlike dog collar, and Swiss army knife.

Boone steps beside me, his knife tucked behind his ear. One wrong move and he could cut his ear off, but he doesn’t care. Boone is known as the ticket to hell for a reason. When he is down here, limits and morals cease to exist.

Boone holds out his hands, and I place the collar and knife in his open palms.

Slipping the brass knuckles on, I flex my fist and move to stand in front of Clay.

Clay’s almost white eyes stare down at me. “Oh, big tough guy. Now that—FUCK.”

I cut his words off with a hard punch to the gut. His shirt is ripped from when I threw him out the shattered window of the warehouse and I get a good glimpse at the cuts on his chest.

Blood streams down from them and just for the hell of it, I slam my fist into the same spot once more.

“Hey motherfucker. Last time I checked, we were the ones that burned down your operation. If anyone has the upper hand, it has always been us. Shame your last moments are going to be stuck in that delusional head of yours.” Boone’s words fly out his mouth as if he is breathing fire, his body shaking with anger.

Clay looks at him and smiles that all too familiar smile. “Oh, you are the delusional one, my dear enemy.”

Another punch, this one to the face. “Shut the hell up.”

Twirling his knife in his hand, my tools in the other, Boone leans against the wall. “What the hell is he talking about, Aries?”

Clay pulls on his chains, letting out a strained groan. “Do tell him. It only took me throwing your little slut in your face for you to finally figure it out. How is Taylor, by the way?”

In slow motion, Boone tosses me the Swiss army knife and I spin on my heel, driving the knife straight into his limp dick. Blood quickly seeps through his jeans and just for the hell of it, I twist the knife.

Clay lets out a blood-curdling yell and I slam my foot into his stomach. “Before the real fun begins, I suggest you keep my girl’s names out of your mouth or I will shove your microdick so far down your throat you won’t even fucking taste it.”

The visual causes Clay to empty his stomach and I hop out of the way just in time. His head falls forward and his body goes limp.

Not phased in the slightest, Boone shrugs. “Shame. He passed out.” Not moving from his spot on the wall, he furrows his brows. “Aries?”

“Clay is the masked devil.”

Boone pales. “What?”

“I don’t have all the answers since weakling here passed out, but he said something back at the warehouse that made it all click. Remember the threat against Taylor?”

“Yeah?”

“Right before I threw him out the window, he, in no fewer words, threatened the same exact promise.”

Kicking off the wall, Boone paces. “So this entire time, we have been looking for two ghosts who turned out to be one of Clay’s many aliases.”

“Yes.”

I knew the second he made the promise in the warehouse that Clay was the devil lurking in the shadows. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to put a bullet in his skull and throw him inside the blazing inferno. But I knew if I did, I would never really get the true revenge and vindication I needed if I gave him the easy way out.

And I’m glad I patiently waited, because hearing that he also is the cause of what I know will be a long road to recovery for my innocent little girl has me seeing red.

Threading his fingers in his hair, Boone marches up to Clay, kicking him in the chest. “Wake the fuck up.”

Clay groans and I use his weak state to slip the collar around his neck and hook the chain on the metal loop.

Boone and I wait patiently as he slowly regains consciousness. His face pales when he notices the collar around his neck and the chain in my hand.

“Talk. Now. I have two ladies I would like to get back to, and I’m tired of looking at your ugly face.”

Clay hesitates for a millisecond, and I pull on the chain. The metal spikes nicking his skin. “Fucking psycho!”

“I didn’t say stare into the void. I said fucking talk.”

For the hell of it; I tug again, eliciting another pathetic cry from him.

“Dammit Aries. You really are as crazy as she said.”

Boone and I look at each other, confusion written on both our faces.

Tug .

“Who said?” I ask.

Clay groans. “Tana. My damn wife!”

Bile rises in my throat, and I stay silent, allowing him to continue digging his own grave.

“All the stories she told me. She outlined every time you hit her and Rayne. Every time you stole her money, which was actually my money because she was my top seller. You almost got her killed multiple times because I thought she was lying. Then she came to me crying with a black eye and I saw that you really were an abusive dick. She begged me to get her, Rayne, and Nancy away from you.”

Blinding hot rage consumes me and I tug just hard enough to draw more blood. Stepping into him, my nose almost touching his, I tug the chain again. “You took my daughter away because some drug addict, manipulative piece of shit convinced you I was abusing her?”

Clay spits in my face. My fist drives into his stomach, and I step back just as puke spews out of his mouth. His eyes go wide and he stares at me crazed. “You are! She showed me proof! You proved it when you burned down my warehouse and cost me millions of dollars!”

“Let me guess, since we burned down your empire, you decided to get revenge by taking Aries and going after his girlfriend?” Boone asks, his tone dry and unphased.

“Yes! He deserved it! Why do you think I waited so long to come after his sorry ass? I spent the last few years rebuilding my damn empire. And if that little slut didn’t cause a damn bloody massacre, I would have gotten my revenge. She cost me over a hundred thousand dollars trying to kill his stupid ass,” Clay exclaims, tugging on his chains.

Boone steps forward, but I tap the side of my leg and he immediately halts.

Taking a deep breath, I let the room fall into an uncomfortable silence as I wrap the chain around my hand and clap. “Congratulations Clay. You are the winner of being manipulated by a known con artist. She had you wrapped in her web of lies so tightly that you didn’t see that she cost you your entire empire and now your life.”

Tugging the chain taunt, I watch as realization slowly falls over his face. A lone tear runs down his face, and I can’t help but smile.

“Sucks knowing all of this could have been avoided if you would have just sent a lackey to get rid of her, huh?”

Not caring what he has to say, I continue, “Before I end your pathetic life, what did you do to Nancy? My daughter deserves to know where she can visit the one person she knew loved her, even when she was suffering at the hands of her mother and her husband.”

Clay’s head bows. “She’s buried behind the warehouse. I caught her trying to sneak Rayne out one night and —-”

“No need to hear more.”

Clay’s head snaps up as if he can hear the finality in my voice.

Wrapping the chain around my hand once more, I pull him close. “I told you to keep my daughter’s name out of your fucking mouth. Have a miserable life.”

In one sharp tug, blood sprays in every direction as Clay falls to the ground with a thud.

I let the chain drop and slip the brass knuckles off my hand before using the bottom of my shirt to clear the blood off of my face.

A tap on my arm steals my attention and I turn to see Boone holding out his hand. “Don’t drop those. They are my favorite.”

Slowly, laughter fills the room and I pull Boone into my arms. Soon our laughter turns into low sobs.

“We got her back, brother,” Boone says, patting my back.

Returning the gesture, I squeeze him and take a step back. “We did. And I’m sorry for not trusting you sooner about Tana. But I know without a shadow of a doubt, if you wouldn’t have forced my hand, there’s a good chance Rayne could really have been gone forever. Thank you, brother. Without you picking me back up every day, I never would have made it. You gave me a second chance at life, and I will forever be indebted to you. I love you, brother.”

I reach out my hand to shake his. His eyes are glassy, and instead of returning the gesture, he pulls me into a hug. “Dammit, Aries.”

“I know.” I allow him to hang on for as long as he needs to, and when he pulls away, I smile and point behind me.

He nods. “I got it. Go see your girls. Give Rayne and Taylor a kiss for me.”

I give him a pointed look and his head tilts back in laughter.

Throwing his hands up in surrender. “Gotcha. Give Raynie a kiss for me.”

This mother—Nope.

Shaking my head, I nod and make my way up the stairs, breathing a sigh of relief.

It’s over and all that’s left to do is spend every day putting a smile on the faces of the two most important girls.

That’s if Taylor wants this.

The thought of her not being in mine and Rayne’s life crosses my mind, and I can’t help but laugh.

This feels all too familiar, except this time, I have a miniature me as a sidekick.

One look into those dark eyes. Would she be able to say no to that?

I fucking hope not.