Page 31

Chapter Thirty-One

Vivian

Fuck!

Tears instantly stream down my cheeks and I cry out in agony as Tate lands another punch to my face. When I asked her to break something I didn’t think it through. Alex had suggested I ram my shoulder into a wall to pop it out of its socket when we spoke about this and now I’m starting to think his way would have been less painful.

“Stop!” I beg. She doesn’t listen which is what I told her to do before we started this beating, but now I am regretting that choice. When she manages to hit me in the temple my eyesight turns hazy and I grow limp beneath her. I can hear her ragged breaths and my own heartbeat thumping but it's starting to grow distant. I welcome the darkness that wants to consume and pull me under its wing. Everything becomes blurry, I feel Tate’s weight vanishing from on top of me then I’m being lifted. I can hear muffled sounds but nothing makes sense. My legs refuse to work and then I’m being dragged. I hear shouting but I can’t make out the words.

I’m shoved forward and land in a heap, I grunt in pain and close my eyes, trying to regain my equilibrium and get my wits about me which I am ashamed to admit takes me a lot longer than I had hoped. When I open my eyes again it’s bright and the drastic change from darkness to light burns my eyes forcing me to close them again and slowly blink them open. The ringing in my ears slowly starts to ebb and I sigh in relief. I look around and instantly lock eyes with Leo. It pains me to see him here. He and I were never friends or anything but we went to school together. He played on the football team with my brother and Hayze.

I continue taking in my surroundings and glare at Thomas when I see him dragging Tate out of the room we were locked in. Rather than throwing her on the ground beside me, he shoves her onto the threadbare sofa. She bares her teeth at him. She may be young but she clearly has spunk and I like that. I feel blood trickling over my upper lip and swipe it away with my arm. I flinch when I jostle my nose. I didn’t feel any bones break which is infuriating considering it hurt like a bitch and I won’t get my trip to the hospital like I hoped.

“Both of you bitches are stupid as fuck,” Leo bites out.

“Coming from you, the insult means nothing,” I fire back with a dark smirk on my face. Leo’s eyes darken and without warning he lifts his leg then stomps down onto my outstretched one. White hot pain rips through me. I throw my head back and scream as crippling pain blazes throughout my body—I felt the bone break this time. Tears cascade down my cheeks as I try to scoot away from him along the ground but the fucker isn’t done. He grips the ankle of the leg he just broke. “No, please, stop —Ahhhhhhh,” I scream out when he drags me toward him, the pain blinding and robbing me of air. I sit forward and try to bat his hand away, but the sight of the top of my calf has bile rushing up my throat. There is a perfect boot indent on the top of my leg.

“Run your mouth again and I’ll snap the other one,” Leo promises.

“Touch her again and I’ll slit your fucking throat!” Tate screams. Leo whirls around to face her but she doesn’t cower when he cocks his arm back.

“Don’t!” I scream but it’s too late, the motherfucker punches her and she flops to the side from the force. “Leave her alone!” I scream when he grabs her hair and pulls her head back then attempts to hit her again.

“Enough,” Thomas snaps and forces Leo to stop before he can hit Tate again.

“I’ll break you too, bitch,” Leo spits in Tate’s face.

“It’ll take a lot more than that to break me, you little pussy. I’ve lived through this shit my whole life.” Her declaration has me frowning, but then my attention is brought back to my leg when another wave of pain rolls through me, forcing me to clench my teeth or risk crying out.

“Get them in the car, the meet is scheduled. Time to recover what was almost lost to us.” Thomas’s ominous words have a pit of dread forming inside me but the prospect of getting out of here and going to the car where we could be seen by Alex outweighs the need for me to fight Leo when he yanks me up by my hair. I scream and cry in pain as he forces me to walk and put weight on my leg. By the time he shoves me into the backseat of the car, I am so sweaty and riddled with pain I nearly pass out. What I can’t stop though is the vomit rushing up my throat, I have no choice but to throw up on the floor of the car thanks to the back door being locked.

When Tate is thrown in, she immediately reaches for me, her eyes meet mine and my bottom lip begins to tremble. She darts her gaze out the window then turns back to me.

“You need to worry about yourself and get yourself out of here, don’t defend me.” I shake my head and bite the inside of my cheek when pain begins to bloom inside me again. “Vivian, I can hold my own. I may be young but I have been in enough foster homes where fuckers think they can touch what isn’t theirs, I know how to protect myself.” She clamps her mouth closed and sits back in her seat as both the front doors open and Thomas and Leo climb inside. Leo instantly swings his head toward me when the stench of my vomit reaches them.

“You fucking cunt, you’ll be eating that shit,” he grits out. I flinch back and remain silent. I wish more than anything Ez, Hayze, Archer and Vox had just killed this piece of shit. Tate slides her hand along the seat and locks her pinky finger with mine, that small gesture has the vice strangling my chest easing slightly. I breathe through the pain and grind my teeth as we hit bumps so I don’t cry out, the last thing I want to do is give Leo the satisfaction of hearing me whimper.

I try to compartmentalize my pain by keeping track of the scenery outside. When we come to the intersection near the hospital, hope begins to build inside me.

“Look at that, Vivian. Help is right there, just a measly block away where they could fix your leg and take away the pain.” I suck in a sharp inhale. “Look at how close you were to being seen.” He knows. “So close, yet so fucking far,” Thomas taunts just as Leo turns right and heads in the opposite direction. The small flame of hope that was burning inside me dies out, Thomas knows about the cameras. He was a step ahead and I was too fucking jaded and self-absorbed to realize that I have been betrayed by my own brotherhood. They would have been the ones to tell him the system was hacked. A year of my life I spent trying to clean up his mess and make something better for this place. Turns out none of those bastards wanted change, they were happy to live off the blood and torture of others.

Knowing this for certain now makes the choices I have made easier to live with. This will all come to an end and I just have to pray that I will be around to see how this shit plays out because I want to watch them all be taken down and burn in hell.

“How did you find me?” I force out through gritted teeth. Thomas’s answering laughter grates on my nerves and has my hackles rising but I refrain from snapping at him.

“It’s been eating at you to know how I have been a step ahead, hasn’t it?” I don’t answer, he doesn’t need me to. “Did it keep you up at night wondering if it was The Brotherhood who sold you out?” I dig my nails into the palm of my hand to distract myself from this bastard’s taunt. “What if I told you it wasn’t The Brotherhood who led me to you and that it was someone you trusted who gave you up?”

My interest is peaked, the sinister laugh that escapes Leo tells me he knows who it is and clearly it is someone who I would never expect. A pang of unease crawls its way up my spine.

“Who?” I’m proud of how strong my voice sounds even though I am crippled with pain and feel the cold sheen of sweat dotting my forehead.

Thomas turns the rearview mirror so he can meet my gaze, the look of spite in his dead eyes sends a chill down my spine. “How well do you really know Tatum Lawson?” A gasp escapes me as I yank my hand back and snap my head toward her. She’s staring at Thomas like a deer caught in the headlights.

“I don’t even fucking know you!” Tate shouts, then looks at me with a pleading look. She tries to reach out to me but I flinch away. “Vivian, I never told them anything, I swear. I don’t even know who they are. You have to believe me,” she begs.

I want to believe that she wouldn’t betray me but how the fuck can I trust her, she said it herself I don’t even know her really.

“Tatum, dear?” Thomas calls out, drawing her attention back to him. “I’m so glad we could finally meet. It’s a shame your mother was a lying cunt and that you don’t have a cock or I would have raised you myself.” My face scrunches in confusion, Tate on the other hand turns pale like she has seen a ghost.

“What the fuck is he talking about?” I growl, Tate still won’t take her eyes off Thomas. “Answer me, dammit!” I scream. She jolts as if I just zapped her, then turns to me with tears clouding her eyes. She opens and closes her mouth three times but no words come out. “Tate?” I push.

“He’s my father,” she whispers so low I would have missed it if I wasn’t paying such close attention. Her revelation has me turning to stone beside her.

Thomas is her father.

She sold me out.

Nexus is her older brother.

“You see, I never had to reach out to my brothers, my own daughter getting a job with you was something I couldn’t have planned, but it worked out well. All I had to do was prey on her need for acceptance and she gave me everything I required without knowing it. Calling her to your new safe house wasn’t smart,” he mocks.

“You tracked her phone,” I mutter. Thomas laughs and the sound chills me to my bones. Tate is silent and continues to stare at me like she is in a trance. I invited the wolf’s pup into my den without even knowing it. I told her everything, I gave her all the intel and she passed it onto her estranged father without even knowing she was being groomed. Thomas continues spilling the beans about how easy it was to get all the Saints to fall into line and follow their true leader. My mind is too consumed with the knowledge of Tatum being his daughter to register what he’s saying. Even when Leo finally stops the car I don’t register where we are until he drags me out of the car by my arm and I’m screaming when my leg hits the ground.

Peace & Love Crematorium.

I don’t have the strength to question why we are here as well as trying not to pass out from the pain, so I keep my mouth shut and do my best to hop on one leg. It does nothing to ease the agony, the constant jostling of my leg is torture of the worst kind. When he drags me inside through the side door, I miss the step and land on my ass. Leo, being the cunt he is, doesn’t lift me he just grabs a handful of my hair and drags me along the linoleum floor, screaming as I try to untangle his fingers. I can feel the strands ripping out of my head and the feeling is indescribable. I refuse to give up fighting even though I know it's useless, but I won’t go out like a pussy.

My guys and brother taught me better than that!

When Leo finally comes to a stop, I nearly whimper in gratitude but the sound lodges in my throat when I realize we are in the room with the cremators.

They’re going to burn us alive.

I see three cremators and my stomach sinks, I’m going to die here. Tate is dragged in behind screaming and throwing punches blindly as Thomas yanks her by her head. The sight of blood trickling down the corner of his mouth brings a smile to my face.

Atta girl, Tate.

Thomas shoves her to her knees beside me but doesn’t release his hold on her hair as he forces her to remain there.

“You ungrateful bitch.” He sneers and he wipes the corner of his mouth with his thumb. When he sees blood on his finger he snarls, then releases Tate’s hair only to backhand her.

“Stop!” I snap. My outburst costs me. Thomas kicks my injured leg, drawing a sharp pain filled cry from me.

“You bitches will learn. I had planned to keep you and teach the ways of The Brotherhood and marry you to a good friend but now, you will die alongside her and her traitor of a fucking friend,” he says to Tate. My stomach is tied up in knots, does he have Nova? Panic starts to set in again for the hundredth time tonight, I can die without complaint so long as Nova and Tate are safe.

“I’d rather rot in fucking hell than ever have anything to do with you,” Tate fires back with venom dripping off each of her words. Thomas’s answer comes in the form of a slap across the face. Tate topples to the side but doesn’t make a sound which just seems to further aggravate Thomas, so he kicks her in the side. The force of the kick has her wincing and clutching her ribs.

“Get the others,” Thomas barks at Leo who scurries off like a good little dog. I remain silent but keep my eyes on Tate and Thomas, the latter pulls his phone from his pocket and begins typing. When the door Leo disappeared through opens again, Thomas smiles. It shouldn’t surprise me to see Drew Anders and Ford Booth among the men who enter the room, but it does. Both of them leer down at me. I keep my face blank of everything and stare each of the traitors in the eye as they come in. There are too many of them to fit in here, so Thomas instructs them to head into the viewing room and turn the speaker on so they can hear and watch through the glass window.

Some of the members of the Saints that are here tonight I knew were lying sacks of shit, but some of the others I thought were real and almost considered them friends. It hurts to see them here ready to watch me die.

“Brothers, we are here tonight to put an end to the reign of this wannabe lordess.” The men cheer like a paid crowd. “The Brotherhood will be returned to its former glory and we will reclaim what she tried to take from us.” More cheers ring out.

“Kill her!” Ford calls out, shocking the fuck out of me but I don’t let it show. Thomas cackles like what he said is something so normal.

“You are all fucking sick,” Tate snarls with disgust thick in her tone.

“That the bitch you gonna give me, my lord?” Drew asks. Tatum’s eyes widen in horror.

“I had planned to, but it seems she isn’t trained as well as I thought,” Thomas answers, feigning pity.

“I’m not scared of a little work. I’ve wanted to break that sweet pussy in since I saw her at Lividica.” Drew mentioning my club has me gritting my teeth, no matter what they do to me they will never get my club and that knowledge keeps me from ripping these cocksuckers a new asshole.

“We’ll discuss this matter later, my friend.” At Thomas’s answer, Drew smiles sinfully down at Tate who visibly shudders in revolution. “Now, on to the matter at hand?—”

“Why the need for the show? You had them all on your side, so why not just get them to tell you where I was? Why drag this fucking thing out and hurt so many innocent people just to get to me?” I cut in and ask, none of this is making sense to me.

Ford tries to come at me with his hand raised but Thomas stops him with his words. “After your little stunt I had to prove myself worthy to the brothers and show them that a true leader won’t stop until he wins. Plus, some scumbag we called a brother was hiding your tracks.” I reel back in confusion. “The deaths were my way of showing you what happens to traitors.”

“Kelly wasn’t a traitor, you bastard! She was your fucking wife and my best friend’s mother. She had nothing to do with this—” My reply is cut off when Thomas slaps me across the face. I fall to the side with the grace of a toddler.

“Don’t touch her!” Tate shouts but is silenced by a backhand from her father. Thomas forces me back to a sitting position by the hold he has on my hair. My scalp is raw and aching but I refuse to make a sound. He kneels down and gets right in my face. I can smell the whiskey on his breath and it takes strength not to gag at the smell of it.

“You listen to me, you little cunt, that bitch was a means to an end. Killing her was for me, it was my way of saying fuck you to that little bitch of a daughter of hers. Killing her was joyous. I knew her death would ruffle you all and force those other little cunts to come back to Hollow Hills, what I didn’t expect was for them to be those masked fucks.” My nostrils flare and I bite the inside of my cheek to remain silent. “Oh, don’t worry, we’ll be hunting them next. We know they have been picking off brothers and now they will be judged for their sins.”

“You lay a single fucking finger on my men or my brother and I will fucking ruin you and make hell seem like a vacation.”

“Bring him in!” Thomas shouts right in my face, then releases me with a hard shove. I catch myself on my elbows just as Tatum shuffles forward and wraps an arm around me to help me up. My discomfort is muted when Leo leads a handcuffed, beaten and bloodied David into the room. My bottom lip instantly trembles at the sight of my friend. His right eye is swollen shut and blood is crusted on the side of his head. His shirt is stained with blood, leading me to believe there are more wounds beneath his clothing that I can’t see. His face is littered with bruises but it's the look in his eye that has me whimpering. He limps forward, wincing in pain but doesn’t make a single sound as he stares down at me with a regretful look.

“Everything is done, you did it, Lordess.” His voice is laden with pain and it breaks my heart to see him like this.

“I’m so sorry,” I choke out. He tries to smile but winces in pain.

“How touching,” Thomas mocks, causing all the others to laugh. “David or should I say Special Agent Green. ” My eyes widen in shock as I stare at him. “Oh, she didn’t know?” Thomas asks in a sickly sweet tone.

David blanks his face of all emotion as he turns to Thomas with a sinister look in his eye. “You gonna keep talking or get this over with?” I look at Thomas who is turning a shade of red from his anger, my mind is still reeling that David is an undercover fed.

“You will pay for the crimes you have committed against this brotherhood. You will burn in hell for what you have tried to do,” Thomas sneers.

“The word try implies that I didn’t accomplish what I set out to do. I accomplished my job and more. Do your worst because you’re running out of time.” Thomas’s face hardens, his eyes narrow and it's obvious for all to see that David is getting under his skin which makes me proud.

“Heat the furnace!” Thomas barks. My eyes widen in horror. Vaughn, one of the newer members of The Brotherhood, does as he’s told and that’s when it hits me. His mother is Belinda, the owner of this place, the very same place I sent Kelly to be cremated. “How long before it’s ready?”

Vaughn turns to Thomas. “A couple of hours to fully destroy the evidence but three minutes to be hot enough to burn him alive.”

I choke out a scream. “No, please don’t hurt him!” I beg. David looks down at me with a resigned look on his face while Thomas smiles wickedly. “Take me instead,” I plead.

‘No!” David shouts. “You will not trade your life for mine. I have lived and had my time, your life is just beginning. It has been an honor to stand by your side, Lordess . Don’t judge me for the secret that was kept from you, judge me by the person you know me to be.”

Tears flow freely down my cheeks as I stare up at my friend who has stood by my side and never once judged me or tried to change who I am, even though he is a federal agent and about to be put to death because of me. The pain in my leg lessens as the pain in my chest intensifies.

“I’m… so… sorry,” I choke out through my tears.

“I’m not. I would have chosen this end a hundred times over if it meant the final result was still the same because you are worthy of it. Embrace the wonders of life and allow those that love you to protect and cherish you because we all need somebody. Thank you for being my somebody and reminding me that I am worthy of more than the badge I have worn for more than half of my life. All you set out to do has been done, hold on a little longer for them to get here because this will be filthy soon enough.” His meaning hits me like a ton of bricks. They know where I am and they are coming for me, but they won’t make it in time to save my friend. Thomas shouts for Leo to take David to the cremator. He shoots me one last loving look before he stumbles forward.

I scream and shout, I even try to stand but Tate holds me back. I try to free myself of her hold but she clings tighter to me. “They’ll shoot you,” she shouts, but I ignore her plea as Leo and Vaughn force David onto a trolley looking thing. Two others step forward and hold David down while they strap him to it. He tries to fight but it’s useless, he can’t get free.

“Thomas, please, I am begging you!” I scream. “David, I’m so sorry!” I shout.

“A favor asked is a debt owed, Lordess, my debt has been repaid!” he shouts out, stunning me silent for a second until Vaughn pulls the door to the furnace open. I struggle harder to get free but Tate wraps her arms around me from behind. Sobs claw their way out of me as I watch them wheel that fucking trolley to the entrance, the temperature so stifling I can feel it from here. It’s like a heatwave. When they begin to push David toward it, he starts screaming. He isn’t even inside before the stench of singed hair assaults my nostrils.

“David,” I cry again as Leo pushes the tray forward. David’s screams will haunt me every night for the rest of my life. Vaughn slams the door closed and locks it but it doesn’t mute the screams of my friends' excruciating pain. I close my eyes and try to block the sound out but there’s nowhere to hide or run to escape them.

“I’m so sorry, Vivian,” I hear Tate whisper after a while and that’s when I realize the screams have finally stopped. The ghost of his screams can still be heard. Soon I will meet the same fate as him and I can’t find the strength within myself to fight the inevitable.