Page 21 of Merciless Obsession (The Bloodline #2)

EZRA

S topping by my car, I paused and went into my backseat to grab Wilma. I lifted the custom steel hammer and ran my hand along the heavy head then glanced at Ziora who was watching me with caution.

She didn’t know it, but I knew she was following me the moment I pulled off her street.

I could have stopped and confronted her, but instead I led her to The Barn on purpose.

If we were going to be together then I wanted to show her all of me.

The lawyer was only one side, now she was about to see the real me.

“What is this? Whose barn and house are these?” Ziora questioned, looking around.

“Our family’s. You wanted to know what the Tavarez family was about. Well… welcome to The Bloodline.”

“The Bloodline?” Her voice lowered and her brows met in the middle. Her hand gripped her taser tightly.

Grabbing the barn door, I pulled it open. I knew my brothers were already inside and the targets were also in attendance already.

When we stepped inside Nazai, Lucas, Emmet, and River were already inside surrounding the three guys tied to chairs with plastic under them. Cashlynn was in attendance too, next to Nazai with her arms crossed and a blank expression on her face.

“What the hell is this? Why are those guys tied up?” Ziora asked, her eyes wide, mouth parted.

Everyone whipped around to face us. Nazai’s jaw clenched and his nostrils flared. He glared at me and gripped the gun in his hand tightly.

“Ez, what the fuck is she doing here?”

“Chill big bro,” I mentioned, closing the barn doors and stepping forward.

“Ain’t no fucking chill! You know better than to bring witnesses here,” he spat in Spanish.

“She’s not gonna say shit,” I replied in Spanish as well.

“You don’t know that!” His hard eyes shifted to Ziora. A wave of protectiveness passed through me. I stepped in front of her and straightened my spine.

“Nazai, I got this. We all agreed to work together, right? If Ziora’s gonna trust us then she needs to know who we really are.”

“This shit is dangerous, Ezra,” River commented, shaking his head. I already knew what he was thinking.

This time Nazai returned to English. “It’s stupid and reckless is what it is! You’re smarter than this, Ez.”

One of the guys groaned, catching our attention and halting the conversation.

Ziora stepped around me and stood next to me. “What is this?” Her voice was steady. The nervousness she had before we came in here was gone. She licked her lips and tilted her chin upward. Her eyes found mine.

“You wanted to know what the Tavarez family is all about right? Why we were confident that our dad had nothing to do with what you think he did. Two of those guys over there are brothers and they’re pimping out their sixteen-year-old sister.

The cops didn’t have enough proof to charge them and the girl’s too scared to actually speak out against them.

Thankfully there’s people like us who don’t need to wait for charges.

And that man over there was involved with sis-in-law’s ex-fiancé and came after her; so now he has to pay. ”

I reached for Ziora’s hand and pulled her forward. When we got closer, I released her hand and stepped past my brothers. I stood in front of one of the brothers. His face was bruised, his eyes swollen with dried blood crusted around his nose and the corners of his mouth.

Going into my back pocket I grabbed the black leather gloves and put them on. I lifted and examined Wilma briefly before swinging her, hitting the guy in the chest, causing blood to splatter from his mouth as he choked.

“Muthafuckers like you don’t deserve to live.” I swung again.

Electricity zapped through my veins, causing my pulse to speed through me. The sight of his blood and sound of his pained moans made me feel like I just shot up the purest heroin.

“Oh my God,” Ziora gasped.

Slowly I turned and stared at her. Her eyes were locked on the guy, wide and beaming with surprise. I expected to see fear, but there was none.

“You see Bumblebee, we’re not that different. You’re using your brains and skills with computers to expose predators and get justice for your sister and those other girls. While we’re taking action in a different way to get those same results.” The guy’s breathing was staggered.

“Please. Please help me,” the brother next to the one I hit choked out.

My eyes narrowed and I spun to face him. My fist balled and went across his face. “Don’t talk to her!” He grunted.

“How do you guys know they did what you said?” Ziora asked.

“Do you think we would go into anything without proper investigation first?” Nazai said.

“Enough of this,” Cashlynn complained and stepped forward with her infamous butterfly knife in hand.

She faced Ziora. “If you’re gonna be around then you should get used to this.

These fuckers.” She turned and pointed to the three men.

“Deserve everything that’s coming to them.

If this baby wasn’t sucking the life out of me, I would make sure this one’s death was slow and painful, but I don’t have time for all that!

” Cashlynn stepped to the final guy at the end.

He had tried to snatch up Carson, Cashlynn’s little brother.

My brother still had security details on them and stopped him before he could succeed.

We learned he was a remaining member from the Rhodes crew.

Most of them moved on after the father and son were killed, but not everyone was forgiving it seemed.

“You think you can just try to snatch my little brother and come after us and get away with it?”

“Fuck you, bitch!” he strained out and spit toward her.

“Muther—” Nazai started but Cashlynn raised her hand.

“No need for that.” The grin that spread on her face was chilling.

“You’re gonna regret that,” Lucas muttered, shaking his head. He and Emmet stood off to the side observing. It was rare the two got involved physically.

Cashlynn stomped toward the guy and grabbed him by his locs.

She yanked his head back, causing him to grunt.

“Tell those assholes I hope they’re enjoying hell for me!

” She lifted the knife and sent the blade across the front of his neck.

Blood gushed from the wound and he made a gurgling sound as he bled out.

She stepped away, lifted her butterfly knife, and flicked it down, so some of the excess blood flicked off.

I shook my head. Cashlynn was one chick I knew to always keep an eye on. She was ruthless and quick with her attacks too.

“One down.” Nazai tapped his gun against his side. “Unfortunately, you two won’t have such an easy death.” He moved closer.

I moved back so I was at Ziora’s side. I watched her as she watched Nazai and River do their thing. I waited to see if she would turn and run, but besides a couple of flinches she stayed put.

Eventually I joined the party with Wilma. Nazai lifted the ad Emmet had found for the sister and shoved it in the oldest brother’s face, which was the one I didn’t hit. “Did it feel good, using an innocent child like you did? Your sister trusted you both and you sold her for what?”

The brother coughed blood out and spoke, struggling to get his words out.

“She liked it.” He choked out a laugh. “She’s a whore, just like her mother.

” This time his laugh was interrupted by River’s fist slamming into his face.

Nazai pried his mouth open and stuffed the ad in, covering it with duct tape.

Nazai then proceeded to wrap the tape around his nose.

His eyes ballooned and he struggled against the tape keeping him in place in the chair.

His little brother was barely hanging on.

By the time we finally ended the brothers they were a bloody mess.

“Do you get it now?” Nazai rolled his shoulders back and stared at Ziora.

He was breathing calmly. His voice was steady, eyes void of what was going through his head.

“We agree with you, the justice system is broken and not everyone pays for their crimes. We make sure those who slip through cracks are handled and won’t hurt anyone else again. ”

Ziora’s focus was on the bodies for a long minute before slowly shifting to my brothers. “So you guys are really vigilantes? All the guys you kill are bad guys in a way?”

“More or less.” There was no need to inform her that Nazai and Cashlynn were paid assassins and their jobs outside of the family were more personal kills than serving justice.

“The incinerator is ready,” River said, stepping back into the main room.

“Incinerator?” Ziora looked past him.

“We’re nothing if not thorough in our work,” I explained.

“We’ll handle this. Wildfire, why don’t you head to the main house and wait for me. Ez, get her out of here,” Nazai commanded.

“I’m fine,” Cashlynn said.

“Just do what I said. You can’t help with this part anyway. Ezra, we’ll talk later.” He said the last part in Spanish with his stare leveled on me.

I knew Nazai wasn’t happy about Ziora being here, but she was mine. And she needed to get used to this part of my life. The sooner the better. He might not get it now, but that was no problem to me, I had faith that Ziora could be trusted.

I led Ziora out of the barn without much fight. I could tell she was trying to process everything, so I let her be.

“I’ll follow you back to your house,” I told her.

She pushed some curls out her face and nodded slowly. It was refreshing not to get any push back from her. I knew it wouldn’t last, and she was mostly still in shock, but I would accept it for the moment.

“Ezra!” Emmet called out behind me. I turned to face him.

“Here.” He held out a flash drive. “I looked into the people you asked me to and this is what I found.”

“’Preciate you, E.” With a clipped nod he turned and started back for the barn. The information on this flash drive would help one of my clients. I had two other cases I was working on outside of Felix’s and this was the golden egg for one.