I don’t know why I thought I’d be able to escape my demon this time when I haven’t been able to since that day Pope showed up at our house five years ago.
A sting stabs through my head as he grabs a handful of my hair and pulls me to a stop.A scream rips from me before I can swallow it down.He throws me against the wall, my head smacking against it before his fingers wrap around my throat and cut off my air.His nails dig in, breaking the skin.
I stare into the eyes of the devil, only seeing the reflection of my impending death waiting for me.
There was a time when I swore those eyes looked at me with nothing but love.Now, it’s only death, possession, and cold madness that ever gazes back at me.
I’ve never had to fear for my children’s lives around him because, as he told the person on the phone, I’d let this monster do whatever he wanted to me to protect them.But staring into the emptiness in his eyes now, I’ve never feared for them more.
Frankie rips my leggings from me, taking my underwear with them.
“Not here,” I choke out.“The bedroom.Please, not where they can see.”
He laughs cruelly, leaning forward and biting me on the cheek.“They need to understand what happens when they don’t follow orders.”
For the first time in a long time, I fight back, because it’s no longer just my life I’m fighting for.
When he takes a break from beating and raping me, I find time to get a hold of the sister I haven’t talked to in so long and make plans.
The evil has finally touched my children, and it’s time to run.
Even if it costs me my life.
Chapter Seven
Present Day
Aredhazesettlesover my vision as I listen to the emptiness in Birdie’s voice as she tells us the hell that she’s been living.There’s a void in her as she explains what she heard two days ago that made her finally come to the one place she never wanted to be again.
Every fiber of my goddamn soul demands me to hunt down the monster who hurt her.To seek my vengeance on the motherfucker who thought he was going to sell my girl to whatever sick fuck he found with enough money.
Each horror Birdie plays out for us is a mark against me.They’re a mark against us all.We sent her away because we thought we were protecting her.We thought she would be safer away from us while the war with the Steel Slayers MC raged on.None of us could have prepared for her to find another version of hell.
I should have expected it.If there’s one thing I’ve fucking learned about this damn world, it’s that monsters are everywhere.We walk beside them on the streets every goddamn day and not even realize it.We sleep beside them, we marry them, we create them.They’re employers, teachers, police, goddamn politicians, and fuckingclergymen.They’re in our goddamn nightmares, and sometimes, those nightmares are our reality.
Birdie’s demon dug his poisonous claws into her deeper than most.He left scars on her soul that will refuse to fade.
Unless I cut them from her piece by piece and stitch her back together.
As her voice fades toward the end, blistering heat surges through my blood as my veins strain under my skin.Fury springs to life inside me, threatening to suffocate me if I don’t let it out.I lift one of the table chairs with a roar and sling it against the wall.It crashes through the drywall with a loud crack, and white plaster fills the air.
I reach for another, but my hand freezes in place when Birdie’s whimper breaks through the anger that’s quickened my blood.Ice fills my veins as I realize I’m now the one making her afraid.
Ah, hell.
My body trembles as I lift my hands to the back of my neck and squeeze, doing my best to master my rage.
A heavy hand comes down on my shoulder, helping to anchor me, and I know it’s my VP, Malice.Cyanide steps up to the other side of me, both afraid that I’m going to lose my shit again and murder everyone in this room.
They shouldn’t worry.
It’s not my people I want to fucking slice up so I can play with their insides.
There’s only one person who’s going to get to taste the sweet release of my rage.
Birdie’shusband.
My lip curls at the title.
