Luca Marquez.
He was kicking the brothers’ dead bodies and checking for pulses.
“How the fuck did you get here?”
“It’s lucky for you that we did,” Luca replied. “When I got the call from Jax, I wasn’t far away. So I got a little team together and came to join in the fun. Do you think I’d let you guys loose on my yacht with guns and not be in on that shit?” I hated the dude, and yet I wanted to kiss his miserable, stony-assed face for saving my best friend. I couldn’t have cared less about myself right then. What did I have to live for?
“I saw Luca through the window just before I lowered my gun. Did you think I’d lost my mind and given up?” Jackson gave me a rueful smile.
“Err, yeah. What else was I supposed to think?” To be honest, I couldn’t think straight at all. My mind had turned into a haze of grief and disbelief.
“It’s over now.” Jackson sighed, but he couldn’t look me in the eyes when he said it.
“It’s not over. It’ll never be over for me.” I clenched my fist and struck my empty, hollow chest. “This… this will never stop. I don’t think I’ll ever come back from this, Jax.”
Jackson wasn’t a hugger, but he reached forward to grab me into him. “I’m here for you,” he said, then choked up trying to say something else to me. But I wasn’t in the mood for sentiment and emotion. I felt dead inside.
I looked around to try to distract my mind from going to the dark places it was intent on torturing me with. The yacht was a mess, with glass, busted up furniture, and stuffing from the cushions and couches strewn everywhere. “I think your boat is fucked.”
Luca rolled his eyes at me. “I don’t think I’ll be getting Chloe on here any time soon anyway. Boats and morning sickness don’t go too well together. Maybe I’ll upgrade to a helicopter. That’d be cool.”
His mention of Chloe, his wife, had my heart spiking all over again. I’d lost my other half. He had a wife and babies. I’d never have that.
“Congratulations, man,” I said with zero conviction. “Nice to hear you’re not firing blanks yet.”
One of Luca’s men hushed us and pointed to the door leading to the cabins below deck.
“Do you guys hear that?” He walked over to the door and kicked it open, keeping his gun raised as he did. “I think there’s someone down there,” he said over his shoulder.
“We’ve got this.” Jackson jumped to attention, getting his gun ready and motioning to Luca with his head to follow him. There was no way I was missing out on some revenge killing, not this time. So I pulled myself up, grabbed a gun from the floor and checked that it was loaded. Then I followed them, intent on exacting some much needed revenge.
I was terrified.
All I could hear was shouting and gunfire. I was helpless to escape or even protect myself. Chained to the bed like a fucked-up offering for whoever showed their face at the door. My usual coping strategy of disappearing into myself wasn’t working anymore. Cill seemed to have unlocked some secret device in my mind, and I had no choice but to feel again. To be honest, I didn’t want to go back to the Paige I was before. Sure, the pain of losing him was beyond crippling, but I couldn’t let these fuckers win. Not again. I was a fighter. He always called me his warrior. I had to stay strong for him.
The shots died down, but the thumps and murmuring of male voices were clear overhead. I had two choices. Await my fate, which could be anything after the total mayhem of the last few minutes. Shit, this boat could start sinking at any moment for all I knew. Or I could take a chance and attract attention to my being down here. Make as much noise as was humanly possible, and pray to God that it wasn’t the brothers who heard me. Mind you, they were going to come down here sooner or later, so what did I have to lose?
I pushed myself up to the top of the bed then banged the cuffs against the metal, rocking and crashing the bed against the wall as I did. I kicked out at the bedside tables next to me, but they were nailed to the floors and only made a feeble thump. I didn’t stop though. The energy it took to attack my surroundings helped to take the edge off the pain in my body and mind.
The sound of heavy footfalls coming down the stairs didn’t deter me. Voices called out as doors started to bang open, and then it was my door that burst open.
“Fucking hell.” The guy I’d met that night Cill had saved me, I think he was called Jax, was standing in the doorway. His mouth was as wide open as his eyes, and he lowered his gun the instant he saw me. “Cill, get in here.”
My heart exploded when he said his name. I felt my ears go woolly and my vision blurred.
Did I hear him right?
Did he actually call out his name?
Seconds later, the burn I felt in my chest became a kaleidoscope of emotions when I saw him appear behind Jax. He was wet and looked like he’d been dragged to hell and back. But he was here, alive, and standing right before me. I gasped out and bit down on my gag, desperate to say his name, to tell him how much I loved him. But all I could do was show him, through my tear soaked eyes, how I felt in that moment. Looking at him, he felt the exact same way.
“Oh my God.” He pushed his way into the room and grabbed me into the biggest hug possible. I couldn’t hug him back, even though my arms ached to touch him; I was still chained to the bed frame. I buried my face into his neck as he rocked me and inhaled the smell of him that always soothed me like nothing else.
Cill reached up and pulled my gag down and then he nuzzled into my neck and kissed me.
“I can’t believe you’re here. I thought I’d lost you,” he cried.
I tried to speak and tell him I’d thought the same, but I couldn’t. My throat was so constricted with pain and relief, all I could do was feel. Feel him pull me into his lap. Feel the warmth of his arms around me. Feel the surge of love that burst from every pore.
