We all sit in silence, deep in our thoughts. I take out my phone and text Chrystal; she should be getting up any minute.
“Good morning, darlin’.”
“Good morning, handsome.” I don’t even bother trying to stop the smile she brings.
“Brother has it bad,” Torch teases me, and I laugh along with the rest of them, because I don’t care. I look Torch straight in the eye. “Wait until the day she comes crashing into your life, everything will change.”
He nods, settling back in his seat.
All my brothers are at a point in their lives where they want to settle down. We have built this fucking empire just for us and our future generations. We wanted something to pass down to our kids and their kids. This is why we busted our asses for so many years.
We arrive in Maryland. Techy texted me the addresses for Mr. Fucking Joshua and Chrystal’s mother—I plan to pay her father a visit too. You’re supposed to protect your daughter, and he did none of that.
We have an SUV waiting for us at the airport. First we check into our hotel and grab a late lunch. A couple of hours later, we pull up in front of Joshua’s place. Techy has hacked into the cameras inside his house, and Joshua is there right now, talking to a private investigator about how to find Chrystal.
We wait until he gets off the phone before we get out of the SUV. Ryan goes to the back of the house to make sure Joshua doesn’t try to run out the back before we get inside. Butcher, Torch and I take the front of the house. We walk up and ring the doorbell, my fingers itching to wrap around his neck. We’re going to be the last people he’s ever going to fucking see. He’s going to die knowing that I’m going to take care of his baby and marry his wife. I will do it fucking smiling.
He opens the door, and he takes a step back when he sees the three of us, so I give him the thing he wants most of all. “I know the location of your wife.”
His eyes widen before he grins. I can see why he has everyone fooled. He is put together. His pearly white grin must make everyone think he’s a fucking good ole boy.
He takes a step back, naïvely allowing us inside his house. Butcher shuts the door behind him, standing in front of it. “Come on, boys, tell me how you know my wife.” He leads us into the living room.
I see a camera in the corner of the room, and I smile into it, knowing Techy is watching. I make up a bullshit story. “Your private investigator got a hold of some people we know. She works for us and we connected the dots.” His face darkens as he looks at all of us. We aren’t wearing our cuts because this isn’t our state.
“Works for you how?” he asks slowly, cracking the side of his neck, as his face reddens more and more.
I lift my arms, smirking. “For the club.”
He jumps to his feet. “She’s a stripper?” he screams, pacing in front of me without looking at us. “That stupid bitch. Apparently the lessons I taught her didn’t fucking stick!”
I laugh, because he is utterly fucking pathetic. The brothers join in with me. He doesn’t know us, and we come here telling him we know his wife? How gullible is he?
He glares at all of us. “I don’t get what’s so funny.”
I look him dead in the eye. “You are.”
His eyes narrow on me, his face turning even redder, as he points to himself. “Me?” he yells.
I nod. “Yeah, you motherfucker. You’re the one who’s pathetic.” I sit farther back on his couch, getting comfortable. “We tell you we know your wife, and bam, here we are in your house.”
He takes a step back, looking at all of us as it starts to sink in. Surprise, fucker, we aren’t your saving grace.
“Why are you here then?” he asks, his voice calmer.
I grin. “Did I mention your wife is living with me?” His eyes widen. “Last night she told me some things about you, how you liked to beat her over everything and made her suffer every day.”
His lips start to shake as he takes another step back, running straight into Butcher, who grunts, kicking him right behind the knee. The fucker falls to the ground.
I grip his face. “Ding, ding, ding, you’re connecting the dots. I’m not here to give her to you. I’m here to kill you.” I laugh, watching him shake. “You’re going to die knowing your wife is going to be mine, your daughter in her belly is going to be mine.” I grin, watching the tears fill his eyes.
I squeeze his face tighter. “Your tears mean shit to me. How many times did she cry and ask you not to hurt her?” He looks at the ground, and I shake his face. “Tell me,” I demand.
“Almost every day,” he whispers. Then he raises his head. “She deserved it.”
I point my finger in his face. “Ah, ah, ah, no matter what she did. You’re a grown-ass man, what could she have done to deserve to be hurt? Absolutely nothing.” I can’t stand a woman beater, but one thing is weighing on my mind.
“Did you rape her?” I don’t want to fucking know, but I need to know.
His eyes widen. “No, I never raped her. She never fucking enjoyed it if that’s what you’re asking. She’s defective or something, wasn’t a good lay.” He gloats at the last part.
I let go of his face, giving him a push. He makes me sick. The fucking sight of him disgusts me to the point I want to vomit.
I look at Butcher, who hands me a gun with a silencer. Joshua starts to scream and I roll my eyes. “Shut up, screaming does nothing but make you look even more pathetic, if that’s even possible.”
He shuts up and I laugh. “Any last words before I go home?” I smirk, seeing the anger in his eyes. He’s trying to play innocent so I won’t kill him.
Nothing can stop me from ending his life. Picturing her being hurt replays over and over in my head. “Did you know what her wish was? She wants you dead. Her wish is coming true.”
I can see the disbelief written on his face. He tried to break her because his ego needed her to be broken so he could be full of himself. He’s nothing but a waste of space. I press the gun to his face and, without blinking, flinching, or a second of guilt, I pull the trigger, ending his life, ending Chrystal’s torment. His body hits the floor with a thump.
We’ll just leave his body here, because he isn’t even worth the trouble of burying him. I hand Butcher back the gun, and we walk out of the house. One major perk is it’s in the middle of nowhere, which makes it easier to cover our tracks or just sneak in and out without anyone noticing.
We pull up in front of a trailer park, and I take great pleasure in knowing that when Chrystal left, Joshua didn’t give her parents money anymore. It fucking floors me that they gave their daughter away to someone who was a monster so they could live a better life. I’d rather starve to fucking death than allow any of mine to go without or suffer an ounce of pain.
The moment everyone in the trailer park spots our SUV, they take off running and disappear inside their homes. Ryan goes to the back of the trailer while three of us knock on the door, exactly how we approached Josh. A woman opens the door. She looks exactly like Chrystal, which hits me right in the gut, but I notice the difference right off the bat. Her eyes are dead; she has no life inside her.
“Can I help you?” she snaps, eyeing me like I’m the cause of all of her problems. I push the door open, making my way inside her trailer, and step past her. I make sure not to touch her. I don’t want her fucking evil filth on me.