Chaotic (L.O.R.D.S. #7) — Chapter no 75

SEV ENTY-FIVE

KASH TON

aidyn pulls up to Carnage, and I get out of the back seat withH her in my arms. I rush up the steps and shove the doors open with my boot.

“Devin?” I shout, but he’s al ready waiting for us. “You have to help her,” I tell him.

His wide eyes go from mine and then drop to her before looking at my broth ers standing behind her. “Saint said…she had passed.”

“Help her,” I shout.

“Follow me.”

I walk numbly, following him.

We exit the ele vator, and the coldness hits me like a slap to the face. We’re in the same hallway where I once found my brother lying in his own blood after his wife shot him. I avoid coming down here for that very reason.

Devin leads me into a room with nothing more than a metal slab in the cen ter and a chair in the corner.

I place her on it. Gasp ing for breath, I turn to see Devin just stand‐ ing there. “What are you doing?” I snap at him. “Do some thing. This

is your job.”

“Kash—”

“No,” I shout, interrupting Saint. “Devin can help her.” I put my at‐ tention on the doctor in the room. “She’s had one syringe of adrena‐ line. She just needs more.” She’s going to need a blood transfu sion as well. I don’t know her type, but she can have whatever she needs from whoever she needs it from. I’ll slit throats if I have to.

“Kashton, it’s been too long,” Devin says softly.

“No.” I refuse to believe that. “The brain can live up to seven min‐ utes after…” I can’t say the word. She’s not…gone.

A hand touches my shoulder, and I look to see its Haidyn. His bloodshot eyes drop to Eve lying on the ta ble beside me. “I’m sorry, brother.” He clears his throat. “She’s gone.”

“No.” I turn and pick her up. “Why isn’t anyone doing anything?” I pull her into my arms and fall down into the chair in the corner.

“Charlotte was given…something.” The same drug that Haidyn used when he pre tended to die on us. “Adrenaline brought her back. It will work. She just needs more.”

My chest is tight as I rock her back and forth. Looking up, I re alize he led me to the morgue. That lump in my throat gets bigger, seeing I had laid her on the metal slab that’s now smeared with blood. My chest tightens. It’s getting harder to breathe. I haven’t been in here

since my mom’s body was in this room.

“Kashton?”

I blink at the sound of my name to see Devin standing in front of me. His eyes go to a blood-covered Eve and then back to mine. “Let me take her.”

“I…can’t…” I clear the lump in my throat and fin ish my sentence.

“Let her go.”

I cradle her tighter to my body. My arms have gone numb. I can’t feel anything. Just the massive hole in my chest.

“Take as much time as you need,” Devin says and then turns, exit‐ ing the room.

I glance over her face. She looks so peaceful. How she appears when I watch her sleep ing next to me. It’s the blood that re minds me of the truth. It’s my mind playing tricks on me. Re fusing to be‐ lieve she’s truly gone. That I’ve lost her.

“I’m sorry, angel,” I tell her, struggling to breathe.

Her body trembles in my arms because I’m the one shaking.

The door opens but I ignore it. In stead, I hold her tighter. Devin can’t have her. Not yet. I’m not ready. I was hold ing onto hope that he could do something that would bring her back, but deep down I knew it was hopeless.

My angel is officially an angel. I may not believe in heaven, but I hope that wherever she is, she’s getting the rest she needs.

She deserved to be loved longer. To know what it felt like to be im‐ portant. To know that she was my world.

“Kash?” Haidyn speaks softly. “They’re here.”

“Who?” I ask, not even looking up from her, unable to recognize my own voice. I feel like I’m having an out-of-body experi ence.

“Ryat and Sin,” he an swers. “They found him.”

My stinging eyes meet his. “Who?”

Haidyn frowns and runs a bloody hand through his hair. “The guy from the cathedral?” He words it as if it’s a question.

He and Saint were talking in the SUV on the way here, but I’d tuned them out. In stead, I silently cried in the back seat while I held my dead wife.

“They’ve gothim in the basement.” His eyes drop to Eve before he looks away, unable to look at what’s left of his sister. Or maybe me.

I’ve failed both of them. Be cause of me, he no longer has a chance

to know her. “They’re waiting for you.”

“I…I can’t—”

“I’ll take care of her.” I hadn’t re alized Devin had re turned. He gives me a soft smile. “I prom ise. I’ll stay here with her until you re turn.”

My vision blurs as tears fill my eyes, and I swallow the knot in my throat. “I can’t…let her go.”

Devin steps toward me and holds his arms out. “May I?” he asks.

Fresh tears fall down my face.

“Let me take her, Kash,” he in sists. “I prom ise she’ll be here when you’re done.”

I nod, unable to say anything but knowing she deserves re venge.

That whoever hurt her should be here, stripped naked, lying on a cold slab all alone. Not her.

Devin places his arms under her life less body and lifts her from my grasp, and I watch him carry her to the ta ble in the center of the room. She’s practically unrecognizable. I didn’t think some one so small could bleed so much. I’m not even sure how many times she was shot. I think Saint has counted three bullet wounds, but I can see bruises on her neck where my face smeared the blood while I

held her to me in the car. Where I kissed her and told her over and over that I loved her. That I was sorry for not being the man she mar ried. The husband she de served.

All I can do is hope that it was fast. That she didn’t suffer. But I know the truth. I’ve seen it enough. The blood smear where she dragged herself to hide behind the altar. She suffered. She felt pain.

I de serve to feel the same pain. Know the same fate.

I get up on my shaking legs and walk over to her. I push the bloody strands of hair off her gorgeous face and lean down to kiss her fore‐ head. She’s so cold. I look around and see a gray blanket. Grabbing it, I drape it over her and speak softly. “I’ll be back, angel.” I need her to know I’m not leaving her. That this isn’t goodbye.

I turn to leave when Devin’s voice stops me.

“May I wash her?” I just stare at him, and his eyes soften. “I’d like to clean her up if you don’t mind.”

All I can do is nod. I’m incapable of speaking at the moment.

Then I exit the room with Haidyn. “Kash—”

“Please, do-n’t.” My voice cracks.

He grabs my shoulders and spins me around. I think he’s going to hit me. Knock me on my ass for her death, but instead, he pulls me in for a hug.

My shoulders slump and fresh tears fill my eyes as I try to hold in a sob. We were raised to not show emotion. Especially over a woman.

“I’m sorry,” I whis per through the lump in my throat.

“Don’t,” he growls, pulling back and gripping my upper arms. His hard eyes are filled with tears that he doesn’t want to cry. “Don’t do this to your self.”

“It’s my fault she’s gone.” I shake uncontrollably, glancing at the door her body is behind. “I…love her. I tried. I would have done any‐ thing—” I can’t finish the sentence because my throat closes.

He pulls me back into him, hugging me once more. “I know, Kash,” he whispers hoarsely. “She knows. She loves you too.”

My knees give out, but he holds me up.

I’m not sure how long we stand in the hallway, but we manage to get our selves together. It’s hard to be intimidating when you’re a sobbing mess.

“We’ll get them,” he prom ises, and I nod.

I don’t have any doubt in my mind. I will tear this town apart to get the answers I want. But it won’t bring her back.

He slaps my back, and we turn, head ing to the basement. We stay silent, and thoughts of my last conver sa tion with my wife fill my

mind.

“You’re my purpose.”

“I love you.”

It’s crippling to think I won’t crawl into bed next to her tonight or wake up with her in the morn ing. What life I had is over. She’ll be the one I place in the ground, but I’ll never live after this. I might as well bury myself with her. And I will. We will rot together. But I’ll make sure to take everyone that was involved with me first.

We enter the basement to see Sin and Ryat standing next to Saint while Hooke hangs out over in the far corner. Tyson is also here, and there’s a guy in the center, lying on the floor by the pits. He’s bleed‐ ing from what looks like his arm by the way his opposite hand grips it.

He looks up at me. His wide eyes search mine before they glance at my blood-stained clothes.

“Well, well, well,” I say, the dots instantly connecting, and I want to strangle him to death. It was right there in front of my face all this time. “My neighbor Christopher.”

Saint looks at Haidyn and whispers, “Neighbor?”

Haidyn shrugs at Saint, just as confused. They still don’t know about the house I bought to be close to Eve.

“It’s start ing to make sense now.” I nod to myself. “How Evan knew to en ter and leave her house from the back door. I didn’t have cam‐ eras back there. I bet you had the car ready and waiting for Evan af‐ ter she stabbed him.”

He looks away, and I walk over to the counter and pick up the pack of Hai dyn’s cigarettes. “String him up,” I order, my voice now as cold as this room. Then I grab the lighter next to the pack.

The crying session that Haidyn and I just had in the morgue was exactly what I needed—al most therapeutic. It re minded me of the cry that Elli had after her therapy session.

Giving them my back, I lis ten to him struggle as the guys get him ready for me. Numbly, I dig through the cab inets to find what I’m looking for. Hones tly, I’m winging it.

Picking out a few things, I turn back, taking a drag from the ciga‐ rette. He hangs from his tied wrists above his head.

“My wife is dead.” I say the words I’ve re fused to acknowl edge thus far, and it knocks the wind out of me. My legs threaten to give out, but I re main upright. I can’t look weak right now. I’ll save it for later when I’m all alone in our bed. “And some one has to pay for that.”

“I didn’t do it,” he screams. “I didn’t have a say. I was ordered—”

I place the tip of the knife to his neck, and he swallows. “You will suffer for my loss.”

The whole fuck ing world will pay for what the Lords cost me, but I’ll start with this piece of shit. I step back, giving a humorless laugh.

I can feel my mind slipping. Whenever they ask why a man has gone crazy, the an swer always starts withShe… “And you know what?” I ask, not expecting him to answer. “After I found out she was a founder, I started taking the enhancements.”

Au dible sighs of “shit” and “fuck” fill the cold basement.

No one knew that I was taking them. Not even my wife. “So I’m going to have a lot of time on my hands now.”

He breathes heavily. “I didn’t hurt her.”

I look at Sin and Ryat. “We found him behind the cathedral in the cemetery,” Ryat informs me at my silent question.

“Then who did?” I demand, looking back at the kid.

“I…I don’t know…” he sobs. “But I can prove it.”

Proof? Fuck, I want to vomit, knowing exactly what he’s going to say. “How are you going to do that?”

“My cell,” he rushes out, looking at Ryat. “He has my phone. The guys made me record it. It’ll show I didn’t touch her.”

Ryat pulls the kid’s phone from his back pocket, and I just stare at it. Do I want to see what happened to her? This isn’t like her videos from Dollhouse. They aren’t from years ago, the pain I know she

survived. It’s going to be from an hour ago, and now her body lies in the morgue.

I look at Haidyn, and he takes my silent re quest, snatching the phone from Ryat’s hand and connecting it to the TV screen on the wall, navigating to the video. The cathe dral doors fill the screen.

Eve walks in mo ments later. She’s wearing my white zip-up hoodie, dressed in jeans and platform boots with her hair up in a tight pony‐ tail and her makeup done. She’s my angry angel. Ready to take on the world.

Four Lords stand at the Lords’ altar, and I watch the fifth enter be‐ hind her, pointing a gun at the back of her head. She re fuses to do what they want, and a part of me wishes she would have just gotten on the altar. Maybe it would have stalled them. Given me enough time to ar rive and save her. She knew we were looking for her. That I would have found her.

Eve’s shot in the leg, and the sound makes me flinch. She falls to the floor. A Lord walks down the aisle and grabs her. A blood-cur‐ dling scream comes from her before she’s slammed onto the altar.

She pulls a gun from the back of her jeans and gets off a shot, fall‐ ing over to the other side of the altar and out of sight.

One walks around and then falls to the floor, telling me she was still alive and able to shoot. Two down. She’s a good shot, but they were ready for her.

It was an ambush that she willingly walked into.

But at the begin ning of the video, they said they wanted me. Why?

Why didn’t she let me turn myself in?

One of the masked men wraps a belt around her neck and pulls her over the altar. She shoots him but then is hit herself. She crawls the best she can back behind the altar and out of frame. The fifth one that had entered behind her walks around the altar and points a gun at her. “Goodbye, Eve,” their altered voice fills the basement before the camera shuts off.

“See?” the kid shouts. “I ran out the side door. I never touched her.”

I want to fall to the floor and curl into a ball. The only thing that’s keeping me on my feet is my adrenaline. It’s going to fade, and I’m

going to crawl onto the metal slab and hold my wife. After I make this man suffer. “You helped set her up. And that’s enough.”

He thrashes in his re straints and screams at the top of his lungs. He can do whatever he wants. He’s dead to me. “Check my mes sages,”

Christopher rushes out. “I sent you the text.”

I look at Haidyn, and he starts scrolling through the phone. He pulls up an app, and sure enough, you can see he was the one who sent me the text with where she was, and he was able to hide his number. “Why?” I snap.

“She was just the bait. She wasn’t supposed to die. Evan wanted her.”

Evan. The name makes my blood boil. Fucking rage.

“He knew she’d give herself over to him for you.”

“Where the fuck is he?” I demand.

“I don’t know…but I can find him.”

“Was he at the cathedral?” Haidyn growls.

“No. We were supposed to stall. Just hold her until you ar rived.

Then give her the option…you or her.”

“So that’s why you texted Kashton.” Saint nods to himself. “You needed them both there but wanted her there first. Rough her up, and then when Kashton arrived, she’d give herself over and he’d kill Kash.” He looks at me. “Get you out of the picture.”

Haidyn frowns. “But that doesn’t explain how Eve got there. What made her go to the cathedral?”

“Evan…” He sucks in a deep breath. “He wanted to play with her.”

My teeth grind. He knows that Iplay with my girl. He was jealous.

Wanted to have what was mine and knew exactly what he could do to get it. If he laid one hand on her, she’d fall back into the mind set she had at Dollhouse. Or maybe he planned on drugging her. Either way, he was going to leave there with her. But I didn’t show in time, and they killed her.

“I can find Evan…I’ll give him to you. I swear.”

I snort. I’ve got the kid’s cell, and it will take me right to him. “Hai‐ dyn.” I gesture with my hand, and he passes me the cell. I turn to Tyson’s men. “Find him.” Colton nods. “Next time I see you, it better be because you’re deliver ing Evan. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Alex answers, and they rush out of the basement.

I place my atten tion back on Haidyn. “Give me your phone.” I hold

out my hand to him again.

He does so without question.

I go through it and find what I’m looking for. “Hallelujah” by No Re‐ solve fills the basement, and I turn it all the way up, taking a puff of the cigarette before putting it out on Christopher’s back.

This is for you, Eve. I will make sure the world pays for the cost of your life. To me, it was priceless.