Chaotic (L.O.R.D.S. #7) — Chapter no 84

EIGHTY-FOUR

KASH TON

he phone shakes in my hand.T

VI: Don’t kill her. Deliver her to the cathedral. Alive. We’ll use her for bait. Kashton will come running to save her. I’ll leave with him, and she’ll be all yours.

“You read this text?” I turn to ask her, to make sure I’m under‐ standing what the fuck she did.

“Yes.” She nods. “The job felt…off. He made a move, and I killed him. I was going through his phone and saw that there was obvi‐ ously more involved.”

“So you just decided you’d go. Alone.” My wife is crazy and in deep shit.

Sighing, she looks away from me. “I went to my house, grabbed a few things, and stopped by Bar rington to call you. I knew I had to throw you off. I was al ready late re turn ing to Carnage, and I needed

time.”

“To die,” I bite out. “Makes sense.”

“Kash.” She sighs.

“How the fuck did you find Everett before we did?” I interrupt, de‐ manding an answer from Adam. She and I can talk about her choices later when we’re alone. “I called you and informed you she was missing and asked if she had been ar rested. We hung up and then you called me back and said no.”

Adam runs a hand through his al ready disheveled hair. “Saint had called Tyson, informing him that they were on their way to get Ev‐ erett. They didn’t know what was going on, but she had called you, and it didn’t sound good.”

I look at Tyson. “So you called Adam?” Why the fuck would he call him about my wife?

“No.” Tyson shakes his head. “But Sin was with me at the time—”

“You called Adam?” I snap.

“No,” Sin growls, “I called Bill. Told him to get to Bar rington be‐ cause Eve was there. We didn’t know the situ ation. Just that some‐ one needed to get there and fast.”

“But she wasn’t. Her cell was.” Haidyn frowns.

I look back at Adam, and it is taking everything in me to not rip his head from his shoulders. “How the fuck did you know where my wife was?”

He looks at her and then drops his eyes to the floor. I wish I had a gun on me because I want to shoot him again right now. Haidyn’s suggestion about his knee sounds pretty good. I’ve had all I can take with him and my wife. “Adam?” I snap.

“I have a tracker on her,” he barks.

My entire body tenses. I look at my wife, and her eyes—wide in dis‐ belief—are on Adam. “You…you what?”

“You have a tracker on his wife,” Sin re peats through gritted teeth.

“I—”

“What the fuck, Adam?” she shouts and runs toward him.

I grab her waist arm and yank her back. He won’t hit her, but the last thing I need her to do is hurt herself. She just had fuck ing surgery and is still re cover ing. My wife should be in bed right now.

Not dealing with this shit.

“You were pre tending to pimp your self out,” he yells at her. “You were working for me and killing grown-ass men in a run-down mo‐ tel.” His eyes meet mine before re turn ing to hers. “I couldn’t take that chance. I couldn’t allow anything to happen to you.”

“You should have told me,” I grind out. “I would have —”

“Re moved it,” he interrupts me.

“Absolutely,” I snap. “Having a tracker on my wife is fucked up, but you knew she was in danger. That she had done a job that wasn’t an actual job. I called you…I told you I was looking for her, and all the while, you knew where she was. That is unacceptable.” My heart is

racing; my skin is heated. I’m so hot right now I’m sweat ing. “Where the fuck is it?” I demand.

He sighs and the little pause makes me snap. I rush him, wrapping my arms around his waist and picking his feet up off the floor. The mo mentum has me ramming his back into the cab inets lined across the back wall, bringing us both to an abrupt stop with a grunt. “I asked you a fuck ing question,” I grind out, pulling him from the wall and punching him in the face before he even has a chance to an‐ swer.

Adam fights back. Good. I don’t want an easy win. I want to fuck‐ ing smash his face in. I kick out my legs, taking him to the floor, and punch him again. He gets in a couple of hits, but then he goes into defensive mode and uses his arms and hands to shield his face after I get in another good hit.

I’m yanked off him and shoved to the side, and Hooke grabs a hold of me. Tyson comes to stand between us, arms out. I take a second to catch my breath and Hooke steps back knowing I’m not going to jump Adam again.

“Where the fuck is the tracker?” Tyson yells at Adam who still lies on the floor with blood cover ing his busted face.

“Left…hip.” He rolls to his side and spits blood onto the concrete floor. “Her left hip.”

I turn and grab my wife’s hand, pulling her through the basement and to the ele vator. She yanks her hand from mine and crosses her arms over her chest. “I didn’t know,” she whispers.

I can’t talk right now. Not because I’m mad at her but because of how stupid I was. Everything makes sense now. How he knew it wasn’t Eve that I had spoken to that night at Blackout. He tried to tell me that he had spoken to her and knew she was at the mo tel.

But that wasn’t it at all. It’s because he tracked her. How he knew where she lived when she passed out in my arms at her house.

Maybe he had been there before, but now I’m not so sure.

I’m so fuck ing stupid.

“Kash—”

I can’t… “Not right now, Eve.”

“Are you mad at me?” she snaps, grabbing my arm. “It’s not my—”

“Fault?” I growl, interrupting her and pinning her to the side wall.

“Maybe if you hadn’t lied to me.”

“Lied to you about what?” she demands, glaring up at me.

“What you were doing. Working for Adam.” Did she ever re ally lie, though? She just continued to live her life; I was the one who took it

over.

“I—”

“I told you not right now.” It’s not going to be a pro duc tive conver‐ sa tion, so it’s pointless.

She huffs and the ele vator door opens. I take her hand, and she lets me pull her toward the hos pital wing. “Devin?” I call out.

“Devin?” I bark.

“Yes?” He runs out of a door and comes to a quick stop. He looks Eve up and down. “What’s wrong?”

“She has a tracker. I need it re moved. Now.”

He frowns. “Where is it?”

“Left hip,” I an swer.

Nod ding, he says. “Of course. Room one.”

I pull her into it and grab her shirt, but she pulls back. “Did you

fuck her?”

“Who?” I snap.

“Me…my sister?”

My brother has had a tracker on her for years, and she’s concerned about me screwing some one else? “Are you serious?” I snort.

“Don’t do that.” She shakes her head. “Make me sound crazy.”

“The fact that you think I’d cheat on you is crazy,” I shout.

“You thought she was me,” she screams, slamming her hands into my chest. “You buried her thinking it was me. You al most committed suicide because you thought I died.” Angry tears fill her pretty green eyes. “So…did you fuck her thinking it was me?”

I shake my head. “No.”

“Adam did.” She crosses her arms over her chest.

“I’m not fuck ing Adam,” I growl, but I couldn’t be happier that he has never fucked my girl.

The door opens behind me, and Devin enters, cutting off our argu‐ ment.

I stand in our office behind Saint’s desk with my hands shoved into the pockets of my jeans, staring out the wall of windows.

The sound of the door opening has me stiffening. I’m re ally not in the mood right now to deal with anyone. After Devin re moved Eve’s tracker, I had to be alone. This is where I found myself.

“Adam left,” comes a woman’s voice that makes my skin crawl. It fur thers my point that I’m in a sour mood.

Looking down over the circle drive, I see Adam walk ing down the steps with the brunette from the mo tel. Missy was her name? I snort. I’m sure it’s fake, along with everything else that has to do

with him.

“When will he be back?” she goes on.

“If we’re lucky, never.”

“Kash,” she sighs, “he’s your brother.”

“That means nothing to me,” I say hones tly. He’s gone too far this time. I can’t forgive him. If that makes me a hor ri ble person, then so

be it.

“It should,” she argues.

I turn around and look at Ashtyn. She’s been crying. I can see the streaks down her face, and it annoys me even more. “Tell that to

Eve.”

“Hmm?” She frowns. “Tell her what?”

“Go and tell her that she should forgive Garrett because he’s her fa‐ ther.”

Her frown deepens. She wanted to talk to me. I’ll talk.

“He raped her.”

Her face pales, and she drops her eyes to the floor.

“Your father raped her. Mine raped her. Saint’s raped her. For years, her father let all of them rape her. A child. So, again…go tell my wife that she should forgive her father because he’s her dad and see what her re sponse is.”

Wrapping her arms around herself, she re mains silent.

“That’s why she tried to commit suicide…the one that ended up cost ing her the baby. In case you were wondering.” She looks up at

me through her lashes. “Because there was a possibility that she was pregnant by her father. The same man who told her if it was a girl, he would allow them all to rape her too. If it was a boy, he’d force him to rape his own mother.”

She sniffs, and I want to roll my eyes but re frain. I don’t think she feels bad for Everett. Or hell, maybe I’m just a piece of shit and she does, but I don’t care. I know what she said to my wife. About killing her child and no longer being able to have kids. Funny enough, it was Saint who told me. He was worried about Eve’s men‐ tal state after what his wife said to mine.

I’m usually not this heartless, but I’ve reached my limit.

Fuck anyone who tries to hurt my wife. Physically or mentally. That woman has been through enough, and I will let the world know that if they attack her in any way, I will make sure they never do it again.

You want to make my wife feel bad; I’ll make you hate your self.

“I don’t know if it’s a trauma re sponse,” I go on at her silence, “or the fact that you’re jealous your life isn’t the same as it once was…or maybe you’re just being a bitch.” Her eyes narrow on mine, and I know I’ve hit a nerve. Good. Tells me my guess is spot-on. “But you need to shut the fuck up and keep whatever opin ions or thoughts you have to your self be cause no one wants to hear them.”

She takes a deep breath. I think she’s going to yell at me. Maybe cry and try the sympathy card, but instead, she turns and exits the office, slamming the door shut on her way out.

Walk ing over to my desk, I remove the tracker from my pocket that Devin took out of my wife’s hip and drop it into the top drawer.

Then I make my way up to the birdcage. The ele vator door opens, and I step out just in time to see Jessie exiting my bed room with an empty wheelchair. “What’s wrong?” I rush over to him. “Eve okay?” I left her with Devin after he re moved her tracker.

“Yes. Yes.” He nods. “After Devin applied a new tracker, he gave her some pain meds. Said she did a little too much today. He didn’t want her walking back to the room.” He smiles at me. “Mrs. Pierce is in bed.” Then he heads toward the ele vator.

I push open the door to the dimly lit room. She’s got the TV on but the volume low. My wife is in bed, covers up to her chin, facing away

from me. I unlace my boots, kick them off, and quickly get un‐ dressed, leaving only my boxer briefs on, and then gently crawl into bed with her.

She sighs, rolling over to face me, and I push back the hair from her face. Mrs. Pierce. I love the sound of that and will never get used to it.

Her lashes flutter open but quickly fall closed.

“How do you feel?”

“Tired,” she whispers.

Leaning in, I kiss her soft cheek. “Get some sleep, angel.”

“Kash?”

“Hmm?”

She opens her heavy eye lids and looks up at me. “I’m sor—”

“Don’t,” I interrupt her.

It’s not her fault. She had no clue what Adam was doing. I know my girl would have cut it out herself had she known it was there. I had it re placed with one of my own. After everything, I want to make sure I have eyes on my wife every second of the day.

Is it about control? A part of it, yes. But it’s mainly for safety. I haven’t seen a single Lady who hasn’t gone through something be‐ cause of who they married. We’ve all got ene mies, and I’ve got to pro tect what’s mine.

Looking over her face, I watch her sleep peacefully. She hasn’t wo‐ ken up from any night mares since she found her way back to me.

I’m not saying she won’t ever have them again, but I’ll be here to re mind her that I love her if she does.

EVERETT We all stand outside in the cemetery by the gates of Carnage. The guys brought equipment in to dig before they started digging with shovels. Then another piece of equipment was used to re move the vault lid. Charlotte and I watch. Ashtyn hasn’t shown her face since Saint made her leave the basement. I’m not sure if that’s because she’s crying after Adam left or because she doesn’t want to be around us.

I look over the head stone. It’s as gorgeous as it is sad. It’s black with angel wings and readsEverett Sinclair Pierce, along with my

birthdate and the day my husband thought I died. Across the bottom is engravedMy life I vow to you.

A car pulls up, and I look over my shoulder to see both the driver’s side and passenger doors open, and two men step out. The ones I gave my statement to.

“Okay, Kashton. You’ve got ten minutes before I call this place in,” the detective states, coming to a stop and placing his hands on his hips. The younger one looks me up and down.

“Glad you could make it,” Kashton greets them.

“Yeah, well…you re ally didn’t give me a choice.”

“I’m going to solve your case.” Kashton smiles, and the younger cop snorts as if that’s impossible.

“It’s getting solved today, all right.” The detective’s eyes are on mine when he says it, letting me know he’s not leaving here with out me in cuffs. I hope Kashton stabs him again. The only man who is

allowed to handcuff me is my husband.

“Okay. We’re ready,” Haidyn announces.

I’ve never been to a fu neral or watched some one be buried, but there’s a lot to it—when done properly. A cement vault sits below the casket that was sealed. It took them a minute to get into that. Then they had to break the seal of the casket.

Ryat and Sin jump down into it to help them out. Charlotte and I both step closer and look down into the grave that’s supposed to be mine. It feels weird, being out here knowing that my husband buried this body thinking it was me.

The casket opens, and I can’t see much because they’re all down in the grave. The plan is to roll her onto her side, place a tarp under her, and then lift her out. I didn’t interject, but I was very confused when they were discussing it.

Me or not, she’s dead. Why dig her up? What do you do with a corpse?

We step back as they lift her and drop the tarp onto the ground next to the now open grave.

A cold chill runs up my spine when I look at her. It’s me. Dead, but me. Bleached-blond hair and all.

I feel like I’m staring death in the face. This is what I’d look like if I had died in that cathedral. Years of think ing I was insane, and this was the reason—I had a twin sister. An identical twin. Someone else

in this world looked just like me.

“Angel?”

I look up when a hand touches my arm, and I meet my husband’s stare. He rubs my cheek with his tatted knuckles. I don’t know what to say. I can’t imag ine what he felt, hold ing me. Having to tell me goodbye. She’s dressed in one of my dresses and a pair of my red bottoms. I can’t imag ine the pain he went through having to pick out some thing to bury me in.

“Go inside, Eve,” he orders softly, bending down and kissing my fore head. “I’ll be there shortly.” With that, he turns, and Sin hands him a shovel.

Kashton moves to stand over her chest, and he places the tip of the shovel right at her neck. With both hands gripping the handle and his left boot on the step, he slams it down. The steel slices right through her neck, ripping it clean off her shoulders.

Charlotte gags before slapping a hand over her mouth, and I turn to her. “Come on.” I grab her other hand and pull her toward the house. I’m not sure what the fuck they’re doing, but she’s al ways nauseous. Seeing shit like that doesn’t help.