Until mercy happily ever.., p.14
Until Mercy: Happily Ever Alpha World, page 14
“Yeah. Once everything works out, we want you back at the boutiques. I mean, only if you want,” Lana adds, taking a sip of her wine.
“Of course, I would love to come back, if that day ever comes.”
“Hey. It’s not an if, Mercy. You aren’t going to be running from him for forever. If you trust anyone, then trust me when I say this will not last forever.” Lana touches my arm, and I see that look in her eye. The one she always wears. It’s as if there’s fear but it’s quickly replaced with the sudden realization there’s nothing to worry about anymore.
“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?” I ask, wanting to hear exactly what it is that once haunted Lana.
She nods, taking a seat at the very small and beat up island in my rundown house. I cleaned it up and decorated as nice as possible, but the brittle bones are still there.
“I had a Link too. His name was Joel and we met when I was sixteen.” She takes another sip of her wine, and Shayla sits next to her. She runs her hand comfortingly over Lana’s arm, and they share a bonded look.
She continues. “It was three months in, the first time he hit me. I remember that hit, because it was so fast and so hard that I was face-down in the dirt. It was after one of the football games. I didn’t know he was there. He was a senior and spent time getting high or joyriding with his friends when I was at school functions. I was a cheerleader—me and Shayla were. Kingston and Trey were on the football team, so it was normal for us to meet up after and hang out. We were best friends, so it was really no different than any other Friday night hang out that we had. But something changed in him.”
I’m hanging on every word, bumps rising on my skin and never settling. It’s like a horror movie, and you know something bad is going to pop out from around the corner.
“After the game, we were all hanging in the bleachers, and that’s when Joel called me. I answered and he was so upset, telling me he needed to see me. He sounded angry. So I told him I was on my way. I left Shayla, Trey, and Kingston in the stands, and I headed to the parking lot. When I made it behind the bleachers, right by the parking lot, someone grabbed me and covered my mouth so I couldn’t scream. When he spoke and I realized it was him, I calmed down and thought maybe he was playing or just being weird. Well, I turned to face him, he punched me in the face, and I fell to the ground. Before I could scream, he climbed on top of me and covered my mouth. His friends came from behind the bleachers and gathered around us. They scared me. But he scared me more. He had this look in his eyes, a look I never saw before. He was different, and then he told me he would kill me. He would kill my family and anyone I loved if I ever told anyone.” She takes a deep breath, and that’s when I notice we’re all crying.
“Lana. Oh my God. I’m so sorry.” I round the table to wrap her in a hug and she lets me.
“It’s not your fault, but it didn’t stop there, Mercy. He got worse, and the men with him were not afraid to carry out his orders.” I step back and she continues. “He hit me for years until Kingston finally convinced me to leave. It was the night after graduation and the night before we were supposed to leave for Seattle, when Kingston and I finally admitted how we felt about one another. I’d loved Kingston since I knew what love was, but he was my best guy friend. My best friend’s brother. And I didn’t want to lose what we had, so I met someone else. The wrong someone.”
She takes a sip of wine, trying to bring in her emotions. Shayla stays silent, rubbing her back, and I see their friendship in a different light. It’s beautiful and strong and everything I hope to have one day. In fact, I feel that bond forming with them now.
“So Kingston and I made love. I knew then that he was my only option and I had to trust he would keep me safe. But just like you, that lasted a short while. In the middle of the night, I went home, and Joel was there waiting. I told him I was leaving him and he attacked me. Nearly killed me. I saw the end, in fact. I begged for it, Mercy. I begged that each kick would be the last so I would never have to feel the pain and fear again. Then Kingston showed up and saved me.”
“What happened with Joel? Where is he now?” I ask.
“That night, he was arrested and had drugs and an unregistered gun on him. So he got six years. And for six years, Kingston and I fought and made love and fought and made love. We said sorry so many times, and he tried so hard to get me to love him, but I couldn’t love after what happened. Love nearly killed me. It nearly killed everyone I loved. But with time, he made me see I wasn’t in love with Joel like I was in love with Kings, and that big, crazy, jealous, and stupid alpha I now call my husband fought a war to make me his, and he did. Our story is heartbreaking but beautiful, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
“So he never tried contacting you or coming after you?”
She scoffs, but not at me—no, at the situation.
“No, sweet girl. He came after me. He did. I will spare the details, but he did. And I am here now, in front of you. Safe. With the man I love more than anything in this world, with a beautiful family. But not without running, not without pain and fear and lots of heartbreak. But I’m here, and you are too, and we will make sure this Link fucker is dealt with, okay?”
I snort and wipe at her tears, and she wipes at mine.
“Now, let’s get the food started, I’m starving, and I don’t want to talk about any more of that crap. Okay. The men can handle it. Let’s enjoy our last night here,” Lana finishes.
Lana, Shayla, Kingston, and Trey are headed back to Seattle tomorrow, and Kellan and I have decided to stay here until we find Link and take care of him. Knowing there is someone in the police that is on our side—Kellan’s father—I feel much more at ease with thinking we could lock him up for a long while. He’s a criminal, a true, deep-to-his-very-core criminal, and he’s done enough to keep him locked up for good.
I have to believe that. It’s all I can do.
Chapter Sixteen
Kellan
“We have no idea where he is, but once we find him, we can have him and his henchmen locked up for good. Look at this rap sheet, Uncle Nico. Countless murders, drugs, and illegal arms trade. Link Marks has been running from the law for years. My father and his partner have been trying to find him for a long time now,” I say, as Nico and his son-in-law Harlen stand on one side of Nico’s desk in his office, while Kingston, Trey, and I stand on the other. Nico finally convinced me that Mercy would be safe enough for him to go to the police. Now—I’m not so sure. Seeing the information that my father and Nico both provided to me has me second guessing if she truly is safe.
“How come they never gave you the case?” Nico questions.
“My dad. He isn’t exactly a fan of what I do, and usually his partner is the one who will give me cases without his knowledge. He stays out of it just as much as you do since you joined the force.”
“That sounds like him. A cop who thinks what you do is dangerous. Comical and typical. Stubborn as ever.”
“Yeah, I’m close with Miller, my dad’s partner, and sometimes—unfortunately—he will keep the more involved cases away from me.”
“I see that.” He gestures to the pictures of Link sprawled out on the table. My father sent them this morning.
“So now what? You guys haven’t seen him come into the city? He’s nowhere to be found in Seattle. What do we do now?”
Nico shakes his head. “Unfortunately, son, we wait. He’s plotting and planning, and the best we can do is be ready for it.”
“He’s right. We wait and just keep her safe,” Harlen adds.
“She ain’t gonna like that,” I say, rubbing at my neck, the stress of this news getting to me.
“None of our women will, but we have to protect them.” Kingston pats my back.
Mercy got sassy and hotheaded with me this morning after we spent a long time being the opposite in bed. I told her about Harlen’s biker brothers keeping an eye on her when I’m not around, and she about walked out of the hotel and scared off the big badasses herself.
“Speaking of….” Harlen holds up his phone, showing Z’s calling. He’s on duty outside my girl’s house tonight. “Hey, Z, what’s up?” I watch his face as he grows mad, and my stomach drops.
“What do you mean you lost her? Where the fuck was she going?”
I don’t let him finish. I call her then. It rings a few times, and right before it goes to voicemail and I prepare to lose my shit, her voice comes through.
“Kellan.”
“Mercy. You giving Z the slip and outrunning my guys?” I try humor, but it dissipates quickly. She’s crying, and I can hear the sound of a car running and tires screeching.
“Kellan, I love you. I’m so sorry. I almost didn’t answer, but I couldn’t not say goodbye and tell you that I love you.”
“Mercy, are you running from me again?” My voice is low, and the pain sinks in. As I make my way to my car, the guys are hot on my heels.
“No! Kellan! No, I wouldn’t leave you like that again. He found me and he has Shayla. He said if I don’t come alone, he’ll kill her, and I know he’s no bluff, and you know it too. But I couldn’t at least tell you I love you, and if I ever get the chance to run again and if he doesn’t kill me, I will find you. We will always find our way back. But if we don’t and he kills me, just know I love you and always have. You’re my happy. You’re my everything.”
“Damn it, Mercy! No, baby. You can’t go like this. Tell me where you are. I promise I will keep her and you both safe. Tell me where you are!” I run now, the boys already climbing into the SUV.
“I love you, Kellan. I do.”
“Baby, no!” She hangs up then, and I yell out into the car, “No! Damn it!”
Nico starts the car and peels out while calling for back up. I can hear him telling them to approach with caution and to not draw attention, but I zone out the rest.
“What the fuck is going on? How did he lose her?” I yell at Harlen, and he shakes his head.
“I’m sorry, brother. She’s good at running. But calm down. We know where she is.”
“How?”
“A tracker,” Trey says, and that’s when I see he’s just as upset and the look in his eyes is mad. He obviously spoke to Z while I was talking to Mercy, and found out about Shayla.
“You have a tracker?” I ask, looking over to him. They have his wife, and now the women we love are at risk.
“Yes, I have a tracker on her.”
I don’t ask him for answers beyond that. He knows where they are and where my girl is headed. I drop my head in my hands, and I call out to Mercy in my mind. Hang tight, baby. I’m coming. I promised I would keep you safe.
“I will kill him,” Trey declares in the silence of the car. “I won’t hold back, and none of you get in my way or you will be collateral at that point.” He keeps his eyes on the trees outside that we speed by.
We get deeper and deeper into the woods, and my knee gets more and more twitchy. “You and I both. I will put a bullet in his head if he hurts her,” I threaten.
“How was she taken?” Nico asks.
“Z said he followed them to the store, because they forgot to grab something for dinner. Mercy waited in the car, and when Shayla went in, someone grabbed her and took her out the back. Link must have called Mercy and threatened her, because out of nowhere, she took off and Z lost her. Z went back to the store after we talked.”
Harlen picks up from there. “He just messaged me an update. Link had one of his men hold the cashier hostage while he snuck her out the back. There was no other customers or witnesses.”
“Damn it.” Trey hits the chair in front of him.
“Is Z still with Lana?” Kingston worries.
“Yes. She’s safe. She has no idea what’s going on, and we want to keep it that way. Z said she is still cooking, and I don’t want her finding out and trying to run too,” Harlen reassures, and I feel and hear Kingston release a deep breath beside me.
“We’re here, my guys shouldn’t be far behind, my partners ETA is ten minutes.” Nico tells us. That’s too long and he must see it in my eyes because he doesn’t dare asks me to stay put and wait.
Looking around, I see nothing in sight but a heavy wooded area. “I don’t see anything.”
“Get your head in the game, Kellan. We can’t just roll up. We’re less than half a mile from the tracker location. We’ll have to go by foot the rest of the way,” Nico says.
“Damn it, she could be fucking gone by then!” I yell, climbing out and checking my gun. I pull it out and see it’s fully loaded.
“Let’s go. We need to stay together. It’s just north of here, straight through that patch of woods. See the light?”
In the distance, we can see a small amount of light. Nico looks at Trey’s phone in his hand, where he has the tracker pulled up.
“That’s where we need to go. Be quiet and follow me.” I take over from there, and Trey is right beside me as we pick up speed. We come up to the side of the abandoned barn in the middle of nowhere, staying quiet behind the trees, and I spot the guard at the door.
“Kingston, you and Trey don’t have guns. You wait here until I signal you. The guard at the door has a gun in his right holster. Harlen, go around the back and to the other side. Rustle some trees and get him out your way. Then I need you to knock him out. Nico, you’re with me. You will watch the back way as I come in, and when I give you the all-clear, have Trey and Kingston come in to get Shayla and I’ll get Mercy. No sudden movements, got it?”
Everyone nods and follows orders. When Harlen gets to the other side and makes his noises, the guard takes off that way, leaving the front entrance open. I signal Nico to head to the back, and I go to the front. I hear yelling and the sound of crying. I peek in the door, and I see Mercy held by another guard with his knife to her throat. I take a deep breath and focus on the goal.
Get them out alive.
I see Link standing over Shayla with a gun to her head, and I look over to where Trey and Kingston are and shake my head, warning them to stay. We have a matter of seconds, and if this goes wrong, I lose everything. My girl. My life.
I’m at his mercy right now.
“Remember the last time we were in this position, Mercy? You wanted to be a stupid bitch and run from me, and now look!” He pushes the gun closer to Shayla’s temple. “Now you’ve pissed me off and caused me an even bigger mess!” He wipes at the sweat of his forehead, and Mercy cries out.
“I will go with you. Just let her go and I will walk out of here with you, and no one has to get hurt. I won’t run again, Link,” she begs, and I grit my teeth. That scumbag has my girl afraid and right back where I promised her she would never have to be again.
He laughs sinisterly. “Oh, I know that. But I can’t have another rat out there knowing my face. So she has to go, baby. She does.” I hear the click and see him cock the gun, and instantly, I react. With no choice and with only hope that Nico will know what to do.
“Now!” I yell, and at the same time, Nico busts through the back door as I go through the front. I aim and shoot at the same time Nico does, and the girls both scream when the sound of guns goes off and the bodies hit the floor. Nico shot the guard, and I put a bullet between Link’s eyes.
“Mercy!” I yell, her body on the ground beside the man Nico shot.
“Shayla!” Trey and Kingston come barreling in.
I get to Mercy and see she’s been grazed by the bullet, the knife made a cut on her neck, and she’s unconscious.
“I need the car now! She’s unconscious!” I scream, and the world becomes blurry around me. Everything becomes deafening as I get her to the car she drove here in. I sit in the back and hold her, begging for her to wake up, as Nico speeds to get us to the hospital.
“I can’t lose you this way, baby. Please hear me, Mercy. Please. I’m on my knees.” I hold the fabric I ripped off my shirt and keep it tight against her neck. I didn’t even check to see how deep it went; I just went into survival mode.
Getting to the hospital, everything happens so fast. I scream for help, and the nurses bring a gurney. Placing her on it, I stay beside her all the way till they tell me I can’t. And watching those doors shut and seeing through that small window as she disappears, I fall to my knees. Begging any god out there to please save my Mercy. To bring her back to me.
“Your parents are on their way. Sophie just picked them up from the airport.” Nico brings me a cup of coffee and I take it, with no intentions of drinking it. They’ve had Mercy in the OR for over three hours. They said the knife nearly cut her jugular and she had suffered some internal bleeding from head trauma. The police left, Nico doing most the talking, which I owe him a lot for doing that. The perks of him being the law.
“They said she could have died within minutes. If it would have taken us a few minutes longer to get here, she could have died.” I drop my head and sob, a deep, painful sound leaving my chest.
“I know, buddy. It’s all right. Stay strong. She needs you to be strong when she wakes up.”
“And what if she doesn’t?” I ask what I fear most.
“Don’t do that. Don’t go there. If you go there, you’ll never come out of it, and it will fucking drown you, son. She’s going to pull through this. Mercy’s strong and knows you’re waiting for her. You have to believe she’s fighting just as hard as you did.”
I nod, looking to him as I try to choke back the tears.
“Kellan Ford?”
I stand fast as the doctor calls my name from the waiting room doors. “Yes, that’s me.”
“Hello, I’m Mercy Daniels’s surgeon. We finished the surgery and she is currently in recovery. There was some bleeding in her stomach that caused her to start hemorrhaging, but she’s fine now and expected to make a full recovery. The concussion should clear up with rest, and some medicine for the pain, but as far as any permanent damage, it’s looking clear. She’s very lucky.”
I feel Trey, Kingston, and Nico behind me, and I release a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.
