Love and war, p.98
Love and War, page 98
And yet…
I don’t give up. She’s mine. Even though she said she couldn’t love me, she did promise me that. That she belonged to me. In my head, they’re one in the same. One day she’ll let down her guard just a little and I’ll be there to swoop her into my arms. I won’t ever give up on her. If we go round and round until our deaths, so be it. At least I’ll have her. At least I can love her with everything I have. I don’t need it back. I just need her.
I tiptoe up the stairs, careful not to wake her. Before heading into her bedroom, I stop off in the nursery. We still have so much to do before the babies get here. I’m scratching my jaw, figuring out if two cribs will fit along one wall when I remember I bought an app the other day for this purpose. It allows you to measure walls. When I reach into my pocket, I remember I left my phone charging on my nightstand in Brie’s room.
I’m still mulling over our conversation from earlier when I walk into our room. The first thing I notice is the utter silence. She’s not in bed.
“Babe?” I call out and storm into the bathroom. When I find it empty too, my heart rate starts thundering. “Babe!” I stomp into the bedroom and yank my phone from the charger.
Two missed calls from Brie.
Fuck!
I start listening as I clomp down the stairs two at a time. In the first message, she tells me Oscar showed up and they found Vee. That they’re going to Vee’s parents’ house. I snag my keys from the island and break into a sprint out to my truck as I listen to the next message. She curses. Then I hear a crunching sound. And finally…shrieks to let her go that sound far off.
I’m stunned frozen until reality hits me. He fucking took her. Oscar fucking took my girlfriend and is taking her straight to Camilo. Turning on my heel, I run back in the house to collect the gun Gabe gave me and call Dad along the way.
When he answers, I bark out orders. “Find the location of Brie’s phone and then send Gabe. They fucking took her!”
* * *
It took Dad fifteen minutes to hack in and find the last ping of her cell phone. As soon as he gave me the location of the shipyard, I hauled ass there. I should wait for Gabe who I know will come ready to slaughter the entire lot of them, but I don’t. All I can think about is the fact that they have my pregnant girlfriend. Crazy, evil, psychotic men have my Brie.
Fuck!
As soon as the shipyard comes into view, I pull off alongside the dirt road. I launch out of the truck with my gun locked and loaded. I’m ready to blow the head off any motherfucker who stands in my way. I should sneak up on them or something, but it’s hard to do when time is of the essence. Quickly, I prowl down the road hunched over until I reach an open gate. Once inside, I see several vehicles parked in front of what looks like an office. Another gate stands open that leads straight to where the shipping containers are stacked at least ten high. I’m slinking along the outside, hoping to sneak in when I hear a blood-curdling scream from somewhere inside one of the containers. The scream came from Brie—I would recognize the sound of her voice anywhere.
“Brie!!” I yell, no longer worried about my cover. I charge forward but before I make it very far, something cracks me over the head. Stumbling, I attempt to blink away the blurriness in my vision when another blow hits my skull from behind.
Blackness steals away my sight and consciousness. And the last thing I hear until I completely fade away are her screams.
* * *
“Wake up, asshole.”
Pain slices through my head as I attempt to shake away the buzzing in my skull. I’m in a dark room of sorts. The only light that shines through is from a door. Once I blink a few times, I realize I’m in a shipping container.
“You must be the little boyfriend.” An old man laughs. It’s cold and harsh. “The lawn boy, I presume. You’re the little cunt who was fucking my boy’s wife on the side?”
I shake my head in a daze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He swings his fist and it connects with my jaw. My teeth bite down on my bottom lip from the impact and metallic blood gushes into my mouth.
“Don’t lie to me. Are you or aren’t you the cunt who the little girl was in love with before my son married her?” he snarls.
I go to rub at my jaw but realize through my haze that I’m bound to a chair I’m sitting on. “I never touched her while they were married,” I grit out as I spit some blood from my mouth.
The old man comes into the light and squats in front of me. “She’s not talking. My youngest boy has been in there with her trying to extract information from her. You see,” he says and scratches at his white beard. “Your puta girlfriend sold my son’s territory to our motherfucking enemy. Territory that’s been in our family for decades. It wasn’t hers to give away. Now she not only pays with her magical cunt but also with her life.”
“WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE?” I roar and struggle against the ropes.
He smirks and pats my knee. “My boy Oscar is getting his fill of her pussy before I get her back. I promise you, I’m going to extract the debt from her one square inch of her flesh at a time.”
“She’s pregnant,” I snap. “With your son’s babies.”
He’s silent for a moment.
“Twins, huh?” The old fuck simply shrugs his shoulders. “Presumed. But as far as I know, they’re yours.”
I spit at him. “What if they’re Esteban’s?” It’s a lie but I don’t want him thinking the babies are mine because then he’ll have no reason to keep her alive.
Camilo puffs out his chest and fists his hand. “Esteban is disowned. He abandoned our family in our time of need.”
“The doctor said they were Duvan’s,” I try again. “You’d kill your own grandchildren?”
He stands and paces. I hope my words get to him. “I suppose I could keep her around. As a fuck toy for my youngest son until the babies are born. Then, I’ll kill her. Smart thinking, lawn boy.”
I’m about to go off on him when we hear a struggle outside the container. Then four loud pops of a gun. Camilo runs out the door. A few minutes later, he returns dragging Gabe in by his hair.
Fuck!
“And who the fuck are you?” Camilo demands as he shoves Gabe to the floor. Gabe scrambles back up to his feet and wipes blood off his chin. Camilo aims a hand gun at his face. “I asked who the fuck you are.”
Gabe growls. “Your worst motherfuckin’ nightmare.”
At this, Camilo laughs. “Bind him,” he orders to two of his men, who are in the container with us. “This day just keeps getting better and better.”
Gabe puts up one helluva fight and ends up head-butting one of the men. But between Camilo and the still-standing man, they wrestle him into submission.
“Where the fuck is Pedro?” Camilo demands, his chest heaving. “This is his shit to deal with.”
The man who’s not sprawled out unconscious on the floor shakes his head. “This fucker took out four of ours before I tackled him.”
Camilo glares at Gabe before turning back to the man. “As in incapacitated or—”
“He blew their heads off.”
With a rage-filled roar, Camilo punches Gabe in the stomach hard enough to have him gasping for air.
“Where’s Brie?” I demand, hoping to distract them.
“I already told you. Getting her brains fucked out by my son. While he gets what he so desperately wants, I’m going to enjoy myself.” He unsheathes a knife from his belt. “Starting with you.”
Gabe grunts and struggles from the chair beside me as Camilo slowly prowls toward me. The blade of his knife points right at me as a taunt.
“People who fuck with the Rojas family eventually meet my blade,” he seethes. He punches me hard in the gut. Searing pain explodes from the impact. It takes only a second to realize he didn’t punch me. He fucking stabbed me.
“J-Just let her go,” I choke out. The pain in my stomach steals my breath.
He laughs again. It’s cold and ugly. Slowly, he pulls his blade from my middle. I hiss when blood rushes from the gaping hole.
“If you want to fucking slaughter someone, I’m right here,” Gabe bellows and struggles against his restraints. “Right the fuck here. Man to old fucking man. Cut me loose and see just how many jabs you can get on this man.”
Pain throbs from my stomach, and I struggle for air. Camilo looks over at Gabe and smirks. “I would gut you in a heartbeat.”
“Wanna fucking bet?” Gabe snarls.
Camilo shakes his head and storms back over to me. He grabs a handful of my hair and jerks my head up. “You don’t want this boy to die. Is he yours? Better yet is she yours?”
Gabe utters out a fuck you.
My eyes keep rolling back in my head, but I fight desperately to keep them open.
“You must be the evil fuck who sent her off to live with Heath. Did you know he was a twisted man? Did you know he wanted to fuck your sweet little girl even back when she was just fifteen years old? She resembles you now that I’m really looking at you.” Camilo shrugs and slashes his arm out in front of me. Fire skates across my chest, and I gape down at the slice across my pectoral muscles.
“JUST FUCKING STOP!” Gabe roars.
Camilo wipes his blade against the thigh of his slacks. “I won’t stop until I drain the life out of both of you.”
“Ren,” Gabe snaps, making me jolt with sudden awareness. “Fucking stay with me.”
I blink again and attempt to struggle against the ropes. But I’m weak. So damn weak.
“Where was I?” Camilo questions as if we were discussing a football game or some shit. “Oh,” he says with a wicked grin that reveals his teeth. “I remember. I was gutting this little piggy.”
Pain explodes in my thigh this time as he plunges the knife deep into the muscle. My dizziness evaporates as I scream. Fire lashes at the entry point. I’m feeling overwhelming pain from so many places that I’m starting to lose touch with reality.
Brie.
I close my eyes and envision her sad eyes. Eyes that on occasion twinkle with happiness. I live for those small moments with her. Moments that are worth all the other hard times. Her smiles are like heaven. She’s my angel.
“REN!”
I blink my eyes open to Gabe’s voice. Turning my head, I manage to see him going fucking crazy in his chair. The man behind him simply laughs. My gaze fixates on the way Gabe loosens his binds around one wrist without our captors even noticing.
“I-I-I love her,” I tell my beautiful girl’s father. Not that he cares. Not that it matters. I just want it to be heard. The darkness keeps creeping up on me and if it steals me away, I want those words to be the last ones on my lips. “I l-love Brie. I l-l-love the b-babies.”
Camilo kneels in front of me. “Cue the fucking tears. We have us a modern day Romeo here.” He hollers as if she can hear him wherever she is. “Juliet! Juliet! Your Romeo’s heart is bleeding for you.”
“J-Just let her go,” I murmur. I’m not even sure if the words make it outside my mouth.
My eyes fall closed and my head flops forward. The only pain I feel right now is in my heart. Sadness and loss. I don’t want to lose her. I finally fucking got her back. Duvan died and it was up to me to be there for her. To see it to the end with her. We were going to be a family. As fucked up as it was, a family.
I think about the first time I made love to her. What feels like eons ago when we were so innocent. Just the two of us under the moonlight by the ocean. Our bodies meeting for the first time in an intimate way.
God, I fucking love her.
Gabe shouts over and over again. I can feel bites and licks of pain but they don’t matter anymore. All that matters are her pretty browns staring at me. The way her lips press against mine in the middle of the night. At one time I’d craved having her in the light. But now I want her to find me in this dark.
Find me, Brie.
Fucking find me.
Black swarms in like a cloud of a million bees.
It shadows my world.
Blinds me.
I can’t see her anymore.
Fucking find me, Brie.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Brie
I brace for Ozzy to enter me against my will. My friend. Someone who I thought I loved is about to betray me in the worst possible way. In some ways, this will be worse than it was with Esteban. With Ozzy, I care.
But he doesn’t.
I’m jolted to reality when he whispers against the shell of my ear. “They think I’m raping you. We don’t have much time. Just scream and make it sound like you’re struggling while I figure out what the hell we’re going to do.”
I gape up at him in the darkness. The small beam of light from the flashlight isn’t enough for me to see his face. I’d like to imagine that if I could see him, he’d have the same mischievous expression I remember from before.
He climbs off me and rises to his feet. Then, he grabs hold of my shoulders and helps me to my feet as well. I’m still wearing Ren’s hoodie, so it thankfully covers my ass as it hits about mid thigh and I still have my Ugg’s on.
“Scream,” he hisses as I hear the click of his weapon.
I let out an ear-piercing scream that muffles our footsteps toward the door. With his gun poised and ready to shoot, he slowly drags open the door a crack and peeks outside.
“There’s no one out here,” he mutters, his voice sounding confused. He drags the door the rest of the way open and we both wince at the screeching sound it makes. Then, he motions for me to follow him. Sunlight is still not visible as a winter storm begins to roll in. The wind is cold and powerful.
“This way,” he tells me and motions for me to follow.
I run after him but then stumble to a halt when we come across a dead body. A man who has a bullet through his skull. I can’t help but have a surge of hope welling inside me. Maybe Ren was able to find me.
We’re headed toward the gate when I hear a familiar voice.
“Daddy?” I murmur.
“We need to go,” Oscar hisses and jerks at my arm.
I wriggle from his grasp. “No! My dad is here! I hear him over there!” Pointing, I begin running toward the sound. Oscar curses behind me but quickly passes me with his gun raised. We pass three more unmoving bodies, and I can’t help but pray they’re all dead. Grunts and cursing and shouting can be heard from a shipping container fifty feet or so ahead that has its door open. When I hear Daddy’s horrified voice shouting Ren’s name, all thought vanishes from my brain—except for reaching them—as I bolt ahead of Oscar.
As soon as I burst through the door, my entire world tilts on its axis. Blood. So much blood. Like Mom. Like Duvan. It causes me to stumble over my feet and gag from the sight of it. My eyes fixate on my dad for one second. He’s bloody and furious, but alive. Ren on the other hand…
“What have you done?” I hiss at Camilo, no longer concerned about my own safety. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”
One of his men appears from the shadows and grabs me from behind. I go crazy trying to escape. He’s stronger and slaps a hand over my mouth to keep me quiet. My eyes land on Ren. Sweet, sexy, beautiful, perfect Ren. Completely drenched in blood. His head hangs in front of him and his hair hides his eyes from me. I can’t tell if he’s still alive or not. A sob catches in my throat as hot tears streak down my cheeks.
“I should have known my son wouldn’t have been able to manage you. You probably sweet talked him right out of that container,” Camilo says in disgust as he stalks over to Ren. His bloody knife is the only thing I see, though. It’s a threat to my Ren.
A man groans from the floor and stands on wobbly feet. When he regains focus, he roars at my father and pistol whips him. Everything blurs in front of me as the tears become too plentiful. We will all die here. All three of us. Two of the people I love most in the world sit in those chairs, bloody and weak. Camilo is going to end them all because of me.
I squirm against the man holding me and when his hand slips off my mouth, I manage to cry out, “Oscar! Help us!”
He charges into the container, but Camilo stops him with his harsh words. “That’s enough, hijo!”
Camilo goes to stand behind Ren and grabs a handful of his hair. He yanks his head back so I can see Ren’s face. His eyes slowly blink open. When they fixate on me, he utters something unintelligible before attempting to smile at me. It breaks my heart into a thousand pieces.
“Say goodbye to your lawn boy,” Camilo hisses. His blade comes into view and it takes me a half a second to realize what he’s about to do. He’s about to deliver the same fate to Ren that Heath did to Duvan. I should close my eyes. Not witness another horrifying act, but I refuse to abandon Ren in his last moments.
The storm must be picking up because I swear I hear chaos ensuing outside of the metal containers. I wish the storm would pick us all up and carry us out to the sea. Drowning would be quick and painless. I wouldn’t have to watch those I love bleed out.
“B-Brie.” Ren’s reverent way of saying my name has me sobbing so hard, I can’t breathe. I lock eyes with his half-lidded ones and convey every ounce of love I have for him with just one look.
Camilo’s movement is quick as he slashes his knife across the front of Ren’s throat. I’m frozen even as a million things happen at once. Daddy freeing a hand and throwing a punch that lands in Camilo’s stomach, which jolts him. The man holding my mouth releases me as he’s tackled by Oscar.
And then I’m running.
Running. Running. Running.
I must get to him.
Movement and shadows race around me but I ignore them as I all but tackle Ren in the chair. Blood runs from a slice in his throat and it’s Duvan all over again as I desperately hold my palm over the wound. I sob and kiss his bloody face.
“D-Don’t leave me,” I beg through my tears. “Please don’t you dare leave me. I love you!”
I slide out of his lap and hit the floor. I’m on a mission to free him from this chair. Shouts and thumping of metal resound behind me, but I don’t care. All that matters is untying Ren and getting him to a hospital.
