Knight, p.14
Knight, page 14
“Deal!” I squeeze her hand and let them drift through the room so he can introduce her to the others.
This is the most at ease I have seen Reaper, usually the darkness is at the forefront of his mind, you can see it all over his face.
But right now it’s settled, he is calm.
Knight makes his way back over to me, tugging me to his side. “He looks happy,” he tells me.
I nod. “He seems to be.”
He kisses the top of my head and I rest my head on his chest. I look to Annie who is being held on one hip while Penny is on the other side of Gage.
They are spoiled rotten; they have all these men completely wrapped around their fingers.
Terror takes Annie from Gage and they just stand there, all talking with the girls just smiling contently.
I love the family that we have made here. I never dreamed that when I left my other town and came here, I’d find my home, my true home where I know my place fully, completely.
A couple of hours later, I’m helping Knight place all of his birthday gifts in the backseat of the truck.
Annie is asleep on her feet. Knight lifts her into the truck and sets her in her seat.
She yawns happily and looks around the truck. “Are we going home?” she asks.
“We are.”
I wave to the others who drive past us, heading back home.
Reaper drives past with his girl, Julia. She waves to me and I wave back. She rests her head on Reaper’s back since it’s so cold outside, snugging close to him.
I get in the truck, blasting the heat since it’s chilly. “Knight, I forgot my bunny.” Annie cries out and he lifts her out of the truck, where she was about to jump out. “I’m going to run her inside,” he says and I nod.
I sit back in the seat, watching them walk inside. Annie is talking her head off to Knight who is just smiling and listening to her.
They slip inside the restaurant, the lights inside turning dark because it’s close to closing time.
I hoped that Bell and Maverick would have come tonight but they’re on a cruise right now.
Annie misses them so much; they’re the ones that will be babysitting her when Knight and I go on the vacation I booked for us.
I look down at my phone staring at the texts I’ve received and Annie’s teacher asking if we can bring snacks in for a movie they have planned for Monday morning.
Suddenly, my door is wrenched open and I turn to see if it’s Knight trying to scare me.
But no, it’s a gun pointed right in my face.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I gasp in shock; it’s my brother-in-law. He’s glaring at me, like I’m the devil in the flesh.
“Get the fuck out of the truck, bitch!” he yells at me but I don’t move, I’m completely frozen in fear and shock.
“What are you doing here, Ryan?” I ask him, gripping the seat like he’s going to pull me out of the truck.
“You know exactly why, you killed my brother,” he hisses and reaches inside the truck, grabbing my hair in his fist.
I scream and take a hold of him. “Stop! I didn’t kill him!” It’s technically not a lie.
He laughs in my face. “Listen bitch, we have an eyewitness. You either are coming with me or I’m going to kill that sweet little angel of yours.” Then he smirks. “Actually, I can think of other things I can do to her that doesn’t involve killing her.”
I feel like I die on the spot with him threatening Annie. Tears fill my eyes and roll down my face knowing what I have to do to keep her safe.
“Okay.” My voice cracks as I mutter the single world that shatters my heart into a million pieces.
A van pulls up and I step inside, the gun still trained on me the whole time.
Ryan is just staring at me, gloating, thrilled that he has me in his custody.
Ryan has always scared me. His wife died from him beating her to death. She lived a literal nightmare. I went to her funeral and he was laughing, trying to find his next wife, who was a twelve year old.
I thanked God every day that I wasn’t the one that was forced into marrying him. Arthur was horrible too but it was nothing compared to Ryan.
Ryan is just evil, pure evil.
He doesn’t have a soul.
“What is the sentence for killing your husband?” he asks me, like he’s thrilled at the prospect of what I have to say to him.
One part of me wants to ignore him and not answer, but another part of me knows what could happen if I don’t. I breathe deep, fear rocking me to my core.
“Death by a thousand lashings,” I say, not able to stop the tremor in my voice.
He chuckles darkly. “DING DING DING!” he says, dramatically.
Knight
It took a while, but we finally managed to find Annie’s bunny; it was under the table where she and Penny made a play fort for them using the tablecloths.
They lock the door behind us since it’s closing time.
I was shocked that Daniella did all of this for me. I’m fucking so in love with her and this little girl, who is holding my hand and putting her trust in me.
I look at the truck and see that the passenger door is wide open, with the light on. She must be in the back messing around with the gifts; it all barely fit in the back.
The closer I get, an awful feeling sinks in my fucking gut.
I pick up Annie and move closer to the truck, peering in the backseat then the front, she is nowhere to be found.
“Where’s Mommy?” Annie asks and every part of me freezes with fear, my heart sinking all the way to the fucking ground.
I sit her in the front seat, shutting the door. “Daniella!” I yell out into the dark parking lot like I’m trying to find hope that she is just hiding from us, trying to push back the fear.
But she doesn’t answer back.
I grip the back of the truck; I can’t fucking breathe. Someone has taken her. I do the only thing I can do, take out my phone and hit SOS, letting all my brothers know that I need them asap.
Annie’s little face is pressed against the window, I can tell that she is terrified. I open the door, taking her in my arms. “Where is Mommy?”
What do I fucking say? I don’t say anything, I stand there. I can’t leave Annie to go look for her, she needs to be taken somewhere safe so I can find her mom.
It doesn’t take but a few minutes when I hear them. Reaper roars into the parking lot, pulling to a stop in front of me. I set Annie inside my truck and shut the door so she can’t hear what is going on.
I can feel her staring at me.
“She is fucking gone! I went back inside to find Annie’s bunny with her and I came back to her fucking gone!” I rush out in a fucking panic; I feel like my body is burning alive in fear.
Reaper growls and grabs Julia. “Can you stay with her?” I ask Julia and she nods and gets in the passenger seat, holding Annie.
“Who would fucking take her?” I rub my face thinking on it and then I spot a camera on all corners of the restaurant. “Cameras!” I tell Reaper and we take off running for the front door.
Reaper bangs his fist onto the glass door and one of the waitress’s scared face looks at us before letting us in.
I hear the others pulling in and I know they will come inside. I rush through the doors to where the office is, close to the bathrooms. I have seen it there before so I know where it is.
“What is going on?” one of the workers asks me, taking us in.
“My woman was taken; I need to see the fucking camera feed,” I tell him and he moves out of the way letting us pass. I would have fucking taken him out if he didn’t move in another second.
I throw open the door and spot the worker. “Fucking pull it up,” I tell him and he runs in, running the feedback. “About twenty minutes ago,” I tell him and he rolls it back.
I can see that Daniella is in the truck, then a man literally rips open my fucking door with a gun pointed at my woman’s head.
Fuck.
I run my hands through my hair. Who the fuck is this?
The door is pushed open and River is here. “What the fuck happened?”
I explain what happened and she takes over the feed. “Fuck! She has a GPS on her phone, I bet that she still has it turned on.”
I feel fucking hope for the first time since all of this happened. “It's not your fault,” River tells me, trying to help me feel better.
But it doesn’t do shit for me.
I feel fucking sorry for the person who dared to take her, to hurt her, the way he drug her out of the truck by hair.
The fucking pain this person is going to suffer is going to be unimaginable, I can’t fucking wait.
River jumps up out of the seat. “Fuck, she is still moving,” she tells me and shows me a GPS that is leading outside of town in the middle of fucking nowhere.
I take her phone and run out of the building. “I will take care of Annie,” River tells me and I nod, thankful that she is here and she will protect my daughter.
Gage is standing in front of my truck; I know that he is guarding my girl. “We need to fucking go,” I tell him and he runs to his truck. I get in the passenger seat leaving my truck for River and Julia.
I can’t even fucking look at Annie right now. I will fall apart if I see her fear.
I set the phone in the holster, Gage looks at it and roars out of the parking lot toward Daniella.
We are on our way baby; we are fucking coming. The drive there is literal torture; all I can fucking do is pray that someone doesn’t hurt her.
I take my gun out of the back of my pants, checking to make sure that it is loaded. “Let’s get this shit done, I have some fuckers to fucking kill.”
Rage is filled in every piece of me, I am fucking coming, baby.
I will destroy them.
Daniella
Every minute in this truck, I wish that we were hours from our location because the closer we get, the sooner that they’re going to lash me to death.
I have witnessed once before a woman getting lashed, it was the worst thing I have ever seen.
She said that her husband died in his sleep, but they claimed she poisoned him, and they killed her for it.
Soon the vehicle stops, and I weep inside. I won’t give them the satisfaction of seeing me break.
He grips me by my hair once again and drags me out of the truck. I hiss at the pain in my scalp, the reaction coming out before I could stop it.
He laughs and pulls me across the gravel, loving every second of causing me pain.
There is a cross in the middle of the field and I spot the faces of the men that are the elders of the church. They are all here, all of them.
Fuck.
This is not good.
They are dressed in white, the same clothes they wear to a funeral and today that funeral is mine.
My poor angel Annie and the baby that might be in my stomach, it hurts me, fucking destroys me to think about them.
I don’t want Annie to be fazed by this, I don’t want her to know the truth of my dying. She has been through so much in her little life, I just want her to have a good life.
Oh God, Knight. This will kill him because he is so protective. My heart breaks for Annie and Knight because I love them most in the world.
I will never get to see Annie fall in love, meet her person, and see her walk down the aisle.
I’ll never get to see Knight holding our newborn baby, to see Annie’s excited face over being a sibling for the first time.
All the hopes and dreams that I have are crashing down all around me.
They lead me to the cross, my face is pressed into the wood, my arms tied in front of me, leaving me hugging the wood.
I look behind me and see all the men are watching me intensely. These are the men that are responsible for the hell so many people have gone through, the ones that started all of this.
Who the fuck gave these men all this power? Anger fills me, empowers me, and I stiffen my back. I won’t give them the satisfaction of seeing me scared.
Even though my heart is utterly breaking.
There’s a scream behind me, it sounds like a woman. I try to see who it is but I can’t look any further than just barely over my shoulder.
“Please don’t do this! I helped you,” she cries and the realization of who the voice belongs to, hits me when I see her.
The fucking teacher.
Is she the cause of this? They set her up next to me on the other cross. “Why are you doing this?” she sobs and rests her head against the wood.
I can’t bring myself to feel sorry for her.
Ryan walks up to her and I tense, just waiting to see what he is going to do to her. “Because you didn’t stop him from being murdered, you’re just as guilty,” he explains to her and backs away.
He looks at the both of us, gleeful, seeing us tied up and completely at their mercy. She is staring at me. This is all her fault, she did this, she ran to these people and ran her mouth.
Now look what is happening.
I am fucking bitter because of her. I will never get to see my daughter grow up because she wants to be back into the cult.
I turn away from her. “Please don’t hurt me, I will do anything, I will marry you!” she pleads to Ryan. I am disgusted that anyone would ever offer herself up to him.
He bursts out laughing and all the elders join in. I turn to her and see her face is red with embarrassment.
I would rather die than be married to that awful fucker.
He bends over after he is finished laughing. “Do you think I would marry someone like you? You can’t have kids which is why you were forced to leave in the first place, wench.”
I close my eyes at the realization that she was married, and she couldn’t have kids. So, they didn’t have any use for her anymore but in their ignorant brains they don’t understand that the man could be the problem too.
I stay silent. This is not my battle; I can’t help her no matter if I tried. Ryan looks at me. “Unlike this cunt here, she can have kids.” He walks over and runs his hand down the back of my head.
I fight the urge to throw up because his hands are on me.
But I don’t make a sound, I don’t move, I just shut myself down. Ryan taps the top of my head and walks back over to her. “So, how should we kill you?” he asks her and her eyes widen in horror, it’s sinking in that there is no way out for her.
I clasp my lips together, this is my end too and I doubt her death will be worse than mine, a death of a thousand lashings.
No one ever makes it to the end, but do you think they stop until there’s absolutely nothing left of you?
I remember the silence when I had to witness this when I was younger. The women were quiet, but the men were cheering with every lash.
We never said a word, just prayed that it didn’t happen to us.
Now I am here, it’s going to happen to me. My insides are shaking with fear, the anticipation of what’s to come.
Ryan lifts his gun. “Honestly, I don’t even think you’re worth this bullet,” he tells her.
She starts screaming at the top of her lungs, trying to break free from the restraints. In amazement, I notice that her ropes are starting to loosen. I hold my breath waiting to see what happens to her.
He places the gun right to the back of her head and she stops moving, she has run out of time.
She looks at me, and in this moment, I stare back at her. I see the resignation in her eyes.
I let out a deep breath. I don’t want her death to come while she looks into the eyes of the men that did this to her.
They caused her to be like this; the cult is destroying people’s lives, ruining them. I decide to give her peace even though in the end she doesn’t deserve it. But she is human, everyone deserves peace in their own way.
I mouth to her, I forgive you. I don’t want to die and hold onto the anger I feel for her.
She sinks into the wood of the cross. I nod to her, and she gives me a brief smile before the gun goes off, the bullet sinking into the back of her head.
I watch as the life leaves her eyes. I try not to throw up, the horror of what I just witnessed has me going into a panic attack.
I let my head hang, as they start laughing at her. “Shit, she didn’t even twitch like when an animal dies,” one of the men says. “I wonder has anyone ever fucked a dead body before?” another asks.
I try not to throw up at what they’re suggesting, these men are evil. They must not have one single good thought in their whole head.
“Shit, should we try it?” another voice asks and I don’t dare to look over.
A hand wraps around my face, pulling it over so I am looking at what they’re doing. One of the elders is behind me, grips the back of her head so she is forced to look up at him, then he lets her go and her head rolls. They all laugh at her; I hope that she can have peace in the afterlife, something she didn’t have here.
Her life is just gone, just like that.
Tears roll down my face at this, this is so terrible.
They’re all laughing like they didn’t just take her life because she didn’t stop Knight from killing Arthur.
“Aww, it seems that she is sad,” Ryan says and I feel him approaching me. I don’t move or speak.
He grips the back of my hair, jerking my head back hard, causing me to internally wince at the pain he just caused me.
He gives me a pouting look. “What? Aren’t you having a good time?” he asks me.
I don’t reply.
His eyes start to narrow on me. One thing I will have at the end of this is my dignity. There is no fucking way I am going to give in to him in any single way. He is not worth the effort.
A hand slams on the wood directly above my head and I just stare at him. “Answer me bitch or I swear to God I will make your suffering ten times worse.”
I really don’t know how a thousand lashings could be topped, so I don’t speak, kind of liking the way he is becoming unhinged.
His hand lashes out suddenly, smacking me hard across the cheek. My head hits the side of the wood from the impact of the smack.
