SWNOVELS Brutal Savage: Chapter 40
While Tynan is out at his meeting, Brody and I watch a movie, sharing popcorn, giggling at characters on screen who play practical jokes on each other. Kinda reminds me of Tynan and me, except a lot less inappropriate.
I wonder when he’ll be done with his meeting. I was hoping we could take Brody to get some ice cream at the café in town.
Curling my arms around him, I kiss the top of his head. He laughs when one of the characters falls. I love hearing his laughter. It’s a beautiful sound, one I’ll never get sick of.
“Elara?” Ruby calls as she approaches from the kitchen. “You just got a delivery. Looks like a wedding present.”
She holds out a white shimmery box with a big white bow on top.
“Does it say who it’s from?”
She glances at the tag. “Just says from friends. Wish you a happy marriage, Ev.”
A hand flies to my chest.
Jerry.
Oh, God.
Her brows crease. “That’s a weird nickname for Elara. Is that something your friends call you?”
I rush to my feet, taking the box from her. Brody glances at me but I feign a smile.
“Yeah,” I tell her, laughing nervously, hoping she doesn’t suspect anything. “I had this friend who liked to call me that on purpose. Anyway, thank you.”
I start back toward Brody, hoping she leaves so I can open this somewhere private.
“Sure. I’ll be in the kitchen if you two need me.”
Curiously, she peers at me over her shoulder before she disappears.
I attempt to keep my cool, all the while terrified of what could be in this box.
“Hey, buddy?” I call to Brody. “I’ll be right back, okay? Just need to put this box away.”
He nods, throwing some popcorn into his mouth, while I head toward an empty den.
Placing the box down, my hands tingle as I pop it open, and when I do, nausea fills my gut.
An icy shiver races down my arms, my expression of shock frozen for a moment until tears spring in my eyes.
“No, no, no!” With shaky hands, I grab the small white envelope beside the severed finger.
Gran’s finger.
“Please, please, it can’t be.”
He must be messing with me.
But it’s hers. I know it.
Staring at the black sapphire ring still attached to Gran, I start to sob silently. It’s the ring Grandpa gave her on their fiftieth anniversary. She never takes it off.
Is she alive? Did Jerry kill her to punish me?
Not Gran. Please not her. I can’t lose another person.
A guttural sob falls silently from my lips.
They took her finger!
I’m gonna be sick!
I rush for the small garbage pail in the corner and hurl into it, my pulse beating in my temples.
When I return, I don’t feel any better.
I choke on a silent cry, covering my mouth with my palm. I knew they would find me. I knew they would hurt my grandparents.
I start tearing open the envelope, blinking back tears as I read the note, recognizing Jerry’s handwriting immediately.
I have her. And you know I’ll kill her. I’ll take you instead. But come alone. If you tell him or tip anyone off, she dies. I’ve got eyes everywhere. 666 Main Street. Lake Tavern.
Covering the box back up, I stuff the note inside and rush toward the door, needing to get to that address before Jerry kills one of the last living relatives I have.
I can’t let him do this. I won’t.
I want to call Tynan, but I’m afraid that Jerry will find out and kill Gran. When I glance down at the bracelet he gave me, I’m immediately thankful for it. He’ll find me. It’ll be okay. Everything will be okay. Jerry doesn’t know it tracks my location.
I act casual as I get to the back of the house, smiling at the guards. I don’t yet know how I’ll make it past them. Other than Rogue, Tynan still has three other guards on me. I can’t have any of them following me.
“Ma’am.” One of them nods in greeting and opens the door, probably thinking I’m going to the garden or the pool to relax.
Every cell in my body wants to break out in a sprint toward my car, but I don’t. I take my time, acting like nothing is going on.
When I’m out of view, I start rushing toward the one side of the gate that normally has no one stationed there because it’s got a hidden lock. Tynan once showed it to me in case of emergencies and gave me the code. I enter it into the keypad, and the door instantly opens.
I notice some guards on the far right, but no one is paying attention to me. I quickly head for my car, parked a short distance away. If I can just get out of the main gate, I’ll be able to help Gran. But I don’t even know if those guys will let me go.
My pulse pummels in my temples as I approach my car. Just a little more, and I’m almost there.
“Please, Gran, just hold on.”
“Elara?”
Oh, no.
My eyes grow when I register Rogue’s voice behind me. I stay rooted while gravel crunches beneath his feet.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?”
“Um…”
Think, damn it!
He comes around to face me. “What’s wrong? Are you crying?”
“Um…I, uh…I have to go see my grandma. She’s not feeling well, so she asked me to come.”
“Okay, I’ll follow you.”
If he follows me, so will the other three bodyguards.
“No, that…that’s okay. I mean, I’m not going far.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m instructed to go wherever you do.”
“Rogue, please! Not today!” I plead, tears leaking from the corners of my eyes.
His eyes lower to what I’m holding. “What’s in the box?”
I shut my eyes, knowing there’s no way out of this. He’s gonna insist on calling Tynan, and my grandma is as good as dead.
Letting out a heavy exhale, I give it one last-ditch effort to save her life. “Look, some bad people from my past are after my family and me. They sent me this.”
I open the box and he stares at it with a tight jaw. As he picks up the note and reads it, I continue.
“If I don’t show up—alone—they’re gonna kill her. I can’t let that happen.” My bottom lip quivers. “Don’t you have family you’d do anything for? That’s what my grandparents are. They’re all I have left. Please just let me go.”
He returns the note, and I shut the box, growing sick at the sight of her finger. The pain she must be going through. Nausea rocks me.
“I’ll help you. But I can’t just let you go alone. They could easily kill you and your grandma.”
I run a hand down my face.
“Look, it’s gonna be fine,” he tries to reassure me, yet all I feel is more anxiety. “I’ll text the other guys that we’re just heading to grab coffee and they can stay at the house. Once we get there, I’ll let you out and take cover where the people who have your grandma can’t see me. But…” He stares at me intently. “I’ve gotta tell Tynan and the other guys once we get there. They’ll back us up and get you two out.”
What he says makes sense. At least I think so.
“Okay. Fine. Let’s go.”
“It isn’t far.” He starts for his SUV. “It’s just a couple of towns over.”
I nod, getting into the passenger side while he jumps into the spot beside me, and we’re off toward the gate.
My foot bounces as I think about what Gran could be going through.
Rogue speeds down the road, zooming past other vehicles.
“How long?” I ask.
“Maybe another fifteen.”
Gran may not have fifteen minutes…
As we make another turn, I notice an SUV behind us doing the same. I saw it earlier, but thought it was just heading down the same street.
“I think that car is following us.”
“Shit,” he mutters, increasing his speed.
But so does the car.
It grows closer.
I gasp as tires screech, another SUV coming right for us.
They must’ve followed us from the house.
Rogue tries to pass them, but they block his way.
“Nonono!” I cry when a man in a ski mask jumps out and marches right for us, a gun in his hand.
“Get us out of here!” I scream at Rogue.
But when he looks at me…a shudder runs down my spine.
I’ve never seen him look at me this way before.
Fear grips around my throat, and I grab the door handle, pulling, shoving. But it’s locked.
“Open it! What are you doing?”
He removes his own weapon and holds it on his lap.
“No…” I whisper, staring at him in disbelief as the man in the mask opens the door and gets into the back.
“Hi, Ev. It’s been a long time.”
“Where is she?” I holler from the floor of the living room in some broken-down abandoned home they took me to.
I don’t know how long we drove for, but it wasn’t too far. Maybe another town some miles away.
“Where’s my grandmother? What did you do to her?”
I don’t know how many men Jerry has with him, though I saw three standing guard outside the door, and one is inside with us.
There could very well be more. They all had guns. Even if I could escape, they’d shoot me down. My best chance at survival is to draw this out and hope like hell that Tynan’s coming for me.
My icy glare flays Rogue where he stands, not even appearing ashamed at his own betrayal. He’s been lying this whole time.
But why? Why hurt Tynan or me?
“How could you do this to Tynan? To his family!” I shake my head with utter disgust. “I expect Jerry to be a backstabber, but you? He trusted you, and you betrayed him. Why?”
He stares at me with narrowed slits of his eyes, refusing to utter a word.
“Answer me!”
Jerry marches forward, slapping me hard across my face. “Shut your mouth, bitch. You don’t ask questions.”
My cheek burns, and I want to rub at it, but my wrists are tied behind my back, throbbing from the zip ties.
Rogue brushes past Jerry, kneeling down so we’re eye level.
“Do you know how it feels to work for the man who killed your father?” Anger pours from his eyes.
“Wh-what? Tynan killed your dad?”
“No.” His features grow tight. “Patrick did. I was ten when he came into our home and tortured my father until he bled on the floor. I watched it happen from the closet. Watched my own father die. Had to get my mother off the floor as she sobbed.”
My heart truly hurts for him and the child he was, though that excuses nothing.
“I’m sorry. I really am. But that doesn’t mean you have to do this.” I glance at Jerry, hatred winding its way through my skin. “Do you know who you’ve aligned yourself with? They’ve killed children. Do you wanna be a part of that?”
He inhales long and deep, getting to his feet. “I’m not a part of anything. My job was to get you here, and I did that.”
“And the rest of it? What they’ll do to my grandma? Me? It doesn’t matter to you?”
He stares indifferently, and I realize I’ll never get through to him. Revenge is all he knows, and he’ll get it any way possible.
“Enough talking!” Jerry snaps, rushing forward and pressing a gun to my forehead. “If you don’t shut up, I will kill you.”
I shut my eyes, fear settling deep in my stomach. If this is how I die, then so be it.
It’s then I see Tynan and Brody. The days we’ve spent together. How happy I’ve been. How much I’ll miss them.
It flashes before me, and tears start to fall.
Drop by drop, like all the days we’ll no longer have.
Jerry nudges the barrel deeper, and just when I think he’s going to pull the trigger, a door creaks from somewhere in the house.
“Now, now, Jerry. We didn’t agree to that.”
My eyes widen in horror.
Heartbeats batter painfully in my chest.
“G-G-Gran?” My pulse hammers, confusion causing my brain to fog. “But you… I—I don’t understand…”
My throat’s closing in. Oh, God, I can’t breathe. I don’t yet see her, though it was her voice. I know it was. It wasn’t a hallucination.
Did she escape? Did she agree with Jerry to let me go?
That has to be it. Gran came to save me.
But in the back of my head, this feeling—this sinister feeling—just won’t go away.
Her soft footfalls draw nearer.
Jerry sighs dramatically, dropping his gun to his side. “Nice of you to finally show up.”
Then she’s right there in front of me.
My gran.
And her fingers?
They’re all intact.
Every last one of them.
Her ring is still there too.
“Oh my God,” I sob as she advances forward. “Gran? Gran, please, what’s happening?”
I gasp for air, needing her to tell me she’s here to save me. That she has a plan. Yet that doesn’t make sense either.
Not anymore.
“Your finger. He…he told me to come here to save you.”
She nods, her face softening. “I know, sweetheart. You must be so confused. I’m sorry about that.” She glares at Jerry. “Why the hell did you tie her up? I told your father to treat her well. This is not what I had in mind.”
“And what did you expect? For us to all sit around a table and chat about long-lost times?” he scoffs. “Get lost, lady. You have her. It’s what you wanted, right?”
What? What does that even mean?
“Gran, please tell me what’s happening. What are you involved in?”
I can’t even fathom my grandma being involved in anything with Jerry or his family.
She sighs, grabbing a chair and settling into it. “This is gonna shock you, but just hear me out, okay?”
My unsteady pulse ricochets in my ears, and with shaky breaths I nod, needing answers.
“Before I was born, my father ran a business. Then after he died, he passed it on to me.”
“Business? You mean the textile company?”
Jerry laughs, like I’ve said something stupid. “Get to the fucking point already!” His cold, dead eyes shoot her a scowl. “Your gran ran a gang, Evelyn. She’s been running that gang since before you were even born.”
“Wh-wh-what?” I whisper, shaking my head frantically. “No. You’re lying. Right, Gran?”
She blows a tired breath. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to tell you. I came close a few times, but it never felt like the right time.”
“Oh my God.” My vision grows blurry from the moisture there.
“I ran it well with no problems, then grew tired of it, so I passed it to your idiot father, which was a huge mistake.” Her mouth twitches with annoyance. “He decided to cause problems with the Eights.” She jerks her head at Jerry. “And once I found out, it was too late. He’d already agreed to sell you to them, and I couldn’t stop it.” She presses two fingers into her temple. “I wanted to get you out from the drug-muling, but Isaac wouldn’t have it. We were at war and people were dying, and soon it would have been me. So I needed us to go. I made you think it was your idea. But it was the only way we could get away.”
I can’t process what I’m hearing. I don’t…how? I…
Silently, I sob, unable to handle hearing anymore yet she continues to break my heart.
“My brother took over the business when we left, but the war continued. I was sick of people dying. So I called Isaac to stop all this.”
“H-h-how? How did you try to stop it?”
“By fucking your husband over.” Jerry grins. “Can’t wait to see the look on his face when my guys take all his weapons right from under him.”
“What? Gran? You didn’t! Please tell me he’s lying.”
She peers down for a moment and blows out a breath. “I had to give the Eights something big, and I knew how badly they needed new weapons. So once Rogue told me about the shipment arriving, I knew that was the thing to get the war to stop.”
“Rogue? He helped you?” My voice is so low, I barely recognize it. “H-h-how did you even know to approach him?”
“I knew his dad.” She glances at him fondly. “I knew who he was the moment I saw him, and he knew me. So we met and talked, and I realized he was looking for the perfect opportunity to get back at the Quinns for what they did. And here we are.”
She flits a hand in the air while I burn in agony.
Not only did my father betray me, but so did one of the most important people in my life.
How did I not know that my family was a bunch of criminals?
“Why did you need them to kidnap me? I don’t understand.”
“Because…” The crease between her brows deepens. “I wanted to keep you safe from the fallout when Tynan finds out what I did. He’d kill us both. You know that, right?”
“No!” Angry tears stream down my face. “Tynan would never do that to me.”
Her lips thin. “Oh, sweetheart. When it comes to money, anyone could kill anyone.”
Suddenly, thoughts of my mother come storming in. Does she know what my father did? Does she know why?
“And Mom? Is that why she died?”
She drags in a long breath and stares at the ceiling for a nanosecond.
“Oh, God,” I whisper. “You knew the whole time! You knew Dad killed her!”
“Elara…I’m sorry. I know how close you two were.”
“So you know what I did too?” My eyes expand.
She nods. “I knew from the start. Isaac told me.”
Nausea returns to my gut, swirling and crawling up my throat until all I want is to dig a hole and die in it.
My heart…how much more can it break? I want to scream. Want to tear everything apart, the way my whole life has been torn into pieces.
Jerry snickers. “You don’t know what really happened to your mother, do you?”
Gran jumps from her seat. “Shut up, Jerry!”
“Why the hell would I do that? I thought we were all being open and honest, Gran. So tell her. Go ahead.”
“Tell me what?” My heartbeats rap wildly against my ribs, the room spinning faster and faster with every second I wait for an answer.
“Don’t you dare!” Gran flares him with a venomous glare, but he’s too busy leering at me to care.
“Your grandmother. She ordered the hit.”