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“Knox,” she whispers as she reaches out and cups my cheek, fresh tears trail down her cheeks. I remain still barely able to breathe past the lump in my throat. “I’ll always choose you.” Her eyes shine with love. I tentatively reach out and cup her face in my hands as I bring her in close resting my forehead against hers.
“I choose you, Lay.” A sob escapes her a second before her lips are on mine and she is pouring everything into this kiss, telling me without words that she loves me and feels everything I do but I need the words. I push her back. We’re both panting, my heart pounds like a drum inside my chest. “Do you… did everything?—”
She shushes me and smiles. “I remember everything. I’m so sorry, Knox. I wish I could take it back. I shouldn’t have been driving but I was so upset?—”
“Shhhh, calm down, baby. I need you to take it slow, okay?” She nods and swipes away her tears.
“We need to get out of here.” Lake darts her gaze to the side and reels back at the sight of Roberto like she forgot he was here. When she reaches out to him, I yank her back.
“Shut the fuck up, you don’t speak,” I snarl at him. Lakeland ignores me and shifts out of my hold until she is kneeling in front of my father. She hesitantly reaches out and grabs his hand. I fight the urge to haul her away from him and shoot him right in the fucking head.
“Thank you.” Now I reel back in shock. Why the fuck is she thanking that useless piece of shit for?
“You owe me no thanks, I wish I could have done more that night.” I hear the bitterness in his tone and wonder what fucking night he is speaking about.
“You need to explain everything to him and Clara, they need to know what happened. If they had known the truth…” she takes a shuddering breath and gives her head a shake before continuing, “Things may have worked out differently.” The sadness I hear in her voice pisses me off, he isn’t worth wasting her feelings on.
“I made my choices,” he says firmly.
“Yes, but you had good reasons and when you tell him about how you tried to save me and… our baby—” I jerk back in shock. “Trust him, without his help that night my father would have killed me.”
I can’t take this shit any longer. Pushing to my feet, I grip her arm and yank her to me. “What the fuck are you talking about, Lakeland?”
She stares up at me with pity in her blue eyes and it fucking pisses me off, I don’t need that shit from her. She is ruining this fucking moment. For years I thought the girl I was in love with had killed my sister, only to find out she didn’t and had lost all her memories of our past. She got those fucking memories back and here she is comforting the cunt that wanted to pimp my sister out. She places her hand on my chest trying to comfort me and ease some of the anger inside me, but it doesn’t do shit aside from making me want to fuck that pitying look out of her.
“Roberto only tried to marry me to save you and Wave.” Her voice catches at the mention of my sister’s name.
“That is a lie,” my mom shouts as she points at Roberto. “He is a liar. He never cared about us.” Tears leak from her eyes, I always knew deep down she loved my father but I didn’t realize just how much until now. “You pushed us away, treated me and our children like they meant nothing.” Roberto climbs to his feet and winces in pain, he tries to step toward my mom but freezes when all the guns turn on him. The distraught look on his face is clearly not an act.
“You three mean everything to me!” he grits out. I scoff and shake my head in disgust.
“You mean my little sister meant so much to you that you wanted to put her on a corner to turn tricks?” Roberto flinches but I don’t give a fuck and ignore Lakeland when she tries to plead with me to listen to him. I push her behind me as I get right in the fucker’s face. He doesn’t back down as I push my forehead against his. “You are nothing to me, I didn’t bat an eye when I put a bullet in your fucking head because you were already dead to me.” Pain etches his features, good because I want this cunt to hurt. I want him to feel the pain he inflicted on my mother.
“I wanted you to hate me, I needed you to.” I keep my mask of indifference in place even though his words confuse me. “You three being as far away from me as you could was the only way I knew how to keep you safe. Gio tried to find you. I made sure to mask your trail for years until the night you showed up at my house and shot me.”
“You are so fucking full of shit.” I yell, fuck this cunt.
“Knox, he’s telling the truth.” I whirl around on Lakeland and pin her with a look, daring her to continue to defend this motherfucker.
“You don’t get to take his fucking side,” I roar. She recoils but I'm too angry to care.
“Knox, that’s enough.” Tay steps around me and comes to stand beside Lake. “We need to move, it’s too fucking open here.” Gritting my teeth I look around and see my men with their guns raised and focused on Roberto. I see my mom standing there crying silently and Lake who looks like she would blow over if a gust of wind came and decide Taylan is right.
“Fine, I want him taken to one of the cabins. I’ll deal with him later,” I order as I grip Lake’s hand and wrap my arm around her shoulders, then lead her back to my car.
A huge part of me is elated that Lakeland’s memories have returned, I’m more than fucking happy about it but when I look at her, I feel like she isn’t. She hasn’t said a word since we left the bridge. I lean against the wall watching her as she stares out the window with her arms wrapped around herself as if she is afraid if she lets go she will fall apart. I know she’s angry with me because I wouldn’t listen to what Roberto had to say, but she doesn’t understand what it was like growing up watching my mom struggle while that fucker lived a lavish life and never had to worry about where his next meal would come from.
“Knox?” Turning around I see Xander and Taylan at the entryway. I shoot one last look over my shoulder at her, she hasn’t moved an inch. Sighing, I lead the guys into the kitchen not willing to go any further away than the next room. I won’t let Lakeland out of my sight after what happened today. Just thinking about her being alone with that piece of shit has my blood boiling and the need to fucking strip his skin from his body thrumming through me. “We set him up in Cohen’s cabin. He’s tied to a chair,” Taylan adds.
Nodding, I cock my hip and lean against the counter so I can keep an eye on Lake through the doorway. “I’ll deal with him later.”
“What are you going to do with him?” I flick my gaze toward Xander who stands there tense. I can feel it in the pit of my gut that he’s hiding something huge, I just can’t find it within myself to care enough right now to push him for answers—I have too much on my fucking mind.
“I’m going to make him suffer,” I answer.
“What did Lake mean when she said he tried to save her and your baby?” Tay asks.
I scrub a hand down my face feeling fucking tired and wrung out. “I don’t know and I don’t care what he did. One good deed doesn’t own up for him being a piece of shit. I want you to send Mase and Floyd out with a team to scout the area and find out if Gio and Percy are here. Chaos promised to keep Karl and his men at bay. Without the extra help we have the advantage. If they find them, I want the rest of our men here by midday tomorrow. This shit needs to end,” I snarl. Both my boys nod, I see it in their eyes, they are both ready to go to war and end this shit.
