Page 109 of Ruthless Protector

“I’m not sure.” My head was so full of grief and anger, I had to fight to think clearly. This was something, my gut told me it was something.

“When my folks laid concrete for their patio, they added a dye to it, looked kinda like this,” Zeke said.

“Isn’t there a new build across the street?” Ruby said.

Hunter walked back in and lifted his boot. Red dirt. “There’s nothing around this building. But Ruby’s right. I got this across the street. Why do you think our friends here would spend time at a construction site? There’s a building behind it, two levels, windows boarded. Three cars parked out front.”

I was already heading for the door, and no one was stupid enough to try and stop me.

We split up and moved across the street. We passed the new build, walking through red-colored dirt. Two bags of concrete dye sat against the fence, torn, and the wind had blown it around, covering just about everything.

Van and I headed for the front. Zeke and Ruby moved to the rear, and Hunter and Neco moved down one side, checking the perimeter for guards before they’d follow us in.

Van quickly picked the lock and we moved in.

The room we entered was large, open, with a staircase against the wall on the right. It looked like it had been used for storage. Ruby and Zeke walked in through the opposite side of the building, the same time as a guy with a gun charged out from under the stairs. Ruby roundhouse kicked him, knocking the gun from his hand. He grabbed a chef’s knife from the table in front of him, and came back at her.

Ruby dodged the wild slash, spun, and kicked again, the blade flying from the guy’s hand as well, then she advanced. She took him down and Zeke cuffed him as Van and I moved up the stairs.

“That can’t be it,” Van said, as we hit the top. “Some dude with a fucking Ginsu Knife.”

There were two doors up here, and as if on cue, one swung open, and two big fuckers with guns walked out of the one on the left.

That’s when it started.

Willa’s screams.

And she was screaming my name.

Willa

I screamed as the knife slid into my flesh, this one deeper than the last.

Every time I surfaced from my drugged haze, he either sat and stared, that chair even closer, or he cut me. I wanted to stay in the dark, but my mind kept fighting it, kept fighting the drug, fighting total oblivion.

He hadn’t cut anything vital yet. Arms, thighs, one to the side of my breast, the last one was the side of my thigh again. My blood soaked the white robe, that now hung open, making it feel wet and heavy. It dripped from the fabric and pooled at my feet.

Every cut drained a little more of me. It wouldn’t be long now, until I wouldn’t be able to fight the darkness anymore. I couldn’t let it; I had to get through this, for Tilly. I screamed Jude’s name over and over in my mind now, then I realized my throat was raw. I wasn’t screaming for him in my head anymore.

I kept screaming until no more sound came. It wasn’t until I quieted that I realized the psycho in the mask had frozen in the middle of the room, knife still in hand, my blood dripping from the blade.

Grunts and growls echoed through the door.

A gun went off.

Then there was a roar, so loud and fierce, it lifted the hair at the back of my neck. My eyes were getting heavy again, the darkness trying to take me away, but I fought for all I was worth.

The door flew open, and Jude stormed inside, gun raised and blood dripping down his arm.

Van ran in after him, followed quickly by Ruby and Zeke.

Then Jude was beside me, lifting me, supporting my weight, while someone else furiously worked the cuffs around my wrists, setting me free.

“Oh fuck, what have they done, what have they done to you,” he said, as he clutched me to him. “It’s okay now. I got you, beautiful. I’ve got you.”

“Tilly,” I said, still fighting the blackness closing in.

“She’s safe, sweetheart,” he said. “Your baby girl is safe.” Then he lifted me into his arms. “Ambulance is on the way.”