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“I didn’t kill him, Theo. Remove your hands from me, or we are going to have a fucking problem.” Diego’s angry glare meets Theo’s. For a second, I don’t think the words penetrate Theo’s mind, and he pulls Diego closer until they are chest to chest.
“She will never be yours. I will rip your beating heart out of your fucking chest if you ever try to marry her.” Theo releases his hold and shoves Diego hard in the chest.
“Are you sure, Diego?” Isabella’s voice rises in the chaos.
Diego glares at Theo before breaking eye contact and staring at each one of us. “Yeah, I’m fucking positive, princess. Men with severed dicks in their mouths don’t tend to be breathing.” He chuckles with humor.
“What the fuck?” The words leave my lips in horror.
“Explain fucker or I’m going to put that ugly mug through a wall.” Carter moves closer to Diego with menace.
“Try it fucker, you don’t have the little queen here anymore to protect you.” Diego spits with venom.
He turns his eyes back to Isabella and I watch as some of the rage leaves him.Interesting…she has a calming effect on him. “He was dumped on the side of a fucking dirt road, two hours outside of Casbury near the mountains, my men found him an hour ago.”
A gasp leaves Isabella and Raegan and I watch as they clutch each other tightly. My eyes trail over every occupant in the room as we all seem to be holding our breath for whatever Diego is going to say next.
“Someone stabbed one of the fucker’s eyes and cut out his tongue. He is missing all of his fingers on both of his hands, and every bone in his right hand seemed to be shattered, like someone took a hammer to it. They worked him over, hard. Most of his body is covered in wounds. There’s even a bloody ‘X’ carved into his chest, right next to where his black heart must be. To top it off, they cut off his dick and stuffed it in the fucker’s mouth, probably while he was still alive. Then they slit his throat from ear to ear. He looked like a fucked up version of the “Joker”. This wasn’t me or one of my guys unfortunately, or Stella’s, for that matter. Someone else got to him first and they took their rage out on him.”
My legs feel like they are going to buckle underneath me. I try to process each of his words and the images that accompany them. Vincent is dead and someone else killed him. Someone who apparently hated him as much as we did. I can’t stop the envy from rising inside of me at not being the one to end his miserable life. I wanted to inflict as much pain as I could in retribution for all the suffering that psycho has inflicted over the years. Someone else got to him first and now I never will.
My eyes trail across the room and I see the look of shock across Isabella and Raegan’s faces. They clutch tight to each other, whispering words I can’t hear from where I’m standing. My eyes trail over Mateo, he’s trembling and dragging his hand through his hair. He gets up quickly and rushes to the patio doors and I quickly follow him out.
I watch as he braces his hands on his knees and vomits into one of the flower beds off of the back patio. There is no way that he’s not reliving his trauma and everything that Vincent put him through. I walk over to him and squeeze his shoulder. “It’s okay Mat.” He nods back, straightens and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. We reenter the family room space and my eyes meet with Theo’s concerned ones before trailing over to Carters.
Carter is standing there arms crossed across his chest, a look of giddy happiness across his features.Jesus, the fucker is a psycho.I know we all wanted Vincent to die a horrific death, but none of us are relishing in it, except apparently Carter. Once again the worries of his sanity enter my mind. I have to keep a better eye on him going forward. I need to help him rein in his desire and satisfaction with violence.
The room is dead quiet as all of its occupants seem to be holding our breath. Even Diego has shut his fucking trap for once. I track everyone’s eyes and they are all centered on Theo. My eyes track his every movement, waiting for the rage that is always just simmering below the surface to rise.
For Theo, hearing that his dad is dead must be both a relief and a shock. He was a demonic psychopath, but he was still his father. I watch as he processes the information. His mask of indifference disappearing. His dark blue eyes light up, then a smile breaks across his chiseled face. “Thank fuck. Good riddance, may he rot in fucking hell.”
It’s like the whole room releases their breaths at the same time. My legs no longer feel like they will buckle under me. I watch as the color returns to Mateo’s face and he sits down next to Theo on the sofa. Reagan releases her hold on Isabella and walks over to Theo. His eyes meet hers as she bends forward and wraps her arms around his shoulders. He stiffens for a moment and then gives into her hold and hugs her back. “It’s done, he can never hurt you again.” Her words are filled with emotion and they cause my heart to squeeze painfully in my chest.
“Jesus, we are both orphans now fucker!” Carter spews with glee.
“How do you figure, Carter? You still have a mom.” Mateo’s face echoes with disbelief at Carter’s train of thoughts.
‘Naw, that bitch might as well be dead to me too. Come to think of it, we are all fatherless bastards now. Finn, being the exception of course, Jack’s a decent stepdad, maybe the fucker can be all of our pops.“ I shake my head at his dramatics. He’s not exactly wrong, we are all fatherless. Mateo’s dad is out there somewhere, but I have no doubt when Diego catches up to him, he won’t be staying much longer on this earth.
Fuck, we are all free now. We are all safe from the evil of men like Vincent Saint-Lambert. Vincent can’t hurt Theo or any of us anymore. We will finally be able to stop living in fear and looking over our shoulders. The relief spreads through my body at the knowledge.
Mia!My thoughts turn back to my missing queen.It’s over! She will be safe now.Vincent is dead. We don’t have to worry about some sadistic psychopath coming after her.FUCK!The realization hits me that we did all of this shit to her for nothing. We hurt her once again for nothing. Vincent is dead, and the threat to her is gone. My stomach lurches and dread fills me. Will she forgive us? Will it matter that Vincent is dead?
“Does this mean Mia is safe?” Mateo grabs onto Theo’s arm in a death grip. “Can we go get her back?” His thoughts echo mine and I see the desperation across his elf-like features. His eyes are large and filled with apprehension.
“If she will have us. If she won’t, I’m prepared to follow her around camping at her doorstep for the rest of my miserable life. One way or another, I’m getting my Mia back!” Carter starts to head toward the family room’s entryway.
He turns around suddenly and decks Diego hard in the face. Diego staggers into the sofa and almost goes down. “What the fuck dick! What was that for?” He shouts, rubbing his jaw.
“That bitch, was for ever thinking you could have my girl. You come anywhere near her again, and I will shank your ass,comprende amigo?“ Carter smirks with glee at a furious Diego.Damn it!
Diego charges at a grinning Carter and they both go down hard on the ground, knocking side tables and lamps over. The sounds of fists making impact with flesh are loud in the space. It takes Theo, Mateo and me to break the two of them apart. Both have bleeding lips and noses when they separate and are panting hard.Fuck, Carter and his reckless behavior.
“I’ll fucking put a bullet in your head, motherfucker.” Diego goes to charge forward again, his hand reaching for the back of his pants but Isabella grasps him tightly around the waist and pulls him back. Does Isabella really have a calming and controlling effect on Diego or is it a matter of Diego not wanting to risk hurting her?Shit! Does the fucker have a gun on him? This is Diego, of course he has a gun!My mind yells.
“Y’all need to settle the fuck down! What makes you think Mia will forgive y’all? You don’t deserve her mercy, just her fury.” Raegan crosses her arms across her chest, anger once again across her moue.
Raegan’s right; we don’t deserve Mia’s forgiveness. We deserve her wrath for the past and for the present. I will walk on my knees through broken glass on fucking fire if it means she allows me the opportunity to explain. To apologize for all the wrong I have done to her over and over since we were kids. I plan to spend my whole life in penance, making it up to her.
