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“Turns out he has been resurrected,” bitterness clouds my voice as I try to simmer the rage. I cannot go off half-cocked, not right now. I need to bottle this shit up. She is all I should be focusing on right now. Because when she comes to, who fucking knows how much damage he had caused her. Choosing to let it go, I turn back to Jonah.
“I get that, but how does a dead man reappear without anyone fucking knowing?” Shaking his head, Jonah looks back at Phee. I could only imagine what he was thinking right now because I was feeling the same thing.
“I don’t know, but it was Kyle. I thought he was dead. I can’t explain how because I don’t know, but I give you my word— I will find out.” I really hoped they believed me because I intend to turn every fucking thing upside down until I find out every last piece of this fucking puzzle. “I know you don’t trust me, but swear, I will get answers.”
A string of muttered curses comes from Stryker as he puts his foot through the floor. “You know your parents had something to do with the cover-up, right?” Stryker said pointedly, putting into words what has slowly been creeping into my thoughts since we started to head to the hospital. “And that means they helped send an innocent man to jail.”
“I know, and I will confront them.”
My mother and father had severely fucked up by not telling me about Kyle raping Phee, but this? No, this was a whole different kettle of fish. There was no coming back from this.
“You won’t be confronting them alone,” Stryker’s voice was cool and calm, as he pulled into the emergency bay at Southport Memorial. Shoving the Escalade into the park, he turns, the sinister look in his eyes telling me everything I needed to know. My parents were dead-men walking. “I’ll be coming with you.”
Chapter Four - Stryker
“Stryker, I don’t think you being there when I confront my parents is such a great idea,” the fear in Logan’s voice came as no surprise; he was one of three people outside of my family that knew what I was capable of. Jerking open the back door, Logan jumped out.
“It’s not up for debate, Logan,” I don’t even attempt to hide the anger that is threatening to consume me right now as I follow him. The autumn winds send an icy chill down my spine. “You cannot be so fucking blind that you can’t see your parents knew about all of this. Someone had to have helped get that cock sucker out of Australia.”
“I’m not saying that they aren’t involved or that they haven’t kept secrets, Stryker, cause lord knows they have— but you going in there like a fucking bull in a China shop isn’t going to help the situation any.”
I knew he was right, in some respects, but what he didn’t realize was that fear was an excellent motivator to get someone talking. And right at this moment, the Ducane family was on my fucking shit list. I was still on the fence about Logan, but I couldn’t deny his recent flip had me seeing more of the guy I used to know.
A lot was going through my head right now. The whole time Logan was describing what he had seen when he and Damon found Phee, I fucking saw red. It took everything I had not to let the rage consume me. And that was eating me up inside. I’d failed to keep her safe. Seeing her bloodied and bruised as Logan cradled her had been the only thing that stopped me from turning the car around. I had no idea what she’d endured at the hands of that fucking psycho, no one did, but all I could think of in those moments was wrapping my hands around that sick fuck’s throat and strangling the life out of him.
Logan had said it was Kyle. That fucking psychopath was supposed to be dead. I didn’t even know where to begin with that bombshell. He had already caused my Firecracker so much pain and heartache. It was his actions that ripped her life apart— tore her family to shreds and destroyed part of her light. The only good thing to come out of that whole ordeal was that he had died, or so everyone thought. Now, we were coming face to face with the devil himself.
I know it’s not that hard to fake your own death; I mean shit, my family mastered it, given who we are. But fuck, how do you keep that from your own flesh and blood. Something inside me had finally torn, and once I made sure Phee has the help she needs I was going after everyone that had played a role in this fucking messed up charade, and they were all going to pay. Every cut, bruise, and broken bone that she had, I will inflict on them. By the time I finished with them all, they would be begging for their lives to end.
“I’m gonna make them all pay Logan, mark my fucking words, each and every last one of those fuckers will pay for what they’ve done to her,” slamming the car door shut as I ground out my promise, I needed him to understand just how serious I am about this. “If you’re not with me, Logan, with her, then you are against us. It was your family that did this, and it will be mine that’ll clean it up. And frankly, you fucking owe her.”
It was a low blow. I knew it as soon as the words left my mouth, but I couldn’t give a fuck. I was right, it was Logan’s family’s fault that all this happened, and I was going to be the one cleaning it up. I would have to bide my time, though. My need for vengeance was strong, but it would have to wait. Getting my Firecracker to the hospital was all that mattered right now. Making sure she got the help she needed was my top priority.
One thing is for sure; I would be saving Kyle fucking Ducane for last. When I’m done with him, he will wish he had died all those years ago. No, the special kind of torture I had in store for him would be pure fucking pleasure for me. My dark side has been hidden for far too long. As much as I didn’t ever want her to see this side of me, my view from the rear-view mirror is unearthing my inner demons.
No one messed with what was mine much less got away with it and lived to tell the tale. No, the Lennox family took care of what was theirs, and Phoenix Brooks was mine now. She would be princess to an empire only a few knew about. And everyone in this car was going to know about it sooner rather than later, now. Logan has known for a while. Reading his thoughts, I could sense he was trying to figure out a way to calm me down and keep me from burning everything down to the ground.
Everyone had their secrets, and mine were just a little darker than most. My family legacy was shrouded in secrets, taught from an incredibly young age that we never spoke of what we did. Although a few close friends knew, for the most part, everyone else thought we were a normal family from old money. For what I had planned, I would need the help of my father. That meant coming clean and letting them know I had found my AnamCara, something prized amongst my family. It would also mean I would have to tell them that I wasn’t her only one.
It’s something I was dreading. My father was going to lose his shit when he found out I shared my AnamCara with two other guys. It would take some wheeling and dealing to get him to agree to leave them be and not take them out, but I was willing to do anything it took to protect Phee. My dad would eliminate anyone that stood in my way, so coming to him with the information I had, should be enough to placate him.
“At least wait until she can have some say in all this man,” the fear that was present before ebbing away to allow the sadness to overtake him. I couldn’t really hold it against him; Logan had been through hell and back this last week.
After the initial panic had died down, Logan opened up about everything, the diary, how his aunt and uncle lied to him, how his parents tried to make out that they were doing what they thought was best, and how all he could think of was finding Phee and making it all right again. And as much as I loathe to admit, he was trying to do the right thing that day, and if I was honest with myself, I would have done the same thing.
“I don’t think it’s wise to involve her,” Jonah finally added, deciding to join the conversation. He came jogging up behind us. It’s evident that he has been struggling to come to terms with what has happened. He stares at Phee for a moment, his throat bobbing as he struggled to tap down his emotions. “She’s been through enough already. Hell, we don’t even know what this whole ordeal has fucking done to her, and you want to wait and ask her what we should do to that prick?”
“So what? You want to take the choice away from her?” It’s the way Logan says it that has me rethinking how I want to handle things. “If we do that, we’d be no better than that asshole.”
“Man’s got a point there, J’. Kyle has taken so much from her,” voicing my agreement, as much as it pains me to admit. We would be no better than the piece of shit currently facing the wrath of Damon. “We can’t do this without involving her. They need to pay, and she will need closure.”
“I just don’t think it’s wise to go asking her what she wants to do.” Scrubbing his hand across the back of his neck, Jonah sighs. This guy is usually so put together; looking at him now, though, the guy’s a fucking mess. He was in desperate need of a razor, his five o’clock shadow was more like a patchy forest. Out of all of us, he took her going missing the hardest. “What if she decides to kill them?”
“Then I’ll be there helping her pull the fucking trigger,” I vowed, making the solemn promise as we start heading into the ER.
Chapter Five - Kyle
Every time I close my eyes, all I see is my Kitten bent over while I slammed my dick into her again and again that last time. Her arms bound together then hitched onto the bedposts. Smiling while running my hand down over the markings made when my flogger bit into her porcelain skin only days before. So responsive. So mine.
