Present
Since we knew my father’s men would be keeping a closer eye on the woods that we escaped through last night, it seemed less of a risk just to get them to open the rear gate for us. With a little finesse and guts, anyway.
“Thanks for coming.” I walked up to David and Lev, meeting them as they stepped out of their SUV.
“Banks made us,” Lev spat out.
Pissant.
Both of them used to work for my father, but now they worked for Kai and my sister at their home in Meridian City. Doing what, I wasn’t sure, but they stayed, so there must be something exciting going on over there.
I jerked my chin at the tin Lev was holding. “What did you bring?”
He popped the lid, but David answered, “She had some vatrushka already made. There’s zephyr in there, too.”
“Fuck, yeah.” I reached in, snatching one of the berry marshmallow things and popping it in my mouth. My taste buds exploded, making my mouth water like crazy, but it was probably more because I hadn’t eaten in two days rather than them tasting that good.
Although, they were good.
Marina also worked for my father before Banks stole her away, too. She and my sister were the only things I missed about this house, and now that they were no longer there, I had no reason to visit unless I was forced to.
I grabbed a vatrushka bun, barely chewing it before I swallowed it down, and led them over to a tree. I peered around it, the hilltop gate my father used for deliveries, caterers, and employees sat a hundred yards away, lit up by two lanterns.
Rika stood near, blowing into her hands to warm them up, while Will put on a sweatshirt, pulling the hood over his head.
“We just need you to get the gate open,” I told Lev and David.
If we could get them to come out, they’d shut off the cameras, not wanting a secret meetup caught on film.
“And then distract them, so we can get in,” Rika added, tucking her hands under her arms.
“And when you need to get out?” David retorted.
I exchanged a look with Rika, neither of us having an answer. “We’ll deal with that later,” I said.
Grabbing our backpack off the ground, I led Rika and Will to the edge of the tree line, waiting for the tiny lights on the cameras to go dark so we could move.
Behind us, I heard David on the phone.
“Hey,” he said.
He was silent a moment and then he laughed. “Aw, you still mad about that?” he joked. “Well, David and I aren’t here as friends. We come with a drug deal. We got some of Marina’s vatrushka. Bring us a bottle of Mamont, and we’ll call it even.” And then he added, “We have a little zephyr, too.”
He was quiet, and I looked over at him, seeing him hang up the phone and nod once at me.
Good. They were going for it.
I dug out some surgical tape, quickly tearing off three pieces and adding them to my wound to reinforce the stitches and hold the cut together. I’d be lucky if this shit didn’t tear open again before the end of the night.
I zipped up the pack, but Rika took it, putting it on her own back instead of letting me carry it. I almost argued, but I didn’t need another trip to the hospital, so fuck it.
After another moment, the power lights went off, and we bolted, running across the dirt road, jumping over the low hedges lining the wall, and crouching down, waiting for the gates to open.
Steam from our mouths billowed into the air, and we plastered ourselves against the wall to wait.
Luckily, my side didn’t hurt at all, and I didn’t know if it was because of the drugs they gave me still lingering or the adrenaline, but I just wanted to get in there. Rika’s fucking ideas were thrashing around my head, and every second Winter spent inside that house…
I squeezed my fists, trying to calm down.
A deep creak filled the air, iron bars clanked together, and the gate opened, a black Chevy Tahoe pulling through, its lights flashing on the forest ahead. They pulled to a stop, dust kicking up from the road underneath, and opened the doors, one guy from each side stepping out.
I waited for them to move around the front of their car, out of our line of sight, to talk to our guys, but before I could shoot off, Rika grabbed me.
I jerked my head, glaring at her.
No time to lose. What the fuck?
But she just shook her head, grinning. “I know this trick.”
And she rushed forward, crouching down and running for the back of the SUV.
What?
Will and I had no choice. We followed her, racing to the rear of their car as she pulled the back door open and climbed inside.
I shot a glance around us and inside the car to make sure it was empty. The dome lights were already on since the guys left the doors opened, so they didn’t notice when she opened the hatch.
Jesus. This was stupid.
“Looks good,” I heard one of the guys say in front. “Only she makes it right.”
Gingerly, Will and I climbed in after Rika, all of us sitting and slouched, staying down and out of sight.
“This is dumb!” I mouthed to Rika.
She rolled her eyes and pulled the door closed but not all the way.
“Try some,” someone said outside.
“Think I poisoned you?”
There was a pause as David or Lev probably taste-tested the food for my father’s men, and then I heard David speak up again.
“Where’s the vodka?” he asked.
The car rocked under us as someone dug in it for the bottle they were trading.
“Splendid,” David finally said.
“New employers too good for the black market?”
“At least I’m getting fed well,” David replied. “You?”
There was silence and then my father’s guy asked, “This time again next week?”
Come on, come on, come on…
The car jostled under us as the men climbed back in, and I watched Rika as she waited.
As soon as their doors slammed shut, she pulled ours closed, masking the sound, and the interior went dark as the guys shifted into gear and shot off in reverse.
I let out a breath.
If that hadn’t worked, I would’ve killed Rika.
But it did, so… Fine, whatever.
The car turned around, and I heard the gate start to close as we sped down the back road toward the house.
It was only a few hundred yards, but this was faster and we travelled undetected. Good plan.
Once the car slowed, we got ready, and as the guys killed the engine and opened their doors, we slipped out, quietly pushing the back door closed again and diving off to the side of the garage where my father kept his cars and motorcycles.
“Go!” I whisper-yelled to Will, letting him lead us to the next building which would curve us around the side of the house for a better view.
We crept over, hiding in an alcove on the side and taking in the surroundings. I heard the guys in the shop, doing whatever they did in their downtime, but I knew there was another shift on the property, making the rounds.
“Now what?” Rika asked.
“The armory is in the clubhouse,” I told them.
“Guns?” she blurted out. “That was your plan?”
“You got a better one?”
“We take him,” she said.
“Huh?”
She sighed, looking impatient. “We have no idea where they are or if they’re even here?” she explained. “After we got you out, he might not think right under your nose is a great spot to hide them. We take him, and we have leverage.”
So take my father, if we can, and hide him somewhere, threatening and/or torturing him until he gives up her fiancé and my…Winter.
That sounded like a lot of waiting.
“I don’t have all night,” I told her. “We’re getting some guns.”
“Yeah,” Will laughed.
She growled under her breath, exasperated.
We started to move around the side of the next building, but she pulled us both back.
“Look,” she said under her breath.
We shot our eyes up, seeing men leave the house, Winter and Michael in tow and leading them to a car. Miles Fucking Anderson gripped her by the back of her hair, force-walking her into an SUV with her hands tied behind her back.
She squirmed and fought, and I inched forward, ready to kill.
Will jerked me back, though.
“They are here,” he said. “Where are they going?”
“He’s moving them,” Rika guessed and looked at me. “I told you.”
Michael stumbled after, breaking free and charging one of the guys, but a baton smashed over the back of his head, and he fell to his knees.
Rika sucked in a breath, stifling a sob.
I was more worried, though. Winter was more expendable than Michael to my father. He wouldn’t want to kill Evans Crist’s son or a star player for a national basketball team.
“We need to run,” I said. “Now. Back to the cars.”
We didn’t hesitate. Whipping back around, we bolted through the trees, past the garden maze, my old treehouse, and down the small incline back the way we came. The wound in my side started to ache, so I put more weight on my right side as we ran, digging my heels in.
How were we going to get out? Fuck.
There were no trees around that wall, and we couldn’t climb the goddamn gate. We needed to get around to the main road before they left and disappeared.
But as we approached, the cold night air stinging my lungs, I slowed for a second, noticing that the gate wasn’t closed. Not entirely.
It wasn’t fucking closed.
Relief washed over me, but we didn’t stop to question. We slipped through the opening and raced for our cars buried beyond the trees.
Glancing back, I noticed the cameras hung by their wires, dangling like a dead animal, and something was lodged in the hinges of the gate. I laughed under my breath.
Thanks, guys. David and Lev might hate me, but they knew my sister didn’t.
My father’s people were going to notice the cameras were offline any second, though, if they hadn’t already.
We dashed to the cars, Rika jumping in Michael’s old G-Class, and Will and I taking his SUV.
Barreling onto the dirt road, I stepped on the gas, kicking up the gears and storming down the empty path. I kept the lights low, counting the seconds in my head as Rika followed close behind.
They got them in the car. They have to get all the way down the driveway and through the gate. Then pull onto the road, and hopefully they weren’t in a rush, so they wouldn’t be far ahead of us. What if I lost track of her? Where would my father take them?
We charged out onto the highway, bouncing and skidding as I jerked the steering wheel right and laid back on the gas. Rika swerved behind me, getting control of her car again, and I kept my eyes peeled on the road ahead.
But just then, headlights shone from the right, in the distance, and I immediately slowed, knowing it was them. I breathed hard.
We hadn’t missed them. They were just leaving the estate now.
Rika skidded behind me, unprepared for my sudden brake, and Will gripped the handle above his door.
“Shit!” he exclaimed.
His phone, propped up in its mount on the dash, rang, and I saw Rika on the screen. Will answered it, the speaker coming on.
“Stay back,” she ordered. “Just follow.”
“I know!” I fired back.
Did she think I was fucking stupid? Whatever we did would put Michael and Winter in more danger. We had to think.
I hung back, hoping they just assumed we were other drivers on the road, and followed them at a distance, unsure of how many people were in the car.
Other than Winter and Michael, probably two? My father’s men always worked in a minimum of pairs.
We kept Rika on the line, while Will dug out his pocket knife. We’d need that for their zip ties.
I followed the car down past the neighboring estates, past the security booth for our community, and onto the highway, but instead of heading toward Meridian City like I thought they would, whoever was driving took the right exit, heading for the village.
Gabriel was keeping them close, after all.
I swallowed a few times, trying to get my dry mouth wet.
They were going to come to a stoplight in another mile at the village center.
“You still handy with that crowbar?” I called out, remembering Rika back when she was sixteen and the antics she pulled that night.
“You want to box them in?” she suggested.
I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me. “You take the rear. Let’s do it.”
Will jumped out of his seat, crawling into the back and digging something out. When he came back, he threw me a baseball bat and my mask, and he held his own crowbar, his white skull with the red stripe already on his head.
I pulled the mask on, completely forgetting about not showing ourselves. There were people on the streets, and while I didn’t care if my father’s men saw us, I wasn’t winding up on more motherfucking videos, since we had to do this in the busiest part of town.
We passed houses, businesses, and streets lined with cars, most of the town closed down for the night, but there were still people about.
Perfect.
Gabriel’s guys might be less inclined to use weapons if it was populated. My father kept his shit under wraps, even though most of the town knew how his house operated.
The stoplight appeared up ahead, they started to slow, and I punched on the gas, speeding up.
“Go,” I shouted to Rika.
I swerved to the left, she swerved to the right, they stopped, and we swung around, skidding to a halt, Will and I in front and Rika in the back, so they couldn’t drive off or back up.
Not waiting a single second, we jumped from the cars, masks and hoods drawn, throwing our weapons into their windows and smashing the glass.
Bystanders gasped or yelped in shock, but I didn’t waste time worrying about them.
Breaking the rear glass, we reached in, unlocking the doors, and I came down on the two guys in front as Rika and Will grabbed Winter and Michael.
Anderson and the other guy shouted and laid on the gas, trying to move, but they were locked in, just bumping into our cars in the front and behind. We had everyone out of the car before they even had a chance to reach for their weapons.
Will sliced off Michael’s restraints, and Michael didn’t wait a moment more. He whipped open the front passenger side door and hauled himself up, shooting his legs into the car and kicking the other guy in the face.
Will took Winter, climbed back in our SUV, and Michael grabbed Rika, running for their car.
“Back at the house,” I told them. “I’ll send Crane.”
Rika nodded, Michael climbed into the driver’s seat, blood seeping from his head, and they took off, swerving in a U-turn and jetting past us.
I jumped in our car, pulling around in a circle and seeing Anderson trying to start the car as we blew past.
I didn’t care if there were cops or if someone on the street was calling them in right now. I wasn’t stopping until we were safe.
I looked over at Winter, sitting in Will’s lap as he cut off her zip ties, and I quickly scanned her face and clothes. She still wore the same bloody jeans from yesterday when I’d been bleeding all over her and Will’s hoodie. She didn’t look hurt, except for some blood trickling from her lip, and nothing appeared ripped like there had been a struggle. Her angelic face and white-blonde hair looked like they’d been through the ringer tonight, though. Eyes red while worry and upset creased her face. I could tell she’d been terrified.
How the fuck did this happen? I wasn’t asleep long at the hospital. They didn’t have her long, right? God, if they touched her…
I quickly called Crane on Will’s cell.
“Hello?” he answered.
“Take any guys left and go set up shop at St. Killian’s,” I ordered him. “We’ll be there soon.”
“Yes, sir.”
I wasn’t sure if my father was paying him anymore, but if he wasn’t going to go, I knew he wouldn’t tell him where we were going.
“You think Gabriel will go there?” Will asked me after I hung up. He still held Winter in his lap.
I shook my head. “No. He’ll take time to regroup. He’ll come eventually, though. We need to be ready.”
“Is there someone behind us?” Winter asked, breathing hard again.
I checked the rearview mirror, while Will glanced over his shoulder.
Bright headlights pierced the darkness as we left the village, climbing our tail.
“And coming up fast,” Will said.
How did she know that?
I punched the gas, charging up into the hills, the dark trees looming on both sides.
“Did they hurt you?” I asked, looking at Winter.
She shook her head. “Just scared me.”
Will took her chin, inspecting the cut on her lip. “Anderson do that?”
“I think so.”
I raced past security, not even bothering to stop as the guard popped his head up, startled. He worked for the families in this community, not the police. He’d call the association to report trouble before he’d call the cops.
I turned the wheel, taking us around the curve, but as I straightened out, the car behind us shot up right on our ass, ramming into our car.
Winter gasped, and we lurched forward, Will holding her tight as he planted his hand on the dash. I sped around another curve, but then Will shouted at me.
“No, take the shortcut!” he yelled.
I jerked the steering wheel right, remembering St. Killian’s sat across from a small river buried in the forest. There was a bridge that cut through the space between here and Michael and Rika’s, avoiding all the winding roads.
We could go faster without all the turns.
Anderson shot past, but I heard his tires screech to a halt on the other road above as we hurried toward the bridge as fast as we could.
I pressed my back into the seat, my arm locked straight on the steering wheel, and my eyes zoned in on the road and checking my mirror.
My blood raced, and if I weren’t so worried about her, I might’ve been having a little fun. Of course, I wouldn’t have run. I would’ve killed that motherfucker right there in the town square. I’d just been caught up in getting her out.
Headlights flashed through my rearview mirror and the car caught up to us again, charging behind.
It rushed up, and I tightened every muscle.
“Hold on,” I shouted.
It slammed into our ass, and liquid heat coursed down every one of my limbs as I tried to outrun them.
I looked to Winter. “We’re almost there.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but the car rammed us again, and we all lurched in our seats.
“Motherfucker!” I growled.
They slammed into us again. I took the wheel with both hands trying to keep it steady.
And again.
Winter started panting in short, shallow breaths, scared with an arm around Will’s neck and one on the dash.
They hit us again.
“Hold on,” I told them.
The bridge appeared ahead, and I charged dead ahead, racing onto it and seeing Anderson’s headlights chase us again.
The dark river loomed still and black underneath us, spreading far to the left and right as my tires bumped over the slabs of concrete underneath.
Anderson sped up, hit us again, but before I had a chance to recover, he shot around and slammed into my side.
“Goddammit!” I bellowed.
I lost the wheel, the car went spinning, and I slammed on the brakes, and then… He was there—his headlights charging right for us.
Will yelled, wrapping his arms around Winter’s head, and we crashed through the railing, the back tires falling over the side of the bridge as Anderson’s SUV tipped both right tires over the side, as well. Winter screamed as the car wobbled.
There was only a moment, my eyes locked on Winter’s face, and then both cars started to slide. I reached for her, took her hand, and pulled her into my arms, locking her in as we both went over the side, free falling into the river.
Holy fuck!
The car crashed down, my neck snapped back, and the whole world tilted on its side as my head swam.
What the hell?
I heard Winter calling me.
“Damon?” she cried, touching my face. “D…Damon, wake up. Wake up!”
I squeezed my eyes shut, lifting up my head and rotating the ache out of my neck before opening them again.
Did I get knocked out? Shit.
Winter sat on my lap, nearly nose to nose, crying but kissing me as soon as she felt me move.
I grunted, rubbing my neck as I looked over to see Will yanking on his handle and throwing his body into the door.
It took a moment to register what had just happened, but then I looked up, out the front windshield and saw what was all around us.
The fucking river. Jesus.
“You okay?” I asked Winter.
“Yeah.”
I looked around, seeing the car flooding as water poured in from the vents and under the dash, the car already half deep.
Fuck.
The river rushed over the hood as the car sank nose first, and I looked out the window, seeing no signs of life from Anderson’s car. It floated upside down, slowly sinking, as well.
Winter jumped off me, and I pulled my handle, following Will and slamming all my weight into the door. The cloudy water rushed, starting to cover the windows and pour in, and I yanked again and again and again, but the fucking door wouldn’t open.
I climbed out of my seat, trying the back doors and kicking the windows. Winter moved from door to door, feeling her way and trying the windows, pushing the buttons, while Will took the baseball bat and threw it into the glass.
“Just calm down a sec!” I yelled at him.
We were under water now. If he broke the glass, water would rush in fast, and we needed a minute.
I pushed against the back door so hard my muscles burned.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck… Think.
Goddammit.
My knees shook as I made my way back up front, sloshing through the icy water and picking up Winter who was chest deep and shivering.
I breathed over her lips, trying to warm her any way I could. “There’s like six hundred pounds of pressure on the windows and doors, right now,” I told her. “Once the pressure equalizes, we’ll open the doors.”
“When…when…” she stammered, shaking. “When does it equalize?”
The water chilled my bones. “When the car…fills up…with water.”
“If it fills up with water, we can’t breathe!” Will yelled, climbing out of his seat, his clothes and hair drenched. “We don’t want it to fill up!”
He stumbled, catching himself as his head turned right and left, manically searching for a way out.
“Damon, man…” He stood, almost hyperventilating as the water rose to our chests, slowly consuming the car. “We gotta…we gotta get out of here. I can’t… I can’t…”
He started feeling the roof and searching, looking everywhere for anything he could find, gasping in short breaths.
I turned from Winter, gripping his face in my hands. “Just breathe,” I told him. “Trust me. We’re getting out of here.”
He met my eyes, starting to break down as his chin trembled. “Please, don’t…” he begged. “Please don’t leave me.”
I clenched my jaw, shame washing me all over again at what I let Trevor do to him. How I left him.
How I would never have lived with it if anything had happened to him that night.
I held the back of his neck and planted my forehead to his. “I never did,” I promised.
I turned to Winter, took her hand and wrapped it around my belt.
“You don’t let go,” I ordered.
She shook, so scared, and her eyes watering. The car whined with the weight of the water filling it as we sank into the depths of the river, and I held her up, so she could breathe as long as possible.
“Tell me you love me,” she whispered. “Say it.”
I looked down at her, fucking done with this rotten luck. We weren’t dying. I wasn’t telling her that shit like I wouldn’t have a chance to tell her later. She could fucking wait.
I held her close, nose to nose. “Someday,” I taunted, forcing a smile into my voice.
She let out a little laugh through her sob, and I wanted so badly to have her back on that motorcycle like the night I promised to show her red someday. Even when I was lying to her like I was that night, it was better than this.
She gripped my belt, my heart pounded in my chest, and Will and Winter gasped around me as we sucked up the last of the air in the car. I pushed us up, farther and farther, getting the last breaths we could as Will caught a mouthful of water, coughed and sputtered, and then we were under, and he was thrashing.
Shit.
I didn’t waste time. With Winter holding my belt, I moved to one of the rear doors and pushed, but it still wasn’t budging. I fondled the lock, making sure it wasn’t secured, and threw my weight into the door as best I could.
Winter held on, calm, but I could hear Will fighting in the water, because he didn’t get a lungful before we went under, and I didn’t know why the fucking door wasn’t opening. It was supposed to open.
Come on.
My hands shook so badly, and I was losing it. They were going to fucking die, because of me. Again.
Please.
I pushed at the door.
Please. Please, Please.
And then I pushed…
And it floated open like magic.
I went dizzy for a moment, wondering if it really just did that.
Oh, fucking yes. Thank God.
I dove out into the river, pulling Winter and reaching inside and grabbing Will.
He kicked his legs, swimming out and fighting for the surface, and I followed, taking Winter’s hand off my belt but not letting go as we swam.
We all popped up to the surface, hitting the air and coughing, sputtering, and gasping for breath. The cold water stabbed like needles in my skin, but I couldn’t feel my wound at least. One pain at a time.
We needed to get out of this water. I looked around for Anderson and his partner, but there was no one. Nothing else on the surface of the river. He was under.
He was gone.
Good fucking riddance.
“Can you swim?” I asked Winter. She’d been in the pool with Will, but it wasn’t deep.
“Yeah,” she choked out. “I’ll follow you.”
I turned on my non-injured side and did the side-stroke toward the river bank, watching her behind me to make sure she could follow my sound and movement in the water.
Will swam next to me, the current pulling us, but we made good strides, and I started to feel the ground under me. My fucking body was done.
We reached the river floor, crawling out of the water and onto the bank, breathing hard and relief washing over me as I collapsed.
“Fuck, we did it,” I breathed out.
Winter grabbed my leg, pulling herself up.
“We can’t stay here,” she said, her voice shaking. “We need to… get somewhere warm.”
I rolled over, groaning at all the aches and pains, and I needed ten-thousand things right now, but I was so fucking happy they were here and we made it. Raising my head and looking up, I saw a single light through the trees and knew…
Just fucking knew.
St. Killian’s.
