“What do you think of the name Lila?” Lainey whispered softly. It was late, but neither of us could sleep. We’d gone to her latest OB appointment and found out we were having a girl. I didn’t care if the baby was a boy or a girl as long as it was healthy. I knew I loved her the minute I’d found out she’d been conceived, but I could tell Lainey was relieved. She was worried she wouldn’t know what to do with a boy, even though I’d told her I had plenty of experience in that area. For some reason, though, that didn’t set her mind at ease. After we’d gotten the results, we’d gone by to see her parents. Once we’d told them the news, we stopped over at Mom and Pop’s to tell them. By the time we got home, we were both wiped and crashed on the bed.
“I like Lila, but I thought we were going with the name Grace.”
She ran her hand over her round belly and smiled. “We were, and I love the name, but….”
“Are you changing your mind?” I teased.
“Maybe.”
I rolled to my side and faced her, placing my hand next to hers on her belly. “I’m sure peapod will love whatever name you choose. For that matter, we could just use both names and call her Lila Grace.”
Her eyes lit up as she looked at me. “Lila Grace. That’s the perfect name.”
“It is.”
“I love you, Nathan.”
She leaned over and was just about to press her lips to mine when all of the color drained from her face and she frantically moved her hands to the side of her belly. Her eyes dropped to the blood gushing from her bullet wound. Her hands were soaked in blood as she cried, “Nathan! Help me!”
“Lainey!” I shouted as I reached for her, but her image started to fade, leaving me grasping at nothing but the pile of pillows at my side. My eyes flew open, and I was wet with sweat as I sat up in the bed. I looked around the dark hotel room and shouted as I threw one of the pillows across the room. “Goddammit!”
I was running on empty—only a few hours of sleep in the last three days and barely a bite to eat. I knew I needed to pull myself together, but that old darkness had found its way back into my heart. I’d tried to fight it, but the need for vengeance had burned through me with no regard for anything else. I was tired, angry, and frustrated to the point that I wanted to yell and scream to let it all out, but like always, I kept it bottled up inside. There was no point in losing it. The DeMarco brothers had a debt to pay, and no matter how long it took, I was going to make sure that they both paid in full.
It had been three days since I’d seen Lenny in that fucking taco restaurant, and I’d nearly convinced myself that I’d imagined the whole damn thing until we got our first lead. It had taken some time, but with our contacts in the area, we’d found out that Lenny and Joey were going by different names, Manny and Dash. We’d also discovered that they were working with a guy named Calhoun, a big dog who ran many drug and prostitution rings in several cities, including Seattle—just a few hours from home. We were getting close. I could feel it in my bones. It was only a matter of time before we found them.
I’d managed to get a couple hours of sleep before the dreams set in. I knew that once they started, they wouldn’t stop, so I got up and went downstairs to the hotel lobby for a cup of coffee. I sat down with my coffee at a corner table and tried to watch the news. Their voices seemed muffled by the chaos going on in my head, and I could feel my impatience rising. Even though I’d only been sitting there a few minutes, I was becoming restless, so I took my coffee and headed upstairs. I was just about to step on the elevator when I ran into Ryder. “Why haven’t you been answering your phone?”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Nothing. I just figured you’d want to hit the ground running this morning.”
“I do. I just came down for a cup of coffee.”
“I see that. I could use one of those myself,” he grumbled as he stepped off the elevator. “That and a pack of cigarettes.”
“I’m headed up for a shower. I’ll be back in ten, and we can head out.”
He nodded and started towards the lobby. I took my shower and rummaged through my bag for the last of my clean clothes. Once I was dressed and had everything sorted, I went back downstairs. I found Ryder out in the parking lot talking on his cell phone. “Thanks, brother. We’re headed that way now.”
He turned to me and smiled. “We got the motherfucker.”
“You got his location?”
“He’s with some chick at one of the hotels downtown.”
“Anyone else with them?”
“No idea. Guess we’ll find out when we get there.”
We both got in the rental, and adrenaline surged through me as we headed to the location Ryder’s contact had given him. As Ryder started down the road, I only had one thing on my mind—Lenny DeMarco—and everything else faded into the background. Hell, I was too amped up to even know which way we were going. My pulse was racing, and my mind was bombarded with thoughts of coming face to face with Lenny. I wanted to wrap my hands around the motherfucker’s throat and watch the life drain from his body. But that death was too easy, too quick. He deserved a long, miserable death, and I was going to make sure that’s exactly what he got, as soon as I found his brother. I had to get them both. It was the only way I’d ever find peace.
My thirst for revenge had driven me to the edge, and as we pulled up to the hotel, I had to fight to keep myself under control. Luckily it wasn’t crowded; there were just a few people checking out and loading their cars. As soon as Ryder parked the SUV at the curb beside the front door, we both checked our weapons and went inside. Once we were in the lobby, Ryder motioned me over to him.
“I’ll do a walkthrough and see if I can find him.” I nodded and waited for him to go into the restaurant. Seconds later he came back to the door and said, “He’s here. As far as I can tell, it’s just him and the girl.”
“I want them both.”
“How do you want to play this?”
“We wait. When they start to leave, we make our move.”
Ryder got us a table at the door which gave us a clear view of Lenny and his girl. Life hadn’t been good to Lenny. He’d grown old with thinning hair and thick wrinkles around his eyes and forehead, and his gut had all but doubled. The old, fat fucker was completely oblivious to the fact that we were there watching him. He sat eating his eggs and bacon like everything was right as rain, having no idea that I was about to turn his entire life upside down, just like he’d done mine. I watched with repulsion as he reached for his girlfriend’s hand. She was a young blonde, maybe in her late twenties, and she was wearing jeans with heels and a black low cut tank. From the way she looked at him it was clear that she was crazy about him. I wanted to shake her, to tell her all the horrible things he’d done, but I knew a girl like her wouldn’t believe it coming from me. But I knew she’d figure it out soon enough.
“They’re about to make their move,” Ryder told me as he stared in Lenny’s direction.
“Let’s see which way they go. It’d be best if we could get them both in the parking lot, but we’ll make it work either way.”
“We need to play this smart, brother. There’s no way to be sure who’s watching.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” I growled. “I’m not leaving here without them.”
Just as the words left my mouth, Lenny and Blondie got up from their table and started walking towards the door. I took a deep breath as they walked by us and past the hostess’s desk. To my relief, they were headed out towards the parking lot. “Let’s go.”
Ryder and I followed close behind as Lenny led his girl over to a new, bright red Audi TTS. Thankfully, most of the people had already packed up and gone, leaving us alone in the parking lot. Just as Lenny opened the passenger door for her, Ryder stepped up behind him and placed the barrel of his gun against his back. Surprise crossed his face as I stepped in front of him and smiled. “Hello, Lenny. It’s been awhile.”
As I reached for his girl’s hand and moved her away from him, she started to resist, crying and pulling away from me, until I pressed my gun against her temple. She froze with tears streaming down her face as Lenny shouted, “Get your fucking hands off her!”
“That’s not gonna happen.”
His back stiffened as he glared at me angrily. “What the fuck do you want?”
“I’m here to collect a debt that’s been a long time coming, DeMarco.”
Ryder jabbed his gun deeper into Lenny’s back, “We’re gonna take a little ride, motherfucker. Now move!”
“Look… let’s talk about this,” Lenny stammered. “I’ve got money… drugs… women. Anything you want. Surely, we can work something out.”
“Like you worked things out with my father, you piece of shit? Now, move your ass, or I’ll put a bullet in her pretty little head.”
“Manny!” the blonde yelped as I pushed her forward.
“I’ll do whatever you want… just let her go!”
“Where’s your brother?”
“I don’t know,” he lied.
With her whimpering and blubbering like an idiot, I pushed the girl forward, forcing her towards the SUV as I said, “That was your one and only chance, Lenny.”
After we got them in the truck, Ryder took Lenny’s phone, tossed it to the ground, and then zip-tied both their hands and feet. My hands were literally shaking from all the adrenaline as I covered their mouths with duct tape. After all that time, it had finally happened. I’d found him.
Once we had them secured in the backseat, Ryder slammed the door and walked over to me. “What’s the plan?”
“We’re taking them back to Washington.”
“Why not just end the fucker here?”
“This isn’t over until I get his brother, too.” I got in the passenger seat as I said, “We need to go by the hotel, grab our shit, and get the fuck out of here.”
When we pulled out onto the road, I was thankful for the darkly tinted windows. The last thing we needed was for someone to see that we had two people bound and gagged in the backseat. Ryder pulled up to the back of the hotel and waited as I went in to grab our stuff. In less than twenty minutes, we were back on the road and headed to Washington. Lenny’s muffled grunts and groans echoed through the truck as he fought against his restraints, and I relished in the sound of him being scared out of his mind. I wanted him scared. I wanted him completely terrified, just like Lainey and my father had been the night he’d killed them. I wanted him to suffer like they had, and by the time I was done with him, he’d be praying for fucking mercy.
We drove straight through, only stopping for gas and necessary breaks, and managed to make it back home before midnight. We took them to one of my warehouses up in the mountains. It was a more discreet location, one where no one would think to look for them. We got them out of the truck and took them inside. Ryder took the girl into a separate room, while I led Lenny into the back of the warehouse. This particular warehouse had once been used as a deer processing center, so there was a large freezer in the back. Panic washed over him as I took him inside and secured him to a chair in the center of the room. As soon as I ripped the tape from his mouth, the incessant pleading began.
“Just let me go. I’ll give you whatever you want. Anything. Just name it.”
“The one thing I truly want, you can’t give me, Lenny. You took that away from me ten years ago.”
“It wasn’t me. I didn’t do anything. I swear. Just let me go.”
“You didn’t go into my father’s house and put a bullet in his head? You didn’t shoot my mother and Lainey? You didn’t kill my unborn daughter?” Rage surged through me as my fist grew taut, and I slammed it across his jaw. Once the first punch was thrown, I couldn’t stop. I just kept hitting him, over and over again, while I cursed his very existence.
I was still laying into him when Ryder came up to the door. “Nitro.”
Forcing myself to take a step back, I looked down at Lenny hunched over in his chair, seeing his swollen and bleeding face, and I had to fight the urge to pull out my gun and just end him right then and there. I took in a deep breath, and walked over to Ryder, closing the door behind me. “Yeah?”
“It’s nearly two in the morning.”
“What are you talking about? We just got here.”
“You’ve been back here wailing on him for over two hours, man. There’s not going to be anything left of him if you keep going at this rate. You need to go home and catch your breath.”
“The fuck I do.”
“You do, brother. You haven’t slept in days.” He took a step towards me with concern in his eyes. “You’ve been waiting ten long years for this, and now, you’re closer than you’ve ever been.”
“I’m not leaving here until I know where his brother is.”
“Christ, man. You’re never gonna get it out of him if you kill him the first night. You’ve gotta take a step back. You have my word, we’ll get it out of him, but for now, you can’t keep going like this. You’re going to end up doing something you regret and fucking everything up.”
“Fuck you, Ryder. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Just hear me out, boss. Go home. Even if it’s just for a couple of hours. Get some sleep, and I’ll stay here. I’ll keep an eye on things until you get back.”
“I won’t be able to sleep, Ryder. Not knowing he’s here.”
“You need to try. Besides, it will give you a chance to talk to Max. We’re going to need his help if we want to find Joey… and check on your girl. I know she’ll want to see your sorry ass, but take a shower first. You don’t want to freak her out with all that blood on your hands and clothes.”
I looked down at my hands and shirt, and he was right. I was covered in that motherfucker’s blood. With a defeated sigh, I said, “Fine, but I’ll be back in a few hours. I’m trusting you to make sure he doesn’t go anywhere.”
“Look at him, boss. That piece of shit isn’t going anywhere, but I won’t take my eyes off him. He’ll be right here waiting when you get back.”
Knowing he was right, I nodded and headed out to the SUV. The drive home was a long one. It was hard to leave there without finishing what I’d started and getting the answers I wanted, but deep down, I knew Ryder was right. At the rate I was going, I was going to fuck things up and kill the motherfucker before we’d found Joey. Whether I liked it or not, I had to be patient. By the time I pulled into the condo’s parking garage, it was almost three in the morning. I knew Tristen would be asleep, so I did my best not to wake her as I went inside. When I got to my room, I was surprised to see that she wasn’t sleeping in my bed, but I decided it was for the best as I went into the bathroom to take a shower. With the hot water streaming down my back, I thought how good it would feel to have her arms wrapped around me, letting her touch bring me back to humanity, but I was torn. I didn’t want her to know the beast inside of me had been released, that he’d taken over my every thought, and he wouldn’t let go until the deed was done. I figured it was best I didn’t even see her, fearing I might lose her if she saw me in that state, but I was a selfish asshole. I needed her, even if it was just for a brief moment, so without even dressing, I went into her room and got in the bed next to her. I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t want to explain my reasons for being gone or not calling her. I just wanted to feel her body next to mine and calm the monster inside long enough for me to sleep.