Chapter Sixteen
Mackson
“What the fuck.” My words come out gravelly. “He gave her to that fucking piece of shit? Knowing what kind of man he was?”
“Yes, that’s the information I’ve been told, and trust me, knowing Michael even for a short time, I didn’t need to ask myself if what I was told was the truth or not. Michael thinks women are inferior. Having one in his own family, someone who could possibly inherit his greatest possession, his empire, didn’t sit well with him and he disposed of what he considered to be a problem, not a child.”
Kelso rushes up the stairs. “I’m gonna be sick.”
I swallow hard, trying to hold down my own bile.
Lana’s staring at me. Her hand is over her mouth and her eyes are wide and glassy, her beautiful tears pooling at her fingers against her skin. I’ve confided in her about the depths of Phillip’s savagery. The beatings the girls took and the abuse we boys went through. I can only imagine the horrors playing through her mind right now.
My own movie begins to play through my thoughts.
A little boy’s voice I recognize all too well.
Screams.
Begging.
Crying.
Soft, petite hands cup my jaw and my eyes push open. I inhale heavily not realizing I’d closed them.
“Hey,” Lana whispers. “You okay?”
I nod my answer, too afraid to speak the words, in case they come out rough and give away how far my mind traveled. Lana sees through my attempt to appear unscathed by the sudden topic of my past. Her face softens and she kisses my lips gently. Words aren’t needed, she understands me. Stubborn maybe, but she respects the fact that I don’t want nor need to talk about what just happened. I have enough strength inside myself to find my way back to the real world and be okay.
Slater walks to the window and opens it. He closes his eyes against the breeze and appears to try and calm himself with the fresh air.
Everyone’s silent for a moment, not knowing what to say next.
Pacer’s sitting on the sofa, elbows resting on his knees, hands clasped together tapping on his forehead repeatedly, harder each time. “We just killed one sadistic fucker, and now we have another one? Possibly two? This shit never ends.”
My heart pounds against my chest painfully. I walk to my brother and place a hand on his shoulder and squeeze. I try to give him the strength he needs to take yet another hit and pull himself together.
“You won’t need to worry about Michael, his sons and nephew are on a whole other playing field compared to your world. They hate Michael with a vengeance I can’t compare to any other. By now they will know their sister is alive and where she is. Michael could already be dead or be in a very uncomfortable position being tortured mercilessly.”
Slater shifts to face Dom. “Della’s mother?”
Dom shakes his head. “Died a long time ago. I don’t know the specifics, but what I could find out; she was a good mom and a good woman. Her sons loved her very much.”
Slater nods, appearing to have composed himself and returning to the same leader who always pulls us through these shitty times.
“This is a lot of information to take in and Della will be back soon. I don’t want her walking in here and finding you here or hearing this shit from you.”
Dom clenches his jaw and grits his teeth, he wants to say something but decides to stay quiet. “
“You need to go, and as far as I’m concerned you're dead to us Brett… Dom… whoever the fuck you are. I’m an understanding man until it affects my family and you ruined everything my brothers and I have fought for. For five years our sister stayed safe from this secret and now you’ve destroyed that. The fact that you went back to Lucini and prepared to put your life on hold to protect Dell? I don’t give a shit. Too little too late. You should have come to me and told me the truth.”
Dom lowers his eyes to the floor and nods. He stands and moves to the front door, but stops before he takes a step through, turning to face us all. “I’ve never regretted anything as badly as I regret what I’ve done to Dell. After I left, I mourned her, grieved for the girl I fell in love with because I knew I’d crossed a line and that you all would never forgive me. But know this, I’m not going to run away. I’m going to burn if need be to save her. I’m going to fight, work and even wound myself to my grave if that’s what it takes to right my wrongs and make sure Della is never harmed by any-fucking-body on this earth.”
Dom leaves and the entire room grows silent. Each of my brothers wears similar expressions. Wide eyes and slack jaws, even Kelso who stands at the bottom of the stairs is speechless.
“Is it just me or is that guy damn hard to hate?” Lana interjects into the silence.
My lips twitch and Slater grunts. I walk over to Lana and kiss her head.
She tips her head toward me. “I should head back to the hospital soon. Rex is worse today than he was last night. He’s thrashing around like a crazy person and Dr. Evans thinks he may have to put Rex back on the methadone if he doesn’t calm down soon, as those straps on the beds aren’t built to hold someone down, more so to hold them still during needle injections and surgeries.”
“Shit, he’s still that bad?”
She nods and then a loud rumble comes up the street and all heads turn to the front of the house.
I know that car.
“Corey?” Lana says out loud.
Slater and Pacer are the first ones out the door followed by Kelso, Lana and me. Corey’s parked on a weird angle behind Dom, who’s on the phone, probably to a tow-truck company.
Corey jumps out of his car and looks around wildly, and when his eyes finally fall on Lana, he slams his door closed and runs over to the group of us.
“Hold the hell up,” I say while throwing out my hands in front of me signaling Corey to stop. “What the fuck are you doing in Portland or anywhere near our house? Lana has our protection and help, you sure as fuck don’t. So I suggest you get back in your car and get outta here before shit gets ugly. And next time use a go-between or a fucking phone.” No fucking way a Poison crew member is just going to walk up to our front door and we’re going to invite him inside.
Lana is standing to my right. “Corey, you should be with Rex.”
In my shock at Corey just appearing at my house, I miss looking him over and noticing his disheveled appearance and the fear in his eyes.
“Rex left, he got out of his restraints and we can’t find him,” Corey rushes out the words without taking a breath in between.
Lana gasps and then fists her hands and glares at Corey. “Where the hell were you, Corey? You were supposed to watch him.”
“Getting some lunch,” Corey fires back at her furiously. “I was starving.”
I hear Slater talking to my left and look over. He’s on his phone talking, “Piper. Where are you? You safe?” Slater pauses and then exhales in relief. “No, it’s okay, we’re all safe. Baby, please calm down, breathe. That’s my girl. Now promise me you’ll stay put at work, okay?” Silence follows and then Slater says, “I love you, too, see you soon.”
I’m drawn back to Lana and Corey arguing. “Why the hell didn’t you ring me, Corey? That would have been a lot quicker than driving all the way out here.”
Corey reaches behind his back and we all take a step back and tense. He pulls out a cell phone with a purple case around it. Lana’s phone. “Because you left your phone in Rex’s hospital room.”
Lana’s expression turns apologetic. ”Oh. I’m sorry. Thanks for bringing it to me.”
Dom walks over and offers, “I can help you search for him, Corey.”
As if only noticing Dom for the first time, Corey replies with a curious expression, but decides now isn’t the time to ask what he’s doing at our house. “Thanks, Brett. Why don’t you try T.K.’s and the garage? I’ve been to the garage already, but he might have turned up after I left.”
Dom nods as Lana begins to panic. “No, no, no,” while peering down at her phone.
I place my hand on her arm to try and calm her down. “Lana, what is it?”
“Rex is the only other person who knows my phone’s password, and I have a text message on my phone from an hour ago, that I never wrote to Della, asking her where she is. And she replied straight away saying she was at the Save-A-Lot food store in Portland.”
A huge weight hits my chest and I have trouble swallowing.
Lana looks up to me and in a quiet voice says, “He wouldn’t hurt her. Rex won’t...” her voice trails off as does her eyes into the distance.
“What the fuck would he want with her then?” Slater and Dom both ask at the same time, both in furious voices aimed at Lana.
I stand in front of her and with dark eyes I look to both of them and growl, “Back the fuck off.”
I turn to Corey and repeat, “What the hell would Rex want with my sister?”
“I have no idea,” Corey sputters.
“I’m calling Save-A-Lot. Maybe she’s still there,” Pacer announces.
“Fuck,” Slater growls. “Could today get any worse?” He turns to Pacer. “If she’s still there, make sure they tell her we said to stay put inside the store.”
“Got it,” Pacer answers and races inside to use the house phone.
Slater speaks to Kelso next. “Grab my keys Kel, and get Chevy out. If Della isn’t already on her way home, I want to follow her home from the store.”
Kel disappears into the house next.
I grab Lana’s hand and spot the fear in her eyes. “It’ll be okay, Dove.”
“Rex wouldn’t hurt her,” she whispers. “But that man who woke up last night, I don’t know who that is, Mack. I’m scared for Della and I’m scared for my brother, too.”
My palms sweat and my heart beats rapidly. Panic begins to set in.
“Lana, what do you mean by ‘that man’?” Slater presses.
I answer for her, “Right now Rex has a huge disconnect between what’s real and what’s going on inside his head. He’s been having psychotic episodes during his withdrawal.”
Slater’s face turns ashen and I swear to God seeing my big brother die a little more inside, every time he thinks he could lose one of us, never gets easier.
Dom begins to pace. He joins his hands and puts them on the back of his head and slumps forward as if trying to stay calm.
“He’s got her. He has to,” Pacer says sprinting out of the house. He comes to a sudden halt in front of us all, breathless, but continues anyway, “Manager says the trolley boy brought in a purse and spilled groceries just over half an hour ago… and it’s Della’s… it’s her license. He said he called the police and he’s still waiting for them to turn up.”
Dom rushes to Corey and grabs the collar of his gray T-shirt and starts shaking him. “Where the fuck would he take her?”
Corey stutters and then his eyes widen and he finally answers, “Train tracks. The bend we used to drink at, down by the Ohio River near Shawnee Park. The last few times we’ve found him there lying on the tracks completely out of it. We’re lucky we made it a few times, trains still go through there regularly.”
Dom drops Corey and he only just catches his balance in time to not fall on his ass.
“I’m gonna fucking kill him this time,” Slater growls and points at Corey and Lana. His face is bright red and his veins are popping out. “He lays a hand on her I’m gonna slice him open from his neck to ass crack, whether he’s fucking sane or not,” Slater’s hysterical yell rings through the air.
I’ve never seen him so out of control. I stretch my arm out in front of Lana, not sure if I’m going to have to hold my own brother back from my girl. Lana’s holding tight to the arm I’m protecting her with, and I can feel her shaking. But is she shaking out of fear for herself or Rex? I don’t know.
Chevy’s rumble comes up the drive.
“Pace give me the gun.” Slater extends his hand to my brother and Pacer hands it over quickly. Slater checks the clip, takes the safety off and races over to Chevy with Pacer following.
I grab Lana’s hand and lead us over to Fang immediately, ready to follow my brothers to find our sister.
I’m stopped by a hand on my arm and Dom’s panicked voice asking, “Let me ride with you?”
I nod immediately, not caring to argue about anything right now. My sister’s life could hang in the balance.
I sit a shaking Lana in the front seat of my car and Dom jumps in the back. I’m in and starting Fang while Slater speeds out of the driveway and fishtails all the way up our street. He’s fucking reckless right now.
I’m accelerating and catching up to them in no time. My palms are sweating with a slight tremble and my heart’s racing a million miles an hour. This is nothing like racing; I have a sick, ugly feeling in my gut. There’s no peace here on this road today, only a heart-wrenching panic that’s slowly taking hold of my body and mind.