No one else spoke and I know my brothers like me were still coming to terms with what we were seeing. I've never experienced shocked joy before but I can't say I didn't like it. "I thought I covered my tracks pretty well, but something went wrong and that's when I tried calling you in. When you were sent into a trap, I knew I had to do something or we'd all be fucked, so I came up with a plan." "I know how the general operates, so when he invited himself here under the guise of friendship I was ready for him. I'd already taken the antidote for his little surprise so when he slipped me the poison I pretended to be dead while he ransacked my place looking for what I had." "So that's why the closed coffin." Connor asked as he too looked over the commander as if not quite believing his own eyes. "I had to do it this way boys. I knew once I was gone that you'd take care of it once you got wind of what was going on. I didn't want you involved, but I couldn't get c
Three weeks later we were back on the island, which looked like a completely different place. Cierra had shown up a few days early to get the place set up. There were flowers everywhere leading from the lawn down to the beach and a canopy that looked like it would hold a couple hundred people easy. We hadn't been let in on any of the plans. After all the threats the women had made about making us help them plan. In the end it was decided that as men we didn't know the first thing about it and were left to our own devices. We'd used the time to take care of our business and make sure that the people we'd left in charge had done a good job, which they had. The CO and his boys had been busy in that time and once the news broke about the trafficking ring and all those who were involved, everything was total chaos. As Mancini had predicted, there were a lot of people with their heads on the chopping block, including the fuck up who couldn't hide behind his
"Lyon your daughter is fucking adorable." "Dude what the fuck, she's sixteen." I glared at Mancini the fuck ready to take him out. "Not the teen you ass, the little one." That shit made me snort like Kat does. "Oh yeah?" She's been working her con on her new uncles. To a man they melt whenever she bats those lashes of hers at them. She knows better than to try that shit with me. That ship sailed when the little shit was three and I caught her making her own damn glue to fuck with her big sister's hair. "What's she doing that makes her so adorable this time?" I hadn't seen her in a little bit, figured she was with her mom and the other women. Thank fuck. We were here to relax after all and that one don't know the meaning of the word. "She's reading to Zakira, very hush-hush. Must be some story the way the two of them have their heads together whispering." I flew out of my chair two seconds later. "Lyon what the fuck?" Tyler and the others looke
*** "Stop being so nervous, everything is going to be fine." We were about an hour out from the wedding on the beach and she was the one reassuring me. I don't know why, but now that we were down to crunch time I have this fear that some shit is gonna go wrong. Maybe because I know that she's the best thing that ever happened to me. Or maybe it's because I still don't think I deserve her. Whatever it is, I have this feeling that some shit's gonna go wrong. "Come 'ere." I wrapped my arms around her and felt myself settle. "I love you, I'm not nervous about marrying you, I just don't want anything to go wrong on our big day." I hope Ty the fuck isn't lurking around somewhere listening to this or he'd ride my ass for sure. "Nothing's gonna go wrong, now go be with your brothers while I finish getting dressed." Dani and Gaby had been pounding at our cottage door for the last half an hour trying to get me to release her. The women were getting dress
"Where are you taking me?" I struggled against the restraints as I tried to take stock of my surroundings. My heart was still beating too loudly in my ears, and the tinny taste of fear lingered in my mouth. I held my breath as best I could and strained to hear what was going on around me over the vicious thumping of my heart. That saying 'blind fear' is very accurate. It felt like all my senses, especially that one was on have the fritz. I worked my jaw when I realized I was gritting my teeth too hard to stop myself from wetting my pants. My body was tense, poised, and ready to take flight, but I couldn't have moved even had I not been tied up and immobile. I slowed my breath, if only to stop the unhealthy racing of my heart, and started to settle down once I realized that there was no immediate danger. It took a sec for my mind to send that message to my body, but my limbs soon started to relax, bit by bit. Once I finally got my bearings, I used my shou
Of course, I wanted to curl into a ball and cry until he came and got me, but I could hear his strong, reassuring voice in my head. Yelling at me to use everything I had in my power to survive. Fresh tears started as I envisioned our nighttime ritual from my youth. Ever since I was old enough to remember, daddy would tuck me in. Whenever he was at home, that is and not off saving the world. He'd sit next to my bed and read to me before brushing the hair back from my face with his reassuring hand. Then he'd lean in close and kiss my forehead before whispering in my ear what a precious person I am, how no one was better or stronger, how I could do and be anything I want because I was made special and there was only one me. Those words always made me feel taller, stronger braver. Like I could take on the world. Thinking of him and mom, the strength they'd tried to instill in me, made me all the more determined to fight. Though my mind struggled to sway f
Now I've awakened here in the belly of a dark, dank container, and every depraved act man had perpetrated against man since the beginning of time played itself out in my head. That's the flip side to having a daddy who protects you from everything and tries his best to give you all the tools you'll need to stay safe. Some day he'll have to tell you just what the hell it is he's keeping you safe from. My daddy, being who he is, never sugar coated shit for his only daughter. I wanted to scream, throw up and go back to sleep so I could wake up from this nightmare, but there was no shying away from reality. This shit is happening in real time and if I don't come up with something, my life is never going to be the same again. I know the odds though, and they're not good. Is this it then? Is this the end of the line for me? But why? Isn't there supposed to be some kind of logic to life? Why should these people, complete strangers no less, get to decide what course m
My mind flashed to a story I'd read years ago when I was too young to understand the severity of the situation. It was the story of a young girl, one much younger than I am now. A girl who'd been taken from her bed in the middle of the night. A family torn apart, a city on edge as the nation watched. That girl had found her way back home. I too can do the same. The thought gave me solace and I held onto it for as long as I could, keeping the fear at bay. I'll bide my time until I get the lay of the land so to speak, and then I'd go from there. I won't fight them until I was sure I'm in a position to win. Any opportunity that arises I'll take it, no matter what I have to do to escape this horror. That's a girl Kelly, keep thinking ahead don't look back. I felt my inner strength build and left the defeatist attitude in the dust. My daddy has been preparing me for this day ever since I got a firm grasp on the English language. Both mentally and physically