Vendetta (22 page)

“What the hell is going on?” I'd yell but I don't have it in me, so I settle for enunciating each word slowly.

“My daughter is a great shot,” Keith says. “If she wanted you dead, you'd be dead. Now, cut the crap and tell me where she is.”

“I—” I pause. Why is he asking me? She would have gone home, to warn them. Suddenly, I remember. She called Dom, and then a car came and . . . that's where my memory cuts off.

You're going to be okay.
Those are the last words I remember.

“She called Dom.”

“He's gone, too. We found his car in a ditch just outside of town,” Keith says, coming closer to stand by my uncle.

He’s gone,
too
? I look between the two of them, realizing neither explained what exactly all of this is. “What the fuck is going on?”

“It can wait, Devon,” Frank answers, and for the first time since I woke up he sounds like the Frank I know.

It can't fucking wait. I have my uncle and the murderer of my parents in the same room, obviously working together. “No, I'd rather you tell me now. Or am I supposed to just accept that
he
,” I spit the word out, making it sound like an insult, “is here, pretending like he didn't take my whole family away from me. From us!”

My uncle's face softens. “I know it seems confusing, but I need you to trust me. Have I ever failed you before?”

“Ever? You’ve fucking failed me my whole life.” I expect to regret the words, but I don't. All he ever did was antagonize me, from the first day we were all that was left of our family. I was one of his men, an employee. I was never his nephew.

He squares his shoulders and crosses his arms. I feel so fucking small in this bed with him looming over me like this. He looks at Keith who nods—he fucking nods, as if he's giving permission—at him, making me even more furious.

“I was protecting you.”

He holds my gaze, and the sincerity in his eyes catches me off guard. But protecting me from what? I open my mouth to ask him, but Keith interrupts me.

“Okay, we can talk about all of this later. There are things you need to know, Devon, but for now, we need to know everything you remember about the other night.”

The other night? “How long was I out for?”

“Two days,” my uncle says.

Two days. I'm not an idiot. I've figured it out by now that Leighton didn't make it back. And I've been out for two fucking days while she's God knows where. But I remember nothing. I shake my head to clear it, but it doesn't help. It only makes the pounding headache worse. My hand flies to my eyes, pressing them.

“She didn't make it back, did she?” I don't know why I ask it, I guess I just need to hear it confirmed, or maybe they will tell me I'm wrong.

“No.” The word coming from Keith is icy. I can't even look at him because it's all my fucking fault, so I keep my eyes covered with my hand.

“And Dom?”

“We assume they took him, as well. Which might be a good thing, because he can at least try and protect her, unless . . . ” He lets the sentence hang there, and for that I'm grateful. If she's all alone with someone who wants to harm her—

I laugh bitterly at the irony of this whole thing. All I kept thinking was how she will try and find a way out of that room in our house, but now I'm worried. Now I'm praying she finds a way to escape, wherever she is, or that she at least holds on until I find her.

Because I will find her, if it's the last thing I do.

LEIGHTON

The silence in the room makes my mind wander to Devon, to the look on his face when I shot him. I’m a horrible person, I know, I’ve kept telling myself that for the last two days. But I couldn’t sit there and let my family die. I’m not that selfish, and I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if that had happened. I would have loved nothing more than to run away with Devon, and spend the rest of our lives together, but with the death of my family on my conscience? When I could have stopped it? I would have grown to hate and resent him.

In the end, all it comes down to is that Devon and I just weren’t meant to be. People don’t always get what they want, but they still move forward, move on with their life. I know I’ll only be living a half-life without Devon, without my heart, but it was the only way.

This is the only way. I hope he’s somewhere safe, and not in too much pain. I know that shot wouldn’t have severely wounded or killed him. Hopefully he’s in hospital, recuperating.

I don’t know what Dom and Stevie have up their sleeve, but I need to figure that out, and soon. Stevie isn’t loyal to Devon, and that pisses me off. Devon deserves better, and he needs to know what’s going on in his own ranks. That he can’t trust anyone.

“I need to pee,” I tell George. I haven’t seen Dom at all since he left me here with them, and so far they’ve listened to him, taking shifts to watch over me, bringing me food and water. It’s usually George that I ask to go to the bathroom. Even knowing he’s a rat, for some reason I trust he’s not going to do anything to me.

The looks Danny throws my way every now and again are disgusting. And right now, it’s just the two of them here.

To my horror, Danny says, “I’ll take her.” The intent in his voice is more than obvious.

I shake my head violently. “No, George, you can’t let him do this.”

Danny grasps for the gun at his waist. “I’ll take her.”

George looks at me, swallowing hard, and then he looks away. Fucking low piece of shit. He has known me my whole life.

I steel myself as Danny unlocks the handcuff holding me to the wall, and I get up from the chair, shoulders squared, rubbing my painful wrist with the other hand. I give George one final look of betrayal, and then Danny pushes me toward the door and out of the room, a gun digging into my back.

We walk in tense silence toward the small stuffy bathroom with only one stall, no windows. My head is reeling, trying to figure out how to get out of this. I can’t let him do this to me. I look around the small bathroom, my eyes finding nothing that can help me.

I open the door to the stall and I’m about to close it when he says, “No. Leave it open.”

I slam it shut and turn the lock quickly. His ominous laughter booms through the room as I make use of the toilet.

Okay, think,
think,
Leighton. There must be something I can do. I curse under my breath as my eyes dart around the bare stall. There’s not even a mirror I could smash and use against him, just plain grey walls.

A knock on the door startles me. “That’s enough time. Come on out, Leighton.”

I turn around and open the door, coming face to face with his gun pointed at my head. He steps back and lowers the gun.

“Now,” he says, approaching me slowly, and I notice the sweat beading on his forehead, “time to play.”

I jerk my hand when he grabs my wrist tightly, bringing it to his crotch and rubbing it over the bulge in his jeans.
Oh my God
, is all I keep thinking.
This is really happening.

“Oh yeah, that’s good, baby,” he says, looking down at my hand as he moves it faster and faster. I’m literally backing away, trying to get put as much distance between us as I can, so much my shoulder starts to hurt. But his grip is too tight and he’s too strong for me. “Do you like that, Leighton?”

I shake my head, unable to speak of terror. The hand holding the gun comes flying out, and he punches me across the face. I can feel my cheek pulsating where he hit me.

“You love it, don’t you, you little whore?”

I nod. What else can I do? If he hits me again, or something worse, there’s no way out. I could pass out. I could get seriously hurt. At least this way I’m conscious, and I can still figure out a way to protect myself.

“Get on your fucking knees!” When I don’t move, he brings the gun under my chin and digs it into my flesh. “I said, get on your fucking knees.”

I get on my knees.

He starts unbuckling his belt, looking at me with disgusting lustful eyes. How can he take pleasure knowing he’s about to rape me?

“You know, when I realized what was going on, that you were fucking that son of a bitch, I was so disappointed in you, Leighton.” He unbuttons his jeans, one excruciating button at a time. “I really thought you were better than that. But I can’t hold it against you. I know you girls fall for that brooding shit. God knows how much pussy he got just because he’s depressed.” His laughter comes out strangled as he pulls the jeans down together with his boxers and his cock springs out, just inches from my face. “But you should have known better. Now suck it, bitch. See what a real man can give you,” he says, guiding his cock with his hand toward my mouth.

I don’t want to do it. I don’t.

In a desperate move, I reach out with my hand, covering his to stop him. I make eye contact, letting him know I’ll comply with whatever he wants. He moves his hand away and I fight vomit as I grasp his length into my fist.

“That’s right, baby,” he says through a groan as I stroke it one time fast.

And then I snap it sharply, crushing his balls with my other hand. He screams like a fucking girl, the gun clattering to the floor as his hand flies out to hit me again. I scramble away on my knees for the gun, and just shoot, without thinking. Once. Twice. Three fucking times, each echoing in the small space of bathroom. He slumps over me, his jeans around his ankles.

I move his heavy body off me, knowing I’m running out of time before someone comes to check what the gunshots were. I scramble to my feet and punch him in his exposed groin anyway, just for good measure. Fucking son of a bitch rapist asshole.

The gun still in my hand, I run out of the bathroom. I have no idea where I am, what this place is, where to go. I run across the suffocating hallway, and then George comes out from the room they held me in. I raise the gun, grasping it in both my hands and aim it at him.

“You’re not a killer, Leighton,” he says, his condescending tone pissing me off further. He probably doesn’t know I just killed a man.

Oh my God, I just killed a man.

“How do you know what I am, George?” I ask, buying myself some time. What the hell do I do now? My finger hesitates over the trigger and then I make the mistake of looking into his eyes. I’ve known this man my whole life. He's right; I can't kill him.

Suddenly, the gun is knocked out of my hand. It clatters to the floor, the sound echoing ominously against the walls.

“Fucking bitch,” Stevie yells, twisting my arm. I cry out in pain, sure that he’s about to break it. George comes forward, kicking the gun away from me.

“Should have taken that shot,” he says.

seventeen

DEVON

“Okay, talk.”

Frank looks around the room, as if drawing inspiration, but I know he's just avoiding looking at me.

I wince in pain as I reach for the glass of water, getting his attention. My uncle looks pointedly between me and the pill bottle on the bedside table, but I ignore him. I'm not taking anything they give me until I get an explanation of what's going on.

If the pills knock me out, there's no way of getting out of bed, either. And Leighton is out there . . .

Finally, he makes eye contact. “Eleven years ago, my—” he begins, then swallows hard, looking away. “Your father called me to tell me we're finally out.”

My father wanted out? But that’s ridiculous. The only way out is in a coffin.

When he doesn't say anything else, I nod, urging him to continue.

“He didn't want this life for you kids. Hell, he didn't want this life for me. Our parents died young in a car accident, and he was left, barely legal, to take care of me. Joe didn’t want the legacy of our father, or to end up the same way he did.”

I frown, thinking how familiar that story is. My dad was a kid taking care of a kid.

“He was
always
taking care of me.” He smiles affectionately, his features taking on a boyish appearance. Then his eyes go blank. “All my life I resented him for sending me away, away to boarding schools, away to travel abroad, away to college . . . until I got it. When he did the same to you, I got that he didn't hate me or didn't
not
want me around.”

This also sounds awfully familiar. My mother liked to travel, or so I thought, always taking me with her wherever she went, and we would be gone for so, so long. Dad was always busy, had work, and he never came with us.

When I was ten, I was told I was going to an all-boys school. I remember the temper tantrum I threw, like a spoiled little brat, punching air and slamming doors. Joey was just born, and I thought they were getting rid of me because they got a new kid. The jealousy was eating me up.

My father wasn't a man that showed emotion. He did things, rather than said them, to make you feel loved. A new toy, a pat on the head, letting me play in his office. And when he said I'd only ever be home during school breaks, well, I thought it said a lot about their love. Child logic.

“Your mother knew what he was doing when she married him, but after you came, she wanted out as well. So, he did what he had to do, and he made it happen. Almost. He worked out a deal with Keith Moore.”

“A deal with Keith Moore,” I repeat, disbelieving.

“Yes. When he told me I didn't actually think it would happen. For so long our family has been in the
business
—” He makes air quotes and it strikes me as so out of character when it comes to him. “—the idea of getting out was just impossible. Once you’re in, you’re in. He made it happen for me. He sent me away and I had a normal life, for the most part. I got through college and had a bright future ahead. Mac—Hayley’s father, he helped, but still.” His voice turns sad, almost wistful. He shakes his head, as if to clear it.

No wonder he resented me. I pulled him out of his life, even though it wasn't my fault.

“What kind of a deal did he make?”

“He would just hand it all over, and in return he'd get protection for his family,” he says, as if that explains it all.