Page 55 of Queen of Madness

He helps lift her off my semihard shaft, then leaves us while he tends to getting the things she needs.

I hover over her worn body, continuing to run my knuckles lightly over her jaw. “You did so good, kitten.”

Though her eyes are closed, her wide smile appears as she presses her face into my hand.

The harsh sounds of my phone vibrating on the wood stand next to us jars me, but Shi’s soft nod lets me know she’s fine. I lean back on my haunches and reach over and grab it, answering on the third ring.

“Hey, Boss.”

“You’re out of breath. Are you busy?”

I run a hand over my hair, my eyes flashing to the bathroom at Trigger to make sure he’s running Shi’s bath. “No, I’m good. You need me?”

“I do. Basement.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I tap the red button, tossing the phone back on the nightstand.

I scoop Shi’s body up in my arms, caressing her hair as I take her to the bathroom. Trigger’s already in the filling tub, dropping a few oils inside and knocking in some dried rose petals. I set her down slowly, giving my brother time to open his legs and let her settle between.

“Going down for the driver?”

Nodding, I dip a washcloth inside the warm water and make quick work wiping myself up. “Yeah. One of the women ended up dying in the hospital.”

My heart squeezes as I mention Natalie. She was one of the women we just picked up a few weeks ago. Me and another guard intercepted the van she was in, and I remember her being the one we were worried about. She was so far gone, so addicted, we had to give her reduced doses of methamphetamine or else we knew she was going to run.

Turns out our efforts weren’t enough. She left, returned to her dealer, and ended up being forced to lead a couple of new Murphy soldiers to Embros Hearts. Dumbasses must have thought if they were able to steal some girls back, they would get some kind of fucked-up accolade from their Boss, but even the don, Phineas Murphy, knows Hearts is off fucking limits.

The two guys were nothing to handle, but Natalie was in the car with the driver, and he slit her throat before we caught up to him. Guess she had something to say he didn’t want repeated. But when I went to kill him, Onyx asked for me to bring him in. I’m not sure why she wanted to keep him, but I didn’t question her.

That woman has a reason for everything, even if it’s not part of our bigger plans.

“Don’t stay up.” I kiss Shi on the head and nod to my brother before throwing on some clothes and heading downstairs.

When I reach the basement, I find Onyx already there, leaning against the back wall. She’s eerily calm, slowly French braiding her hair to the side. Her slim-fitting jumpsuit is snug against her frame, the front cutting to her navel and exposing the insides of her breasts.

Even though we aren’t related, my love for her as my blood is so deeply embedded, I almost feel uncomfortable when she displays her curves to scum. Even tied up and on the verge of dying, I know how they look at her. And it never fails to make me want to stab their fucking eyes out.

I glance over to the driver. He’s upright, held in place by chains attached to the ceiling and clamped around his wrists. He’s young, no more than twenty-five, fit, and about Onyx’s height. His brown, shoulder-length hair is tied back at the nape of his neck, but a few strands stick to his sweaty face.

The metal table is pushed against the far wall, and I realize immediately something’s happened. Instead of a scalpel, there’re scissors, and rather than pliers, there’s a bone saw, and most concerning of all, there’s also a pickaxe, bat, and machete. She didn’t come down here for information. She came to blow off steam.

“Should I get Shi? Or Maddy?”

Onyx pushes off the wall, a smirk gracing her face. “I thought we’d have some fun, you and me. It’s been so long.”

My ears perk up. It has been a long time.

Out of all of us here, I’m the obvious choice if you want to get into some trouble. I’m much further gone in the head if I’m being honest, and I enjoy scalping people more than what’s deemed normal.

I think it happened the day we saved Shi. She was the first woman we saved while just out, walking around in neutral area. She’d just turned eighteen when we found her. She was bloody, beaten, and banging on death’s door, begging for her end. Her story is one you hear about on the news and are grateful to learn the girl died so she didn’t have to endure the pain just from breathing anymore.

Still to this day, I don’t understand why she didn’t give up and end it all herself. And that’s what makes me love her more—she’s the definition of a survivor.

But even though she survived, she still deserved justice. And since she would never get it in the way she so rightfully deserved, I was down to give it to her the way she needed it. For her, that meant the piece of shit soldier that snatched her off the street. We tied him to a tree deep in the woods off the property and filleted him from toe to nose.

The whole ordeal took three days, and he was alive and aware for most of it.

It was exhausting, and my ears hurt like a bitch, but Shi was cleansed. She’d taken a piece of what he’d stolen from her. And for me, that was enough because she deserved so much more.

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