Page 334 of Redeemed

Dad nods. “When she’s ready, we’re here.”

“I know.”

We head back inside. Haven is still crying, but it doesn’t sound nearly as heart-wrenching as it did when we stepped onto the porch.

Colton is on the floor next to the couch, and Lucas is hovering nearby, too. Hell, even Star is here, curled up in Colt’s lap. I stay as close as I can while also helping my family get their bags into the van.

Saying goodbye is hard, but I manage to keep it together until they’ve pulled out of the driveway. The only thing that makes me feel better is falling into Lucas once I’m back inside.

“You and me,” he murmurs. A reminder that even though my family is gone, I’m not alone.

“You and me,” I whisper back. “Always.”

. . .

Athelia doesn’t leave until around eight. It’s when Haven starts having trouble staying awake, and I think Athelia is anxious to get back to Wes, too. So once she leaves, we get Haven upstairs and ready for bed.

After she brushes her teeth, Lucas gives Haven one of Aurora’s anxiety pills. We’re hoping it’ll keep her calm enough that if she wakes up after he and I slip out, she won’t panic. She begs that we all sleep in Colton’s bed again, so we climb in and cuddle her until she dozes off.

This time, Haven wraps herself around Colton. I thought it was cute, the way she clings to us. It’s like the moment she gets sleepy, she turns into a koala or something. Now, it breaks my heart.

Leaving feels like tricking her. In a sense, it is, but a lot of the Glass Rooks are angry. I only have a short window of time before someone beats me to killing Mark. And after what he did to my family—after what he did to Haven—he’s fucking mine.

“Ready?” Lucas whispers once Haven’s breathing has evened out.

“Yeah. You’ve got her, Colt?”

He nods.

“Then let’s go.”

We get off the bed slowly. Haven doesn’t stir, not even when Lucas drops a kiss to her forehead. We both hover close by for a minute in case the lack of a body at her back wakes her up, but she doesn’t move.

Quietly, we slip out of the room and head down to the garage. Both of us pull our bikes out into the driveway so it’s not so loud when we start the engines, and then we’re off.

As always, I take the lead. It’s been too long since Luc and I have ridden together, and I grin as he matches my speed. I take us the long way, for no other reason than having a few extra minutes on the road with him.

We hide our bikes just outside Mark’s neighborhood in a spot that Lucas made sure doesn’t have any security camera coverage from nearby intersections or houses. It’s dark out, so we don our masks and gloves and move through the shadows.

We come up on Mark’s mansion from the back. It only takes Lucas a couple minutes to disarm the security system—never piss off a secret tech genius—and then we’re inside.

Based off of which lights are still on, it looks like Mark is in his living room. When we enter, he looks up from the glass chess set on his coffee table. A glass of whiskey dangles in his hand, and there are dark circles under his eyes.

“I was wondering if it was going to be you,” he says with a sigh. “At least give me the mercy of making it quick?”

“You put my father and my little sister in the hospital, and you think there’s even a chance that I’ll go easy on you?” I pull out my knife and flick it open. “Do you know how old my sister is?”

“It wasn’t particularly relevant when I needed to get you out of town, so no,” Mark says dryly.

“She’s twelve.Twelve.You almost killed a fucking child. She’s not even a teenager yet.”

Taking a slow sip of his whiskey, Mark shrugs. “My only regret is that my plan didn’t work. Although… it looks like my second one did.”

Fucking bastard.I was already planning on making this painful, but his lack of remorse just turned tonight into a full-on torture session.

“Lucas,” I grit out.

At my command, Luc springs into action. He hauls Mark up from the couch and slams him onto the coffee table. It breaks under Mark’s weight, and he crashes to the ground with the shattered chess set.

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