Page 20 of Blade

That made sense as to how most of her trauma had occurred.

“Bash, you’re with me. Smoke, Layton, follow Maverick,” I commanded.

“On it,” they answered as we split into two groups.

“Second door on your left,” Maverick said, pointing to the opposite hallway.

Walking down the hall, Bash and I didn’t speak. Our anger reflected thickly in the air around us. Fisting the rod of correction tightly, I pushed open the door, walked in, and slammed the wood down on his desk twice. He shoved his chairback and tried to stand, but Bash was behind him already. Gripping his shoulders, Bash shoved him back in the chair.

“W-who are you?” he asked. His rotund face reflected his horror.

“That doesn’t matter. What does matter is Eloise Tomerlin and what you did to her.”

His face filled with rage and he tried to stand again. “I don’t know what the little whore told you—”

WHACK!

I didn’t let him finish his sentence before I hit him in the mouth with the rod. Once he’d called Eloise a whore, I was done listening.

“Wrong answer, asshole,” Bash said, his hands still firmly on his shoulders.

Blood poured from Billy’s face and I took pride in knowing his last few minutes on earth would be a literal hell for him.

***

I stretched my arms over my head. My back was sore from the physical exertion, but damn did I feel good knowing there were far less evil people in the world.

From the rearview mirror, I could see smoke from the church rising quickly, turning the sky a dark gray. It looked like its secret sins were being exposed and the thought of all is secrets being public fucking elated me.

“You good?” Bash asked, wiping his hands on his pants.

“I’m good, and more importantly, Eloise will be good.”

He nodded. “That’s all that matters at the end of the day.”

“Thank you for this,” I told all of the men in the SUV with me. “There’s nobody else I’d rather commit felonies with.”

Laughing, Smoke put his bloody hand on my shoulder. “I’d kill for you, man. Literally.”

Looking down at his hand, I asked, “Is that your blood?”

“Nope.” He grinned.

I wore Billy’s blood on my own pants. He’d screamed and cried like a fucking baby, but he deserved everything I’d given him and more for what he’d done to my baby. And shewouldbe my baby. Once she realized she was safe and didn’t need to spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder. Eloise would let me love her, I just knew it.

Turning on my cell, I noticed I had dozens of messages and voicemails. What the fuck?

It rang before I could listen to any of them. “Hey, Leland. What’s up?” I answered with the call on speaker.

“Eloise is missing. We’ve been trying to call you for hours.”

“What? What do you mean she’s missing?” My heart dropped to my feet and I felt like I might actually puke.

“When Rogue got here this morning, she was gone. She took her IV out and her backpack is missing. Do you have any idea where she’d go?”

“Fuck!” Bash slammed his hand into the dash.

I felt like doing the same, but refrained. Barely.

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