Page 5 of Graves & Griggs
We haven’t told my angel the extent of the danger we’re all in. I didn’t want to worry her, and also, sheknows. She doesn’t know the details, and she doesn’t need them. One look at me and she didn’t ask a single question, just quickly packed for herself and the boys, then we left Seattle within hours. We’ve been down in the Caribbean for three weeks now, and Dominic is beginning to go stir-crazy. He doesn’t like to not be in control, and this situation… yeah, it’s just fucked to shit. There is no control to be had.
“Tell me what to do and I’ll get it done,” I say.
Dominic nods as he heads inside, while my angel and the boys walk through the sand up to our house. We bought this place shortly after the boys were born. We thought it would be a nice vacation home… or a safe house. It felt excessive to buy an entire island, but after all those years of work, Dominic and I have saved up a nice chunk… more than a chunk. Anyways, this felt as good a place as any to go. It’s completely untraceable—we literally paid to have it removed from all maps and radars. How Dominic pulled that off, I’ll never know. Everything was done through shell accounts and offshore banking. It’s as safe as we could possibly make it, which is why I know my brother is overreacting. Whatever he needs, I guess. He’s right: our family is worth being absolutely sure. The sooner we take care of the Four Horsemen, the sooner we can all go home too.
“What are you two whispering about?” my angel teases as the boys chase after Dominic and she presses her lips to mine.
I’ll never tire of her pillowy-soft lips. So perfect, and all mine.
Dominic steps in and steals her from my arms, cupping her face and crushing his lips to hers. She goes willingly, and I can’t help but sulk.
Well, almost all mine.
After dinner, Dominic and I worked on pulling up any kind of connections the Four Horsemen could have, specifically in this area. We didn’t find anything, which is equal parts relieving and unsettling. If we’d found something, I’d be comforted. Finding nothing means they’ve hidden it, and we’re blind. We went to bed late and found my angel already asleep in the middle, where she always sleeps. I tucked her into my chest as Dominic wrapped himself around her, and we all drifted off into a perfect sleep.
Suddenly, screams echo through the house, forcing my eyes open in an instant. Dominic and Blake wake in the next moment as glass shatters in our room. Still half asleep, I reach beneath my bedside table, pull the gun taped under it and unload it into the intruder. He’s not alone, though. Two more men dressed in all black jump through the opened window, one coming for me and the other for Dominic.
Another scream echoes through the house from the boys’ room, and my angel’s eyes fill with horror as she tears out of the room towardsthe screams.
“No! Stay here! I’ll get them!” I shout as my attacker pulls a knife, slicing my arm. I yell before headbutting him.
After grabbing the knife from his hand, I snap his wrist in half before turning his arm and sinking the blade into his eye. He falls to the floor as I look to see Dominic beating his attacker to a pulp before I chase after Blake towards the boys.
My heart thunders in my chest as my legs stretch out, forcing myself to close the distance between me and them sooner. When I make it to the boys’ room, I see a man pinning Ryder to the ground by his throat while Aries kicks and beats on his back. A second man is currently attacking my angel. Another one lies dead at our feet with a snapped neck.
That’s my girl.
My boys and my angel—both need me, but I rush the man facing Blake just after he delivers a meaty punch to her face. She stumbles back as Aries cries out, “Mama!”
Thundering footsteps echo through the house before Dominic bursts in, gun drawn. He pulls the trigger and drops the man on top of Ryder to the ground before I grab a pair of scissors from the desk and force them into the neck of the man in front of me. His mouth drops open, and he stumbles back before Dominic fires off several rounds into his head. His body drops with a hollow thud, and the whole room goes quiet for a moment.
Then a choked sob rips out of my angel before she scrambles across the room to the boys and pulls them into her arms.
“Are you okay? Where are you hurt?” she asks Ryder before looking Aries over.
“I’m okay,” Ryder insists, and Aries too gives him a once-over before his eyes move to his mom.
Her lip is split, and several parts of her face are already swelling. She looks back to us, anger and pain heavy in her eyes.
“Who the fuck was that?”
Dominic and I exchange uneasy glances before shaking ourheads. We don’t know who they were, but we sure as fuck know who sent them.
That’s fucking it. This game of hiding out until we’ve gathered enough information is officially over. They hunted us down, preyed on us while our guard was lowered. They touched my family, and now I’m going to incinerate the goddamn world to burn those motherfucking rats out.
Slowly, my feet carry me to my angel and my boys. I press kisses to the top of each of their heads before holding Blake’s face in my hands.
“I’m so sorry, angel. I promise: they will pay for this.”
“Who?” she begs.
I shake my head, not wanting to involve her and the boys in this, but then I take a look around the room and understand how involved they already are. Because of me.
“We need to get out of here—now,” Dominic says to me before looking to my angel.
“Where will we go? This is supposed to be our safe house, Dom!” she snaps in desperation.
An idea sparks in my head as I pull out my phone to make a call. It takes longer than is acceptable before a groggy voice answers the phone.
