Page 50 of Promise of Hellfire

“We’re going to take a ride,” I said evenly as I stood. “Hunter’s going to follow us.”

I waved to the waitress, and she gave me another bright smile as I walked us to his cruiser. “Don’t try anything stupid,” I warned him. He nodded as he got in and stared as I buckled my seatbelt. “What?”

“I just…” he managed to stammer.

I patted his cheek. “Safety first, always. Do you know where the old baseball field is on Waverly Place? Head there.”

The rest of the ride was spent in uncomfortable silence as I checked in the rearview mirror, ensuring that Hunter was following us. After tonight it was finished. Samuel Palmer was the final loose end we had to tie up that dealt with Ayers.

Palmer parked in the gravel parking lot and jerked his key from the ignition as Hunter pulled up behind us. “Showtime,” I stated as I pointed my gun at him. “Let’s go.” I wrenched my door open and waited as he slid from the vehicle.

We walked onto the overgrown baseball diamond and he watched me cautiously, his eyes shiny with unshed tears. “What’s next?”

I shrugged at him. “I’ve thought about this and the different scenarios a million times. How it might play out. I’ve only come to one conclusion. No matter what, it has to look like you’ve killed yourself due to guilt. I mean, we know that’s not true, but no one else will realize that. If you hung yourself, you’ll claw at your neck and people will assume you had second thoughts. If you tried to overdose, it may not be successful. Hell, even driving your car into a telephone pole or choosing to slit your wrists might be unsuccessful.”

I paused for dramatic effect, watching as his knees gave out underneath him. “The only reasonable solution I came up with was a gunshot wound to the head. The likelihood of survival is less than ten percent.”

“Please,” he pleaded with me, tears spilling down his cheeks.

“Why should I show you any mercy? Did you show any to the girls trapped in metal cages at the Rose? How about the underage victims from your travels?” The words were bitter flowing from my mouth. “You didn’t show them mercy. Everything you’ve done has been for profit or pleasure, and now it’s time to pay the piper.”

Sobs wracked his body as he continued to plead with me. “There has to be another way.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Hunter muttered beside me before turning away.

I rolled my eyes at him before giving Palmer a hard look. “It’s either this or I release the information to the media. It will ruin your wife’s life. Can you imagine what your children will think of you?”

I ignored the tears streaming down his face as he lifted the gun to his head with shaky hands. He knew what needed to happen. I shoved the other documents I’d copied into the envelope in my hand and sealed it, laying it beside him. When the shot rang out, I didn’t spare a glance behind me. I simply walked to the SUV and left.

Hunter pursed his lips as we drove back to the penthouse. “I know we had to take care of him, but did it have to be like that?”

“Absolutely not, but the blood was already on his hands. Why do more than we had to?”

That night after I got home, I kissed Rayne on the head. We would finally have the fresh start all of us deserved. Sure, she would never become a teacher, but she was safe, at least for the time being.

Under her rule, I was certain Strathmore would become something better. Somewhere people could thrive and worry less about monsters who wore masks pretending to be men.

Chapter thirty-two

Rayne

Three months later

Ilaidbackonthe bed, basking in the feel of the cotton sheets beneath my body. I shivered as Ethan licked across my nipple and Dominic’s tongue flicked across my already sensitive clit. “Shit,” I groaned.

Dominic thrust two fingers inside of me, curling them upward and hitting a spot that made my back arch off the bed. Ethan’s fingers wove into my hair, pulling, as he bit my bottom lip. His mouth consumed my whimpers as Dominic continued to torture me slowly.

Fireworks exploded behind my eyes as my muscles contracted around Dominic’s fingers. I was well and truly sated, ready to doze off when someone cleared their throat across the room. My lids fluttered open to see Hunter leaned against the wooden door frame of the cabin, arms crossed over his chest. He looked at us with hooded eyes, clearly enjoying his view of the three of us. “You claimed you wanted to get out and see some of the shops, but to do that you need clothes.”

Ethan chuckled beside me and kissed my cheek before getting out of bed while Dominic rolled onto his side, watching me like a predator.

I did tell them last night that I wanted to visit the small town near the cabin we rented for the week. For the past three days, I’d spent the majority of the time with at least one of them curled up beside me, or inside of me. My muscles were sore and between my legs ached. I grimaced when I thought of the cleaning crew who would come in after we left.

As I showered, I thought of how drastically my life had changed in the past three months. I’d finally decided that I was finishing up my final semester this fall, even though I wouldn’t be using it. Oliver was back at Inferno, running things for the moment, but I wasn’t certain how long that would last. One day, sooner rather than later, I would take his place. In the meantime, he’d been slowly teaching me the ropes.

I no longer looked over my shoulder or peered into the shadows wondering what was hiding. I went for drinks with Victoria and Kourtney and helped them plan Victoria’s upcoming wedding. The guys finally relented after several arguments and no longer had private security following me around.

I still went to weekly sessions with Ash and wrote in my journal. It wasn’t perfect, and might never be, but things slowly faded into the background. My nightmares were less frequent and less intense. A sense of contentment had washed over me.

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