Into the Blackness (Blackness Series Book 4) (39 page)

“What if I don’t want anything to do with you?”

“Then I’ll leave you alone,” Shanny answers plainly.

This is beyond heart-wrenching to witness. I’ve met fucked up people, but Cara’s carrying demons that will take a lifetime to expel.

“What if I wanna kill the people that did this to me?” Cara asks in a voice that mirrors Shanny so much I watch her mouth to be certain it’s their origin.

“Then I’ll train you to be able to do just that,” Shanny replies definitively, her eyes flaring with excitement at the prospect.

“Can you?” Cara asks with fascination on her face.

“Yes.”

“You can train me to kill people?” Cara clarifies, searching Shanny for the lie.

“I can train you to be anything you wanna be in life. If you wanna kill the people that did this to you, I’ll spend every day training you like I’ve been trained in order to do that. If you don’t think you want that, then I’ll kill every single fucking person that had anything to do with this myself.”

“I want them to pay.”

“Me too,” the room clamors in unison, making Cara jump.

“You live with all men? No women right?” Cara asks Shanny, starting to ease up with the tension she’s carrying.

“I’m the only woman.”

Ding, dong
.

Everyone in the room goes rigid as the doorbell sounds. I take a breath before pushing to my feet. We smuggled Cara in the house seamlessly. It doesn’t matter though, we’re all on edge. I stride to the door and peer through the peephole to find the Bookers standing like a fucking Christmas card. I pull my
Stepford
mask on before opening the gleaming black door. I need these people out of here. They watch the house enough that they know we’re home. It’ll seem strange and out of character if I don’t answer the door. I’m so sick of caring about shit like this. I’m ready to wrap this op.

“Nick, I hope we’re not intruding,” Trish apologizes loudly. She’s trying to get a look at Shanny based on the timbre of her voice. Nosey bitch.

“We’re actually busy right now, Trish. I’ll have Kat give you a call once she’s feeling better,” I offer in a placating tone.

“Yes, of course. We just wanted to offer our help if you need anything.”

“We’ve got family friends in town. We’re all set. Thanks for stopping by.”

“Oh, Kat, you look just awful,” Trish cries out dramatically pushing past me into the foyer.

Tony huffs at his wife and follows her in my home. This is not good.

Trish has her arms holding Kat tightly when I turn to ask them to leave. The look on Kat’s face is murderous when I meet her gaze. What the hell is going on?

“Shut the door, Nicky,” Kat growls in a menacing tone.

Trish drops her arms from Kat and takes two steps back running into Tony when she hears Kat. I do as my wife instructs and lock the door for good measure. I’m putting pieces together quickly as I see Shanny come into view holding two guns. Her favorite Springfield 9mm that she’s a ninja with and a small .22 that she always carries in her purse. Shit.

“Get on your knees,” Shanny growls.

Trish yelps in fear, throwing herself to the ground dramatically while Tony lowers to his knees with his hands over his head, fear etching his features.

Shane stomps in the area with a roll of duct tape and immediately covers Trish’s whimpering mouth. He continues by zip tying Trish’s wrists behind her back before moving to Tony, taping his mouth and zip tying his wrists the same as Trish’s.

“Weapons,” Shane growls once he’s done.

Kat launches up the stairs two at a time while I watch Shanny use every fleck of self-control she has to not blow these people to smithereens. Kat thumps back down the stairs looking like G.I. Jane. Four 1911s, two Glocks and an MP5 strapped across her back…maybe the sexiest I’ve ever seen her.

She passes me my weapons, Shane a 1911 and shoves the other 1911 in the back of her pants before leveling her aim at the Bookers in tandem with Shanny. All right we’ve got them covered.

“On your feet,” Kat commands.

The Bookers stand shakily, as Shanny backs down the hall never leaving Trish’s gaze. When we enter the kitchen I find Jake holding Cara around the waist from behind while Kellerman’s hulking presence lingers in front of them.

“Stop,” Shanny growls. “Let her see.”

Kellerman obliges his fiancée and moves out of the way so Cara can look at the Bookers. She studies them long and hard before shaking her head dejectedly.

“I have to hear their voices,” she mumbles, grasping Jake’s forearms firmly.

A gleam of torture brims in Shanny’s eyes as Shane forcefully removes the duct tape from the Bookers’ mouths.

“Say hello to Cara,” Kat instructs in an ominous tone.

“Hello, Cara,” Tony says with a quiver in his voice.

Cara’s brow furrows. She doesn’t seem to recognize Tony, which is making me question what the hell we’re doing.

“Tell me I’m a bad girl,” Cara commands.

His face blanches as his throat bobs in disgust. Huh.

“You’re a bad girl,” Tony barely forces it out.

“That’s not him,” Cara says gloomily.

“Now you,” Shanny barks at Trish who shakes her head silently, not uttering a word.

“Either you talk on your own or I’ll do shit to you that’ll make you scream the words I wanna hear,” Kat seethes in her ear.

Trish’s big blue eyes bug out with fear and then I see it. As she locks eyes with Cara, I know Trish Booker did this to her. I see the flames of a monster’s fury billowing from her perfect façade.

“You’re a bad girl,” Trish seethes and Cara’s green eyes alight with fear, anguish and finally rage.

Cara flails and screams in Jake’s arms as he holds her from launching at Trish.

“Let me go, Jake. THAT’S HER!!” she wails.

Jake holds her tighter as he awaits her fight to wither. Cara kicks her legs and throws her arms, writhing and thrashing. Jake remains immovable, allowing her assault.

“Sweetheart, calm down. She’s not goin’ anywhere. I don’t want you to hurt yourself. Please,” Jake soothes in Cara’s ear as the fight falls away from her and sobs begin to wrack her body.

“Trish, what in the world is going on?” Tony pleads with his wife looking at her like a stranger.

“Shut up, Tony,” she snarls in a tone I’ve never heard the
Stepford
queen use and neither has Tony based on the expression of horror on his face.

Tony shifts his gaze to me as Cara’s sobs quiet.

“Nick,” his voice shakes. “I don’t know that girl. I’ve never seen her in my life. Whatever Trish has done, we can work it out. Just let us go. I won’t call the authorities.”

In this moment I have a tiny amount of respect for the man. He’s still trying to protect his family. It won’t work, but he’s trying to be a man.

I crouch down in front of Trish’s face and she bores her lifeless pale blue eyes into mine.

“Do you wanna tell your husband what a filthy cunt you are or should I?” I ask in a taunting tone with a small smirk on my lips. My monster has come out to play.

She hawks back and spits in my face. As soon as she does Kat stomps on Trish’s calf causing a feral cry to rip from her mouth. Tony lunges to protect his wife, but Shane buries the barrel of his piece in his temple stopping his movement. I pull my shirt up and wipe away the creature’s drool before climbing to my feet.

“She does that,” Cara says blankly.

“Spits?” Shanny asks with repulsion in her voice.

“Every time.”

Simultaneously, Shanny and Kat unleash a torrent of mucus-filled spit showers on Trish’s hair and face. When they’re finished Trish is shaking and screaming at them to stop.

“We need to move this elsewhere,” Shane instructs.

“Kat,” I say pulling her from her blinding rage. “You and Shanny take her to the wine cellar. Shane and I’ll take Tony to the office. Kellerman and Jake you stay with Cara. The boys’ll be here in twenty. They don’t need to know about this so get them to leave the house again.”

Kat tosses the extra 1911 to Kellerman before she and Shanny drag Trish down the stairs by her hair as she wails and fights her removal.

“Move,” Shane commands Tony, pulling him to his feet by his bound wrists.

Tony obliges, keeping his gaze on his feet not even looking in the direction of where his wife was just dragged. He’s figuring some of this out. Once both our captives are moved I turn back to Cara and Jake.

“Cara,” I say in the softest tone I can create.

Her green eyes are shimmering with torment and torture, leaking tears silently.

“Sweetheart, she’ll never get you again. I need you to stay with Jake while we get information from them. Can you do that for me?”

“Will you kill her?”

“She’ll die. I swear it.” I pin her with my eyes so she can search for the truth in my words.

“I’ll stay with Jake,” she says confidently. “I want to see her die though.”

I really don’t think that’s a good idea. This girl’s had enough in her life to scar her. She doesn’t need a dead body to add to that.

“Cara, I don’t think that’ll give you what you want,” Kellerman says softly.

“How would you know?” she grinds out.

“I know,” Jake murmurs into her hair. “Let’s talk about it and then you can decide.”

His grip hasn’t loosened one bit since I’ve come into the room. He’s holding onto Cara for dear life and she’s clinging to Jake for every breath of support he’s offering her. She relents to his words and his soft touch, nodding.

“Kellerman, if you’re not comfortable with Shanny doin’ this I’ll step in down there,” I inform him with a knowing look.

His teal eyes hold mine for a moment while he considers it.

“She’s not in any danger and neither are the twins. If I pull her outta this she’ll serve me my nuts for dinner. I fuckin’ hate it, but I have to let her do this,” he groans.

I know the feeling because I don’t want Kat doing this either, but I don’t get to make that decision. Trish is zip tied and Shanny and Kat are armed to the gills. They’re safer than anyone in this house. I offer Kellerman a chin lift and head for the stairs as Jake starts to move Cara back into the family room. Kellerman tags the baby monitor, shoves the 1911 in the back of his pants and follows closely behind them.

I run up the stairs two at a time welcoming the monster that’s taking me over with each step. I can taste the death, but I crave blood first.

Kat

“Get some more tape on her mouth,” Shannon complains as Trish wails and screams. I agree.

I rip off a piece of duct tape with my teeth before slamming Trish’s head back with force as I cover her obnoxious hole.

We wrestled Trish into a chair and zip tied her ankles to the legs before securing her wrists to the arms. With her mouth taped shut, I can take a moment and think this through.

The wine cellar is at the back of the basement, surrounded in concrete about twelve feet high. The walls hold deep mahogany wine racks that glisten with the jewel tones of wine bottles. There’s a small round ornate similar hued wood table in the room with four amber leather wrapped chairs. I flop into a chair next to Shannon and take my moment, staring at what will soon be my playground.

The doorbell rang and we all got tense. Not a surprise really. Then Trish’s voice echoed through the house and Cara turned as white as a sheet in my arms and became rigid like stone. I tried to coax out of her what was wrong, but she was stuck. Frozen like a deer in headlights. Jake leapt into action when I couldn’t get through.

He pulled Cara into his lap and cupped her cheeks, forcing her haunted eyes to focus on his.

“Sweetheart, do you know that voice?” he asked her in a pointed yet soft voice.

A tiny almost imperceptive nod followed and I jumped into action followed by Shannon and Shane. We all knew it in that moment. No questions to ask. No information required. Trish Booker tortured Cara.

Now two pregnant women are going to torture and kill a
Stepford Wife
and enjoy every second of it.

“I’m gonna go get some tools. Are you good on your own?” I ask Shannon who’s studying Trish like a lion stalks its prey.

“Yup,” she responds like this is the easiest thing she’s ever done. I know she’s been trained to stay calm in a crisis, but seeing it in person is pretty impressive. I’m also calm, but she’s like a sleeping baby. This is going to be fun.

I sprint up the stairs and find Jake holding Cara to his side while Dylan sits across from them on the other couch in the family room.

“What’s wrong?” Dylan asks climbing to his feet, concern marring his perfect features.

“Nothing. Shannon’s got it under control. Trish’s zip tied to a chair. I need tools,” I say a little winded from running around. “Go down and wait with her if you’re more comfortable.”

He nods and heads that way. I love Dylan Kellerman.

“Cara, honey,” I call out, making my way to her. “Everything’s gonna be okay.”

“I know,” she says through a teary voice. “I wanna see her die, but Jake thinks it’s a bad idea.”

I flop down on the coffee table in front of her. I’m still strapped with weapons so I don’t look all that comforting, but I try to soften my features for her.