Greetings, my oh-so-loyal readers who I don't deserve.
As usual, I have no excuses for my failure to update, just know that I've had better days. However I do hope you're all well and safe.
Just a caution. A tiny reason for not updating was because I was unsatisfied with the chapters I wrote and was stalling in order to write more enjoyable chapters that could redeem the ones I don't like. But if I keep stalling, nothing will end up being updated and I just thought ''eh what the hell''. So excuse any inadequacies that may show throughout, I promise to deliver better as the book progresses.
Shayne
"Shayne, you need to calm down."
"I'm fucking calm."
"No, you're not."
I lifted my eyes to Laura's, a nasty reply making its way to my tongue. The words barely got out before the glass in my hand cracked, a fraction of a second before it shattered into several pieces and fell to the floor, along with the scotch that had been in it.
"Shit." A long shallow cut ran along my palm, crimson blood mixed with bits of scotch already running down my wrist.
"So much for being fucking calm," Drew said, his brows raised.
Laura only let out a grunt and left the table.
I swept my gaze around the diner, a little establishment we'd set up a couple of months ago to run some of our businesses under the radar. It was the first place that had come to mind when we'd gotten clear of any danger following us behind. The busy place had to be closed earlier than usual.
At the moment, we'd been cut down to twenty of us, about twenty-five percent of our initial number before the nukes. And half of that percentage, though exhibiting anguish, was slipping foul looks towards me.
"They're blaming you," Drew said, nursing the awkward bump on his head with a bag of ice.
"Really? I didn't realize," I bit back.
Laura came to kneel beside me with a couple of bandages and antiseptic. "They also know you're not grieving for the lives lost but for something, or rather, someone else."
I hissed at the sting of the antiseptic. "Isn't the scotch already doing the job?"
"It definitely is, but inflicting any kind of pain on you makes me feel better right now."
A bolt of resignation resonated in me. "If it helps, then please do as you please. I deserve it."
She paused and sighed, her body loosening. Much gentler, she finished wrapping the bandage around my hand and sat on the chair opposite mine.
"As much as we'd hate to admit it, most of us have nowhere to take the pain. You're going to have to do for now."
I pursed my lips, rolling my shoulders to relieve the invisible burden laying heavy on them. "It's only fair."
Laura frowned, waves of remorse and exhaustion rolling off of her. "What do you think they want with Olivia?"
For a moment, the sound of her name took my breath away. I hadn't laid my eyes on her for over six hours and I was slowly losing my grip, if at all my bleeding hand was any indication.
Drew shrugged beside me. "Doesn't make sense. Why try to kill her, multiples times, only to take her when they fail? If we're being logical, we'd be forced to think they took her so they could do the job properly this time."
"Careful," I warned.
He raised his hands in surrender. "Just saying. What could they possibly want with her alive? It's obvious they know she's important to you. Trying to hurt her in order to weaken you would be the only thing to gain from this."
"You're right," I said begrudgingly. "Whoever took her knows the impact of their actions. But instead of weakening me, these fuckers would only make me dedicated to skinning them alive."
The blinding rage came whooshing back in, but it went away just as quickly when Laura's phone rang. Hope, sweet hope replaced the anger. Hope that there was information on Olivia or her captors.
"It's Byron," she said, before getting up and answering the call.
Drew patted my shoulder. "You should consider letting her go while some of us are still here."
For a moment, I thought I misheard him, but then a dangerous thought occurred right then.
I shoved his hand away. "How far would you go to exclude her from our lives?"
"What?" He had the audacity to look injured.
"You're not her biggest fan, you've made that pretty clear from the start. So I'll ask you again. How far would you go to exclude her from our lives?"
He let out a humorless chuckle. "This motherfucker."
"Answer the fucking question!"
"I'll let you cool off, Shay." He stood from his seat.
I stood just as quick, pulling him back by his shoulder only to have him turn with an oncoming swing at me. Upon contact with my face, his punch threw me off-balance and I fell back on the table behind me.
"You idiot! For as long as you've known me, do you think I would sacrifice all our friends just to get rid of some girl you're in love with?" he screamed at me. "Ever since she came along, everyone else has just been sacrificial lambs to you. You probably don't even care that Freya and Joshua are in the ICU right now! I ain't gon' lie about how I feel towards your girlfriend, she's nothing more than a distraction in my eyes. But I'll have to cut off my right ear before I'd ever put the family in harm's way."
I was too stunned to move, still taken aback by the punch. But now more so by the outburst. A quick look at the stares around us and it was clear that I was the big bad wolf at the moment. They craved to be in Drew's place.
"I need some air," Drew said, walking out the diner.
Avoiding the eyes trained on me, I got off the table and went to the bar to pour myself another glass of scotch, dabbing at the cut on my lip.
Laura came to stand beside me.
"I'm not interested in your comments," I said, downing a shot.
She kissed her teeth. "Neither am I interested in voicing them. I believe Drew has done everyone's job. I just wanted to tell you that Byron says both Freya and Joshua are already being transferred to a recovery room. No permanent damage."
Genuinely relieved, I poured myself another glass. "Thank God."
"It just sucks that we all can't be there with them, because lying low seems like a coward's way out when we're not all together. I'm gonna go check on Drew." She stood but paused for a moment, leaning in. "For what it's worth, I'm grateful that you were able to save as many of us as you could. If you hadn't gone back to lead everyone through the tunnels, we'd be in a very different situation right now. And I'm pretty sure everyone else feels the same, just give it some time."
I gave her a lopsided smile, barely convinced but appreciating her nonetheless. "I guess so. Go check on the big guy."
She gave me a tight smile and placed a kiss on my temple.
My phone beeped a moment after she left.
It was Lucile. "How are you holding up?"
I wasn't holding up shit. I was going crazy not being able to do anything at the moment. Unless those fuckers who took Olivia made contact, I'd be flying blind if I tried anything.
"I'm more worried about what's left of my family and the woman currently in possession of my heart. What did you find out?"
"Well, according to my sources, Oran Demir had nothing to do with what happened. And I must say, my sources are solid."
"Are you sure about that?"
"I wouldn't have told you if I wasn't. And in my opinion, Demir doesn't seem like the type to be messy. A man like him will keep any and everything under the radar. Nukes don't exactly scream under the radar."
"Then we're still in the dark. Even though he might not be responsible, there're tons of rival mafias spanning throughout the entire western hemisphere. They might not be from this continent. Hell, they might not even be mafia. On top of that I'm not even so sure these pussies took her to lure me. For all I know, all that shit might have had nothing to do with me."
Which only meant that whoever took her won't make contact and I might never see her again. The thought made the backs of my eyes burn.
"I wouldn't exactly say that."
I immediately sat straighter. "What do you mean?"
"You sure you wanna know?"
"No, I suggest you keep it to yourself. Of course I wanna know dammit!"
"Since you asked so nicely. One of my sources was able to trace the serial code on the scraps from one of the missiles to a warehouse in England. It wasn't easy but he managed to locate the name under the deeds to the warehouse. It belongs to a Charlie Ashford."
I was up my seat. "Send me his address, I'll deal with him with my bare hands."
"Hold up, that's not it. Charlie Ashford is a hitman. His latest contact hired him to take the hit on your base."
"Who's the contact?"
For a moment there was silence on the other side of the line, as if he were contemplating telling me.
"It's Sasha King."
Next update will be very soon.
And a happy pride month to you all.
note: You can go to these chapters if you can't recall who Sasha is[GREEN EYED BRUNETTE/NERVOUS WRECK/COME WITH ME/SAWYER] or you could just read the book again.