8. Layla

Slowly, Autumn reached out and took the knife from him. He shifted to the side, still crouched beside her so that she could stand in front of Barbara.

"Now, when torturing someone, you want to make sure that the injuries you inflict aren't fatal. Do you know what fatal means?"

I laughed as Autumn scoffed and looked at him like he was an idiot. "I'm twelve. I'm not a baby," she replied. "Fatal means something that can kill you."

"Well, excuse me, Miss Smarty Pants," Zach teased.

"So where do I cut her so that she doesn't die too fast?" the bloodthirsty little girl asked.

I shook my head when Zach looked back at me and grinned. Based on the current situation, I wasn't sure we were cut out to be parents. Family torture sessions definitely weren't found in any parenting books. I looked at Drew and Tyler, who tended to be the moral compasses of the group. They were leaning against the wall, seemingly unconcerned by what was happening. Drew especially surprised me. He went from having an aversion to blood to cutting Leo's tongue out of his mouth, and now he was calmly watching as Zach instructed a twelve-year-old on the areas to avoid when you want to prolong a death.

"Autumn, you don't want to do this," Barbara said. "Things will be different. I promise. Would you like the big room? I can make that happen."

"What I want," Autumn replied evenly, "is people who love me or even just like me enough not to hurt me. What I want is for your husband not to come into my room at night when you're passed out from mixing pills and liquor."

I looked at Winston, who paled at Autumn's words. "It isn't true," he said quickly.

"Yes, it is!" Autumn screamed. Before Zach could grab her, she stepped over to Winston and slid the sharp blade across his chest. Blood immediately began to drench his shirt as he screamed in pain.

"You stupid little cunt, I'll fucking kill you!' Winston yelled.

"I really don't see that happening," Autumn sassed.

I grinned at her. I just fucking liked this kid. From the proud expressions on my men's faces, so did they. The wheels began to turn in my head. When this was over, we had some things to discuss.

Autumn moved back to Barbara. "You were supposed to take care of us and protect us, but all you did was treat us like we were worthless, barely worth the check you got every month. And then you figured out a way to collect a monthly check without taking care of us. You don't deserve to live. You've built a life on the blood of children; it's only fair that you bleed a little, too."

Autumn's hand darted out and slashed the knife across the side of Barbara's face. The woman screamed as she made a matching cut on her other cheek. Nobody interfered as the child continued to make shallow cuts across Barbara's body. Blood began to drip off the seat to pool beneath it, and I knew that Barbara didn't have much more time with us. While we had planned to drag their deaths out, I couldn't find it within myself to stop Autumn.

Were we terrible people for allowing her to kill? No matter how justified it might be, that weight could crush her. Zach must have been thinking the same thing because suddenly, he reached out and plunged his knife into Barbara's heart, dealing the killing blow. Autumn continued to slash at the corpse until Zach wrapped his hand around hers and gently extracted the knife.

"That's done now, Autumn," he said gently.

Autumn stood there for a few minutes, staring at Barbara's body. I began to worry we had provided the final blow for the nail in her coffin for fucking her up when she threw herself into Zach's arms. Through her sobs, I heard her say, "Thank you."

"You're welcome, little red," he replied. His eyes met mine, glittering with unshed tears. It looked like I had one less person to convince. "I need you to do me a favor, sweetheart. Can you go with Drew now? We need to take care of Winston, and you can't be here for that."

Autumn opened her mouth to argue, but I cut her off. "You remember your promise to me?" Her shoulders sagged, but she nodded her head.

Drew held his hand out for Autumn to take if she wanted, which she accepted. "Come on, kiddo. Let's see if we can find you a change of clothes, and then you can shower. Does that sound like a good idea?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," she replied. "I can show you where they keep our clothes."

I waited until I heard the water running before pulling out my Bowie knife and turning back to Winston. "It's bad enough that you neglected and abused these children before selling them off," I said softly as I toyed with the knife, "but to sexually assault them? Well, that's beyond monstrous. There isn't a death that is slow and painful enough for what you deserve, but I'm willing to give it a shot."

I started by cutting his clothes from his body to give me an unobstructed canvas to work on. I started with the shallowest of cuts, barely deeper than a paper cut, trailing my blade across every inch of his body. I could tell he was relieved when I stepped back; the cuts didn't do more than sting. I wasn't done, though. Tyler snuck up behind me with two bottles in his hands. One was a large bottle of lemon juice, and the other was one of those lime-shaped bottles.

"Thought this might be fun," he said as he kissed my neck and returned to his place against the wall.

I grinned. "Perfect."

I uncapped the lime juice first, since it was the smaller container, and sprayed it onto Winston's skin. He immediately began to scream as the citrus juice seeped into his cuts. Now, he felt them. When I emptied the lime juice, I switched to the lemon juice as his screams continued. I made sure that there wasn't an inch of his skin that hadn't been bathed in the lemon juice. When I ran out of juice, Sean handed me a bottle of peroxide he had found in the house. I snickered as I added that to the fluids burning Winston's open cuts.

I was getting bored. "Someone find me some pliers," I said.

"Excellent," Zach cackled as he ran out of the room to find some.

"Hellcat, you know I want to drag this out just as much as you do, but we can't stay here all day," Colton said.

I sighed. I knew Colton was right. We had already been here far too long. I heard the water turn off upstairs and knew we were out of time. We needed to get Autumn out of this house once and for all. "Fine," I muttered. I stepped forward and plunged my knife into the side of his neck, severing the carotid arteries. He bled out in seconds. He hadn't deserved such a quick death.

"Oh, man," Zach said as he ran back into the living room with a pair of pliers. His shoulders dropped in disappointment.

"Next time," I assured him.

"Ok, let's clean up," Colton ordered. "Wipe anything we touched down, bag those empty bottles; we'll take them with us."

Everyone moved to do as ordered while I met Autumn at the bottom of the steps. Somehow, she looked even younger without the layer of grime covering her. I tilted her chin up to look into her eyes. "Are you ok with everything that happened in there?" I asked.

"I am," she replied.

"Well, if that changes, promise me you will talk to one of us about it, ok? That was pretty heavy, and you're still just a kid."

"I don't feel like a kid," Autumn admitted.

"I know you don't. I'll have to see if there's something that we can do to fix that," I replied. "Like... maybe some... ice cream before we return to the church?"

Her eyes lit up with excitement. "Really?! Can I get sprinkles?"

"Squirt," I replied as I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and walked her past the living room and out of the house without letting her see the bodies, "you can get whatever toppings you want."

Autumn squealed with excitement as she bolted for the car.

"I'll keep an eye on her, boss," Keith advised me. "If we're going for ice cream, you might want to clean up a little yourself."

I looked down at myself and saw the blood splatters that covered my arms and hands. They probably covered my corset as well, but it was black and harder to see. I went back inside, and Sean met me in the kitchen, holding a container of baby wipes.

"Here, close your eyes," he instructed, plucking a wipe from the container. I did as he said and stood there as he wiped the blood from my face and chest.

"Thanks," I said when he was done. He added the used wipes to our growing trash bag as I grabbed some fresh ones to clean off my arms and hands. I even ran the wipe over my corset and hair just to ensure I didn't leave blood anywhere.

Once we had everything cleaned up and Colton was confident there wasn't anything left behind that led the authorities to us, we joined Autumn in the car. Not that it mattered if the murders were traced back to us in any way. "Take us to Carvel, Ryan," I instructed.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied.

"Autumn, why are you in foster care?" I asked. I kicked myself in the ass when the excitement drained from her eyes as they dropped to the floor.

"I never knew my dad," she started. "Mama... mama worked the streets, but I know she loved me!" She was insistent on that fact as she met my eyes. "She didn't do drugs or drink, and she came straight home after work... only... one night she didn't come home." She wiped her tears away as they slid slowly down her cheeks. "I know something happened to her because she never would have left me unless she didn't have a choice. I waited for her to come back, but eventually, I ran out of food, and I had to tell my teacher that Mama never came home."

Five years, and she had no idea what happened to her. I met Tyler's eyes, and he nodded. He'd find out what happened to her, good or bad.

"You didn't have any other family?" Sean asked.

Autumn shook her head. "None that I ever met. As long as I could remember, it was just me and Mama."

"Well, you're with us now," I told her.

Colton's head swiveled my way, and I met his eyes. I couldn't tell what he thought about my statement, but he didn't look opposed to the idea. We pulled into Carvel, and Autumn perked up.

"Autumn, can you hop out with Keith and figure out what you want to order? We just need to talk about something real quick," Colt said.

"Ok," she said happily.

"What are you thinking, Hellcat?" Colton asked when the door had closed behind her.

"She doesn't have anyone, Colt," I replied. "And she just butchered her foster mother with us. She isn't going to fit in with any other family but ours."

"I'm in," Zach said. "I like the kid. She's got potential."

"Do you really think we're the best people to raise her?" Sean asked.

"Why not us?" I challenged. "She's comfortable with us, and we'll keep her safe."

"While turning her into a trained killer?" he asked incredulously.

I bristled at his comment as the other men made choked sounds and leaned back in their seats as if attempting to remove themselves from the situation. "And exactly what is wrong with being raised as a trained killer?" I asked. "That's how I was raised. And you can bet that any children I have birthed or adopted will be raised the same way."

Sean held his hands up. "I didn't mean anything by it. I agree, but is it fair to drag her into our world if there's a chance she could live a normal life in a less dangerous environment?"

"Why don't we leave it up to Autumn?" Drew suggested. "It's her life. She has as much of a say about it as anyone."

"We could become her legal guardians," Tyler added. "It would give me a chance to look into her mother's disappearance. If she's alive, we could reunite them."

"What if she did run out on her?" Drew asked. "Finding out the truth would shatter her."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," I said.

"So then, does that mean we're all on board here?" Colton asked. "We all have to be committed to this, not just some of us."

"I'm in," I said.

"Me, too," Drew and Tyler said in unison.

"Sean?" Colton asked.

"Yeah, I'm in, too. Knowing what Autumn's already been through, I don't think I could send her to another foster home."

Colton nodded. "I am also in, so I guess now we have to ask her."

We exited the car and went to the counter when Keith was smiling down at an excited Autumn while she ordered a sundae with almost every topping Carvel offered. "That sundae is almost bigger than you, squirt," Zach laughed. We each ordered ice cream and then ate our treats at the picnic benches.

"So, Autumn, we have something we want to ask you," I started. She looked at me questioningly as she shoveled ice cream into her mouth. "We talked about it and were wondering if you would be interested in coming to live with us."

The spoon fell from her hand in shock. She gulped loudly, swallowing her mouthful of ice cream before whispering, "You mean you really want to keep me? For real?"

"We'd love to keep you, Autumn," Tyler replied. "If that's what you want. If you'd rather we try to find you another foster family, one that will take good care of you, we can do that too."

She started shaking her head vehemently before he had even finished speaking. "No. I don't want to live with anyone else. I want to stay with you forever!"

"Then forever it is, kiddo," Sean replied.

"I'll talk to Brandi to have her draft the guardianship paperwork," I said as I took a bite of my ice cream.

Autumn's face fell, and her shoulders drooped. I didn't understand why until she said softly, "Oh. You don't want to adopt me?"

I started to reply, but Zach beat me to it. "Come here, little red," he ordered. She got up from her seat and trudged around the table to stand between us. I turned so that I could look at her. "Becoming your legal guardians doesn't mean we don't want you. It means that we want to give you the ability to get to know us and adjust to life with us. Then, if it's something you want, we will adopt you."

"But if there is one thing you should know above anything else, Autumn," I added, tilting her chin up to look me in the eyes, "It's that we very, very much want to adopt you and keep you forever. You've stolen our hearts, and I think you were always meant to be ours."

Autumn's face glowed as a smile stretched across her face. "You mean it?"

"I mean it."

Autumn burst into tears as she threw her arms around my neck. I pulled her frail body into my lap as she sobbed. Autumn was so small for her age, but I knew Cordy and Drew would ensure she ate right to grow properly. Lord knew the last time she had a balanced meal, and here we were feeding her ice cream. As I cuddled her close, I felt a part of my heart splinter off. That piece now belonged to Autumn and Autumn alone. As my heart reformed around the shard, I couldn't hold back the tears that filled my eyes as I looked at my men. We may have lost our baby before it even had a chance, but we'd found the child we needed.

It turned out, as excited as we were to bring Autumn into our family, there was still a lot that went into making that a smooth transition. Cordy, as expected, was over the moon to have another young charge to care for. I'm not sure what we would have done if we hadn't had Cordy to guide us. I now understood and appreciated more than ever Daddy's decision to hire Cordy when I was a baby. She understood the pressures of the job and compensated for our frequent absences and odd hours.

We immediately found a child therapist for Autumn who was well-versed in the level of trauma that Autumn had been through. Even if Autumn thought she was ok, it was important to us that she worked with someone to deal with her demons. We also hired a private tutor for her. She wanted to go to school, but she had fallen so far behind others her age that I felt it best to home-school her until she had caught up.

It had been a month since the raid, and Autumn was finally beginning to settle down, which meant her attitude and sassiness had increased exponentially daily, making her more comfortable with us. It was beautiful to see, but frustrating as hell to deal with.

"Stop following me everywhere!" I heard Autumn shout outside my office door. She burst through the doors without knocking, something she had been told repeatedly to. She had a full run of the house, but had to knock before entering our offices, and our bedroom was off limits. It only took a week or so to lay down the laws after she kept walking in on us and catching some or all of us in the act. There were some things a kid didn't need to see, and there were even more things we didn't want her to witness accidentally.

"You have to knock, Autumn," I reminded her as Gavin chased after her, stopping at the threshold. Gavin was her official guard, and while they had initially hit it off, tensions were growing.

"Sorry," she apologized. I gave her a look. She huffed and rolled her eyes before turning around, stepping back out of the office, and dramatically knocking on the door.

"Come in," I said sweetly.

"Layla, can you please tell your goon that he doesn't need to hover over me every minute of the day?"

"Autumn, you know the rules. Until things settle down with the business, I need to make sure that someone is with you at all times in case there is an attack and you need to be whisked to safety. I know it can be frustrating, trust me, but right now, it's non-negotiable," I replied. This was possibly the hundredth time that I have explained this to her.

"I can take care of myself," she said stubbornly as she crossed her arms over her chest and dropped into a chair.

"You know what," I said, clapping my hands together. "I have some free time. Why don't we spend the afternoon together and give you and Gavin time apart?"

Autumn sat up excitedly. "What will we do?"

I nodded at Gavin, and he mouthed thank you to me as he ran from the room like his ass was on fire. I'd have to assign another guard to her so that he gets more of a break from the pre-teen. "We can do some training," I suggested. "What would you like to practice?"

"Target practice!" she said excitedly, almost bouncing in her seat.

"Knife or gun?"

"Hmm," she pondered, tapping her chin thoughtfully. I had a feeling I knew which she would choose. She loved both, but she knew that if she chose knife practice, that meant that Zach would join us, and while she got along with and loved all of the guys, Zach was her favorite. "Knives!"

I smirked as I sent Zach a quick text to meet us downstairs. I knew he was around the property somewhere. The lack of response from Anton after our raid had left us with more free time, which meant Zach was likely in the garage working on one of his cars to pass the time and stay busy. "Let's change, and we can meet downstairs," I told her.

Autumn was out of the office before I had left my seat. I followed behind her, running into Sean on the stairs. "Where's she going in such a rush?" he asked.

"We're going to go do some knife practice with Zach," I replied, kissing him. "Want to join us?"

"The practice rooms are downstairs," he replied.

"We're changing into more appropriate attire first."

His eyes heated. "Oh really? Well, I'd love to join you for that." His hands snapped out as he tried to grab me, and I laughed as I skipped out of reach and ran up the stairs.

"Behave yourself!" I admonished him as he chased after me.

I ran into our bedroom, giggling, and tried to get the door shut before he reached it. He shoved his boot in the opening at the last minute and pushed me and the door out of the way so he could come the rest of the way in. Sean locked the door before prowling toward me as I backed up slowly.

"Sean," I warned, "I don't have time for this. Autumn will be waiting for me downstairs."

"Zach can keep her occupied," he replied, reaching over his head with one hand to remove his shirt.

My mouth watered as he unbuttoned his black jeans. I saw the bulge filling the front, which told me how ready he was for this. "We really shouldn't," I said. He smirked at my weak protest. To be honest, I hadn't even believed myself.

"I don't care," he replied. "I don't care if the entire world outside that door is on fire. I've got you alone, and I'm not wasting that." Before I could pretend to run away, he tossed me over his shoulder onto the bed. His body covered me before I had stopped bouncing.

"Fuck, I need you so much," he murmured against my skin as he quickly removed my clothes. "I don't think you understand just how fucking much I love you, Layla Grace Romano. You live under my skin, always there and more vital to my existence than blood." His lips trailed down my stomach to my core, and he settled his broad shoulders between my legs, his size alone spreading me open to accommodate him.

His tongue slowly dipped between my lips, lapping at me like we had all the time in the world. "You know we can't take our time here, right?" I asked. If we took too long, Autumn, Zach, or both would come looking for me. I yelped as his teeth nipped my inner thigh.

"I'll take as long as I fucking want, woman. You aren't in charge here, remember?"

I sighed in slight frustration, but it quickly turned into a moan as his lips sealed around my clit. Fuck it. I had some time. One of his large fingers teased my entrance as he continued to lightly suck on my clit, determined to drive me crazy before giving me a much-needed orgasm. His ever-so-talented tongue kept me teetering right on the edge for what felt like hours, though it was probably no more than five minutes.

"Sean," I begged, tossing my head side to side on the pillow, "please." I dug my heels into the mattress in an attempt to gain enough purchase to thrust my hips up to press harder against his mouth, but his arms banded around me to keep me still. My skin glistened with sweat, and I felt like I would combust as my insides turned to lava. "God dammit, Sean!" I snapped.

His deep, dark chuckle vibrated through my soaked pussy, traveling through my body like little bolts of electricity, shooting out of my nerve endings and causing me to writhe and twitch beneath him. A sob wracked my body, desperate pleas falling from my lips with every tear.

Sean surged over me without warning, blocking out everything within my blurred vision but him. "This is only a fraction of how much I need you every day of my fucking life, Mo stoirín," he growled as he plunged his cock into my needy pussy to the hilt in one powerful thrust. "This is what you do to me."

A scream tore from my chest as I came undone around him, every cell of my body exploding. He didn't stop. He didn't slow. He didn't give me a chance to recover. Sean fucked me through my orgasm and into another, his pace hard and punishing as he chased his release. By the time my third orgasm crested, I felt him expand inside me, and he groaned against my neck as he came buried as deep as possible.

Before everything went dark, he whispered, "Always remember how much I love you."