22. Cage

22

CAGE

W hite-hot rage seethes through me as I take slow steps toward Ember with my gun aimed at Ruth’s head. My eyes are trained on her trigger finger, looking for any sign of movement. She’s a dead woman, but Ember being in the crossfire isn’t something I’m willing to risk. And pointing a weapon at my Little girl is the worst possible thing Ruth could have done. Torturing her before killing her wasn’t on my agenda. Until now.

“Put the gun down, Ruth,” I growl.

“She killed my mom,” Ember grits out.

My heart aches for my girl. I don’t know how all of this got so out of hand. I shouldn’t have brought her here. I should have kept her in Bend where she belongs. With me. As soon as this is over, that’s exactly where she’s going. Home. Her home.

“You fucking asshole,” Ruth shouts as she moves her gun from pointing at Ember to me. Thank fuck. She can shoot me as much as she wants, but she’s not hurting my Little girl. “You had one job. To take her to your place, so I could get the information I needed.”

I narrow my gaze. “You sent a plane after us. You knew I would take her there. You had this all planned out. Thought you had a brilliant idea, huh?”

Ruth licks her lips. “It was brilliant. No one was going to get hurt. All we needed was some intelligence.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Ghost come in from another direction, being the silent monster he is. I just hope to God that Ember doesn’t notice him yet. As long as Ruth’s gun is pointed at me, I can breathe.

As soon as Ghost is close enough, he leaps, grabbing Ember and bringing her to the ground while I bolt forward and disarm Ruth. It only takes seconds before I have her hands zip-tied in front of her.

“You made a big mistake,” I whisper in her ear. “Did you really think you’d be able to pull one over on me, Ruthie ?”

She tries to elbow me as I lead her back to the office, where Zeke is restrained to his chair. Dom sits casually on one of the couches, a drink in one hand, his gun in another.

I shove the older woman forward and watch with pleasure as she stumbles to the floor and struggles to get into a sitting position without the use of her hands.

“You won’t get away with this,” Zeke tells me.

Dom and I look at each other and smirk.

“I don’t think Ruth told you exactly who we are.” I tuck my gun into my waistband holster, then rub my chin like I’m thinking hard. “You see, there’s no record of us. Anywhere. In any database. To the world, we don’t exist. We’re ghosts. To our enemies, we’re the worst thing that could ever happen. I actually thought Ruth was brighter than this. She knows exactly what happens to people who cross us.”

Ruth shakes her head. “You piece of shit, we didn’t cross you. We were getting intel on things the CIA should be privy to in the first place.”

Sitting next to Dom, I cross an ankle over my knee. “You think I give a flying fuck about you wanting intel? You should have just asked for it, Ruthie. I probably would have given you what you wanted.

“Then what the hell is the problem?” she shouts, looking completely exasperated.

“The problem is, you used my girl as your pawn. You murdered her mother, the one parent who actually loved her, and you pointed a fucking gun at her head.”

I rise and make my way to the bar and pour myself a drink. As soon as I down the expensive liquid, I throw the glass against the wall, causing it to explode into a million pieces.

“You’re both dead. I hope it was worth it,” I say as I stride toward the door.

There’s no doubt that Ember is safe with my brothers right now, but I need to touch her. To hold her. Comfort her. Love her.

“I’m her father. If you care about her at all, you won’t kill me,” Zeke calls out desperately.

Pausing mid-step, I spin around and stomp across the office to where he is, grabbing him by his hair with painful force. I lean down so he’s forced to look me directly in the eye.

“Let’s be clear on one thing. You might be her father, but I’m her Daddy. I’m going to do whatever it takes to protect her, even if it’s from her own flesh and blood.”

Using his hair as leverage, I shove him backward. His chair crashes to the floor, leaving him stuck without any way to move because his wrists and ankles are tied.

Dom stands and follows me, both of us grinning as we walk outside, only to find my girl arguing with Rylan, of all people.

“I’m about to spank your ass right here and now. You’re not going anywhere,” Rylan barks.

Ember tries to shove him, but he doesn’t budge. When he laughs at her attempt, it pisses her off more.

“What’s going on?” I yell.

Rylan turns his attention to me, but Ember takes off, walking toward a set of garages at the end of the house. Before she can get out of arm’s reach, he grabs her by the wrist and swats her ass three times.

“Owwie!” she yelps, rubbing her bottom.

She scowls at him and tries to pull away from him, but he won’t let go.

“Your Little girl here thinks she’s going to go get in her car and drive away from here to find a place to live,” Rylan tells me. “I explained that she’s coming with us. She doesn’t believe me.”

I narrow my gaze at Ember, who is as red as a tomato now. “That so? You were just going to leave, firefly?”

Her bottom lip quivers as I approach. When she peers up at me, my heart cracks a little.

“Your job is over. You don’t…” She sniffles. “You don’t have to take care of me anymore. You can go home and leave me here. I’ll figure something out. I have my degree and a small amount of savings.”

Rylan and I exchange smirks before I force my face to look serious.

“I should pull down your pants and panties and spank you right here, in this driveway, if you think I’m leaving you here,” I say calmly. “The job might be over, but my love for you isn’t. It’s just starting, firefly. And if you think for one fucking second that you’re leaving me, you’re wrong. I’ll chain you to my bed if I have to until you decide you love me, too. You’re mine. The only home I’m going to is the one I’ll share with you for the rest of our lives.”

Ember’s head snaps up, tears dripping down her cheeks. “You love me?”

Letting out a huff, I reach out and cup her chin. “Never loved anyone more, Ember. You’re my Little girl.”

“You’re part of this family,” Rylan adds firmly. “Forever.”

My chest swells, and though I might give Rylan a lot of shit, he’s a damn good brother. I’ll never tell him that, though. The bastard already thinks too much of himself.

“I hope to hell one day you’ll love me too, firefly. It doesn’t matter how long it takes because you’re still mine, and I’m not letting you go.”

She lets out a sob and pulls herself away from Rylan to throw herself at me. I catch her. I’ll always catch her.

“I love you, too. I thought you only wanted it to be temporary, so I didn’t want to make it any harder.”

Lifting her, I squeeze her tightly, burying my face in the crook of her neck. “You’re not temporary, baby. You never were, and you never will be.”

When her sobs quiet, I set her feet on the ground and use the pads of my thumbs to wipe her tears away. “What do you want to grab from the house before we go? You’re never coming back here, so whatever you want to keep, you need to get it now.”

She glances toward the front doors. “The only thing I want is my mother’s charm bracelet. It’s in my jewelry box in my room.”

I nod. “I can get it for you. Anything else? Do you want to go to your room and take one last look around?”

“No.”

There isn’t an ounce of hesitation in that answer, so I don’t push it. Mostly because I’m glad she doesn’t want anything. I’ll give her everything she could ever want or need.

“Okay, baby. I want you to go with Gunner, Koda, and Dom. Dom will get you ready for the flight home. I’ll be right behind you.”

Her eyes flash with uncertainty for just a second. I don’t know what I’ll do if she asks me not to do anything to her father. I’m not sure I’d be able to keep a promise like that.

“Are you going to kill them?” she asks in a small voice.

I stare down at her. Will her love for me change if I’m honest? I won’t lie to her, though. She deserves more than that. Even though the truth can be ugly, she always deserves it.

“Yeah. I am.”

She looks toward the house again, then up at me, her eyebrows drawn together with worry. “Please be careful.”

The breath I’ve been holding releases, and I nod. Thank fuck.

“I’ll be careful, baby. I’ll be right behind you.”

Dom offers his hand out for her to take, and the growly side of me wants to cut that hand off, but the Daddy side of me nudges her to him.

“I love you, firefly,” I tell her again as Dom leads her toward one of the SUVs.

She’s going to get tired of me saying that, but I don’t care. Besides, she deserves to hear it as much as possible.

Rylan, Jasper, Theo, Cassian, Ghost, and I watch as the rest of our brothers drive away with my precious cargo. I hate that I’m not going with her. She needs me right now. Which means I’m going to make this quick and impactful so I can get back to her as soon as possible.

As soon as the taillights disappear, the six of us move in unison, grabbing equipment out of the back of our SUV.

Time to get vengeance.

“I’m going to go grab her mother’s bracelet. Start planting the explosives, I’ll be right back,” I instruct as I start up the stairs.

Both Zeke and Ruth are screaming from the office. I’m not sure who they think is going to hear them and come to their rescue. This house isn’t close to any neighbors. There are at least three acres of property surrounding it.

One glance around Ember’s bedroom has me fighting the urge to go put a bullet in Griffin’s head right now. There are touches of my girl throughout the space, but barely. She never made this her home. Never settled in here. Because he kept sending her away. Fucking bastard.

I pocket the bracelet, noting that there are only two charms on it. It’s the only one like it in the jewelry box, so it must be the right one.

Rylan is wiring some explosives at the bottom of the stairs when I get there. “Thank you,” I say.

He glances up at me and then back at what he’s doing. “For what?”

“For taking care of my girl out there.”

“She’s family, Cage. Since the day she arrived, Ember’s been family. And even with as much shit as I give you, I’m so fucking happy you found her.”

My heart heats faster while I stare at my brother, almost speechless. After we were recruited to The Elite Team, we all bonded and became the tightest group of brothers. We had to because we needed to trust each other when we were working. Then Rowie came into our lives and turned our world upside down. She taught us about more than just trust. She taught us love. We don’t show each other our emotions to each other very often, but I hope my brothers know how much they all mean to me.

“I love you, Ry.”

He rises to his full height and eyes me. “I love you too, bro. Now, let’s go avenge our girl.”

I glare at him. “She’s my girl. Not ours. Mine .”

The fucker laughs and heads toward the office. “Whatever you say, asshole. I’m pretty sure she likes me more than she likes you.”

If looks could kill, Rylan would be a dead man. I swear to God, he’s going to send me to an early grave with his smart-ass comments. One of these days, I’m going to snap and he’ll have a broken nose. Or worse. Yet, I know he’ll continue to push my buttons because that’s what family does.

Zeke Griffin has made it into a sitting position since we left him in here. Ruth is leaning against a wall, trying to use her feet to break the zip-tie around her wrists.

“You’ve proven your point, Cage. Cut this off, now,” Ruth snaps at me.

Going over to her, I squat down and smile. “I really don’t think I have proven my point, Ruthie. You see, if you paid attention to me or my brothers, you would know that loyalty means everything to us. You could have been straight with me and probably gotten what you wanted, but you were sneaky. And you put Ember in danger. You also helped to kill her mother, the one person in her life who loved her… Until now.”

Ruth shakes her head, her lips curling down with anger. “Cage, I’m a fucking CIA agent. You won’t get away with this.”

I reach out and cup her chin. “I already have, Ruthie. You see, while I was flying here, I made a call to the head of your organization. He’s in full support of what I’m about to do. Seems you’ve been doing quite a bit of shady shit throughout your career, and it’s all starting to catch up with you. And you know what happens to CIA agents who become traitors.”

Her face goes ghostly white as her eyes bulge. She tries to kick me away but ends up falling sideways to the carpeted floor. I laugh and take a step back, then turn to Zeke.

“You hurt my world. I live and breathe for your daughter, and you hurt her.”

“I didn’t mean to!” he shouts desperately. “I’m her father. I love her.”

Striding over to him, I kick him in the face, a loud, crunching noise filling the room as my steel-toe boot meets his jaw. He howls as blood gushes from his nose and mouth.

“No, you are her sperm donor. I’m her Daddy. You don’t get to hold any title for her. You never protected her. That’s my job now, though. And I take that very fucking seriously. Just ask Ruthie. I never leave a job unfinished.”

Zeke continues screaming in pain. As much as I’d love to spend more time torturing the fuck out of him, I don’t want to spend another second away from my firefly.

“Cuff their wrists and ankles. Then blow this fucking place up and set it alight,” I tell Rylan, who gives me that sadistic grin he’s known for when he gets to blow something up.

“Happy to, brother.”

“Don’t leave until it’s done and burned to ashes.” I turn back toward Ruth and Zeke. “I hope you both burn in hell.”

Then I stride out and climb into one of the SUVs, smiling the entire drive back to the airfield.