Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

MINA

I handed Rose a cup of steaming tea Gianni made and lowered myself down beside her. "Are you okay?"

She offered me a smile. "I should be asking you that."

I shrugged. "I'm fine." After a moment I added, "More or less."

I sipped my own tea and winced at how hot it still was. "How did he?—"

"I got a frantic phone call from a friend, asking for help," Rose said. "Turns out she had a gun to her head. When I got there, I was overpowered. He brought me here and convinced one of the staff to open the door. That's everything I know until you showed up."

Damon sat down on the other side of me. In his hand, he held what looked like a triple whiskey. He and Gianni, with help from the twins, had taken Kurt down to the basement. "He's still alive. For now. Terry and his frying pan knew just the right place to connect."

I managed a small smile for the gentle giant. If it wasn't for him, things might have worked out very differently.

"According to the twins, he hid out when the asshole showed up." Gianni sat on the floor beside my feet and placed his own cup of tea on the table.

"Are you talking about us?" The twins approached before squeezing onto one of the chairs together.

"I'm glad you're both alive," I told them.

"Us too," Hunter agreed. "We found Jase and Wade in the kitchen. One of them went for Parker."

"Hunter warned me just in time for me to turn around so he could fall on my knife," Parker said cheerfully. He leaned into his twin and grinned.

"And Parker gave me the opportunity to dispose of the other one," Hunter said. "We were going to come and help, but that's when we saw Terry. He was waiting for the right moment, so we waited with him. If anyone deserves a trophy, it's him."

Gianni grinned. "Terry is the real MVP here." He waved over at Terry, who was in the kitchen making sandwiches with Daze and a couple of the Demons. "He deserves a raise, right, boss?"

We all turned to Reuben, who was standing off to the side of the room, talking to Caleb. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but Reuben was clearly worried about his younger brothers. All of them. And as relieved they were alive as I was.

Reuben nodded. "He does. Double." After a moment he amended that to, "Triple."

"And a Maserati," Hunter said.

Terry raised his eyebrows, but didn't look like he'd decline if a fancy car turned up at the door with his name on it. Personally, I'd give him just about anything he wanted right now. I had a suspicion he wouldn't ask for much anyway. He seemed to enjoy a simple life.

"Aidan and his boys took care of everyone at the front," Gianni said. "A couple of them gave them trouble, but they won't give anyone any trouble anymore."

"Neither will any of the ones inside the house," Damon said darkly. "Some of them were quick enough to turn on Kurt. The rest will be dealt with in the morning."

Reuben patted Caleb on the shoulder and came over to join us. "We have some work to do to seize the rest of Kurt's assets, but Caleb is going to get a start on that tomorrow. You two can help." He nodded to the twins.

They responded with identical grimaces, but ultimately shrugged and nodded in return.

"Whatever it takes to tear him down the rest of the way," Hunter said.

"And make an example for anyone else." Reuben sank into a chair and rubbed his forehead. "We also need to destroy the access from the water tank. Too many people know about it."

"I'll put that on the to do list for tomorrow," Damon said. "I've already ordered a cleanup on all of those exploded SUVs. People will start asking questions if we leave them as they are."

"Let them ask questions," Gianni said. "We can give them honest answers. It was all Kurt Lasalle's fault. He got too big for his boots and decided to come after us. But, because we're awesome, we won."

"We did, didn't we?" I asked. "It's over." I couldn't begin to get my head around it. After everything we'd all been through in the last few months, we finally had Kurt. He'd never touch any of us again.

Rose put her arm around me and held me carefully. "Yes it is. You're finally free to live your best life. Just like you always were supposed to."

I placed what was left of my tea down on the table in front of me and hugged her back. "I'm sorry you got dragged into this. You deserve better."

"We both do," she said firmly. "I saw the expression on your face. You would have gone through with it. You would have gone back with him to save all of us. You must have a uterus of steel. Like balls of steel, but a lot stronger."

"I would have," I agreed. "I couldn't see any other way out. He would have killed all of you without a second thought. He would have laughed at the expression on my face while he did it. He would have reminded me of it, over and over again until I broke."

"Just like he did with that girl?" Rose asked gently.

I was too tired to hide my surprise, or pretend to be confused. "Just like that."

"Her name was Jana," Rose said. "I heard the rumour about Kurt being the Sparrow, and did some digging. According to my sources, the Sparrow was on a job, and Jana died. The thing is, my sources confirmed that Kurt Lasalle was there that night, to do something else. I figured the Sparrow must be someone else."

"I guess that's possible," I said evasively. Most of the people in the room knew the truth, but not all of them. Those who didn't know didn't need to. I was relieved that my sister did though. I didn't want to keep any more secrets. Not from her.

"Who the hell are your contacts that you can find out something like that?" Caleb asked. He'd moved to stand behind the couch.

She glanced back at him and smiled. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

He grunted and moved away. Apparently not everything was smoothed over yet.

Hunter whispered something to Parker, which made him laugh.

"You think?" Parker looked at Rose, then over to Caleb.

I snorted and looked at Rose myself.

She looked amused. "I don't know who'd kill who first, me or him."

"You'd be adorable together," Hunter told her.

"How much did you bet that my sister would get together with your brother?" I asked bluntly.

Both twins grinned.

"We'll never tell," Parker said. "Twin privilege."

"I don't think that's a thing," Damon said.

"If you two don't have anything better to do than speculate on other people's love lives, then I better give you more work to do," Reuben said dryly.

"We have plenty to do," Hunter said. "We can multitask. Right, Park?"

"Right," Parker said. "In fact, we have to go and do some of those things right now." He managed to ease himself out of the chair without tipping it over and sending Hunter sprawling.

I stood too and gave them both a hug each. "Thank you."

"For what?" Hunter asked. "We were just doing our jobs."

"You were being the best younger brothers I ever had," I said. "The only ones, but still the best."

"I guess that makes Rose our big sister too," Parker said. "Which means she can't get together with Caleb. That would be weird."

"It totally wouldn't," Hunter argued. They headed away up the stairs, friendly banter following them the whole way.

Rose shook her head. "Those two are a pair."

"Pair of clowns," Gianni said, but in an affectionate way.

"A pair we thought were dead," I said softly. My heart had broken for a little while. Seeing them alive… I couldn't put it into words.

If they'd died, they would have left a huge hole in my wonderful, found family. A hole no one would have been able to fill. No one I ever met was quite like the Brantley twins.

The younger brothers I never had. The younger brothers who'd always have my back and I'd have theirs.

"Pair of cockroaches then," Gianni said jokingly. "Always underfoot, but virtually impossible to kill."

Damon grunted a laugh. "That sounds about right. Just don't tell them that, they might start to think they're invincible." He didn't need to remind us that none of us actually were.

I suspected we all felt very mortal right now. I certainly did.

If not for Terry…

I'd have to try to think of a way to thank him for what he did. Him and his frying pan. He'd succeeded where guns, knives and technology had failed. Sometimes the simple, old-fashioned methods worked the best. I, for one, would never look at a frying pan the same way again.

Thinking about the kitchen brought my mind back to something I'd tried hard not to think about. Something I had to face, whether I liked it or not. There were still a couple more demons I had to put to rest.

I licked my lips. "I need to see Jase and Wade. I need to be sure it's them and that they're really dead."

If I didn't see with my own eyes, I'd never fully believe it. I'd never put them behind me. In the back of my mind, I'd always wonder if they were still out there, coming for me.

Fuck that. I wasn't going to live my life in fear of them. Not when there was no need.

"Are you sure, sweetheart?" Gianni asked gently. "I know you're not scared of death, but…"

"I'm sure," I said. "I need to do this now." I'd hesitated long enough, drinking tea and talking instead. Filling in the moments before I faced those ghosts.

I left Rose on the couch and walked with my three men, to the side of the kitchen, where a row of bodies lay. Mostly faces I didn't recognise. Several men and a couple of women. None whose deaths I'd mourn. They made up their minds when they worked for Kurt. They wouldn't get any sympathy from me.

I walked down to the end of the line and saw two faces I did know. Both already pale, and splattered with blood.

Jase had a gaping wound in his chest. His clothes were soaked with his blood. His eyes were half open, staring like he wanted to give me nightmare fuel even after he was gone.

Wade lay beside him, a smaller wound in the side of his neck. His clothes were also soaked with his blood, but his eyes closed, making him look almost peaceful. He might have fooled me, if I didn't remember the way he looked when he was alive. Not to mention the things he'd done.

"That's them," I said. "That's all of them. Leon, Jase, Wade and Kurt. And my father."

"Kurt isn't dead yet," Gianni reminded me. "But that's just a formality we can rectify any time you're ready." He looked like he was looking forward to doing just that.

Of course he was; so was I. We all were.

I had no doubt they'd give me first choice, otherwise they might resort to rock, paper, scissors to decide who ultimately took his life. Even Reuben looked keen to get his hands dirty himself, just this once.

"You might want to hold off for a little while," Damon said. "I have a surprise for you. Something I think you'll like."

"It can wait until morning," Reuben said. "We all need rest first."

No one bothered to argue with him. What I needed right now was a quick shower and a long nap.