Chapter 24

Cronos

I groan as I slowly blink my eyes open, my ears are ringing and my vision is hazy as I look around and see people running through the cloud of smoke and dust. I turn and hiss in pain, a large chunk of concrete is pinning my ankle. Suddenly King appears, limping toward me, cut up and bleeding. If he hadn't tackled me out the front door we would both be dead right now.

"Can you move?" he shouts, his loud voice can be heard over the ringing in my ears. I nod my head, bending down, he grits his teeth as he flips the chunk off my ankle. I bite down on my lip to keep from screaming out. King doesn't give me a chance to recover, he grabs my arm and hauls me to my feet. Wrapping my arm around his shoulder, he helps me hobble across the road to my car. I feel like a fucking bitch, he has to help me inside the car but I draw the line at him trying to put my seatbelt on.

"Just get in the fucking car!" I snap. He growls but does as I say and rounds the front of the car to climb behind the wheel. The sound of sirens can be heard in the distance as King drives like a mad man through the streets.

"Where's your phone?" he demands. I grab it from the console and hand it to him. He scrolls through the contact list and then hits dial before tossing it back to me. It rings through the car's Bluetooth system, I peer down to see he has called Allison. "Come on baby, pick up!" he mutters to himself.

"The man himself." My heart stops for a second at the sound of his voice, my worst fears are coming to light and from the way King is gripping the steering wheel—he is as fucked up inside as I am.

"Colson," King snarls. The sound of a woman screaming in the background has the both of us tensing.

"Don't be rude, Ally, I'm on the phone!" The sarcasm in Colson's tone is thick.

"You fucking take me, you cunt! You let my family go?—"

"You don't make the fucking rules, King!" Instantly he snaps his mouth closed, his breaths are coming in fast pants as he tries to control his anger. Allison can be heard whimpering and I can only imagine how that sound is killing him inside.

"What do you want?" King's tone is even and calm, he is faking the hell out of his calmness.

"I want you to suffer the same way I did. You took my family from me and now I will take yours from you." King turns the car hard left and the tires squeal but he never lets off the gas.

"You want me to suffer, then take me, I'll come willingly, just let them go and you can have me."

Colson tsks him, clearly loving having the upper hand. My stomach is in my throat as worry for my girl and our baby takes hold of me. "You wouldn't suffer enough but this way, I know it will hurt so much more. You're too far away to save them. I'll do you a solid though, okay? I'll let you say goodbye to her." Before King can utter a word Colson presses on. "Say hi, Ally."

"Suck my dick, you little cunt, my husband is going to slaughter all of you fuckers—Argh!" Allison screams.

"Don't fucking hurt her!" King yells so loud I recoil.

"Say your goodbyes, Ally," Colson grits out.

"Baby?" King whispers brokenly.

"You keep that shit bottled up, you save our girl and end this," Ally gasps out. I can hear the pain in her voice but my mind is reeling, she said to save Amelia so she is still alive!

"I'm coming for you, baby, just hang on, okay?" King's tone is filled with pain like I have never heard before, I can see him fighting back his own tears.

"Love them both enough for the both of us, I'll always love you." Before King can reply, the call ends.

"Allison?" he screams. "Ally?" I drop my gaze to my lap as I fight to keep my own emotions in check. "Allison, baby?"

"King—"

"Call her back now!" he roars. Knowing he won't listen to reason, I try to call her back but it goes to voicemail. "Call again!" I do as he asks and continue to do it three more times before an incoming call stops me. I hit answer.

"Is my brother with you?" Bishop's deep voice fills the car.

"B?" King whispers brokenly. I peer over at him to see tears cascading down his cheeks.

"Where are you, brother?" Bishop's tone softens slightly but not much, he knows he needs to be strong for his brother.

When King doesn't answer, I do it for him. "Heading to the airport."

"I have a plane there waiting to take you both to Minnesota. We're enroute there now."

"How did you know?" I ask.

"My niece alerted us, we're all coming, King, I'll be there, brother," Bishop vows.

"B, I can't?—"

Bishop cuts his brother off before he can continue. "Don't! You just get the fuck here and then we go to war. They are your wife and daughter but they are also our nieces and sister. We protect our own." Bishop ends the call without another word. I place another call, it rings twice before she answers.

"I'm coming, Nos!" London says, her voice is laced with rage.

"He has them," I mutter.

"Not for long, the Murdochs, Memento Mori and Godfather's are all coming, Cronos. My Dad has called Knox and Waverly, both of them have locked their borders. The Re Della Strada is coming but Taylan is leading them. Knox can't leave his wife and nor can Xander, Trey and Wave." I had heard that Lakeland wasn't doing well with this pregnancy and is high risk. Taylan coming means he is no doubt bringing his girl with him, he won't leave her at college unprotected.

"Lon—"

"No. This is not the same thing as before. Unlike last time, you and Artemis aren't on your own, you have me and the rest of my family with you. We will save them. Do you hear me?"

"I hear you," I whisper.

"Is Royal with you?" King cuts in and asks.

"No, him, Mom, Uncle Chaos, Aunt Sin and Uncle Kacey will be the first to arrive. They were only a couple of hours away on business. Aunt Cass is still in Miami with the twins," she answers. How she can lock her emotions down so well I will never understand.

The entire plane ride is agony. King and I are both antsy and trying not to jump out of our skin. Every minute feels like a fucking hour. The second we land, we don't even wait for the plane to stop moving down the tarmac before we both leap out of our seats and wait at the fucking door for the hostess to open it. The local airport here is tiny as fuck, and barely has any flights coming in or out of it.

We may be injured but neither of us can feel a lick of pain through the adrenaline coursing through our veins. There is a driver waiting for us. King shoulders the guy out of the way and climbs behind the wheel of the Hellcat Durango. I barely make it inside the car before he is planting his foot on the gas.

"Tell me where the fuck to go!" he snarls over the roar of the powerful engine. This fucking car is a beast and is eating up the road like a bat out of hell.

"Keep heading straight for a few miles then you're gonna turn left into the town." King drives like he is fucking Mad Max. I grab the oh shit handle and hang on for dear fucking life as he takes each turn, the SUV handling the beating he is putting it through like a fucking champ. The closer we get to the town the more I grow anxious, no one has called since I spoke to London. A part of me thinks it may be a good thing and they arrived in time but then another part is scared that they don't want to deliver the news over the phone. "Left!"

King jerks the wheel and the ass end of the SUV skids out behind us, gravel flicking up around us but neither of us care as he plants his foot—at this time the town is usually quiet so no one should be on the road, hopefully.

"Take a right, here," I bark out.

"How far?"

"A mile."

"You couldn't choose anywhere further fucking out, could you?" he growls.

"Fuck you, King!" I snap.

"If anything has happened to them, I'll fucking kill you," he declares.

"You can fucking try," I force out through clenched teeth. When he finally turns into my driveway, my stomach sinks. There are cars everywhere. At the sound of our arrival everyone turns toward us with guns raised. King doesn't let off the gas until we are near the front of the cabin. I lock my knees, expecting him to plough through his family and my house, until he slams on the brakes and sends us both propelling forward only to be jerked back by our belts. He and I both leap out of the car and rush toward Bishop and the rest of his brother's. London and Artemis stand by her father, aunt and uncle. She breaks away from the others and runs to me. I embrace her quickly before pushing her back and darting my gaze around.

"Where are they?" I ask.

"Where the fuck is my wife?" King roars so loud that everyone goes silent, no one even dares move.

"King—"

"Where is she, Bishop?" he yells right in the Don's face. Bishop purses his lips and steps aside. The rest of the family follows his lead and the sight has me stumbling back a step. Blood coats my porch, ropes hang from the rafters as if they had someone tied there. "Nooooooo!" King screams as he drops to his knees. My mouth parts on a gasp at the sight of a human heart sitting there in the center of the porch. "Ahhhhhh, no, no, not my girls!" he screams, everyone feeling his pain.

My chest feels like it's cracking open.

I expected this to be like a movie, you know how you think the hero won't make it in time but something happens and then they do and they save the day, but this isn't a fucking movie and that is a real heart.