Chapter 26

Cronos

Mayhem.

Madness.

Pain.

Those are the emotions running rampant through everyone who surrounds King Murdoch—a man as powerful as him has been brought to his knees by a punk street kid. Colson Salvatoro managed to stay in the blind spots of all the Murdoch's surveillance. I thought he was some chumped up fool trying to play at the big boys table by owning his own tech company and security team.

"We are right here with you, uncle," Chaos says firmly as he steps forward with Royal and Sin at his side. King pushes to his feet, waivers slightly but Gage and Bishop are right there, gripping each of his arms to hold him steady. The grief coursing through his veins is clear in his eyes. He pulls free of his brother's hold and stumbles forward, his legs give out at the edge of the porch where the blood is thickest.

"No one touched it, Grandpa wouldn't let anyone near it," London says quietly from beside me. Artemis makes his way over to us and claps me on the shoulder as we all wait with bated breath to see what King does. As if he is in slow motion he reaches out but leaves his arm suspended mid-air, unable to touch the lone heart. His chin drops to his chest as he begins to shake with silent tears. Unable to stomach the sight any longer, I turn away, only for my eyes to widen at the sight of Beth standing there in the darkness looking pale and like she has seen a ghost. Pulling away from my brother and London, I rush to her side. Gripping her arms, I give her a gentle shake to snap her out of the trance-like state she is in.

"Beth, what's wrong?" She looks up at me but her eyes aren't focused.

"He told me to take her." I furrow my brow and peer over my shoulder to see I have the attention of everyone. I shift subtly to block Beth from their sights.

"Beth, where is Bill? Why are you out here alone?" She blinks a couple of times and this time when she looks at me, it's as if she is seeing me clearly for the first time.

"You need to come with me." She grips my hand and turns to leave, but I pull back forcing her to a stop.

"Beth, I can't leave, I have to?—"

"You will come with me!" she screams. Tears gather in her eyes and this sinking feeling starts to take root inside me. I have never seen Beth so out of sorts like she is now. "I lost him for her, so you will come with me!" I swallow audibly and nod. I shoot a look over my shoulder to London who nods and signals they will follow us. Beth climbs inside her beat-up car, I have to practically fold in half to fit in beside her. To say the silence stretches between us is an understatement. I have no idea what to say or even do. I'm too fucked up in the head right now to even form a coherent thought let alone think about what my next steps are. Allison is dead. Amelia is… I slam my eyes closed and pray to any fucking cunt that is listening that her and Kingsley are okay. When Beth bypasses the street to her house, I grow more confused but when she takes the next right I start to panic.

"Beth, why are we going to the morgue?" She remains silent and pulls into the carpark. This place brought me peace for a year of my life and every morning I woke, I found myself eager to get to work and help the dead. Unlike the living, they never pester, annoy or use you. The dead expect nothing and that is a trait I resonate with. She parks the car and climbs out, leaving me no choice but to follow. When she reaches for the front door, I dart in front and block her path. "What the fuck is going on?" I snap. The others begin to pile out of their own cars, I didn't expect for them all to follow after me, maybe just London and Artemis.

"He told me to save her, I did and now he's gone." I reel back.

"Where is Bill?" I speak to her as if she is a child. Her bottom lip trembles as she pats me on the chest.

"Come now, boy, you will see." She pushes me aside and I allow it. I follow her inside, feeling hopeful but wary, she said she saved her but who is the her? As we near the back of the building my breaths become shallow. I pause a couple of steps back from the swinging doors, just needing a minute to gather myself because the second I step through the doors and see what lays beyond it makes it real, I won't be able to fool myself into thinking my girl is safe and just hiding somewhere. I feel a hand slip into my own. I look to my left to see my best friend staring directly at me.

"I have your back, side and front if need be. I got you always." London's words have me swallowing. I force myself to move and push through the doors the instant I do I see a sight I wish I never did.

I've only ever felt loss like this once before and I barely recovered the first time, I don't know how I will overcome this one.

They were innocent!

I stumble further into the room, until I am gripping the edge of the metal slab, staring down into those eyes that held so much love and saw through the bullshit walls I had built to surround myself to keep everyone out so they couldn't hurt me. I don't let people get close because of this very fucking reason. London was different, she forced her way into my life and didn't give me a choice but to love her. But, this right here, this was a choice. I allowed myself to care and now here I am staring into soulless eyes that will haunt me each time I close my eyes.

"What the fuck is this?" I close my eyes and ignore Rook's question as I tighten my grip on the slab.

"Cronos?" I hear my brother calling out to me but I can't move, I'm frozen in place.

This is my fault!

"Someone explain to me what the fuck is happening!" King screams. It's the sound of the pain in his voice that has me strengthening my resolve and locking down the tears that threaten to spill. I take a deep breath and slowly lift my gaze to Beth's who stands on the opposite side of the slab with tears trailing down her cheeks. I reach out without thought and cup her cheek in my hand, her bottom lip quivers at my touch.

"He saved her, didn't he?" She pushes her lips to the side to fight back a sob as she nods. "My girl called him, didn't she?" I ask gently.

"Amelia?" King breathes out as he comes to stand beside me.

"He said to save her, no matter what Bethy, you don't come back for me. That's what he said to me, I couldn't drive away," she chokes out. I nod, understanding why she couldn't leave him behind. "There were only three of them there, he shot two but the third, he got him and my Bill went down. I wanted to go to him but I… I couldn't… I?—"

"You did the right thing, Bethy," I say. King reaches out and lifts the white sheet from Bill and pulls it back to reveal his chest that has a gaping hole right where his heart should be.

"It wasn't Allison's heart," King breathes out but Beth ignores him.

"I watched him carve his chest open and toss his heart on the porch?—"

King cuts Beth off before she can finish. "Where is my wife?"

I glare at King. "She's in shock, shut the hell up or she will shut down and we'll never find her." King's eyes blaze with anger, but he does as I say and clamps his mouth closed.

"I just sat in the car hidden by the trees and watched them take the life of the only man I have ever loved." The raw unfiltered pain in her eyes is what caves my chest in. I push King aside as I round the slab and pull Beth into me. Her cries bounce off the walls and force each of us to feel her loss—her and Bill were high school sweethearts.

"The old man would never have wanted it any other way," I say trying to ease some of her pain.

"I waited. When they left, I drove the hearse up and placed him in the back. I couldn't leave him, boy! I couldn't leave him there!" she screams. I pull back and cup her face between my hands, bending at the knees, making us eye level, so she can see the truth in my eyes.

"You did the right thing, Bethany. I would never have left… Amelia either." Hearing my girl's name seems to be what brings her out of her grief for a moment.

"There was a woman?—"

King cuts in again. "Where is she?" he begs.

"She was strung up, we thought she was your angel." I force myself to remain calm and not react. "She's in a bad way." I see King open his mouth out of the corner of my eye, and before he can utter a single word. I snap my head toward him.

"Push her again and I'll throw your fucking ass out of here!" I snarl. Bishop, Gage, Vincent and the twins step forward, ready to defend their brother if need be. Royal, Kacey, Sin, Chaos, London and my brother subtly move toward my side as if they are preparing to take on their own family for me.

"I cut her down," Beth whispers. Hope surges inside King's eyes.

"Please, I am begging you, please tell me where she is?" Beth keeps her gaze on me as she answers King.

"Chiller," she rasps out. I smile and place a kiss to her forehead, then turn to London ignoring the curious stares of the other's.

"Comfort her." London looks horrified and about to argue but I push on. "She's important to me, Lon." My words have her tampering down her disgust at having to console someone but to my surprise, Artemis cuts in front of London and comes to stand before me.

"Go, I got her, brother." I pat him on the shoulder before I round the table. I shoulder past the Murdochs and grab the scruff of King's shirt, pulling him along with me. He protests and tries to break free. I whirl around on him and get right in his face.

"Quit your bitching if you want to see your fucking wife!" My words have his face paling and his eyes widening. I don't have the capacity to deal with his emotional damage right now. I continue onto the chiller, then gripping the handle I yank the door open. I have a second to lay eyes on Allison before King shoulders me out of the way and rushes inside.

"Ally!" he cries out as he reaches her side. In an instant, the chiller is filled with his brothers and Vincent. None of them look like they know what they are doing, so I push forward and hold two fingers against her throat feeling for her pulse. King holds his breath as he waits for me to announce if the love of his life still lives.

I meet his gaze and nod. He deflates and drops down beside her battered body, her face busted and her pulse weak. I peel the red blanket back from her body and hiss at the sight of two knives sticking out of her stomach.

"Fuck, Luka get me a chopper!" Bishop roars as he moves forward to catch King before he falls to his knees. Rook and Knight shift to try and grab the gurney but I pin them with a look that has them halting. Vin and Gage move in closer.

"Before she can be moved we need to stabilize the knives."

"You think you're a fucking doctor now?" Rook bites out.

"I'm an undertaker, dumbass, I'm also about to marry a doctor, one who may have taught me some fucking things so you can either listen or kill your sister-in-law, choose?" The twins' faces slacken, Gage and Vin both cut them out as they come to stand opposite me. Bishop enlists the help of Knight to drag King out of the room, he's fighting with everything he has to get back to his wife's side.

"You do whatever you have to, just save her," Gage implores me.

"We save her and then all of you are going to help me find my girls," I grit out.

"You have our word, our services are at your disposal, Cronos," Vincent answers without missing a beat.