Chapter 12

Lincoln

B lind, numbing rage is what I feel right now. She's gone. We've searched every fucking inch of this place, and she's fucking gone.

The fairgrounds have cleared out, more people leaving their car's behind in the haste of the gunshots. Police sirens sound in the distance as I stand there in the middle of the parking lot, ready to tear the world apart.

A blast of black catches my attention. Squinting my eyes, I see someone laying on the ground in the middle of the street, car's dodging him as he pulls himself to his feet and staggers to the side of the road.

Taking off, I run over to him. It's Travis.

"They took her," he croaks out, his face morphing in pain and devastation.

Grabbing my gun, I pull it free, and press the barrel of the gun against his temple.

"You let them fucking take her," I snarl, murderous fury coursing through my veins as the hand holding the gun trembles. "You let them fucking take my whole fucking world."

"I didn't let them!" he screams in my face, not caring about the gun. Tears form in his eyes. "I tried, Link," his voice cracks. "I fucking tried. I shot at the tires. I ran until my body gave out on me." He sniffles, wiping his nose with the back of his hand before sobbing out in anger, "They took me by surprise, hit me over the head. I fucking tried!"

"Not hard enough!" I roar in his face, pressing the gun harder against his head. "I'm going to fucking kill you, Travis." I laugh mockingly, feeling what little sanity I have left slipping away. "I'm going to put a fucking bullet through your brain and watch you bleed out. Just like my fucking soul is doing right now!"

The sirens grow louder. We need to leave. If I have to stay and deal with them, I'll end up behind bars for killing one of them due to the patience I don't fucking have. And then my Little Bird wouldn't have me to find her. Because I will fucking find her, and I will kill every single fucking person who played a hand in taking her from me.

"Link, put the gun away," Taylor says from behind me.

"No," I spit. "He lost my heart, and now he has to fucking die."

"He didn't fucking take her, Link!" Taylor shouts. "Don't fucking do this man. Raven would be devastated if she lost him."

"Raven isn't here now is she?!" I roar as I turn around to face Taylor.

What I wasn't expecting was to see his fist come flying at me. I'm taken off guard, subdued for just a moment. But it's long enough for someone to take the gun from my hand and for Taylor to get another swing at me.

The next time I open my eyes, I'm tied to a fucking chair. Blinking the fog clear, I see I'm back at the warehouse.

It takes a moment for me to remember, but it all comes rushing back to me. Raven. She's gone. Someone took her.

"Hey!" I shout to my brother, who's talking to Quinton. But the twins aren't here. Thinking of the twins, of Travis sends a new wave of furry thought me. Fucking Travis. I'm going to kill that bastard when I get my fucking hands on him!

They look over at me, and Hunter sighs. "You're awake."

"Yes I'm fucking awake. Now fucking untie me," I demand, voice low and dangerous. I'm seconds away from trying to rip out of these ropes.

"Can't do that, big brother," he sighs, pulling a chair up to sit a few feet in front of me.

"Why the fuck not?!" I roar, thrashing against my restraints. I feel straight up feral right now, eyes wild, nostrils flaring. Blood. I want to see it fucking rain blood.

"This is why not. The Link we know, the leader of this crew isn't here right now. He's long gone. You are blood thirsty, and the only thing you have on your mind is finding Raven and making everyone pay."

"You should be too!" I shout. "Why the fuck are you so calm?" I look at the others who are just fucking sitting there watching me like I'm some side show freak. "All of you! How are you not fucking destroying every thing in your fucking way to get to her."

"Don't," Hunter shakes his head, pushing himself to his feet. "Don't fucking act like we don't care. We're all fucking dying inside Link. We're all desperate. But flying off the handle isn't going to find her any sooner."

"And, because we don't know where she is," Quinton says. He looks downright devastated. The look on his face is how my heart feels right now. "We can't just go breaking down every door and killing people who don't know anything."

"We sure the fuck can," I spit.

Hunter sighs. "That's why you're tied up and you're going to stay that way until we get answers."

"If you don't fucking let me go, I'm going to kill you next," I promise.

The fucking asshole ignores me. "We are working endlessly to find out where she is. We've called in every favour, every contact. Even the people we have on payroll with the police."

"It's not enough!"

"What else do you want us to do, Link!" Hunter yells in my face. "Do you not understand that we love her with every fucking cell in our bodies too! That she's our reason for living, the air we fucking breathe. You're not the only one who can't exist without her. This isn't fucking about you! Our girl, our baby, is out there and we fucking feel useless because we didn't save her. We didn't keep her safe like we promised."

"We shouldn't have gone to that fucking fair," I snarl. "We should have stayed right fucking here. She would have been safe. I hate you. I hate you for getting that fucking idea in her head." His face morphs into pain.

"I hate myself too," he whispers. Then he stands up and turns around. Quinton does the same.

"Don't you fucking leave me in here!" I roar, realizing I'm in one of the cells in the basement of the warehouse.

"We have to. Don't worry, we will find her, and when we know where she is, we will come for you," he tells me, closing the door. "She's not just yours to save."

As soon as the door clicks shut, the sound that leaves me shatters everything inside me. If something happens to her, to our baby, I will bite down on the barrel of my gun and pull the trigger. I don't want to live in a world that doesn't have my Little Bird.

Quinton

I FEEL LIKE THERE'S a hole in my chest. A gaping, bleeding wound. I feel like I'm slowly dying from the inside out. And the only reason why I'm even able to keep it together is because I know my Chiaro di luna needs me, needs all of us.

"Damn it!" Hunter roars, throwing the phone across the office. We've been making phone calls non stop and no one seems to have any fucking answers for us.

"It has to be him," I say, clinging to Andrew. When Hunter showed up here, panicked and freaking out, a crying Andrew in his arms, I knew something wasn't right.

When he handed Andrew off to Andy and told me what happened, my world stopped. I feel what Link feels right now, every single bit of it. Only I know I have to be the level-headed one within a group of killers because otherwise there will be nothing but bloodshed and nothing to show for it.

Failure. That's what this is. We failed her again. For the third fucking time. We did everything we thought we should have, watched her like a fucking hawk and still, it wasn't enough. It's never enough. Maybe we're not the best for her, because we sure as fuck can't seem to keep her safe.

"You're telling me he's not dead? Link's connection said he was fucking dead. Saw him with his own eyes."

"Do you really not think that a man like Tyrone Benson wouldn't have the money and connections to fake his own death?" I laugh, shaking my head. "This is what he wanted. To have us, let our guard down, and we played right into his fucking hands."

"Nope. We're not doing this. No fucking way," Hunter dismisses my words. "We can play the blame game and beat ourselves later. Right now, we need to put all our focus on finding Raven."

"Where the fuck are the twins?" I growl.

"I don't fucking know!" Hunter shouts back. "They took off after they dumped Link's ass off and told the crew to tie him up."

We were already on our way back when we got the call from Taylor about Link. We turned around and found him in the cell, tied to a chair and passed out. It's the best place for him right now.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear because a few seconds later, Travis and Taylor burst in. They look like hell. Good.

"Well, nice of you to join us," Hunter snarls. "Where the fuck have you been?"

They look at each other before Travis sighs, running a hand through his shaggy black hair. "We were making some calls."

"Care to elaborate " I ask.

"There's things you don't know about us," Taylor adds. "Things my mom went through a lot of trouble to make sure no one found out. Not even Link knows."

"I swear to god, if you say that has anything to fucking do with this, I'll finish what Link started," Hunter promises, eyes flashing as he shoves to his feet.

"Of course it fucking doesn't!" Taylor shouts. "We would never do anything to hurt Raven or our baby."

"Then what the hell are you going on about?" I ask as I start to rock a stirring Andrew. Normally, he can sleep through anything, but I think he can feel what we're feeling.

"Our dad was a bad man. Yes, I know just like yours and Raven's. It's the whole reason we ended up in Safe Haven." Taylor waves Hunter off when he looks like he's about to say something. "He's the leader of an MC. A bad one. A fucked up sick one. One that Link would happily slaughter every single member of."

"Who?" Hunter narrows his eyes.

"Demon Knight's," Travis winces.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" Hunter roars, flipping the desk over onto the ground. He jumps over it and gets in Travis's face. "You're telling me your dad is the president of one the worst fucking MC's in this whole fucking country!"

"The one Link has been wanting to take down for years?" I ask, a low pissed off rumbling in my chest.

"Yes. And before you think the reason we haven't told him is because we're trying to protect him, it's not. We want the fucker dead more than anyone else. The fact is, he's got connections. Ones that would have brought us all down if we tried anything against them. More than we do."

"And one of them just so happens to be Raven's dad," Taylor sighs.

"Oh, this is fucking awesome." Hunter starts to pace, grabbing at his hair. "Link is gonna kill you, bring you back to life and kill you all over again."

"We didn't mention this before, because if we asked them for help and they tipped off Raven's dad, then we would've been fucked. But seeing how there's a good fucking chance that bastard has her now, I don't see why now wouldn't be a good time to pay them a visit. We know someone who might be willing to help."

"Get them on the phone, Travis," Hunter demands. "We want some fucking answers."