Chapter 26

D amn stubborn man. I swear he is going to fall over any minute. He needs to rest, not be pushing himself, but of course, the man isn't ever going to listen to me. When I saw him dragging a body, I almost lost it on him. When he went up the stairs, I was reaching nuclear. He is doing more harm to his body than good. He was in the freaking military for godsakes; he should know this!

From everything I know about him, I should have expected he'd be like this, but I was hoping he'd have some common sense in that thick skull of his. Why must men be so damn stubborn?

I could admit that underneath my anger, I was actually scared and worried. I thought that I was going to lose him, and that wasn't something I was ready to deal with, let alone comprehend. It would have been my fault if he died, I know that. This whole mess is because of my family; he didn't ask to be put into this situation. Even though I still have no idea why someone is after me, I'm still the reason, and that's not something I could ever forgive myself for. When I saw him stabbed and then unconscious on the floor, I really thought it was going to be the end. Thank god for Knox and him being able to walk me through at least stitching him up. I doubt they are going to hold with how Steel is pushing himself. If the men who came and attacked us don't send more to come back and take me, I think Steel may end up being the death of me. Death by panic attack is what would be listed on the autopsy report.

"Stupid ass men," I grunt, kicking the man I shot point blank when he tried taking me. If only I had been quicker and managed to get the second one as well before he grabbed me. A part of me feels like I should be panicking that I shot someone, but another part keeps reminding me that I was protecting myself and my sister. I did what I had to do. End of story.

Grabbing both the male's arms, I begin dragging him out of the room. Before I exit the door, I see the safe room door opening and Grace popping her head out. "Is Steel okay?" she asks softly, her eyes darting around the room, looking for him.

"He's stubborn, but okay. I need you to stay in there until we come get you. Can you do that please?" I beg her. She's safe in there. I don't want her to witness Steel passing out again, or any other thing that could happen. It's my job to protect my sister. I already know she is going to have nightmares from this ordeal. I don't want to make them any worse.

"Fine," she huffs, taking a step back into the safe room.

"Thank you," I give her a soft smile and wait until she has the door shut completely once more before I once again begin to drag the body out of the room. "Jesus man, how much do you freaking weigh?" I grunt, exerting myself to pull the man's body down the hall. The other guy I helped move was a lot lighter than this one. I swear this guy's vest has to be made of rocks or something.

"Do you need help?" Steel calls out when I reach the end of the hall where it opens up to the other areas of the house.

"Nope," I grunt again, giving a hard tug. "I got this." Okay, that may not be true, but I'm stubborn and I refuse to let him injure himself more by trying to help me.

As I make it further into the room, I turn my head and see him sitting on the arm of the armchair in the corner of the room. His eyes don't leave me as I finish dragging this last body into the room and leaving him near the others. Walking around the dead bodies, I come to a stop in front of him, reaching out to place a hand on Steel's cheek. "Are you okay?"

He just glares at me before sighing and his body begins to relax under my touch. His arms come to wrap around my waist as he leans forward to lean his head against my chest. "I'm as fine as I can be, Princess."

"Can you please just sit still until the others get here?" I ask, worried about how pale he's looking and the fact that he is sweating profusely even though it's not super hot in the house.

Steel pulls back and looks up at me, giving me a look like I'm absolutely crazy. "Go hand me those phones I placed on the coffee table. I'm going to see if I can find anything. Can you kneel down next to the men and check their tattoos, anything that may show who they belong to?"

I knew that was the best I was going to get out of him. At least he is going to be sitting still while I'm the one who is kneeling down and moving through the bodies. It's a win in my book. Pulling out of his arms completely, I head to the coffee table to grab the phones and hand them over before kneeling next to the first man to begin looking over all their tattoos. Every time I find a tattoo, I tell Steel what it looks like. Each one on the first body he says doesn't mean anything. That was until he handed me a knife to cut the man's shirt open and before I could open my mouth, Steel let out a string of swear words as he pushed himself to stand and walk over to me, glaring down at the body.

"Do you know what the tattoo means?" I ask, looking between him and the man's body. On his right peck, he has a large tattoo with the letters SDM in a fancy print. Above the letter is a design of a skull with a knife between his teeth. I have no idea what the logo means, but clearly, he does, and he's pissed about it.

"I should have known who was behind this. It isn't the first time Rockport has had a run-in with these assholes. It looks like instead of just dealing in small-time politics, they are going all the way up to the Senate level. I need my phone," he states, holding out his hand to me.

Standing, I reach into my back pocket and hand him his cell phone. "Do I need to check the other bodies?" I really don't want to, but if he needs me to, I will. Glancing down at my hands, I already know I will need to scrub them really well. There's blood all over them once again from this. It's a really good thing I'm not squeamish, or we'd be cleaning up more than just blood.

"Knox," Steel grunts as soon as the phone connects. "The Silent Death Mafia is behind the hit. One of these assholes has their tattoo on him. Looks like they graduated from small-time mafia to the big deal if they are going after Senators and not just Mayors."

I really want to ask Steel what he means by that. He already said they dealt with them once, but now I want to know how. He said they were mafia, which I know means this is bad. Maybe even worse than what was already happening unless the whole thing is connected? Why would my father have anything to do with the mafia? He's a Senator. That would put him at risk of going to jail. Plus, my father is supposed to be one of the good guys. He wouldn't have anything to do with them. That's not something I can believe. Maybe they are trying to gain leverage on him and force him to do something. Yeah, that has to be what is happening. It's the only logical reason.

"I have the phones right here. I was about to start going through them, but before I got too far into the first one, Illeana found the tattoo," Steel answers, whatever Knox asked him. The only reason I started paying attention is because Steel raised his voice, yelling at Knox right before. "How long until you all get here? I don't trust that the Silent Death Mafia won't be sending more men. This was just their first try. There has to be more coming, especially if they don't hear from their men soon. I'm sure they’re already past their allotted check-in time."

"Fine. Just hit the gas. We'll be ready," Steel states before clicking the phone off. I watch him take a deep breath before he speaks once more. "Chaos Brotherhood is about ten or fifteen minutes out. Knox is right behind them. Is Grace still in the safe room?"

"Yeah, I told her to stay there until I go get her," I answer, watching him closely.

"Good, go get her and bring her to the kitchen. We need to be ready to move." Rising to my feet I turn to walk out of the room but he calls after me. "Illeana!" Pausing, I turn around to look at him again. "Why did you leave the safe room? I told you to stay there."

Ducking my head, I blush and twist my hands together in front of me feeling uncomfortable. I knew he was going to eventually ask me about that. I disobeyed his order and put myself at risk. At the time it seemed like a good idea because I was worried about him, but now, now, I'm realizing that it was a terrible idea. "I heard all the commotion going on and I was concerned for you. When I checked the cameras and saw what was happening, it looked like you were struggling so I panicked."

"Don't ever do that again. Understood? I can take care of myself, but I can't handle you being at risk. What you did was reckless, especially when you don't have any fighting experience." His tone is cold as he looks at me but his true emotions are written all over his face. He's scared and worried. He's also pissed off but I'm choosing to ignore that right now.

"I know. I know, I messed up, and I'm sorry." I shake my head, trying to hold back the tears.

"Come here," he states, holding his arms open for me. Rushing back over to him, I let him wrap me in his arms, holding me tight. I'm careful not to hold on too tight and keep my arm above his stab wound as I hug him back. "We'll talk about this again later when we both aren't emotionally and physically exhausted. Go get Grace, and you both stay in the kitchen, I mean it. Maybe make a sandwich for the road. I'm not sure how long it will be before we can get some food. As soon as the Brotherhood is here, I'm putting the two of you in one of their cars to head back to the clubhouse, where you'll be safe." He squeezes me one last time before letting me go.

Doing as he asks, I head back to the office and knock on the door. "You can come out Grace," I call out, letting her know it's time. The door opens slowly and Grace steps out. Her arms wrap around my waist, pinning them to my side as she holds on. "You okay, Kiddo?" I ask softly, worried about her.

"I think so," she holds on for another second or two before pulling back. "Is it time to go?"

"Not just yet, we are going to make some sandwiches real quick and eat. We'll be leaving in about ten minutes." Together, we head to the kitchen and begin pulling out ingredients for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. In no time at all, we have three of them made, and she is sitting at the kitchen island chowing down on hers. "Steel, come eat," I yell. I'm not really sure if he should be eating right now, but it may be a good idea to replenish his body with some sort of nutrients.

"Illeana," Steel grounds out as he steps foot in the kitchen. His stare is dark as he looks at me. Each step he takes in my direction makes my heart rate rise, fear filling my veins. He's pissed, and I don't know why. I thought he said we would talk about me leaving the safe room again later. So that can't be it. Fuck.

"What was one of the first rules I told you when we were coming here?" he growls loudly. His words shock me and make me drop my sandwich back to my plate as I rack my brain trying to figure out what he is talking about. "I said no electronics whatsoever. That meant no using your phones. Only your laptops were allowed to do schoolwork when needed but you were not to communicate with anyone."

I remember him telling us that, and I followed those rules. I didn't use anything. At least not that I can remember off the top of my head. I know I was pissed when he told us that rule and I didn't understand why but I followed it, or I'm pretty sure that I did.

"Oooo, someone's in trouble," Grace taunts from the other side of the kitchen island.

I turn to give her a dark glare, before looking back at Steel. He's now standing inches from me, towering over me as he stares down at me waiting for an answer, an answer I'm not sure I can give him. "I remember the rule, and I followed it." I gulp, waiting to see what he's going to do next. Every part of me wants to bolt away from him, but I have a feeling that is just going to piss him off more. Right now he's the predator and I'm his prey.

"Think very carefully, Illeana. Did you or did you not send a text message when we got here?" his body pushing me backwards as his hands pin my shoulders to the fridge. His grip is tight, but it doesn't hurt. If anything it's just to hold me in place so I don't bolt from him the way I'm wanting to do right now. "Do not lie to me, Princess," he demands, giving my shoulders a slight squeeze before loosening his grip.

Did I send a text? I seriously can't remember if I did or not. I don't think that I did. So far I've followed almost all of his rules, but then again he did piss me off a lot when we first got here. I don't think I would have done something like that but I'm not sure. Instead of answering him, I keep my mouth shut. I don't want to piss him off any more than he already is.

"Let me refresh your memory," he snarls, his breath hot on my face.. "Did you send a text to your friend Morgan when we got here? Saying something about being gone for a week?"

Oh Fuck! My eyes widen as the memory comes back to the surface. I did. I turned my phone on, checked it and saw all her calls and texts of her freaking out. I sent her a quick text trying to keep it vague so she wouldn't worry. I didn't think anything of it. It was a super quick message and I turned my phone back off right after I sent it. There's no way they could have tracked us from that right?

"I see you remember what I'm talking about." His body pushes against me as he leans down next to my ear. "They tracked your phone. Turns out your little best friend has ties to the Silent Death Mafia. Her father is second in command."

"No," I shout, pushing him away from me. "You're lying! There's no way that Morgan is related to them. Her parents live in the suburbs. Her mother is a nurse and her dad works in corporate. Banking I think it was." No, no, no he has to be lying. Morgan would never betray me like this. She's my best friend. Since we got roomed together in the dorms during our freshmen year she has been there for me. She's the only one who knows my real last name and what my father does. She knows everything, all my secrets. Just like I know hers. She wouldn't betray me. It's not possible. "There has to be another connection. Morgan would never betray me."

"Never say never, Princess," Steel answers, his hands dropping to his side. "Fuck, I think you tore my stitches open some when you pushed me away."

"Let me see," I demand, stepping forward and trying to shove his hand out of the way so I can take a look.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it. I need you to tell me everything that you know about your friend. And I mean everything that she has told you. You may not think it's relevant but leave that up to me to decide," Steel demands as he stops me from looking at his side.

"No, I'm not telling you shit. Morgan would never betray me. End of story," I grunt, crossing my arms over my chest. He may not believe me, but I know that I'm right about this. I trust Morgan with my life.

"Knock, knock!" a male's deep voice calls out at the same time he knocks on the front door. The sudden noise has me spinning to stare at the door, ready to tell Grace to run, terrified that these mafia guys are back again. "Steel! You in there, it's Shadow!"

"Come...," Steel starts to answer before he trails off. It sounded like he was having a hard time answering which makes me turn around to look at him. The second I do I see his body drop to the ground again, his head narrowly missing the kitchen counter.

"STEEL!" I scream, terrified as his body falls.