CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

REAPER

We all pile into the armored van and head toward Frank’s house. I’ve known where he was my entire life. There has never been a time when I didn’t. When I told her to let it go, because the only reason I hadn’t killed him is because I couldn’t stand to be in his presence long enough to do it, I was being honest. Even my brothers were surprised he wasn’t already dead, after what he did to me. And I suppose I understand that, because normally he would’ve been, but they also don’t understand what that does to a man. How it affects his thought process. I’m not okay, I haven’t been for a long time, but the damage is done. I probably would’ve turned into a killer regardless, after all, my first kill was when I was a little kid. Would I have become the man I am now? I’ll never know, because I wasn’t ever given the chance to find out. I think it’s why I formed such a close bond with Athena, because she understands what it’s like. Even though I never told her what happened to me, somehow she knew something had happened to me. She never bought that I was just the way I was, as Bones suggested.

My brothers are all dressed in black pants and dress shirts, like they’re going to a fucking business meeting, as are the De Luca brothers. I’m the only one in jeans and a t-shirt. All of us wear matching holsters and guns. We have more weapons on us than the military. Okay, maybe not that much, but pretty fucking close. Our intel tells us Frank has a total of forty guards scattered on the grounds, all of them Abruzzo men. I asked Bones why they would protect him to this degree, and he said he has something they want. Probably information on our family. Obviously, information he intends to use, to wipe us out .

Damian De Luca is driving, while the rest of us are in the back of the van. There’s a lot of us and it’s a tight fucking fit.

Bones instructs us as to how he wants things handled.

“The De Lucas will take the east side of the yard. We’ll take the west. Then we’ll meet in the back, and clear everything there as quietly as possible, before we breach the house. If he knows we’re there, he will probably kill her.”

Psycho nudges me in the shoulder.

“You alright, man?”

I shake my head no and add, “I’ll hold it together until she’s safe, and then I might kill everybody in the fucking state.”

The fact that I don’t even know if she’ll be alive when we get there, has me ready to jump out of my skin, and being so fucking angry with her has me pissed off at myself, because somehow I know we aren’t going to find her unscathed. Nobody goes up against Frank Bonetti, and walks away uninjured. It’s not how it works. The only reason my father became the powerful man he was, is because he was the first-born male. Had my grandfather made choices like my dad did, it would’ve been a different outcome.

“Hey, Killer,” Kage says and I roll my eyes. He calls me that when he’s joking around, because he thinks its funny to call me a name one might call a rabid fucking dog. Although, it’s better than what he called me when I was a kid; Emo.

“What?” I grunt, letting him know I’m irritated.

He tilts his head to the side. “Reaper, sorry. I just wanted to say, you got this. Everything is going to turn out fine. You’ll marry your girl and have a dozen serial killer babies.”

Bones snorts. “Kage, shut up. Don’t put fucking ideas in his head.”

Emotions have never been our strong suit. As I’ve grown, I bury mine and refuse to show them, mostly. Kage makes jokes, because he also cannot handle them. Bones is a bit of a mix. And Psycho, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even have any feelings. While I don’t show it a lot, I’m the one that feels the most. And I know that’s why they are all worried about me, given the situation. I’ve never had a girlfriend, and they’ve figured out that Bella is everything to me.

“If you see cameras, disable them,” Bones says, as we reach our stopping point. If we pull up to the house in an armored vehicle, we’ll have a lot of guards on us very quickly. It’s much easier if we can take them a couple at a time. If we’re surrounded by forty at once, we will have casualties.

We get out of the van, and Bones asks quietly, “Everybody clear on how we’re approaching this?”

As a collective unit we nod, and my brother turns to me. “I want you close to me.”

I would like to argue with him, because I don’t want to be treated like a kid, when I’m a grown man, but I ignore it because that’s not what’s important.

From a distance, Drake De Luca raises his weapon as we approach, shoots the guard at the gate square in the eye, and whispers, ‘boo-yah’.

I roll my eyes as we separate to our areas. We take the west, and notice there are small groups of guards in several different directions, smoking and talking amongst themselves, like they’re on break. I’m guessing they’re not, because, wouldn’t breaks be a group at a time? Do they even get breaks? Who knows. Myself and my brothers all raise our weapons, and Bones and I take out the first group. We are using silencers, but there’s still noise when we fire, and the second group turns around as Kage and Psycho take them out.

As we walk further, Psycho complains in a whisper.

“Guns are fucking boring. A knife would be more fun.”

I can’t help but smile, as I think of how much my girl will get along with at least one of my brothers.

Please be alive .

We approach three more groups, and take them out with minimal sound, to not alert the other guards. Stepping over the dead bodies, we round the corner when one nobody saw comes out, and smacks me across the face with his gun. Kage points his gun at his head and shoots.

Once we make it to the back, we’re all surprised, when we meet up with the De Lucas, that there are no guards at the back.

“Be ready. There could be more inside the house,” Bones says. We walk back around to the front door, and again are surprised that it’s unlocked.

We get through the entry-way, and not making noise is no longer an option. Our footwear taps against the tile, announcing our presence, but then it doesn’t matter.

Bones says, “She’s right here.”

He looks back at me, and I know by the look on his face, we’re too late.

My brother turns to everyone else.

“Turn around. He doesn’t need you looking.”

All the air escapes from my lungs as I stare at her unmoving body, with a fucking lead pipe protruding from her pussy. As much as I want to look away, I can’t tear my eyes from her. My gaze moves from the ripped shirt she’s wearing, her torn panties on the floor beside her, her bloody hands, and the puddle of blood around her. The big blue bruise on her cheek causes a fire to grow in my blood. A homicidal rage fills me, one I can’t do anything about because Frank is already dead. The anger and heartbreak fight for dominance, and the latter wins out. The crushing pain in my chest is far more intense than when there was a knife plunged inside it.

I go to grab the pipe and Bones yells, “Leave it. If you remove it, it could cause more damage than leaving it. Check for a pulse.”

Kneeling beside her head, I stroke her hair, my beautiful Bella.

“Baby. Please be okay, I need you with me.”

Leaning down, I kiss her cheek .

“You did good, baby. You killed him, didn’t you?”

Pressing my hand to her neck, I breathe a sigh of relief when I feel her pulse.

“She’s alive,” I cry in a voice I don’t recognize.

“Pick her up carefully, and I’ll call the family doctor and let him know we’re on our way.”

I pull her skirt down, and lift her into my arms and tell Bones, “Nobody fucking looks at this.”

He shakes his head. “I promise you. They will all act with the respect this situation deserves.”

I already know Bella would be devastated to know these men saw this. Especially my brothers.

Carrying her through the house, I step over the dead bodies as I walk to the van, talking to her the entire time.

“You’re in a lot of trouble, you know that, right?”

I slide into the back of the van, and Bones hands me a blanket so I can cover her legs, and he says the De Lucas will catch another ride to give us privacy. My brothers get into the back while Bones gets into the driver’s seat and he quickly takes off.

Both Kage and Psycho are careful not to look at her, but they talk to me.

Kage says, “I’m glad she’s alive, man. She can heal from other shit, she’ll be okay.”

Instantly the rage fills me, because he’s referring to the fucking lead pipe in her pussy. I almost wish she hadn’t killed him, so I could.

They are quiet for a few minutes, and Kage says, “I got a girl in a cage. If you want to kill her, you can.”

I shake my head at him.

“Why do you have a girl in a cage?”

He shrugs. “Why do you kill people?”

Valid fucking point.

I look down at Bella, as she moans in my arms.

“Ow,” she cries .

“I’m here, living dead girl. I know it hurts, but you’ll be okay.”

She doesn’t open her eyes, but tears slip down her cheeks as she whispers my name.