Chapter 11

Knox

It takes us no time to gain entry to the house, most of the bastards fled as soon as they saw us coming. Bodies litter the floor of the lower level. Guilt swarms through me when I see two of my maids laying in a pool of their own blood, but that isn't what makes me sick—it's the sight of their pants around their ankles and their torn panties stuffed into their mouths.

They raped them.

Grinding my teeth, I motion for Xander to clear the bottom floor with Floyd while I take Taylan and a couple others with me. I need to find Lakeland and make sure her father didn't fucking take her. The moment we hit the second floor Taylan branches off to the left while I go right toward my room. The sight of my door busted open has all rational thought fleeing as I race toward the room and skid to a stop at the threshold at the sight of some fucker dead on my floor. Movement out of the corner of my eye catches my attention.

"Lakeland," I breathe out at the sight of her covered in blood and huddled against my dresser. At the sound of her name she snaps her head toward me. I expect to see anger, fear or something in her eyes but all I see is… nothing, she looks slightly unhinged.

"He was going to kill me," she mutters before tearing her gaze from mine and staring at the body in front of her. I stow my gun in my waistband and slowly make my way toward her, keeping a small amount of space between us as I crouch down beside her. "He wanted to hurt me." I don't know if she is trying to convince me of that or herself. What I do notice are the bruises on her face, arms and even the hand prints around her fucking throat. Only I am allowed to mark her, not that son of a bitch.

"You defended yourself," I say. She frowns and cocks her head to the side but still won't look at me.

"He was going to kill me," she mutters.

I reach out to her only for her to flinch and shift away. She finally looks at me and gone is the hollow look in her eyes only to be replaced by fear.

"He was going to kill me!" she screams just as Taylan enters the room. I peer over my shoulder to see him dismiss the other guys before coming to stand beside me. He smiles comfortingly at Lake before snatching the blanket from the bed and tossing it over the fucker beside her. She keeps her focus on the both of us, barely blinking.

"You did what any woman in your position would have done, Lay." She shakes her head denying what Tay is saying but he pushes on, slowly closing the space between them as he speaks. "You were strong. You were brave. You were resourceful and resilient. You didn't cower in fear and allow him to brutalize you. You fought back and guess what?" He crouches down in front of her forcing me to shift so I can see her face. Her brows furrow as she stares up at him. "You won." Her bottom lip begins to tremble.

"He hurt me, I didn't have a choice," she chokes out before sobs wrack her body. Taylan wraps his arms around her tiny frame and pulls her flush against him, holding her tightly. She clutches the sides of his shirt in a vice-like grip as if she's afraid he'll disappear.

"You made the right choice, Lay," he mumbles as he places a kiss to the top of her head. Seeing him comfort her rubs me the wrong way.

"Clean her up then bring her downstairs," I say in a cold tone as I push to stand. She pulls back from Taylan and stares up with worry etched into her features.

"Where's my sister?" she asks with concern thick in her tone. I attempt to respond but I don't get the chance. She shoves Taylan back. He lands on his ass with a grunt as she races from the room. Growling I chase after the little shit. She nearly tumbles down the stairs a couple times at the sight of the bodies but it's only when she reaches the landing that she comes to a halt and gasps. Following her line of sight I find the reasons for her sudden pause. "They were my father's men and they hurt those innocent women," she speaks quietly but the disgust and anger is clear in her tone.

"Your father and his men will pay the price for what they did to Laura and Sophie." I motion to two of my men to cover up the maids. They may have been disrespected in their final moments but I will make damn sure they are treated with the utmost respect in death. I won't allow their murders to be in vain. We watch as Thomas and Patrick lay some sheets over each of their bodies.

"Stop!" Lakeland snaps. They freeze and turn to me waiting for my orders. She moves toward the women. I hold my hand up, telling them to wait. She kneels in front of Laura and gently strokes her hair back from her face, her eyes are open and stare vacantly ahead. Lakeland removes her panties from her mouth and looks up to Patrick nodding for him to cover her. "I'm so sorry for what happened to you," she whispers as she moves onto Sophie. Unlike Laura, her eyes are closed. Lake tugs her panties free and then jerks back when Sophie gasps. I dart forward and place two fingers against her neck and when I feel it, I turn to Thomas.

"Get her to a hospital now and don't leave her fucking side for a single second. You piss in a cup if you have to." He nods and scoops her up in his arms before dashing out of the house with Patrick hot on his heels.

"Knox." I tug Lakeland to her feet and pull her behind me as I go in search of Xander. I find him in Tristan's makeshift office at the back of the house. The sight before me turns my arms to lead and my blood to ice. Lakeland yanks free of my hold and darts in front of me before I can stop her from seeing the gruesome sight.

"Nooooooo!" she screams so fucking loud it jolts me out of my shock as she races around the desk and drops to her knees in front of her sister, who is strapped to a chair with a bloody note nailed in the center of her chest that reads, A sibling for a sibling, boy, you're next. River's face is bloody and bruised, her head hangs forward limply. Lake tries to free her sister from the binds as Xander stands there staring at River like he's looking at a ghost. "Hang on, sister. I'll get you out. Hold on, okay." Lakeland sobs. "Someone fucking help me!" she screams.

I move forward and pull my knife free from its sheath at my side and slice through the ropes. River falls forward. Lakeland catches her and shifts as she slides along the ground so her sister is resting between her legs. She rests River's head against her shoulder and brushes her hair back. Blood is dried to her face and it's clear those cunts tied her down and beat the shit out of her before delivering the final blow, this was a message that Percy and Gio are willing to do whatever it takes to take me down.

The note that is nailed to her chest is from Gio. He's coming after me for taking the top spot from him and for killing his useless sack of shit of a brother.

"It's okay, you're gonna be okay," Lake chokes out as she continues to stroke her sisters hair. "I choose you Riverland, I fucking choose you. Do you hear me?" Recoiling at her words, I stare down at her. River said she couldn't remember anything but she remembers my words! "You can't leave me, you can't fucking leave me because I need you." Sobs claw their way out of her. She hiccups and clutches her sister tighter, placing kisses on the side of her head.

"River," Taylan whispers brokenly as he enters the room staring down at the Deveraux sisters. He drops to his knees beside them and reaches out to touch River but Lake bats his hand away, glaring at him.

"Don't fucking touch her. Call an ambulance now!" Tay's features contort in pain but it's not his, he's feeling what she's going through. He isn't the only one. The sight of her holding her sister's body brings up feelings and memories I thought I had buried. A quick glance at Xander tells me he isn't seeing River either. We're both seeing a scene from six years ago that paved the way for us.

"It'll be quicker if I drive you." Lake frowns for a second and gnaws on her lip debating if she should trust Tay.

"I don't think–." Taylan pins me with a look over his shoulder that has me closing my mouth.

"You of all people should know she needs this. You can worry about being an asshole and breaking her after this but right now, we need to help her so she can get through this." His words hit their mark. Sighing, I nod my head. Before Tay or I can grab Riverland, Xander pushes us both away as he crouches in front of the girls and grips Lake's face between his hands, forcing her to meet his stare.

"You're going to let her go so I can carry her out of here." Her tears fall rapidly as she shakes her head.

"No, she's strong she can?—"

He cuts her off. "Every man here either knows her or has heard stories about your sister. None of them will view her as weak, you have my word." My brows raise. Xander never gives his word to anyone. "I don't know if what she told us about you is true but if it is, then listen carefully, Lakeland." Her brows draw in as she gulps loudly. "Your sister was one of our best friends. We love her like you do now, so give her to me so we can take her to the hospital where you will hear from the doctors what you already know to be true."

"She's not dead," she says with such conviction that I almost believe her. Xander just nods but says nothing as he gently scoops River into his arms, her body limp, her arm flopping to the side. I reach out and gently place it on her stomach, then run my hand over her head.

"Go get em, killer," I whisper. That was something River used to say to me all the time when we were kids. I never understood what it meant but it just kind of became our thing. Tay wraps an arm around Lake's shoulders as the three of us follow behind Xander. When the guys see who he is carrying, those who knew River from our earlier days in school bow their heads and those who didn't get the chance to know the spitfire that is Riverland Deveraux, still bow their heads in respect for the woman who they can clearly see means a shitload to me and the guys.

She meant a lot to all of us.

Watching Xander climb into the backseat with her body in his arms has pain flaring to life inside my chest. The sound of Lake's sobs draws my attention to her. I motion for Taylan to get in the car, at the look on my face he doesn't argue and does as he's told. I grip her shoulders and force her to face me.

"Look at me," I say in a firm tone. She whimpers and slowly lifts her tear-filled gaze back to me. The pain I see in her eyes mimics the pain I feel daily. "I know what it's like to lose a sister. The pain you feel inside, latch onto it."

"Why?"

"Because that pain is going to be the only thing that gets you through this." She shakes her head trying to deny me but I push on. "You are going to learn some harsh fucking truths. Learn to channel that pain into anger because your whole world is about to come crumbling down leaving you no choice but to live in my world."