Chapter 12

Kage's parents' house hadn't given me any evidence of where he could've taken her. Julieanne promised she could get into their finances to see what other properties they might have held that could've been turned over to Kage, but it would take days.

And I don't know if Lyla has days.

I have the detective tied up in my basement, and I've been feeding and taking care of her needs, and she's been working around the clock with some off-the-book connections to find Lyla and Kage.

I'm losing my fucking mind.

I haven't killed in so long that the need nearly takes me over when I hear tires pull into my drive.

It's dark out, and it's been seven days since Lyla was taken, and each day that passed had me losing my mind completely.

But this car in my drive has me genuinely panicked.

Did someone realize the good detective is missing and doesn't have the flu like I had her tell them? Did Kage send cronies to take me out, too?

But when Lyla steps out of the Mustang, and her knees wobble, I burst from the front door and scoop her into my arms.

"Neo," she rasps, and I don't know how she'd even driven back to me with how weak she is.

I rush her into the house, where I can look her over in the light.

She's got bruises all over her face. Her body smells of days of filth, and her clothes are tattered. Her hair is a tousled mess, and her tiredness is bone-deep.

"You're home, stupid girl. I've got you," I tell her, wrapping my body around hers and giving her warmth.

I don't know what he did to her, and I don't know how much of what he did is going to change her, but I know that I'm going to kill him.

I'll bathe in his blood while she watches. Get her revenge—my revenge—because he stole something that he had no right to.

"The trunk," she manages, peeling off of me.

I knit my brows together. "The trunk?"

She nods, smiling the best she can through her pain, physical and emotional. "I brought him home to you. Just like you said to."

Realization slams into my brain. She has Kage in the trunk of his car. She somehow got free and brought him home to me.

I gently cup her face on either side, looking into the depths of her sad, tired green eyes. "You beautiful, perfect girl, you." I shake my head in awe of her. Of her strength and tenacity.

Her face lights at my words, and I pull her into me again.

"Neo. I don't feel good. I think… I think he hurt something," she admits, and I'm pushing her back again, looking her over.

"We'll get you taken care of, stupid love. Then, we'll get your revenge. Our revenge."

I carefully lay her on the couch as I move downstairs and explain the situation to the detective. She agrees she needs medical attention, and we form a plan.

I don't trust the detective as far as I can throw her, but she's my only option. I can't waltz into a hospital in this town or any neighboring town. My face is too well-known now.

"I'll take her to a contact I go to when I need to stay off the radar. He'll fix her up, and I'll bring her right back," Julieanne repeats as I help her load Lyla into my car. I pulled the Mustang into the garage for safekeeping while I saw her off safely with the detective.

Once they've tugged away from the house, I turn back and look at the garage door as if I can see beyond it to the scum lying in wait.

I trudge inside, entering the garage and flicking on the light. I get the trunk open and look over a very frantic Kage Davis.

I smile.

"Didn't you see this coming?" I ask. "You just don't take from the Butcher of Crows Hollow and get away with it, Kage," I taunt.

Using his name does something to him, and he bristles.

The trunk smells like vomit and piss, and I wonder how far he'd taken my Lyla that she'd had to leave him in here for so long.

I hefted him out, got him into the basement, and secured him before leaving him there. The good thing about basements is the soundproof aspect because he's screaming at the top of his lungs for help—help that'll never come.

I clean up the house anxiously as I wait for Lyla and Julieanne to return, and when they do, I help Lyla to bed.

Julieanne looks anxious as she waits for me to stop pacing.

"Tell me," I demand, turning toward her finally.

"She was raped. Pretty brutally, I might add. She's alright, but she has a mild concussion. He treated her for the pain, and she needs to rest and some proper nutrients when she can eat."

My world shatters. I fall to the floor on my knees, and for the first time in my life, tears fall from my eyes in angry waves.

My scream of despair and anguish likely echoes throughout the entire world. Right down to the hell that my stupid girl loves to visit so often.

"I'm going to pretend I don't know you have him in the basement because this closes my case, Neo. And we're going to pretend none of this shit ever happened."

I finally look at her, tears staining my cheeks. "Why? Why would you do that?"

She's a cop at heart. There is no logic in her letting Lyla and me go.

"Because when I was studying your case as a young cadet, I found you were the hand of justice for so many who didn't deserve to draw breath. When the system fails its victims, you become their judge and jury. You kept Crows Hollow safe. You kept the world safe. And you've yet again gotten a killer off the streets. I'm too wrapped up in this for my own good, and I'm not going down with you."

She finishes with a statement of self-preservation, and I smirk.

She is too tangled. I'd gotten information while using her log-in credentials in the database. I'd used her CIs to get more details on Kage, and I'd also made her complicit in helping Lyla get to and from the doctor. All the while, Detective Clark turned the other cheek and hadn't arrested us.

She's in a moral and professional dilemma.

"While you remain silent, you remain safe, Detective Clark. Remember that."

She crouches before me, cupping my face.

No one has ever touched me beyond Lyla. No one ever dared.

"You're a good man, Neo Wade. A fucked-up man, but a good one. The world is a better place for you're in it. Kill that motherfucker slowly."

I smile as I watch her leave out the front door.

"And take his fingernails off for me," she calls back before she closes the door.

Oh, I will.

Lyla finally rousesaround noon the next day, and I'm lying beside her as soon as her eyes flutter open.

As much as I'd wanted to get started without her for what he'd done to her, I needed to be with her more.

And that's new for me.

"Hi," she says finally after we stare at one another for what seems like an eternity.

"Hi," I answer back. "Are you alright?"

What a stupid question, but one that needs to be asked.

Her eyes brim with tears. "I'm better now that I'm home."

I smile. "I wouldn't call this home. We haven't been here long enough."

She turns on her side, wincing in pain as she reaches her hand up and places it on my chest. "You're home, Neo. Not this place. I'm home when I'm with you."

Her words that would usually strike fear and anxiety through me spike only a warmth in the chambers of my vile heart.

I grab her hand, tugging it to my lips and kissing each knuckle softly.

When our eyes meet again, I watch as her lip wobbles.

"He—"

I shake my head, cutting her off. "If you need to say it aloud, you can. But if you don't need to or don't want to talk about it yet, you don't have to. I know what he did. And he will be punished."

"The detective…" she licks her lips, and I turn over to grab a water bottle.

"She and I have an understanding," I say as I hand her the water and help her sit up and drink some.

She only nods. "You didn't kill him?"

I lean close and kiss her tentatively on the cheek. "No, stupid girl. I didn't. I was waiting for you. He'll be there whenever you're ready. Even if you take weeks to recover, he'll be there."

"Neo Wade, you're a romantic," she jokes, and I smirk.

"Only for you. Don't let it get out. I have a reputation, after all, stupid girl."

My mention of her pet name causes her face to fall. "He said he took me because he saw us in the club last year. He saw me kill his friend and then followed us to the alley. He had some sick obsession with me and how you treated me. Thought he could treat me better."

My brows furrow, and anger rises to new levels in my body. While I know I have issues with certain aspects of Lyla and my relationship, I don't mistreat her any more than she wants me to.

She and I are a brand specific to what the other one wants. I'd never harm a fucking hair on her body unless it brought her pleasure, and she knows it.

"And treating you better meant raping you?" The words slip from my lips without thinking. "I'm sorry, Lyla. I didn't mean to…"

She leans toward me, and I forget the world in her orbit. "It's alright. I think he thought I was someone else. From afar, I must give off another vibe entirely."

"Bit off more than he could chew, hm?" I give her a rueful grin, and she chuckles hoarsely.

"He did. I shouldn't have taunted him. I think if I hadn't done that…" I cover her lips with my finger.

"None of this is your fault. He did what he did because he's a sick piece of shit. Nothing is your fault. You deserved none of it, Lyla. Do you understand me?"

She nods, tears brimming over her bottom lids. "I missed you so much," she cries.

I tug her into my body, holding her tightly as she sobs for what feels like forever.

"He's going to pay for each tear, stupid girl. So I hope you're keeping count."

She only continues to cry as I rock her back and forth, giving her the space she needs to heal from her ordeal.

When this is all over, I'm going to hide her away from anything and everything that could ever harm her.

I'll never leave her fucking side again.