Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

LONDON

No sooner Diablo asks about Reaper and Angel's niece, the air turns volatile. I don't remember seeing her yesterday for the dinner Ivy and the others put together.

"She had a shift yesterday," Angel answers as he pulls his phone. I'm sure he's going to try calling her.

Reaper takes off out of the room toward the bedrooms. Over his shoulder, he shouts, "Lockdown. Get all the fuckin' women and the kids here if they're not already."

Daemon takes off for the front doors. "Everleigh had a shift, I'm going to get her."

"I'll come with you." Ghost follows.

"I'm coming too, Stella had to go in," Angel says, shoving his phone in his pocket and moving for the doors. "Ember's phone's going to voicemail."

"I'll get on it," Scythe yells, turning away and heading in the same direction Reaper went.

"Chiquita," Diablo calls.

I tilt my head to meet his gaze. "You want me to go to your room, don't you?"

"Yeah," he answers.

I nod, understanding. How can I not? I remember the man he and Beast just told the club about. Dead Eyes is the right name for him. He was younger then. Maybe twenty, but he freaked me out. Totally and completely scared me with the way he stared at me whenever he came around.

I start to pull away, but he stops me as he's done any other time I've done so and kisses me.

"Thank you, baby," he whispers against my lips.

"You're welcome," I say back just as quietly. My lips brushed his.

Diablo lets me go and steps back. He turns toward his brothers, and they all gather around each other. My dad and his men joined in.

Leaving them to it, I make my way to his room. My chest was heavy with the thought of Ember missing and everything else that was happening, but I also felt a sense of ease that Diablo had trusted me to be in there with them as they discussed things.

I understood what they were talking about when they mentioned the lawyer. I don't know what all happened, but I can put the pieces together. They killed the man, and from how they spoke, I'm betting they killed his father, well, the man his mother married, as well. I kinda hope they took his mother out as well. It sounds bad, but she wasn't a mother at all. A woman who lets her child be beaten and doesn't protect them shouldn't be allowed to live.

My dad took out my stepfather. He didn't tell me what he did. I overheard it one night while he was talking to his men. I questioned him, and he told me the truth. None of it scared me. I know the world isn't full of rainbows. That the judicial system is screwed up in a lot of ways. Most places stick to the good ol' boy way of things. I'm not a political person, but I'm also not a liberal. Things need to change. People need to change it, but I doubt it's going to happen any time soon.

If men like my dad and Diablo have to take lives, I know they have reasons behind it, and in my heart, I know it's never innocent blood.

Hours pass before Diablo comes to find me. One look at him, and I know he doesn't have good news.

"Ember's missing," I say as he closes the door.

"Yeah," he confirms and releases a ragged breath. "Scythe tracked her phone. It was abandoned on the side of the road. Her car was found in the opposite direction."

"You'll find her," I whisper, moving to him, wrapping my arms around his waist. I press my cheek to his chest and hold on. "You all will find her. I know it."

"We'll find her," he states, arms going tight around me. "We won't stop until we do." He squeezes me and lets me go, just enough so we can meet gazes. "I'm heading out to help them look for her. I need you to stay here. Don't go anywhere. I need to know you're safe and you being here, you're safe."

"I won't go anywhere."

"Thank you, baby." Reaching up, he palms the side of my face and strokes my cheek. "I don't know what I'd do without you, London. When you were thirteen, you touched a part of me that I forgot about until you came back into my life. If something happens to you, I lose that touch, and no way I'd survive without it."

I suck in a breath at those sweet words. I know what it means, and it is worth more to me than those three words behind it. "I love you too, Damari."

"Good, ‘cause when this is over, I'm making sure you can't leave me."

"I won't want to ever do that." I smile and lean back into him. I hold him close before letting him go. Reaching up on my tip toes, I cup either side of his face and pull him in for a kiss. One that speaks volumes for me and tells him that he'll never lose me. As much as he needs my touch, I need his.