Chapter Forty-One

Flame

It"s been a few days since everything went down at The Clubhouse, and we caught Claire. She"s been held in the Workroom all this time without us having a chance to do anything. We had things to sort out and people to worry about.

Luckily, Pete didn"t need surgery like they originally thought he would to remove the bullet from his shoulder; they managed to remove it in the emergency room. He was released from the hospital yesterday with some stitches and his arm in a sling while his shoulder heals.

Now Jake wasn"t so lucky; he ended up in surgery for over four hours due to the internal injuries the bullet caused. He coded on the table twice as well, but they managed to bring him back. He"s got a hell of a long recovery ahead of him. Poor Flash hasn"t left his side since he came out of surgery. He"s blaming himself for Jake"s injury, but we all know that it"s not his fault. Jake made the choice to step in front of the bullet and save Flash. I"m pretty sure he"d do it again.

Jake finally regained consciousness this morning, and the doctors said if he continues to improve over the next few days, he'll be moved from the ICU to a normal room. He"s not getting out of the hospital anytime soon, though; he came way too close to dying for that.

Cam's had a few nightmares about the shooting, mostly about if things had turned out differently. He told me about the last one he had after he woke me up screaming; he said that in it I was shot, and he held me in his arms while I bled out. He was so upset after that that I ended up sitting with him in his bed, holding him, and telling him I was still here and alive until he finally fell back to sleep.

Today, Wrath"s planning on going to talk to Claire, and if he thinks he"s going without me, he can just keep on dreaming. He"s getting ready to leave now, and I"m literally standing by the front door so he can"t sneak off without me.

"What"re you doing?"He asks, his voice filled with amusement as he walks towards me.

"Waiting for you. I"m coming with you, and don"t even try to stop me."

"I always expected you to come with me; I"m not stupid. I know you."He chuckles as he finishes talking.

"Okay then. Let"s go. I want this over and done with. I want her out of our lives for good."I say as I exit the house, walking towards the passenger side of the SUV. God, I hate that I still can"t ride.

Wrath jumps in the driver"s side, starts the engine, and we"re on our way to end this once and for all.

∞∞∞

Wrath

Walking into Inferno"s, I take in the silence. It"s like walking into the calm before the storm. I know when we get downstairs, it"s going to be anything but calm. I"m going to come face-to-face with my past. The person who"s behind me almost losing my husband, the bitch who kept my son from me and beat him for over half his life. I can feel my anger rising just thinking about it all. Walking down the stairs, I hear both me and Flame take deep breaths before I open the door and we enter.

I"m not quite sure what I expected her to look like now, but it definitely isn"t some fucking businesswoman. She"s dressed in a freaking pants suit. Who the fuck dresses like that when they"re in hiding? Don"t get me wrong, she really doesn"t look put together right now, seeming as though she has been held down here for the past few days, and from the smell, they decided she wasn"t going to be untied to use the bathroom. She"s unharmed, though, just tied to a chair in the middle of the room with a gag tied around her mouth.

"Remove the gag Lash,"I say before going and standing directly in her line of sight.

Lash does as I ask and then moves back against the wall.

Purring out, she says, "Well, hello, Jackson."

My whole body shakes in disgust.

"Claire. Cut the crap."I bite out, not in the mood for whatever game she"s attempting to play.

"But I"ve missed you so much; you've obviously missed me having your guys find me and bring me here."

"Claire, we both know why you"re here, and it"s nothing like you"re implying. You"re here because you lost, you tried to play with the big boys and failed."I snarl at her, already losing my patience.

Flame's standing by the wall, just studying her.

"Are you sure I lost?"Claire says with a smirk.

"I'd say so; your Uncle"s attack failed. He"s in custody, and you're here at my mercy."

Her face falls, showing her shock at my words. Looks like she didn"t know that the attack had failed. Good to know.

"Oh, didn"t you know that? While my guys were getting you, your Uncle attacked, and well, he"s the only one out of the fifteen that's still breathing."I say with a sinister smile.

"NO!"She shouts as she starts to try to fight her bindings.

"Settle down; you"re not going anywhere. Now I have some questions to ask you."

"Why would I answer any of your questions, Jackson?"

"Because you really don"t have a choice. You"re not going anywhere, and unless you want people to start torturing you for answers, you will talk."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Flame walking towards me.

He stops next to me and whispers, so only I can hear, "She"s terrified and trying to hide it."

Nodding, not taking my eyes off Claire, I watch as her eyes widen as Flame steps next to me. It seems she"s afraid of him based on her reaction. Not that I blame her; he did burn her father alive. Unlike the last time she saw him, he"s not chained up at her mercy. No, she"s at ours.

"So, Claire, are you going to answer everything I ask, or am I going to let Flame play?"

"I'll answer your questions."She says while her whole body shakes in fear.

Good, I want her fucking scared.

"Why"d you keep Cam from me?"I ask; I might as well start with the easy questions.

"Because I wanted to use him against you, but I ended up not being able to look at him with him looking so much like you. He ended up just reminding me of why I lost my dad every time I saw you in his face."

"I take it; that"s the reason behind you beating him too."

"Yes."

"What was your endgame with everything you've done recently?"

"Kill the three of you responsible for me losing my father. You ruined my life; you took away my family."

"Not all your family, Claire; you still had your mother and sister; you even had our son. But that wasn"t good enough for you, was it? You ruined all the other relationships you had, all to get revenge for a piece of shit like your father."

"HE WASN'T A PIECE OF SHIT! HE WAS AN AMAZING FATHER AND DIDN"T DESERVE TO DIE!" She shouts back at me.

"He got exactly what he was asking for, just like you will get yours when this is all over,"I say calmly, quite enjoying her losing it in front of me.

"Is there anything else you have planned?"

"The backup plan was for my boyfriend Simon to take Cam if he could get his hands on him. If we couldn"t kill you, we"d take away your new pride and joy."

"Where's Simon now?"I ask, getting angry.

No one is touching my son while I"m still breathing.

"He was part of the attack on your Compound. He was one of the team leads, so if only my Uncle survived, he"s dead. You killed someone else I love."She says while crying.

I don"t feel any sympathy for her at all. She started this war. We just ended it.

"Eagle, go and check if one of the dead"s Simon. We"ll be here waiting."

He quickly leaves the room, going to do as I asked. We all just watch Claire cry in the chair.

"Did you purposely attack us on our wedding day?"Flame asks her.

"You"re married to each other?"She looks at us in shock, still crying. Well, her reaction answered that question.

"Was Jasmine in on your plan?"Flame asks; it seems my husband has a few worries of his own.

"No, I can"t stand the stuck-up fake cow."Claire snorts out.

Eagle comes back, immediately coming over to me and Flame.

Quietly, he says, "Simon was a part of the attack; he was part of the team that tried to breach the side entrance. Piston's team took him out. Cam is safe."

Breathing out a sigh of relief, knowing that I don"t need to worry about him coming after Cam.

"Thanks,"I say quietly back.

"Did you have anyone else inside Devil"s Inferno other than Snake and Spot?"I ask her, wanting to know if I have any more moles that need dealing with.

Spot lost his life a few weeks ago at Blade"s hands.

"No, they were it. I take it; they"re both dead."

"Of course. We don"t do well with traitors, Claire; they knew what'd happen if they got caught."She just looks at me, her eyes filled with pure hate.

"Well, Claire, it looks like our time together is over. You lose. We win."I say with a massive smile on my face.

Turning to look at Flame. I ask him, "Would you like the honors?"

His face grows with a sinister smile. He doesn"t say a word; he just walks towards Claire and crouches in front of her.

Once she"s looking into his eyes, he says, "The only reason I"m making this quick is because you gave birth to Cam; he"s mine and Wrath"s son now. Not yours. We"re going to make sure he never misses out on anything in life now that he"s away from you. I hope you rot in hell with your father."

Quickly standing, he slices her throat. We all watch as she gurgles out her final breath. Flame doesn"t say anything to anyone as he walks out to go and clean up.

I feel like all the weight has been lifted off my shoulders; she"s gone, and it"s over. We can all move on with our lives and stop living in fear of what she might try next. I can"t wait to tell Cam he"s safe from her. I know, even though he hasn"t said it, he was scared of her coming back, taking him away from us, and having to go back to being her punching bag. He never has to worry about that again now. Now he gets to be a normal kid and enjoy the rest of his childhood. Life"s certainly looking up.