“I know, love, which is why I want you to let us do it for you,” I reassure her, but I know before she’s even decided she would never let us. This is her monster to slay, and as much as I wish we could do it for her, he’s hers to deal with. Our Roxxane would never make another deal with her issues, no, she’s too strong for that, and it only makes me love her more.
“No, no, you’re right. It’s been a long time coming. I guess I just—” She shakes her head. “Honestly, I forgot about him for a bit, but you’re right, he will never stop,” she agrees sadly, and meets my eyes. Hers are shaded with ghosts, but as strong as always. “Yes, I want to be there.”
“Just be there?” Diesel questions. “Because if you don’t want to deal with him, you know I will, Little Bird.”
She smiles, but it’s an evil one, like the one she used to give us all the time. “No, he’s my father, my responsibility. I want you there, though, this has been a long time coming and seeing him again—”
“Will bring back memories.” I nod, understanding that myself. “We have your back, always, you are our family now. Not his, never his. He will never hurt you again.”
She nods, reaching for Diesel’s and Kenzo’s hands. Garrett lays his on her shoulder, and I grip her knees as she sucks in a breath. “I guess I always knew…knew he never loved me. This needs to happen. He will always think he can control me, use me, and that also extends to you now. I can’t let him. It’s time he paid for his sins.”
She raises her eyes, and there’s no weakness there now. Just a fucking Viper flashing in those dark depths. “He dies today.”
So be it.
Chapter Sixty-Four
ROXY
The drive there is quiet, as my men are letting me prepare for what’s to come. They are right, he is a threat, not just to me, but to them now as well. They are my family, he never was. He might be my blood, but all that means is that he was my beginning, not my middle or end.
Blood doesn’t always mean family. Sometimes you find your family in friends, in father-and mother-like figures…or in lovers. I look around and smile, thinking sometimes you find that when you’re least expecting it. Our family might be messed up, hateful, powerful, and rich…but when we are together, we’re happy. We are safe, and that’s all that matters.
Now it’s my turn to keep my family safe, to protect the men who would protect me against anything, who would hunt me and anyone who hurt me or us across this world and never stop.
My father—no, I need to stop calling him that—Rob is nothing more than a threat, and to a Viper, a threat is easy to deal with. We kill them.
His blood might have saved him from me once, when I chose to run instead of fight, but he signed his death warrant when he decided he couldn’t leave me be. Now a darkness fills me, one he created, a killer he made with his fists, with his cruel words and abuse.
A fighter.
A survivor.
I survived him once, but he won’t survive me ever again.
I’m a motherfucking Viper, and he is nothing. Just a dead man walking.
We pull up outside the house. The sun is shining, and it warms me through the tinted window as I stare at the rundown house that once felt like a prison to me. How I used to crave Rob’s love, or even for just his eyes to move along, to not see me. I left here as a child, and now I’m coming back as a woman.
“Ready, love?” Ryder asks, breaking into my thoughts.
I swing my head around to see them all staring at me, all offering me their strength. I nod and slip from the car, the slamming of the doors loud in the derelict neighbourhood as they follow after me.
We stand outside.
Ryder in a suit, Kenzo too. Garrett in his leather, and Diesel in his jeans and wife beater, but they scream money, and I guess I do now as well. My body is encased in ripped jeans, kick ass boots, and a designer shirt.
I came from nothing, just like my men, and now I own this town. With them.
Walking up the path is like taking a trip down memory lane, as flashes of the night I ran away crowd my memory. It was night, they were asleep, and I was so scared to be caught, my meagre possessions stuffed into a plastic shopping bag. I had fallen, scraped my knees and hands, and had to bite my lip to stop from crying out so they wouldn’t hear. I looked back at the house, the curtains shut and windows dark.
Just like now.
I reach the door and, sucking in a breath, I raise my hand and rap my knuckles on the worn wood. We wait silently, but no one answers, so I knock louder and hear shuffling inside.
“Yeah, yeah, if this is those bible cunts again—” He slurs and rips open the door, freezing when his eyes land on the men and then me, a sneer curling his lips. His dark eyes, the same as mine, are filled with annoyance.
“The fuck you want? You bought her, I don’t want her back,” he snaps, and tries to shut the door. I slam my boot in the way and then push it open, causing him to stumble back, even as he starts to yell.
“The fuck do you want? I covered the debt, and I don’t owe you bastards—” Ryder shoves him into a chair.
“Sit down and shut up for once,” he snarls, before stepping away and leaning against the wall, rolling back his sleeves.
Garrett shuts the door and stands before it, his arms crossed. Diesel wanders around the room, giggling and flicking open his lighter repeatedly. Kenzo stays close to me in case I need him. I’m frozen on the spot though, looking around.
It’s smaller than I remember, smellier too. I guess pain warps your memories. In my head, this was hell, and when I have nightmares about it, it all seems so much…more. I guess facing it now is making me realise I have been building this place up in my head, and now that I’m standing here, I’m not afraid.
My eyes return to the man who caused me so much misery. His shirt is dirty, stained, and ripped in places. His beard and hair are unkempt, his eyes blurry from whatever he was drinking or shooting up. His body is almost wasting away, lanky and skinny now, smaller than I remember too. His face is gaunt, his eyes sunken in, and his hair is thinning and greasy.
I can’t believe I used to be so terrified of this man. Walking around the couch, I drop onto the edge of the stained cushion and stare at him. “Hi, Dad, how have you been?”
He snorts and turns his head to spit on the carpet, making me purse my lips in disgust. “The fuck you want? We had a deal.”
“Oh, yes, me for your debt. I mean, really, Rob, still using me as your punching bag because you’re not adult enough to deal with your own issues?” I laugh bitterly.
He narrows his eyes on me, but looks to Ryder. “Better control your cunt before I remind her who’s still the man of this house.”
“Not you by the looks of it,” I snap, bringing his eyes back to me. “They won’t help you, they are here to help me.”
“The fuck you talking about, girlie?” he sneers, leaning forward and sniffing hard, wiping at his stained mouth.
“The fuck I mean is I’m one of them now, and they don’t take well to anything or anyone being able to hurt us. Like you, Rob, you just keep coming back. I could have walked away if you had let me go when I ran, but you didn’t, you sold me. You inserted yourself back in my life again. Yes, it worked out well for me, but I can’t have that happening again. All it would take is the wrong person to come knocking, and you would fold like a cheap fucking suit and the rat you are. I will not let you put us in danger,” I snap.