Deep Redemption (Hades Hangmen Book 4) (22 page)

I tapped the gavel on the wooden table; all the brothers looked my way
. “So,”
I signed,
“How the fuck do we play this?”

Ky translated, then a silence fell on the brothers. It was AK who spoke first. The brother always took the lead in these kinda things. “We go in. For once—and I can’t believe I’m gonna fuckin’ say this—I think Rider is tellin’ the truth. I say we go with what he said. There’s people in there I ain’t down with killin’—kids, women . . . ” He cleared his throat. “The people who brought Bella back need to be got the fuck out—especially the dad. Then we’ll take the rest of the fuckers down. Anyone that gets in our way dies. Man, woman or child. We go in thinkin’ anyone Rider hasn’t got out is an enemy, and we fuckin’ stick to that shit.”

“The ammo they have is serious. If they’ve been gearin’ up to attack like that asswipe said, we gotta go in when they don’t expect us,” Tanner said.

“Offense is the best defense,” Cowboy drawled in his thick Cajun twang, sitting back in his chair like he had no fucking care in the world.

I roved my eyes around the table. All of the brothers nodded their heads in agreement.

“And afterwards?” Ky asked. I knew what he was asking. So I responded with my
own
fucking plan for when we returned to the compound. All the brothers were in agreement with that too.

“Shit,” Bull said and poured himself a shot of tequila. “Can’t believe we’re goin’ in to that fucked-up hell again.” He knocked back the shot and slammed the glass onto the table.

Viking took the tequila and knocked back a shot directly from the bottle. “Well, I for one have a huge fuckin’ boner right now. Things have been too fuckin’ quiet ‘round here lately. Ain’t the same if we don’t got some delusional fucker to take down. It’s just the fuckin’ cherry on the fuckin’ sundae that it gets to be the cult pricks. I love watchin’ those cunts run from us in their long white dresses. Most of ‘em die ‘cause they can’t move their legs fast enough under all that long fabric. Fuckin’. Hilarious.”

“They’re tunics, not dresses,” Hush informed Viking dryly.

“Yeah?” Viking turned on his seat toward Hush. “
Tunics,
eh? Well we don’t see your tight pretty-boy ass struttin’ about in a dress, do we, blue eyes?” Viking smiled and winked suggestively. “Then again, you and Cowboy are fuckin’ each other, aren’t ya? Boyfriends, bumfuckers and all that shit? If you’re the designated cumbucket outta the two of y’all, the tunic might make things easier. Quicker access for the pink cue to sink the black hole, so to speak.”

“For fuck’s sakes, we ain’t fuckin’ each other! I’ve ‘bout had enough of your fuckin’ loud mouth!” Hush roared back.

“I wanna kill,” Flame growled, his outburst just about stopping Hush from launching off his chair to kick Viking’s stupid pale ass. Flame was running his knife along his arms. But the blade never drew blood. He just made the action, in fuckin’ sets of eleven. He looked up at me, and his eyes seemed even darker than usual. “I wanna kill ‘em, Prez, for what they did to my Maddie. I wanna feel their hearts stop in my hands.”

“You will,”
I signed.
“We all will.”
Flame smiled. A fuckin’ psychopathic grin.

“Then we’re goin’?” Ky asked.

“Aye,” said each brother in turn.

“Then we’re fuckin’ goin’.”

“Tomorrow,” AK announced. “I’ll get a better plan together tonight. But we go tomorrow. I ain’t takin’ no chances. If we wanna take the fight to the cult, we gotta go tomorrow before someone finds his brother in those cells and changes the whole fuckin’ game.”

“Then we go in tomorrow,”
I signed.
“AK, tell the brothers what we need from the armory. Guns and all that shit. We go all night gettin’ ready if we need to.”

“And Rider?” I followed the sound of the voice. Smiler was looking at me. Again, the brother fucking spoke. Twice in a night. A new fucking record.

“What about him?” Ky asked.

“He goin’ in first?”

I looked to AK for him to answer. “I’ll scope out the plans of the commune. I still got them in my room. I’ll look into it. But I say we give him three or four hours to get there, do his prophet shit and get the innocent the fuck out.”

“Then what?” Smiler asked.

Ky smiled. “Then we bring the hounds of Hades to their door.” The brothers grunted in a mix of excitement and bloodlust. I slammed the gavel down on the table to end church. AK led the brothers outside to assign roles.

Ky didn’t move; neither did I.

Once the door was closed, he said, “You believe this shit, man? With Rider and Bella . . . their fuckin’ father?”

I shook my head and ran my hand down my face.

“You gonna tell ‘em?” he asked.

“N-not y-y-yet,” I stuttered out. “A-a-ain’t no r-reason in t-t-tellin’ ‘em if h-he doesn’t m-m-make it out a-alive.”

“Yeah,” Ky said. He sighed and, sitting back in his chair, said, “I can’t believe that after tomorrow all this shit with the cult could be done. They’ll all finally be dead. I never knew how much those cunts still bein’ alive bothered me until tonight. I need to fuckin’ breathe again, Styx. That’ll only happen when we’ve burned that place to the ground.”

“Y-yeah,” I agreed.

Ky got up from his seat and put his hand on my arm. “I’m gonna help out. I ain’t gettin’ no sleep tonight, and Li will no doubt be with Bella. I need to fuckin’ do somethin’ to stop me goin’ back to that barn and puttin’ an ax through Rider’s skull.”

My VP left, but I stayed in the church for fuck knows how long. I replayed everything Rider had said. Hundreds and hundreds of those fuckers to take on if shit went south.

I knew one thing. Not all of us would be comin’ back alive. I never said shit ‘bout it as Rider had spoken. I never said shit as we all agreed to walk back into that fucking place. But it was true. Eleven of us against potentially hundreds of heavily armed brainwashed cunts? Those odds weren’t good for no one, not even us.

I knew my strength as prez was about be tested more than ever. And no matter what I did, I couldn’t let us fall.

I had a bitch I loved more than life and a baby on the way.

All I had to do was stay alive . . .

 . . . I just had to stay the fuck alive.

Bella

I clutched my hands to my chest as I watched the men disappear behind Rider—
no, Cain
—and I felt my heart break in two as his bright white tunic became engulfed in a smother of black.

“Rider,” I whispered as he faded from view. I wanted to run after him, but my legs were too weak to move. I blinked away the tears that were still falling.

Everything they had accused him of, he had done.

He had admitted to it all.

Lilah, my beautiful Lilah. He had hurt her . . . her beautiful long hair was cut short and her previously flawless face was scarred . . . all because of Rider. I could not believe it. Because the man I had fallen for through the barrier of the stone wall, the man I had slept beside each night for the past week—his hands caressing my face, never pushing me for anything more than a simple innocent touch—could not have been capable of such atrocities.

But Mae . . . he had kidnapped my Mae? Why? Why would he have done that? I just did not understand any of it.

“Bella?” Mae was walking toward me, Maddie and Lilah looking on.

I squeezed my eyes shut. “Was all that true? Was everything that man with the long blond hair said true?”

“Ky.” I opened my eyes to see Lilah standing next to Mae. Maddie flanked her other side, and just for the briefest of moments, I stared at my three sisters and my heart swelled to an impossible degree. Tears fell down my cheeks.

I had missed them so much.

“Bella,” Maddie said softly and edged nervously from the group. She stopped in front of me and reached up her hand to chase away my tears. I stared at my youngest sister. Her green eyes were bright and filled with something that they had never been filled with before—peace.

Maddie had found peace.

“How?” I asked.

Maddie, as if reading my thoughts, simply said one word. “Flame.”

My eyebrows pulled down in confusion. I did not understand. Mae threaded her arm around my shoulders. “We should go inside. There is much to tell.”

I looked through the gates of the compound and saw two men—no, boys really—also dressed in black. They were waiting to close the gates behind us, guns firmly fixed in their hands.

I let Mae guide me through. As soon as we cleared the gates, the two boys shut them. I jumped as metal clanked on metal. The younger-looking boy ducked his head and approached us.

“Madds,” he said, looking at my younger sister. “She looks just like you.”

“She is my older sister, Ash.”

His eyes widened. “I thought she died.”

Maddie pressed her hand on Ash’s arm. “So did I,” she said. “Bella, this is Ash, Flame’s younger brother. He has recently joined us too.”

The confusion was back. Maddie held up her left hand. She was wearing a ring. “Flame is my husband,” she said proudly.

A light, fluttering sensation filled my chest, replacing the heavy weight that had been suffocating me since they took Rider away. “Maddie,” I whispered, seeing a small, sweet smile tugging on her lips. “You have found love? Real love?”

Maddie nodded her head. “Yes. Of the deepest kind.” I had to roll my lips together to stop them from trembling. My little Maddie. My timid and scared Maddie had gained what in our previous life in the commune I feared she would never be able to have—true love. Someone to care for her like she deserved. Someone to break the evil that was thrust upon her by Brother Moses.

I looked at Mae and Lilah. Lilah too wore a ring, as did Mae. “You are both married too?” Lilah nodded her head, but Mae shook hers.

Mae smoothed her hands over her long, flowing black dress, and her lips began to form into a happy smile. She cradled her stomach protectively. “Bella, I am with child.”

“Mae,” I whispered, pure astonishment causing my words to catch in my throat. But then a deep panic set within me. She was not married like my sisters, yet she was with child. Had someone hurt her . . . had they touched her against her will . . . had they . . . ?

Mae placed a reassuring arm over my shoulder. “I am in love, Bella. We are engaged. We just have yet to get married. But I love him with all my heart regardless. We are already married in every way that counts to me.”

I recalled the men my sisters had stood beside. “The one with dark hair. The leader who did not speak,” I said. Mae nodded.

“Styx,” she informed me. “His name is Styx . . . or River to me.”

My gaze traveled over my sisters, and a calmness settled in my heart. Lilah brushed away my hair. I looked at her face. The scar on her cheek was prominent, and she was clearly in pain. But she was happy too. I could see it in her expression.

Peace. They had all found peace.

“You are all happy,” I said. I was still for several seconds. A sob burst from my throat.

“Bella,” Maddie cried out, but I stepped back and held out my hand to stop her approach. I did not recognize the feeling that had taken root in my stomach. On the one hand, I was delirious with happiness that my sisters, the only family I had ever known, were alive . . . and they were safe. All I had ever wanted for them was happiness. For them to be free. It was why I had told Mae to run. I wanted her to take Lilah and Maddie too and free them from their abusive cages.

And she actually had. It had clearly not been easy, but Mae had done for my sisters what I never could. She had saved them.

They were alive. They were at peace.

They were saved.

Rider’s face came to my mind. I could not get rid of the image of the pain in his eyes as he confessed to hurting my sisters. The blond man’s words came crashing back to me . . .
Ask your fucked-up cunt of a man about how he kidnapped Mae and tried to force her to marry him. Ask him about how he captured Li and allowed her to be burned and gang raped by his prick of a twin and his pencil-dicked friends. Ask him about his fuckin’ insane obsession with Mae, only to fuckin’ turn up with you, her fuckin’ mirror image . . .

“The blond man,” I said to Lilah.

“He is my husband. His name is Ky,” she said. Hearing that made everything worse. Because if that was true, he loved Lilah with all that he was. He would not lie about what had happened to her. Deep down I knew it was true. I had heard the pain in his voice.

“He really did all of that?” I asked, almost inaudibly. My voice could not muster any strength. “Rider. Cain. He hurt you all like that?” My sisters looked at one another in concern. “Tell me!” I shouted, piercing the silence of the night.

Maddie jumped. Sympathy flooded Lilah and Mae’s faces. I shook my head, unable to believe it. That Rider could have done all of this . . . to my sisters . . . the only people I had ever loved in this godforsaken life.

“Let us go to my home,” Mae said. I followed as she took us to a vehicle. Ash, Maddie’s husband’s brother, drove us there. But I did not remember much of the journey. A strange numbness had taken me captive and I did not even try to escape.

When the vehicle stopped. I looked up to see a wooden house at the end of a small path. It was beautiful. Mae guided me out of the vehicle. “This is my house. I share it with Styx.”

I nodded silently and let her, Lilah and Maddie escort me through the front door and into a kitchen. It was unlike the basic kitchens I was familiar with in the commune. It was a mixture of silver metal and wood, the silver devices so shiny I could see my reflection in their buffed surfaces. The countertops were black, speckled with silver glass. Beyond the kitchen area, soft carpets in rich, warm colors lay on polished wooden floors. Large windows were elegantly dressed with beautiful floral curtains. The house smelled of freshly baked bread and a hint of a spiced, musky scent.

Mae moved to the stove to boil some water. Maddie helped Lilah to a chair at a large table. I stayed in the doorway, watching as they moved around the opulent room with ease and familiarity.

I had never felt more alone.

My sisters had survived, they had found new lives . . . and they had found a place in the world without me. This strange new world where I did not recognize the smells and sounds. A world that I feared; a world where I knew I did not belong.

“Rider,” I whispered and felt each of my sisters freeze. I did not see them though; my eyes had focused on a knot of wood on the floor and my sight had blurred. “He is a good man,” I stated. “He is a kind man. I know he is.”

“Bella,” Mae said cautiously, after many seconds. “Come here.” I blinked away the blur from my eyes and saw her gesture to a spare chair around her table.

My stomach lurched.

I did not know what to do here in this place. I did not know how to act around my sisters after so long apart. The feeling almost destroyed me as much as any schooling from Brother Gabriel had ever done. Because these women were my lifeline, they were my safety. They were all I ever used to think about when I feared I could not cope. I had lived for them.

But now I was confused. My head was a thick fog. And I . . . I . . .

I wanted Rider. I
needed
Rider.

My hand burned as if I could feel his comforting fingers threading through my own. If I concentrated hard enough I could almost hear his gruff voice whisper “
Harmony
”
through the thick stone wall. His voice echoed in my head, and my heart started to beat in the regular rhythm it had lost when he was taken away. When I was with him, my lungs allowed me to breathe. I felt whole. I did not feel lost.

I felt . . . complete.

I closed my eyes, and it did not surprise me that my mind transported me back to the small cellblock in New Zion. I found it ironic really. I had spent my entire life yearning to be free. Yet I knew that the only time I had ever felt anything remotely close to freedom was in the captivity of those four stone walls, with that strong, safe hand wrapped in mine.

Mae cleared her throat, and I opened my eyes. I sat down on the chair she held out for me and almost broke as she leaned down and pressed a kiss to my head. She sat down, the four Cursed Sisters reunited in this wooden almost-paradise.

“This housing . . . ” I did not know how to explain the strangeness I felt that my sister lived in such a place.

Mae blushed, but I knew it was not in pride. She was embarrassed by this. I used to know my sister. I used to know each of these girls by heart—every expression, every soft-spoken word. Now, I stood on the outside, looking in on their newly found, and much-deserved, happiness.

“It is too much,” Mae said as I cast my eyes around her home. I knew by Maddie’s and Lilah’s faces that they must live in homes just as grand.

“Never be embarrassed for being free,” I said facing them again. I meant every word. “Freedom never comes without sacrifice. Be joyous in the reward. I am sure you deserve all of this.”

“Bella,” Lilah said. “What happened?” Her expression was pained. I immediately covered her hand with my own, the maternal role I had always adopted with Lilah pushing to the surface. “I came to you . . . when Mae had left. I came to sit with you at the punishment cell, even though you had passed.” She sucked in a breath. “But you were gone.” Her face contorted in pain. Maddie took Lilah’s other hand, and I knew then that Maddie had been there too. She had come to say goodbye too. “I thought they had disposed of your body already. But . . . but I was clearly wrong . . . you were alive and I never came to your aid.”

“You did not know. How were you to ever believe my heart was still beating?”

“Because I should have checked somehow,” Mae spoke up. “I should never have assumed you had passed. I should have somehow got into that cell and tried to save you.”

“You cannot . . . ” I whispered. “You cannot blame any of this on yourself.” Heat and anger flooded my chest when I remembered Brother Gabriel, when I remembered that night.

“Bella,” Maddie said softly, and I looked into her big green eyes.

“It was all him,” I said through gritted teeth, shaking my head as I tried to banish the memory of that final meeting from my mind. But I could not.

“Tell us,” Mae pleaded. So I closed my eyes. I closed my eyes and took myself back to the days I vowed I would never relive again. Because it hurt too much.

But I would do it for my sisters.

We were back together, and everything had to be explained . . .

*****

I blinked into the darkness of Brother Gabriel’s room. My body felt like a dead weight. My cheek throbbed and my head pounded so much that I felt it all the way to my skull.

I tried to shift my legs, but had to stifle a choked moan. The pain in my head was nothing to the agony between my legs. I inhaled through my nose as I endeavored to breathe through the pain.

It was no use, the agony was too great. I slowly brought my arm down to my bare thighs. I fought back nausea when I felt warm liquid on my skin, at the apex of my thighs—blood.

Tears rolled down my cheeks. The salt from the droplets stung my cut skin, but I let the tears fall. I was tired. I was so, so tired. And not just of the pain that Brother Gabriel had brought me over the past few weeks. But of it all.