Chapter 119
JAXON
The car came to a halt at a safe distance, in the middle of nowhere. I furrowed my brows, looking through the windshield in confusion. I was propelled to believe that I had the wrong address but the GPS couldn’t be wrong.
“It’s the right place…” Duncan’s voice trailed off beside me and my frown deepened.
“Son of a bitch,” I mumbled under my breath.
“He just had to choose a less obvious hideout. Fucking coward.” I sneered and got out of the car, slamming the door shut. I looked over to where Duncan was standing.
“Get the guys on guard. I don’t trust that bastard,” I instructed. He nodded in response. “Yes, boss.”
The only sound akin to noise was the chirping of the birds in the distance, alongside the crunching sounds my boots made with the dry leaves as I weaved my way deeper into the woods. My vision and my hearing seemed more enhanced as I navigated my way forward. I wasn’t even giving myself any chance to be caught off guard.
Micah could be a fucking fool, but the bastard isn’t far from having a few tricks up his sleeve.
The old Victorian mansion came into view, deepening my grimace. It looked like a house straight out of an old horror movie. It was so creepy and left goosebumps sprouting all over my skin. I found myself wondering how the hell he found this place.
I was whipping out my Glock in no time, aiming it at the hefty guard at the entrance of the mansion, but my men were quicker because his body was falling to the floor with a loud thud in the blink of an eye.
My eyes darted around in scrutiny before I proceeded into the house, kicking his heavy body out of my way as I muttered incorrigibles under my breath.Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.
I kicked the door open, colliding right with a man I didn’t hesitate to shoot. The desolate living room was way too dark for me to make out anything. I wouldn’t have seen anything in sight if it weren’t for the rays of the moonlight that reflected in the room.
I fired a shot at the man on sight. I felt my body whipped into a strong grip from behind and I groaned, jabbing my elbow into his stomach. It earned a loud grunt from him and I put a bullet through his head, breathing heavily.
Two armed men emerged from a corner in the room but I was already aiming shots at them.
I got knocked off my feet from behind.
“Fuck!” I groaned.
My assaulter descended on me, kicking my gun out of my grip. I growled, headbutting him. I applied pressure on his neck, flipping us over. I rained punches on his face, rendering him weak, and then I knocked him out cold.
I rolled off him, picking up my gun.
The unceasing fire outside of the mansion signalled my men’s upper hand. Once I saw the living room was clear, I kicked the body out of my way, my face contorting in a deep frown.
“MICAH!” I yelled.
“Come on out, you fucking coward!” I spoke with undiluted venom.
“Oh, I am right here, you moron!” He spat and I spun around, aiming for his head, but I froze at the sight of Peach in his grip. He was holding her by her hair. Her eyes were filled with so many tears that streamed down her face, uncontrollably.
My heart clenched in pain, causing me to stagger backwards. The sight weakened me to the bones.
I knew he had me right where he wanted me, judging by the smirk on his face.
“What is it about this girl, huh? What?” His voice raised an octave higher, dripping with raw malice. He yanked at her hair and she screamed.
“Arden!” She cried.
“Shut up, you stupid bitch!”
“Stop hurting her!” Every ounce of confidence in my voice was completely depleted. My voice was reduced to a weak, croaky whisper.
“God, you are pathetic!” He growled.
“Just let her go, okay?!” My voice raised a notch.
“You are so blinded by your feelings for her that you don’t even realise how weak it makes you.” He sneered.
“Easy for you to say!” I bit at him.
“You are the one who took an innocent woman just to get back at a man like you. If that’s not weakness, then I don’t know what that is.” I told him, my voice void of any emotions.
That struck a nerve because his frown deepened.
“Your jealousy will be the end of you, you know?” His lips curved in a smirk, eliciting a deep frown from me.
“You claim to love her,” he paused, sparing her a disgusted glance. “Yet you don’t even trust her!” He bellowed.
He could tell by the expression on my face that I didn’t understand what he was saying. That made him scoff in annoyance.
“Did you even know how easy it was getting Adam to agree to come between you two after he came back to town?” He had a psychotic grin on his face, knocking my breath right out of me.
“What?” I whispered.
“You-”
“Shut up!” He fired at Peach when she tried to intercede.
“If you hadn’t been such a prick, you wouldn’t have pushed her right into harm’s way by leaving her all vulnerable!” He spat.
Fuck, what did I do?
“But it worked just fine for me because you played right into my arms,” he clicked his tongue in distaste, flushing Peach’s body against his. He pressed the barrel of the gun on her neck and a scream tore through her lips.
“Get your fucking hands off her!” I bellowed.
“One wrong move and she is gone, so I suggest you get on your fucking knees and do as I say!” He fired back at me, the harshness of his tone matching mine.
The bastard had me right where he wanted me. I gritted my teeth in annoyance and went on my knees. My jaw was locked tightly.
“Now, drop your fucking gun!” He ordered. I succumbed to his words, not holding back because I could lose everything but not her. I couldn’t lose her, so I complied.
He pranced forward, dragging her along. She looked so terrified. My heart broke with every tear that rolled down her cheek.
She didn’t ask for this. She shouldn’t have gotten entangled with the whole thing in the first place. I was the selfish asshole who wouldn’t let her go.
“Baby, I am right here, okay? I am here?” My voice softened as I fixed my eyes on hers alone, tuning out every other thing. Although she was scared shirtless, my words seemed to quell her uneasiness.
“Oh, for the love of God, keep your damn mouth shut!” He snapped, his eyes darkening in rage.
“Jaxon Gray, leader of the Vixen Mafia, how does it feel to have everything taken away from you? To be at the receiving end?” He asked with a derisive chuckle. He was enjoying this. He was enjoying it way too much and I hated it.
I wanted nothing more than to snap his fucking neck and put him through hell for hurting my girl.
“Screw you,” I said coldly. If gazes were murderous, Micah would have been six feet below the ground.
“Oh, you are the one who’s going to-” A loud gunshot went off and Micah let out an excruciating scream. His vulnerability at that moment made his hold on Peach grow lax and she fell to the ground with a loud thud.
Her safety had clouded everyone of my reasoning and I was bolting off where I knelt, running to where she lay on the floor, wincing in pain.
“Hey, hey, I have got you,” I whispered, helping her up.
She was wavering in her steps but I was able to hold her in place with my hands. Her relief didn’t last long because her eyes went wide with shock.
“Jaxon! Arden!” Two voices yelled all at once but it was hard to place because one minute, I was standing beside her and the next minute, I was sent flying to the other end of the room. She had pushed me with a strength I didn’t know she possessed, causing me to crash against the surface of the floor.
The moment I landed on the floor, multiple gunshots went off, immediately and everything went blurry all at once. I couldn’t make out anything anymore…
Every sound felt so distant.
All I could do was watch her body drop to the floor with a thud.
“Evaline!” I screamed.
I garnered all the strength I had left in me, dashing off to meet her body on the floor, where she was sprawled, groaning in pain.
I pulled her body to myself, shaking her frame vigorously. My eyes wandered around the room, uneven breaths eluding me. My eyes darted to Duncan’s bloodied frame by the door, clutching his arm tightly. He was losing a lot of blood.
His gun slipped off his bloodied hands and met the surface of the cold floor, alongside Micah’s dead body a few feet away from him.
“Ar–den,” Her strained voice diverted my attention to her body. The blood that gushed out of her upper chest was so much, soaking up her skin.
“Peach, look at me!” I screamed.
Her eyelids were getting heavier but she was trying to hold on to my arm as tightly as she could. Her hold on my hands got weaker and weaker.
“Someone, help!”
“Ar–den,”
“Don’t say anything, baby. Just focus on the sound of my voice.” I pleaded desperately in a quivering voice, applying pressure on her bleeding chest. I pulled my shirt over my head, stuffing the material against the affected area.
“I am here, don’t say anything…” My tears were obscuring my vision, making it really hard for me to see her.
“Sto–p–stop-” She coughed violently.
“I am going to get help, I promise,” I assured her, trying to be strong for the both of us, but the fact that Duncan’s body was lying a few feet away from me, disputed that fact.
He shot Micah, no doubt, and that took all the strength he had left, rendering him so weak.
“Is anyone there?” My desperate voice rang out in the room. My eyes wandered around the room, fervently, in search of anyone or anything that could help.
“Boss!” One of my men yelled, barging into the living room.
“Get a fucking ambulance!” I bellowed at him shakily.
But by the time I turned to Peach, I could only make out the last three words she said to me. “I–I–I loveyou,”
My whole world shattered right into pieces because her eyes snapped shut afterwards, eliciting an ear-splitting scream from me.