Rebellion of a Kingdom by G.N. Wright
Chapter 5
ELLE
Before Cassie, I would have said that the only person I truly lived for was my River. He and I have a long and complicated history, but one thing has always been a constant with him, he’s always had my heart. I fell in love with Marcus Riviera before I even knew what love was. We went from children to teens and our relationship, although changing, was still a very permanent thing in my life. A bond like that would always be hard to break. It wasn’t the bond that was broken, though. It was me. Broken beyond repair until I met my daughter.
Marcus' words almost work on me, they almost bring me back from the ledge I know I have to jump off. Almost. But even him, even his love, is not enough. I know what I have to do, and that is fucking anything. Whatever it takes to get my daughter back with me. If everything fails and I have to marry the fucking Devil just to do it, well, I’ll book the fucking minister myself.
When I reach the main part of the house again, I follow the voices until I find them. Max Foster is standing around the large table in Zack’s office with five of his guys, Elijah, Mason, Liam, Oliver, and Tyler. All of them I know and recognize from training with Max.
He runs a large operation, but these are some of his most trusted. Asher is standing directly between Max and Elijah barely holding himself up and still covered in blood. Jace and Lincoln are standing off to the side slightly. Their shoulders are almost touching as they hunch together against the wall, laser focused on the new guys in the room.
They all stop speaking when I enter and every eye hits me as I feel Marcus and Logan come up behind me. I ignore them all apart from Max. He is 6ft 3 with brown hair and blue eyes, built like a fucking linebacker, and covered in tattoos. He is wearing his usual fitted black t-shirt, combat pants and black boots like the rest of his guys. The only color is the embroidered logo that sits over his left pec with the words ‘Infinite Security’ underneath it.
Max storms around the table and I feel Marcus step even closer to me, but that doesn’t faze Max at all, he doesn’t even spare him a glance as he launches towards me. I catch his fist before it can connect with my face, twisting his arm and forcing his upper body away from me in one of the first moves he ever taught me. I bring the arm behind his back and grab the knife strapped to his belt and bring it around to his throat. I use my feet to swipe his ankles, so he falls forward to his knees. It only works because he expected it and allows it, but still, I appreciate the sentiment behind it. I hear a scuffle behind me as Marcus no doubt tries to intervene. His men chuckle at the performance as I remove the knife and release his arm.
He stands, turning back to me with a big smile on his face as he ruffles the hair on my head. “Good to know my little warrior is still in there.” I just about return his smile before he engulfs me into a bear hug, just like he used to at the end of our training sessions. Only this time we aren’t playing at winning the battle, we are already knee deep in the fucking trenches of war and our opponent has the winning hand.
He pulls back and takes me in from head to toe before flicking his gaze over my shoulder to Marcus and Logan, before coming back to me. “Come on, let’s all get caught up and make a plan.”
I can’t do anything but nod and follow him back over to the table. All the guys give me a nod hello with grim smiles as they gently give my shoulder a squeeze in greeting. I love these guys, aside from Cassie and my family, these guys are the ones who brought me back from the pits of despair and taught me how to fight. Not just physically, but mentally too. They repaired a part of me that I thought would be broken forever. None of the other guys in this room will ever understand the relationship that I have with Max and his team.
Max clears his throat before starting again. “I’ve got Zack on the way to a medical facility over in Lockstown. Arthur is with him, along with Alex and Seb. They will alert me when they arrive and are secured. I’ve also sent Owen and Josh to pick up Lils and they will bring her back here so they can grab Helen and move them to the safe house. They will be secured with them as well as Harry and Landon.” I feel slight relief knowing Zack will be getting the proper medical attention he needs, but until Helen and Lily get to the safe house, I know I won’t settle. Max knows that too, so he continues on.
“Us.” He gestures to him and his guys. “Are yours for whatever you need, and I’ve got two other teams on standby if you need them.” I stare at them all wordlessly. I don’t know what to tell them because the compass of my life is gone and without her, I’m nothing but a lost wanderer. How can I guide them on the path of war when I’ve lost my own way?
When my silence lingers in the air Elijah speaks. “Ash was just giving us the rundown of the Donovan and friends security situation.” He and Liam are making notes on the table in front of us. I see pictures of the Donovan estate, but I don’t look at them, I don’t need to. I could navigate round every inch of that house with my eyes closed. It’s the first place I should have gone when I came back to this shitty town. I should have just gone in the front door and slaughtered every one of them and then left without looking back. If I did that I wouldn’t be here. If I did that, Elliot and Greg Donovan would be dead. If I did that, I would still have my daughter.
I don’t want to stand here and make fucking plans and look at fucking pictures. I want to tear their fucking limbs from their bodies and bathe in their blood. Every single one of them; Greg, Elliot, their fucking guards. I want them all bleeding at my feet.
I can hear Max asking questions, his guys coming up with ideas and even the Rebels chiming in here and there, but I ignore it all. I already know what I need to do. It’s what I should have done from the start. I thought having my family, Ash and the Rebels was a good thing. I thought the more people I had on my side, the more I stood a chance at getting what I want. But with more people comes more attention. I teamed up with the most well-known guys on the South Side and thought I could still hide in the shadows. I may as well have dropped Cassie off at the Donovan estate myself with a white fucking flag in my hand.
Someone has been back to my revenge room and brought all the files up here so they can all go through them. I don’t even bother giving them any focus, I could recite them all in my sleep. It’s all stuff I’ve been over countless times. I don’t need it, what I need is to kill.
“Okay, what we all need to do now is try to get some rest.” Max starts looking pointedly at me before turning to Ash. “Get cleaned up.” Then to the rest of the guys. “Fuel up and prepare for the next couple of days. They are gonna be hard. War always is, but we got this.”
They gather everything up and start to filter out of the room, but I linger behind. “We’ll catch you guys up.” I grip Max’s arm to halt him in leaving and I can feel Marcus’ stare, but I can’t look at him. If he looks me in the eyes, he'll see the lies within burning brightly.
I wait until the room is empty and then I move to close the door and turn around leaning on it before I speak. “I need your help.”