The Devastation You Reap by Tracy Lorraine
Leon
My fists curl as I watch Macie disappear into her dorm building after giving me a girly wave. My short nails dig into my palms giving me just a hint of the pain I need.
She's… not what I was expecting.
I'd made her out in my head over the years to be this confident, evil, gives zero fucks redhead and yet meeting her I discover that she's this shy, slightly sarcastic yet totally endearing young woman.
Stretching my legs out, I pull on my pants, giving my semi some fucking breathing space.
Kissing her. Fuck. It's addictive.
It shows me just how innocent she is and fuck if that doesn't make me hard as fucking nails.
For years I've imagined how I would get revenge for what she did to me. I've come up with a million and one creative ways to make her pay. Never did I even contemplate that it would actually be this easy.
I mean, a few fairy lights and a picnic by a lake and her well built up walls are already beginning to crumble around her feet.
I'd be naïve to think it's going to be that easy though.
I haven’t missed the way she dodges any kind of conversation about her past, her family, or the blatant lies she told me about her life before MKU. It's going to take more than half a glass of champagne and a romantic date to get the information I need out of her. I also know that I'm not giving her until Friday to realize that she made a massive mistake by letting me get close tonight.
Macie has no idea, but I'm not letting her forget about me for even a second because one way or another, everything I've dreamed about since I was eleven years old, is going to happen.
My mouth waters. The devastation I need to reap is almost in touching distance, and I can't fucking wait.
Running my hand through my hair, I shift in my seat once more and throw the car into drive to head back across town because my night so far has been way too sweet and romantic for my taste. I need to remember just who I am and what my MO is here.
Pain, and vengeance.
I repeat the journey back through town until I cross the border out of Maddison County toward Harrow Creek.
The warehouse where the Harris brothers took Brett is in the middle of nowhere. I never would have known it existed if they didn't take me there, and I'm sure the rest of the locals have no idea it exists either. It's perfect for the Hawks to do their business though.
I find myself on a second dirt road for the day as I head around the back and park under the cover of the trees just like Reid and Devin instructed before I grab the key from the glovebox along with a pair of gloves.
My blood burns hot through my veins with my need to hurt someone. I might be okay with a little delayed gratification but now that I have Macie in my grasp, my patience is waning.
The rattle of the metal door echoes through the silent space as I unhook the padlock and throw it to the ground, letting myself into the cold and damp warehouse.
I have no clue what's behind the other doors in the vast building. Other prisoners? Guns? Drugs?
I figured the first time I was here with the Harrises that it was probably for the best I don't even ask. I can't help being curious though as I pass each door and head toward our beloved father.
"H-hello?" he rasps the second I step inside and slam the door behind me.
The room smells like piss, I guess that should come as no surprise really seeing as he's shut in one tiny room with absolutely zero facilities.
Reid and Devin promised me that they'd… keep him alive for me. I want to say I'm grateful, but I'm not entirely sure that I am.
"S-son?" Brett asks, looking up at me from the other side of the room when I locate the switch and illuminated the space with a harsh electric light.
The room itself is all gray, concrete and incredibly cold.
Brett is huddled in the corner with a dirty blanket over his shivering body, a chain attached to both his legs to stop him from moving more than a few feet.
The sight of him settles something inside me. That dark monster that began to grow the second he sent me to hell all those years ago.
"I'm not your son," I spit, lowering myself into the chair that's well out of his reach. Leaning forward, I rest my elbows on my knees and keep my eyes on his.
This is the first time I've been here and he's been awake.
I have no idea what they gave him Friday night to knock him out, but it was good stuff. Last night when I came, he was still out cold.
As far as I know, this is his first sign that his own flesh and blood has anything to do with his current situation.
"P-please. Get me out of here. I have no idea who they are but… but they're savage."
A laugh bubbles up my throat at his words.
"Why do you think you're here? Do you think they give two shits about you?"
"I-I don't—"
"If it were up to them, you'd already be dead and in the ground, you sick fuck."
"W-wha—"
"Don't," I boom, my voice echoing off the walls around me. "Don't try and play the innocent card with me. I know the monster you are. I know the evil that flows through your veins. Do you know how?"
He swallows, holding my eyes but he never responds.
"Because it runs through mine too. Your need to ruin everyone's lives? Yeah, I seem to have inherited it. And do you know who I'm starting with?"
I'd imagine that if he weren't already pale as fuck, that the blood might have just drained from his face, but as it is, I just have to imagine that reaction.
"The sick cunt who thought it would be a good idea to go after a minor in order to ruin the best thing in his son's life. The monster who got that minor pregnant. Drove her to a life of addiction which meant she couldn't be a mother. And the same woman who just OD'd because she can't cope with her reality. A reality that a certain fucking joke of a man caused."
"W-what are you talking—"
"I said don't," I seethe, pissed off beyond belief that even now, when he's utterly helpless, that he just can't admit the truth. "We know everything, Dad," I spit. "I've even met my little brother."
"No," he cries, pushing to sit upright but not having the strength in his arms to do it.
Seeing him so weak, so useless fills me with so much fucking joy after all the years of control and bullshit.
"Yes."
"And do you know what else?" I ask, although I don't wait for a response. "I found… her."
His brows pull together as he tries to keep up with me.
"Her?" he whispers, his voice hoarse from lack of liquid.
"Macie Fletcher. You remember her, right? You remember what I told you she saw?"
He shakes his head.
"She's going to lead me right to him."
"Leon, please—"
"No," I shout, standing abruptly, sending the chair crashing to the ground behind me.
"Too late, old man. The time has long passed for you to tell me that it's okay. That it’s normal. That I just need to be a fucking man. He might have been the one to hurt me, but you let it happen. I told you. I fucking told you," I seethe, marching over to him, spittle flying from my mouth. "I told you everything and you brushed it under the carpet just like you always do because the only fucking thing that matters to you is our success so that you look good. Who gives a fuck if your sons are falling apart beneath it, huh?"
Before I know what I'm doing, my shoe connects with his ribs and a painful crack fills the room before he screams in pain.
With a satisfied smile playing on my lips, I bend down to my haunches.
"All you did, old man, is create a monster who's as sick and twisted as you. And while you've tried to ruin our lives, you've failed because I'll be the one to put an end to all of it.
"You," I spit. "Macie. Him. And I'm going to enjoy every fucking second of it."
"Leon, no. Please," he cries as I march from the room, knowing that if I stay any longer, that I'll end up killing him.
If I wanted that to happen, I'd have let Reid and Devin do it on Friday night.
No, death is too easy. Too fast. He's made us suffer for twenty-one fucking years. This isn't going to be quick.
The slam of the door echoes around the space for long seconds as I talk myself down from going back in there.
"Fuck. FUCK," I shout, slamming my palms down on the wall in front of me when I realize that the only thing that distracts me from walking straight back in there is her.
Her and her innocent eyes and sweet smile.
"FUCK," I boom. My fists clench and my muscles tighten to throw a punch, but I know I can't. Busted knuckles will invite questions I can't give her the answers to.
I force myself to think back to that day. The day she looked into my eyes, saw what was happening, turned her back and left me there. Left me in the hands of a monster.
She could have saved me. But she didn't.
So now, I need to remember that I have no reason to save her.
* * *
"Where have you been?" Peyton asks the second I get to the top floor of the house.
"Out, obviously."
She rolls her eyes at me but doesn't get to respond because the door opens and Luca appears.
"Ah, you remember where you live."
"Fuck off."
"Come on, baby," he whispers to Peyton, nuzzling her neck.
The move sends a wave of jealousy through me. What I said to Macie earlier was true. I want what Luca and Peyton, and Letty and Kane have. Although I'm aware that I'll probably never have it. If I let anyone too close, they'll run a mile, and if by some miracle they don't, then I have no doubt that I'll fuck it up one way or another. Self-sabotage is my specialty, so the second things are looking like they might just go well, I'll do something stupid and ruin it all in the process.
"Just give me a minute," she says, dropping a kiss on his cheek and pressing a hand to his chest to make him go back inside.
"I don't need the speech, Peyton," I say, predicting the words that are about to fall from her lips.
"Who's the girl?"
My brows draw together.
"The girl you went out with tonight."
"H-how do you… No one."
"That's bullshit and you know it. She's the reason you were asking me about my picnic date with Luca on the weekend, wasn't she?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," I lie.
"Leon," she breathes, sounding exasperated. "Letty knows too."
"Fucking Micah," I mumble.
"You can't blame him, he was pissed. He wanted to ask her out."
"He's a little bitch. She can do better."
Peyton rears back in shock.
"Oh? I thought she was no one."
"She is. Fuck. I…"
"Talk to me, Lee."
"She is no one. A redhead I want to roll around in the sack with."
I take a step back toward my room—my escape.
"You're lying."
"And? Stay out of my business, Peyton."
"We will find out what you're hiding, Lee."
"Whatever." I slip into my room and lock my door behind me.
They're not going to find out because not only do none of them deserve to be tangled up in this mess with Brett, but learning the truth would kill them. And I refuse to do it to them when they've already been through so much because of that cunt.
Falling down onto my bed, I blow out a long breath and push my hand into my pocket, pulling out Macie's cell.
Ignoring the guilt that threatens knowing that I stole it from her jacket pocket before she got out of my car, I wake it up and stare at the quote that covers her home screen.
Don't tell people your dreams. Show them.
I think over her words for the longest time, wondering what her dreams are. Wondering who she really is.
Unsurprisingly, when I eventually try to unlock the cell, the passcode pops up.
I tap my finger against the side as I attempt to predict what she might use.
Something tells me that it won't be random. Her room was nothing if not organized, everything in its rightful place.
I try a few combinations but eventually get locked out.
"Dammit."
Placing it on my nightstand, I head for the shower, combinations of numbers running through my head.
Thanks to Ellis, I've got all of Macie's MKU enrollment details. If I can't find something in there to get me into her cell then I guess, I'll be visiting the Harrises again to get him to hack into it.
