A hand flashes into the frame, wielding something black. It moves too fast for me to make out what it is, but the resounding slap on Lily’s back, followed by her blood-curdling screams shakes my core.
Jax is a fucking dead man.
“She’s not saying goodbye . . . yet. You see, Lily has a choice to make, but I thought you all might like to be here for it.”
“What the fuck are you talking about, Jax?” Contempt and hatred ooze through Dresden’s words, his hand tightening on my shoulder.
“Oh, hello, Python. How’s that little cutie of yours? I hear you’re having a baby. Congrats.”
“Fuck you. Let Lily go or so help me, God, I’ll rip your throat out when I find you, and we will find you.”
“Well, how this plays out all depends on Lily. Fact is we could’ve blown that fucking safe house up the day you all arrived. We didn’t because, well, we don’t really want to kill you all. What we want is too . . . valuable to simply kill.”
“What do you want?” My voice shakes, Lily’s eyes boring into mine through the screen.
Her eyes shine, even through the video feed. They reach a place inside me no one else ever has, and I already know what Jax and the Taurus want. My breaths come quicker, my pulse picking up as a newfound fire and determination to rip Jax’s head off his shoulders hits me. I’ve never been a violent man, but come hell or high water, it’ll be me who makes this piece of shit draw his last breath.
“What I’ve always wanted. Her.”
“No. Lily isn’t yours anymore. She’s better than that, better than you.”
&nb
sp; “Well, sadly Mason, this isn’t a choice you get to make for her. You see, it’s simple. She can come back to me and do what she does best or she can refuse, and we’re going to kill you, her daughter, Shannon, and that little thing in her belly. Dresden, Vlad, Sammi, Rhett . . . everyone.”
More tears fall down Lily’s cheeks, and I can almost see the images swimming in her head just by the look in her eyes. Jax is feeding the darkness in her. Her worst fears being used against her. It’s her weakness. I’m her weakness. She was hard as stone until the day she met me. Part of me wishes she’d held on to that hard-ass mentality, but there was no chance of that with us. Once she let me in, it was over for her . . . and me.
She’s my weakness in the worst way and I’m hers. If we don’t find a way to end this shit with the Taurus, we’re both going to end up dead.
“Lily don’t listen to him, baby. Nothing is going to happen to us. Fuck him. Don’t give in to this.”
She’s shaking her head before the words are finished flowing, in panic, from my mouth.
“Blake . . . I told you before; I’ll do anything to keep you safe.”
Tears slip down my cheeks, anxiety, panic, pain, and emotions I’ve never felt before pump with my blood, taking over my senses. “No, baby. No. Don’t you do this to us. Fight. Come home.”
She turns her head, staring at Jax. The tech office is like a shrinking room. All our energies focused on the screen; the air sucked from the room as if a giant vacuum is attached to the ceiling. My chest burns. It hurts to breathe, to think.
“One condition, Jax.”
“Lily, damn it, don’t do this!” Dresden leans toward the screen.
She ignores him, not even glancing at the camera.
“Jax. Give me a month. Let me say goodbye. Let me have a little more time with them. Then I’ll come back. You’ll have me, I’ll make sure they stop hunting you, and you’ll stop hunting them. Win-win.”
Jax smiles a sinister, I-own-you grin, nodding. He pulls a knife from his belt and cuts the binds on Lily’s wrist. She drops to the ground, grunting as she catches herself on her hands and knees.
“A month, Lily. I’ll contact you. Don’t try and get stupid, I’ll know if you do.”
“You know I stick to my word, Jax.”
“Yes. Oh, and one more thing. Sammi, you still there?”
She steps in front of Dresden, her face hard and angered. “Yes.”
“Would you like to see your daughter?”