Fire Night (Devil's Night 4.5)

Kai pushed off the ground and turned his attention to Ilia, grabbing the guy’s collar. “You son of a bitch,” he growled. “You put your hands on my child.”

But Ilia wheezed as he breathed, and Kai hesitated, letting his eyes fall down Ilia’s form.

He released him and ripped open his jacket. Blood coated his black shirt, his blond hair sweaty and matted.

We all stilled.

Kai yanked open his shirt, and I spotted the small holes and the blood spilling out of them. The color was draining from Ilia’s face as he started to fade out. He had minutes.

“His lungs are punctured,” Kai said, turning to look at us. “What the hell happened?”

And then to Madden. “Mads? What happened?”

Kai knew what had happened. We all knew. And Mads wasn’t going to answer what was already obvious.

“She’s cold,” was all he said.

“Octavia,” Damon said, trying again to pull her away.

Finally, she looked up at him. “Daddy.”

She reached for him, and he pulled her into his arms, hugging her tight. “You okay?” he asked. “Did they hurt you?”

She shook her head, her braids and all the jewelry she had in her hair glinting in the moonlight.

She reached over his shoulder, into the night. “Pithom,” she said, pointing to the yacht that was fading more and more into the horizon.

The waves kicked up, splashing us with spray, and I blinked against the snow, seeing that the sea was starting to get choppy.

“We’ll get it,” he assured her.

“It’s getting farther away,” she whined.

He climbed back onto our boat with her and put her in her mother’s lap. “Don’t worry.”

Emmy and Will climbed back on our vessel with Rika, and I sat down in the seat next to Ilia, firing up the engine again.

“Call an ambulance,” I yelled over to my wife.

She nodded.

Not sure how much good it would do. I should just dump the motherfucker overboard right now.

But I wouldn’t deny Kai or Damon that pleasure. If the doctors saved him, we’d discharge him to the twelfth floor as soon as he was ready.

Punctured lungs. An eye torn out of its socket. A dead body at St. Killian’s. I looked back at Mads, Kai desperate to see his son scared or need him, but…

Kai just held his son’s face, wiping off the blood and trying to make eye contact.

“We’re okay,” was all he said, though.

Kai just stared up at him, no doubt thankful the kids were safe, but still uneasy.

“Let’s just get them back to town,” Banks told her husband. “They’re freezing.”

“I’ll follow,” I told them.

Kai led Mads onto the other boat with Banks, and I let them peel out of here before I immediately followed.

Ilia’s head hung, bobbing with the bounce of the boat, and despite the cold air rushing at me, sweat dampened my skin.

We’d found them.

And Winter’s words came back, winding their way through my head.

Our life creates enemies.

We chose this. The kids didn’t.

What were our options? Separate as a family? Stop building? Go our separate ways?

The kids were in danger, but the kids also wouldn’t want that. They all adored each other.

We threatened others, but we didn’t ask for this. Others’ behavior might end up being our problem…but not our responsibility.

We deserved what we had, and I wasn’t fucking teaching Athos—or my son—that they didn’t deserve exactly what they wanted. The last thing I would teach my kids was to cower, hide, or run.

We docked the boats, the ambulance already waiting to load Ilia onto a gurney.

But I was pretty sure he was already dead.

Or would be soon enough.

Emmy talked to the police, and I wasn’t sure what story she was feeding them, but they knew we weren’t going anywhere. We’d be here if they had questions tomorrow.

“Can we still open presents?” Octavia chirped, her usual cheerful voice back.

“Yeah,” Damon laughed, hugging her to him again.

He put her in the car, Mads and Winter climbing in after her, but Kai hung back, running his hand through his hair.

As usual, he worried about everything, and I knew what he was worried about.

I was worried too, but I knew what was going through his head was far bigger than the doubts in mine.

I headed over to him, Will and Damon joining us.

“Jesus Christ,” Kai murmured, needing to clear his head before he got in the car.

“We don’t know anything,” I reminded him.

He always got worked up before he knew he had something to worry about.

“‘That kid’s crazy,’” he said.

I studied him. “What?”

“That’s what Dinescu said when his eyeball was hanging out of his head.” He stared straight ahead. “‘That kid’s crazy.’ You think Madden killed that guy at the house too?”

Will and Damon remained silent, and I knew what everyone was thinking. It freaked us out, but were we upset he did it?

“I think he’s the reason they failed tonight,” I told Kai, keeping my voice low. “Don’t do this. I don’t give a damn what happened to those pieces of shit. And neither should you.”