Crux Untamed (Hades Hangmen 6)

He hadn’t. Not completely.

“For years I’ve been waiting to wake up one day to you gone,” I said. Hush didn’t look at me. His eyes became lost as he stared unseeing at the sheets. “I always knew there was a part of you that’s closed off. Never dealt with . . .” I hated saying this, but . . . “your parents. How they died.” I looked him square in the eyes, until he had no choice but to return my gaze. “It wasn’t your fault, Val. The actions of those racist pricks could never be laid at your feet. Victims are never responsible for their own murders. It’s the evil fucks who ended them who are responsible.” I took his hand and fucking squeezed. “It’s time you forgave yourself. Because the way I see it, we got a real fucking good life ahead of us.” I smiled. “We just have to take it.”

Sia nestled closer to his side. “I don’t care what anyone thinks of us. Even my own brother. I want this . . . I want this so much it hurts.” She kissed his wounded ribs. “I need this . . . I never knew how much until we thought we’d lost you.” She lifted herself up on to her elbow. “Why does it matter what it looks like, or who it involves? If it’s love, we should grab it with both hands.” Her eyes lowered. “I have no parents. You’re alone too, Hush.” She kissed my fingers. “And you, Cowboy, are the light that chases away the deepest darkness within us when it begins to creep in.”

Hush was silent for so long, I thought he would argue. But then he looked at me. “I have to let this go,” he acknowledged, and I saw his face crumble. He ducked his head. “It’s suffocating. I can’t . . . I can’t breathe with it weighing so heavily on me.” When he looked up again, I knew what he wanted.

He needed revenge on those sick fucks that took away his family.

I nodded. He knew I was gonna be right by his side.

We lay back down in silence, until there was a knock at the door. I opened it to find Crow. He came into the room, and Sia got up from the bed. “I’m gonna take a bath,” she said.

“You tell him?” Crow asked Hush. Hush shook his head and then told me about Crow’s suspicions regarding Titus.

“Whatever you need,” I said to Crow. “Whatever it takes to bring that cunt to justice.”

Crow slapped me on the back. “So? When are you paying good ole Granddaddy a visit?”

I looked to Hush. He shuffled off the bed. I could see the anger and determination settling on his face. “Tonight,” Hush said. I nodded. “Then we get the others.”

Crow shook his head. “Nah, brother. I got them.” A spark lit in his eyes that only he ever carried. Never knew someone who got such a fucking buzz from killing as Crow . . . except maybe Flame. Those two together would be like something from a fucking slasher movie.

“They’re mine to take care of,” Hush argued.

“You get the puppet master. Leave his puppets to me,” Crow said. Hush shook his head. “We’re family, Hush.” Hush’s eyes widened and his lips parted. I don’t think in all the years we’d been with the Hangmen, he’d ever let himself truly feel like they were our family. Titus’s shit hadn’t helped. And now Ky was threatening our patches over Sia. But even though all that was a ball-ache, the Hangmen were our family. Hush hadn’t ever been alone. I’d always been there, but more, so had his brothers . . . brothers he had never let in.

It was time for him to start.

“You go on a murder spree and you risk getting caught.” Crow held up his cell. “I got reinforcements coming. You get Granddaddy. We’ll clean up.” He smiled the most fucked-up smile I’d ever seen. “Then Hades’ dice and me, we’ll go have us some fun . . .”

“Okay,” Hush agreed finally. I saw something, some never-before-seen expression, settle over his face. Acceptance. And maybe a bit of relief.

Crow got to his feet. “I’ll be waiting for your call.” He left the motel room, and Sia came out of the bathroom. Worry was written across her face. I knew she’d been listening.

“We need to go out for a while,” I stated. Sia nodded. Hush got off the bed and kissed Sia on the mouth. He threw on his cut, then I walked to Sia. Her eyes were pleading us to come back safe. “We’ll be back soon, cher,” I assured her and kissed her lips.

I opened the door, Hush following behind, when he stopped suddenly and turned to Sia. “I’m called Hush not because I’m quiet, but because I was a ‘hush’ baby. Nobody wanted me.” He smiled, but it was strained. “Except my parents. The rest of my family refused to acknowledge my very existence.”

Sia stayed rooted to the spot, but her eyes shone. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you for letting me in.” Hush sighed, and I saw another brick from his high walls fall down to earth.

As we got in Crow’s truck, I knew that after tonight an entire section of wall would turn into rubble. Hush blew out a breath and then nodded. Taking that as my signal, I pulled out of the motel parking lot and headed for the Moreaus’.

Granddaddy Moreau had an appointment to keep with Hades.

*****

The gate to the grand estate was open as we killed the lights and slowly made our way down the road to the mansion. I kept my eyes peeled for groundsmen, security, whoever the fuck else they might have hired. But there was nothing. I could see Hush looking for the same thing. The brother kept checking his Glock and the knife in his boot, waiting for someone to come at us. Question us. Anything.

When we tucked the truck under the cover of some trees, the place seemingly a ghost town, I uttered a one-word explanation: “Crow.” Hush nodded, staring at the big white mansion. He blew out a breath. “You good?” I asked.

“She grew up here.” Hush pointed to the house. He shook his head. “How could she have been happy at our shack of a home?”

“Because she had you and your papa.” I looked at the white columns and wraparound porch. “I knew your granddaddy,” I said. I remembered the many dinners at this place. The stuffy attitudes, the racist talk . . . and how his grandmother was always silent. Hush had more in common with her than he might have known.

“You ready?” I asked, conscious about being here too long. Crow could only keep people away for so long. One call to the police and they’d be crawling all over this place in seconds. Hush’s opening of the truck door was all the answer I needed. He was limping, leaning to the side due to the pain from his ribs. But there was steely determination in his eyes. Hell, with the fire looking back at me, he could have passed for Hades himself.

I walked next to Hush as we climbed the steps and burst through the front door. The minute we walked through there, we weren’t Hush and Cowboy, we were Aubin and Valan, here to do what should have been done years ago.

The house looked like a museum as we walked through the hallways. Until we rounded the corner to the library . . . and found old Mr. Moreau sitting behind his desk. He looked startled when we filled up the doorway, standing side by side. His eyes widened. He tried to press something under his desk—an alarm maybe? But no sound came.

I had a fucking lot to thank Crow for.

I smiled and stepped

forward. Hush was frozen to the spot. “Mr. Moreau.” I sat on the chair opposite him and kicked my feet up on the desk. “You remember me?”

He stared at me awhile, then his mouth dropped open. “Aubin Breaux?”

I tipped the front of my Stetson. “At your service.”

Then his eyes slammed to Hush, standing tall behind me. The old man swallowed. “And I’m the abomination,” Hush said coldly. He strutted forward to stand by my side.

I kept my eyes on Moreau’s hand, just in case he tried to go for his gun. As expected, his hand disappeared underneath the desk. I pulled out my gun and aimed it right at the fucker’s head. “Hands where I can see them, prick.” When he didn’t do as I demanded, I clicked off the safety. His hands flattened on the desk in an instant. “Val?” I called, giving Hush the floor.

Hush didn’t waste time. Just got right to the fucking point. “You ordered the death of my papa and me from your Klan friends.” Moreau paled, but the bastard kept his head high. He didn’t speak. He couldn’t deny it. “But you killed her instead. Killed them both for being in love.”

Moreau cracked, his jaw tensing. “She brought shame upon this family,” he hissed. “Never, in three hundred years, had this family been polluted, then she brings home him.” The look Moreau gave Hush was laced with disgust. “And then they had you.” He laughed. “She wasn’t even biologically mine, but she was the perfect Aryan and carried my name. She was ruined by that man you call a father.” He sat back in his seat. “You were meant to be there, not her. I wanted her away from your father’s influence, from you.” He shrugged. “But in hindsight, I realize it wouldn’t have helped.” A cold fucking glint of victory flared in his eyes. “I now count it as a happy mistake that she died too. The shame on the Moreau name died with her.”

One second his lips were moving. The next, a gunshot sounded and a bullet raced between his eyes. I swung my feet back to the floor as blood pooled along the desk. When I stood, Hush was staring down at his dead granddaddy. He let out a quick breath, then looked at me. His eyes were wide. I was about to speak when I heard a gasp from the doorway.