Jagger (Broken Doll 2)

My sweet Miri was close to hyperventilating. Worried, I grabbed hold and crushed her to my chest, murmuring softly as I stroked her hair. “It will be okay, doll. I have to do this, you know that.”

“No,” she wailed, her tiny hands clutching my shirt and balling it up in her fists.

I rubbed her back and buried my nose in her fiery hair. “I can’t take a chance that he’ll find us. Find you. I need to end this so we can live without looking over our shoulders.”

Miri trembled in my arms, her sobs muffled by my chest. It felt as if my heart were being ripped right out of my chest and stomped beneath someone’s boot until all that was left was a bloody stain on the ground.

“I’m sorry, doll.” I gently untangled her fingers from my shirt and stood. Miri screamed and tried to throw herself back onto me. I felt sick as I ordered George to hold her back. Watching his arms wind around her waist as she wailed nearly broke me. I turned my gaze to George. “I’m trusting you to follow my instructions to the letter.” He nodded and I knew I could trust him with my most precious possession. My Miri. My doll. My life.

Cat watched from behind Miri, tears running down her face for her friend. Before I did something stupid, like gather Miri in my arms and lock us in the bedroom forever, I snagged my duffel, threw it over my shoulder, and strode out the door. Frank was waiting with the car while Sammy packed his gear in the trunk and climbed in the backseat. I leapt in the front passenger seat and growled. “Get out of here, now.” I needed to put distance between Miri and me or else I’d break down and run back into the house, sweep her into my arms, and never let go.

“Got it, Boss.” Frank put the car in gear and drove to the main road. The further we got from Austin, the emptier I felt. Then I remembered why I was doing this and my hollow heart hardened.

I would not fail Miri like I failed Rose.

The empty space in my chest filled with fire, crackling and hissing as I allowed the flames to devour Jag, leaving Boss standing amongst the ashes to rise like a phoenix when the inferno burned itself out.

My fingers curled and my muscles tensed. I was going to finish this or die trying. When I was with Miri, I could be Jag, but only Boss could make sure she was safe. And I was going to make damn sure Miri was safe.

* * *

I jerked awake when Frank turned off the car.

“We’re here, Boss.”

“Fuck.” I cracked my neck, sore from falling asleep at a strange angle against the window. Outside was dark and I could barely make out the shape of the small house in front of us. “Let’s go.”

Frank pushed open his door and I did the same, climbing down and stretching my limbs, muscles cramped after a few hours on the road. The route was less than four hours, so Frank drove the entire distance to Laredo, a small town on the Mexican border, while I slept. He popped the trunk and Sammy grabbed the boxes and bags of equipment he needed to get the house ready for El Cuchillo.

“Sure this is gonna work, Sammy?” Frank asked as he sliced open a box and removed several bundles of tightly wound cable.

“I have it on good authority that Cuchillo has family right over the river from here, and that he is hell-bent on killing Boss, so yeah, it’ll work.” I wished I felt the confidence my tech genius seemed to have, but I had no fucking clue if Cuchillo would show up. For all I knew, the asshole was halfway to South America. “We hacked all his bank accounts using the information found in the house and transferred all his money. He’s broke, he lost his territory when he abandoned it and we took out all his men, plus he lost all of his power.” Sammy glared at Frank as I opened another box filled with small black devices. “What would you do?”

Frank stared at Sammy, contemplating the man’s question. “I’d be beyond furious. Murderous. And this idiot? After trying to kill Boss and Miri more than once,” Frank turned to me. “At your own home? That asshole doesn’t think with his head. You’re right. He’ll come,” Frank agreed.

“Good,” I said, done with talking. “Let’s get all this shit in place and ready so we can tell George to start the rumors of my whereabouts. Then, we wait.”

It took half the night and most of the next day before we had the entire system set up in and around the tiny house. Frank and I took turns sleeping while Sammy did the bulk of the work. The two of us acted as his assistants, attaching wires and placing sensors in the yard while he organized the control panel at the table in the shabby little kitchen.

I woke from a nap around dinnertime and ran both hands through my hair. The amount of stress from being separated from Miri was killing me. Knowing how hurt she was when I left, the look of despair in her eyes. Goddamn, it just about had me saying “fuck it,” driving all the way back to Austin, throwing her over my shoulder, and disappearing, just the two of us on a private island somewhere we would never be found. But that was the problem—Cuchillo would eventually find us. Men like him never stopped. His massive ego was flattened beneath my boot, the public humiliation too much for him to take without extracting his revenge. I had to make this right.

For me.

For Rose.

For my broken doll.

I unplugged my phone from the nightstand and saw a dozen missed calls and another dozen text messages, all from Miri. My chest constricted at the thought of her crying herself to sleep, desperate to talk some sense into me. I would know. I was in the exact same position while she was with that bastard El Cuchillo. The memory of what he did to my precious doll burned in my gut. He violated her in the worst ways possible, and I wouldn’t stop until he was dead. I turned off my phone and threw it back on the nightstand. Nothing would distract me from finishing this, not Miri, not anything.

Frank was in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee. I poured one for myself and sat at the table next to him. “Sammy asleep?” I asked.

“Yeah. He completed the setup about an hour ago so I told him to get some shut-eye.” Frank’s dark eyes met mine. “I figured you were going to get the ball running as soon as possible so he should sleep while he could.”

“You’re right,” I said, sipping the hot beverage slowly. “Text George and tell him it’s a go.”

Frank slipped his phone out of his pocket and tapped out a quick message. A second later it chimed. “He’s on it, Boss.?

??