Montana Falls (Red Diamonds #5)

Chapter Twenty Three

T he moon hung low over the docks, casting jagged streaks of silver across the water that I watched through my bedroom window purely out of boredom. It was too quiet out there, too still for what I was feeling inside. Even the rats and the dead had stopped bothering me, content to let me wallow in my bullshit mood.

Assholes. The lot of them.

Every breath I took scraped against my ribs, the painkillers I’d been swallowing all day not doing enough to take the more than the edge off the pain. I wanted a whiskey. A bottle of it. Or a bullet in my head. Either would work to stop the dull throbbing of my injuries and the stupid thoughts inside my head.

I’d protected Ruby. Of all the strange things I’d done in my life, that had been the oddest. A cabin exploding was strange – not so much, when you considered it was definitely an O’Malley owned place and they were fond of their bombs – but me playing hero? Unfathomable.

I’d done it though. I’d tackled her to the ground, shielded her with my body.

I’d bled for her…

I was clearly broken. There was no other explanation.

I swallowed a groan as I shifted in bed, the ache in my side spreading like wildfire. Each movement sent a fresh wave of pain slicing through my body, but it wasn’t the kind of pain that concerned me. I could handle physical pain. I’d been handling it my whole life.

It was the helplessness that was clawing at me.

Silver sheets tangled around me, slick against my skin as I lay in my too-large bed, alternating between staring at the ceiling and the water outside, wondering how the hell I’d ended up like this. Weak. Trapped. Useless. Unable to go to Sapphire’s engagement party, even if it was sort of just for a trap.

I wanted to be there. For safety, sure. But also because she was engaged, and I wanted to celebrate.

I wanted to make sure she knew I was happy that she was happy and that if any of those boys broke her heart, I’d gut them so fast they didn’t even have time to beg me to spare their life.

I clenched my teeth so hard I could hear my molars grind together. I was lying here like some broken-down bastard, licking my wounds, but I should’ve been there. I should’ve been standing next to her, making sure everything went smoothly.

Making sure she was safe.

I dragged a hand over my face, my fingers brushing the stubble that had grown in too thick since I hadn’t shaved in days. The apartment was too quiet. Too still. Usually, that’s how I liked it. Neat, clean, organized. I didn’t do chaos, not unless it was on my terms.

Now I could barely walk without moaning and having everything inside me protest.

Rika and Aiden were out. Rika had gone to the party. Aiden had gone to the store to buy me some snacks to ‘stop me from sulking’ and he’d probably come back soon, with bags of sweet treats and bullshit, to try and keep me entertained. As if I needed anything other than a bottle of whiskey and a pack of smokes. But without him here, or Rika’s incessant talking, it was silent.

But the apartment wasn’t empty.

Ruby was still here.

The thought of her, just a few rooms away, watching movies on my couch, gnawed at me in ways I wasn’t proud of. She was Aiden’s girl. Sweet when she wanted to be, I guessed, but mostly a pain in my ass.

She wasn’t mine. I wasn’t supposed to want her, and I sure as hell wasn’t supposed to care. She was a woman, and I didn’t allow myself to like them.

But I did .

I fucking liked her. Wanted her near me. I almost called out to her, even to pretend to need something, just so she would sit near me and talk.

That thoughts I had about her burned hotter than the pain in my side. It made me restless. I turned my head, staring at the vase of roses on the bedside table. Ruby had brought those in earlier. Said they’d brighten up the place. I told her that she was an idiot and flowers didn’t do shit, but she’d laughed. Laughed and told me to shut up being grumpy, like I wasn’t the kind of man who could break bones for a living.

Laughed like she could see into my brain, and knew that I was bullshitting. I did like the flowers. I appreciated the gesture and the sight of them…

I shifted again, trying to find some way to ease the throbbing in my ribs, but nothing helped. Then I heard it—the soft murmur of voices. The footsteps down the hall. Then the door to my room creaking open.

I turned my head, expecting to see Aiden, but it wasn’t him.

It was Ruby.

Her silhouette was framed by the soft glow from the hallway, but something was wrong. She didn’t step inside with that familiar sass, the fire in her eyes daring me to say something smart. Instead, she lingered in the doorway, her breath ragged, and her shoulders trembling.

She was crying .

I blinked, my mind struggling to process what I was seeing. Ruby didn’t cry. Not like that. Not for no reason. But now? Now, she looked broken. Like something far worse than I could imagine had occurred and she had no idea how to handle it.

I wanted to slaughter whoever had made her look like that.

I would slaughter them.

“Ruby?” Her name came out harsher than I meant, but I couldn’t help it. Her tears—they hit something deep inside me that I didn’t know how to handle. I didn’t know how to deal with soft emotions, least of all hers.

She stepped further into the room, her footsteps slow, hesitant, like she didn’t know how to hold herself together anymore. She was still crying, and the sound of it twisted something in my chest. My first instinct was to push her away. I wasn’t in any shape to deal with her shit. But the words died in my throat when I saw her face, big green eyes streaked with tears and red from sobbing.

“What happened? Talk to me.” I asked, my voice quieter this time, even if my words were a demand.

Ruby wiped at her eyes, sucking in a deep breath like she was trying to steady herself, but her next words came out jagged, broken.

“It’s Sapphire,” she whispered, and just like that my world tilted.

I went still. The ache in my side disappeared. The burn in my ribs? Gone. Nothing but silence now, a deep, cold silence that wrapped itself around me like a vice.

No .

Not Sapphire. Anyone but her. Anything but her being hurt.

“She was on stage and she was shot,” Ruby continued, her voice cracking as she edged closer to me, with the hesitance of a tiny bunny trying to avoid the wrath of a feral wolf.

“Tell me she’s okay.” I begged.

Ruby cried harder. “I’m so sorry, Beau.”

I didn’t need to hear the rest. Didn’t need the explanation of the shooter, the mayhem, or the failed attempts to save her.

I didn’t need to hear anything once Ruby had said that Sapphire was gone.

Gone .

The word echoed through me, but it didn’t make sense. Sapphire couldn’t be gone. She was untouchable. Her father had built a life, a kingdom of blood and violence, to keep her safe. A kingdom that I’d help grow for that same purpose. And I had promised myself—promised her —that nothing would ever touch her again.

That even though I had failed time and time again when it came to keeping her safe, the one thing I would do was make sure she never died. I would do anything, kill anyone, make a deal with the devil himself.

And now she was dead?

She was dead, and I hadn’t been there to stop it. To save her.

I hadn’t been there when she needed me most, and I would never forgive myself for that.

I stared at Ruby, but it was like I wasn’t seeing her anymore. All I could see was my daughter. My diamond. My light in the middle of all this darkness. The reason I hadn’t burned this world to the ground already.

Now?

Now she was gone .

My hands curled into fists, the bedsheets crumpling beneath my grip. I should’ve said something, but the words wouldn’t come. My throat felt tight, my heart a dead weight in my chest.

Ruby was sobbing harder now, and she reached for me, but I couldn’t… I couldn’t do this. Couldn’t sit here being useless and in an agony I could never begin to comprehend. So I swung my legs out of bed, ignoring the pain that shot up my side.

With a heaving breath, I stood, shaky at first, but determined. I wasn’t thinking straight. I wasn’t thinking at all. My body moved on its own, mechanical, like I was in survival mode. I went to the closet, pulling out black trousers and shirt, a pair of polished shoes.

Ruby was still watching me, her eyes wide, like she didn’t know what to say or do.

“What are you doin’?” she asked, her voice trembling.

I didn’t answer. I moved to the painting on the wall, pulling it aside to reveal the weapons safe I had. Guns, blades, ammo—every piece of steel I owned found its place on my body. Until I was armored up more than I had ever been before, and I wasn’t the man who’d been lying in that bed minutes ago.

I was something else now. Something deadly.

Someone who would not forgive this world for taking the one thing from me, I vowed never to lose.

I turned around, fully dressed and armed. Ruby stood frozen by the bed, her tear-streaked face pale. “Beau, talk to me. What the hell are you doin’?”

I walked toward her, stopping just inches away. My fingers brushed her chin, lifting her face to meet mine. I could see the fear there, the confusion, and maybe… just maybe, a flicker of something else. Something I couldn’t deal with right now. Something dark and wicked and prone to making my trauma scream at me far more than it ever had before.

So, I kissed her.

Hard. Fierce. Brutal. A moment of raw emotion, pouring all the things I couldn’t say into one act. I felt her stiffen, then melt into it, but I pulled back just as quickly, leaving her breathless. Confused. Probably wondering if I was having a breakdown of some kind.

“You’re staying here,” I said, my voice rough. “With Aiden. You don’t leave. Not until I say.”

Her eyes widened, panic flashing through them. “Why? What are you goin’ to do?”

I stared at her, my jaw tight, every muscle in my body coiled with rage.

“I’m going to burn this city to the ground.” I promised. “It’s taken far too much from me and I refuse to let it win.”

Without another word, I turned and left the room. The door clicked shut behind me, but my mind was already gone, lost in the thoughts of destruction and vengeance.

This wretched life I had been born into had killed my daughter. An enemy of ours that I should have taken out decades ago had slaughtered her without thought.

Now I was going to kill. Everyone. Everything. Until nobody that wished my family ill will was left standing, nobody that could ever be another threat was left to breathe.

I was going to turn Diamond Grove and all its nearby cities into nothing but flames, and then I was going to set myself ablaze in it.