That Emerald Vow (The Crimson Creed #2)

13. Chapter Thirteen

W e just finished up an important mission to assassinate Jose Reyes, the cousin of the leader of the Onyx Devils—the biggest mafia organization in our city. Unfortunately, we immediately got called back to the second Crimson Creed Shop location for a shipment.

Adrian and I choose to change in the back while the others touch base with Axel and Ingrid.

“How are things with your . . .” Adrian starts to ask.

I wince thinking about her. “We’re still waiting to hear about the appeal. I guess we’ll see.” Yanking off my slacks as fast as I can, I switch into my usual jeans. “Sometimes I wonder if I should have done what you did . . . killed her.”

Adrian looks up at me from tying his boots. “No, D. It doesn’t make it any easier. And now with Lily . . . It doesn’t make any of it easier.” Adrian had found out that his father was raping woman and Lily was on his list. He killed him soon after to protect her—making it look like an accident. Unfortunately, that’s how we got on Alex’s radar and were forced to join X.

“I can’t even imagine. I’m so scared with—at the idea of having a real relationship.” I stop myself in my tracks, about to say Charlie’s name and admit that I want this. Want her.

He smirks at me. “Were you about to say with someone specific? Has someone caught Damon Hayes’ eye?”

“No . . . I said what I said . . . I mean . . . what I meant . . .” I fumble out as I unbutton my shirt, not daring to look him in the eye. “Fuck off.”

I hear him laughing at me, and my muscles tense, bracing for his teasing words. Adrian knows me better than anyone else. Maybe I should consider just talking with him about this, but saying it out loud will make it more real.

Before Adrian can say anything, we hear Ethan outside scream, “Stop!”

Fuck. One of the people may be trying to run. We can’t risk them escaping before they understand we’re here to help them.

We quickly but quietly go to the side of the shop. We see two women facing Ethan with their guns aimed—a blonde and brunette. There’s something familiar about them. Without thinking twice, we approach from behind, weapons aimed even though there’s something in the back of my mind saying something’s not right. We know Ethan spots us but doesn’t say anything—eyes locked on the intruders.

“It’s two against one, bozo. You really think you can take us?” the blonde says in an enchanting voice. Charlie?

Before I can even register my shock, Adrian puts the barrel of the gun against the brunette’s head as he says, “Actually, it’s three against two . . .” She lifts her hands and slowly shifts to the side. “Lily? Charlie?” he says, mouth agape in a pained expression. I am sure mine mirrors his as Charlie looks at me in disdain.

“Hi, Ade. Funny running into you here,” Lily snarls, clearly pissed.

“W-what are you both doing here?” I barely mutter, confusion seeping into my voice.

My little gem is glaring at me, and it’s breaking my heart into a million pieces. “What the fuck are you both doing here?”

Lily’s voice cracks as she says, “I can’t believe you w- would do this. I had more faith in you than this.”

“Lils, you don’t understand,” Adrian pleads, taking a step closer and holstering his gun. I look at my own gun aimed at the girl I’ve begun to trust. This is my worst fear turned into reality.

Lily uses the opportunity to step forward and pistol-whip him. Once. Twice. Then aims the gun at his head as the rest of our squad raise theirs at her. “Yeah? Then explain it to me!” she yells.

The muscle in his jaw ticks. “How about you explain what you’re doing here?” He nudges his head, pushing the gun towards her. “How do you know how to use that? Or how you incapacitated so many of my people?” All questions I want answers to as well.

“I don’t owe you anything,” she spits out, words laced with venom.

Adrian doesn’t budge. “You owe me just as much as I owe you. We’re both in situations neither one of us anticipated. And we both want answers.”

“Like we can believe anything you assholes say,” Charlie seethes, still pointing her gun at me. Seems like we all had our fair share of secrets, and here they now lie, more similar than any of us could have imagined. Fate has a funny sense of humor.

“How about we all drop our weapons first?” I ask as I slowly lower mine and put it in the back of my jeans, hoping that helps.

Charlie looks conflicted—her pain and confusion clear on her face. Others may just see the anger and hatred, but I can see through all the bullshit. She keeps her feet rooted to the spot. “How about your goonies too?” she asks.

“Fuck, Lils . . .” Adrian says. “How did we end up here?”

My focus is going in and out of the conversation as I stare into the fierce and angry eyes of Charlie. My heart is running rampant in my chest, and I can’t think straight.

“Can we all just drop our damn guns and talk? I think we can figure this out,” I plead, wanting to diffuse the situation to at least be less lethal.

“Fat chance, D,” Charlie says, shooting me daggers with her beautiful emerald eyes. Just the other day, she looked at me with so much trust, which I knew was difficult for her. And now, here we are.

“Ugh, fuck,” Adrian growls as he looks from her to Lily to me. “Okay. To prove to you that this isn’t what it seems.” He raises his hands and nods at Ethan to lower his weapon.

“You sure, boss?” he asks, and Adrian just nods. Now, Charlie and Lily are the only ones armed. Even though I don’t know their secrets, I have a strong feeling they could burn this place to the ground with us in it with the wrath radiating off them. Hell hath no fury and all that.

“You were supposed to be different,” Lily says with a pained expression. “You were fucking supposed to be better . . . You’re taking advantage of these women like he took advantage of . . .”

Fuck. That means Adrian didn’t stop his father from assaulting Lily like he thought.

Turning to him, he looks like she may as well have slapped him as he sinks into himself.

I can feel my heartbeat in my ears, pulsing as they continue to yell at each other. My emotions are struggling to stay intact. Everything is happening too fast. We just need a chance to explain. We all just need to calm down and talk.

“How about now? Are you still being fucking stupid? You’re not doing anything now to fucking stop your stupid asshole boss.”

“Lils, that’s not what—” I try to say.

“Shut up!” Charlie yells at me. “Like you’re any better, both of you, taking advantage of these—” Ouch.

Maybe that’s all she will ever think of me, comparing me to the assholes we kill. But she isn’t even allowing us to explain. They are just yelling and yelling, and I can’t fucking take it anymore before I yell out, “ We’re not kidnapping them. We’re rescuing them from those trying to traffic them!” We need to just air out all the dirty laundry and figure this shit out.

“You aren’t working for X then?” Lily asks, looking into Adrian’s eyes.

They are filled with regret as he admits, “We are, but it’s not what you might think.”

“What the actual fuck? Can someone please explain this in plain English,” Charlie demands. “And speak fast or we start shooting.”

“I’m not trafficking people . . . At least not in that way,” he says.

“We are the Crimson Creed. It’s our organization that helps those who are being trafficked and gets them to safety,” I say.

Adrian continues, “We don’t kidnap them to enslave them. We kidnap them from the traffickers to give them a second chance.”

“B-but . . . how does X play into it?” Lily asks in disbelief as she looks to Charlie, who seems equally lost.

“They recruited us early on after I killed my father. But we have a code. We only kill those who deserve it,” Adrian says.

“We hate all that X stands for,” I say, “but it was a bit hard to say no as teenagers.”

“We are planning to overthrow Alex at some point. We just need to be smart. It’s going to take time.”

It’s clear they are trying to process the information we just threw at them to see if they can trust us long enough to hear more. But I have my own questions I want answered.

“Can we go inside to talk? I want to tell you everything from the beginning. And maybe then you can share how this”—Adrian waves in her direction—“happened too.”

“Maybe we can talk too, Char?” I ask, praying she will give me a chance to explain.

Charlie looks apprehensive but ends up saying, “Okay,” before turning to look at Lily to see her response.

“Okay,” Lily says as she finally puts away her gun.

Charlie lowers it but still stays at the ready the whole way to the empty waiting area for customers. We take seats on the opposite sides on the couch as Adrian takes Lily to his office.

I look at the gun that’s resting on her knee as she faces me. “Is that really necessary?”

Her lips purse in a straight line before she says, “I will decide what is necessary,” while trying not to give away any emotion.

I nod, and for once in my life, I tell the truth. Even in this circumstance, all I want to do is bare my soul, no matter how scared I am. The idea of losing her is scarier than I could have imagined. Her anger hits me like a ton of bricks straight to the gut. “I didn’t grow up like our best friends did . . . or you.”

Her right eyebrow cocks up in annoyance.

“I’m not saying I had it harder or easier. But I didn’t have some of the privileges you guys did, like a functional parent or parents. A stable home . . .”

“Not all of us had functional parents,” she scoffs.

“Maybe not. But you were never without clothes or food. You weren’t a child trying to take care of another child.”

Her lips part in an O shape. “D . . .” She looks down at her gun and puts it on the table. “I’m listening.”

“I don’t want your sympathy.” My insecurity speaks for me.

“Trust me. Sympathy is the last thing I’ll give anyone. But . . .” Charlie lets out a deep sigh. “We both clearly have secrets, which makes sense as we barely know each other. But we both deserve to hear the truth and then decide how to feel.”

“Okay, gem.” I test out her nickname, hoping to elicit something more positive in her. “That sounds fair.” Her lip twitches in one corner, but that’s all the emotion she allows.

“My m-mother was great until I was maybe around nine years old. At least that’s when shit started going downhill; it was a nightmare by the time I was ten. We were always poor—living in the trailer park and having just enough to survive. But we were happy for the most part. My sperm donor was a one-night stand she met at an out-of-state concert. She worked in a bar in the rough part of downtown and dated one loser after another until Dani was born.” I look to see Charlie intently listening.

“My mother was always around drugs and drug dealers because of her job and loser exes. Dani’s dad, Frank, being the worst. He got her hooked on drugs. It started off small, just one or two pills a day to take the edge off. But eventually, she couldn’t go a day without the hard stuff like coke, heroin, or anything she could get her hands on. The harder she fell into drugs . . . the worse our situation got. I started stealing lunch from school to keep us fed at night. Adrian’s mother would often allow Dani and me to come over for dinner. I was determined to survive until I turned eighteen and gained custody of Dani . . .” My heart is slamming within my chest the further I get into the story. Needing to move to let out some energy, I abruptly stand—startling Charlie.

“This—this next part is . . .” I look up at the ceiling and let out a heavy sigh.

Looking back at Charlie, she gives me a small smile and a gentle nod as if to say “It’s okay. Take your time.”

“I was getting in trouble a lot because of all the crimes I needed to commit to survive and get the fuck out of there. A local cop, Whitey, understood the shitty hand life dealt us and usually let me go with a warning because I never did anything too crazy.” Tears rim my eyes as I continue, “Frank was trying to get into the skin trade because drugs weren’t making him enough.” Charlie’s eyes go wide as she sits up straighter. “Dani . . .” I pause, unable to continue. I’m staring at the floor, trying to get the words out as tears start to spill over. I remind myself that Dani is safe, but talking about it is bringing back the fear I felt when this all happened.

I feel a delicate hand grab mine. Looking up, I see Charlie’s eyes are also glossed over. Without a word, she pulls me by my hand. Her warm embrace envelops me in a hug that I didn’t know I needed. I wrap my own arms around her and bury my head in her shoulder. I take a deep inhale of her scent—peaches. It makes me feel safe, so I squeeze her harder, and she does the same. I’m unsure how long we stand there, but she allows me the time to calm down before I continue.

I slowly release her, bringing us face to face. She is so strong and kind. Noticing a loose strand of her hair, I tuck it behind her ear, causing a shudder to roll through her. Our eyes lock, and I smile at her.

“Thank you.” She smiles back in return as we both go back to sit.

“Before I continue, Dani is safe and nothing happened. But I found pictures of Dani . . . When I asked her, she said her dad and our mom took her for a photoshoot. I realized what it was for . . . I never told her the truth . . .” I close my eyes and shudder at what my life used to be. “The truth of our family was bad enough: the drugs, the fights, the lack of any support. But this was around the time everything with Ade was going down. I called Whitey for help, but without proper evidence, there was nothing he could do.”

Charlie’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. “But the pictures?”

“They were of her, but she was fully clothed. Looking like an adult, but nothing illegal. Everyone knew what they were doing between selling illegal drugs and the domestic violence, and then this . . .” I look up at her and see her face is concerned, but her body is radiating fury. “He never hurt us . . . At least not physically—I made sure of it.” I may not be as buff as Adrian, but I am just as tall. I’m all lean muscle and can kick some ass, and Frank knew it. He didn’t even hurt my mother in front of us, because as much as I hate her with every fiber of my being, I knew she was a victim of her environment, and no one deserves that. However, it doesn’t excuse the countless decisions that harmed us over the years.

I put my hand over Charlie’s to calm her down, but honestly, the contact makes me feel better—instantly bringing me some peace. We lock eyes as I continue. “As I was saying, we all knew. But the law doesn’t care. Whitey wanted to help so badly, but his hands were tied. Alex had already recruited Ade by this point, and he got her to help me too. Not to get too much into his business, but we were initially blackmailed into joining ‘cause they were impressed at how well he hid that it was murder and not a natural death. We very quickly found the evidence we needed because Alex knew the people who Frank was trying to work with. And she made it so Dani never had to know or testify. So Dani thinks our mom went to jail for the drug charges. Our childhood was terrible enough that the added pain of possibly being sold off wasn’t one I wanted her to bear.”

Charlie nods in understanding. “You’re an amazing big brother, D. I mean it.”

“Thanks,” I choke out. Hearing it from her means more than anything because I know she doesn’t give this kind of compliment away easily. Like me, she’s distrusting of most people.

“You took a difficult situation and made the best of it. You tried to create a safe environment for your sister to grow up in, and you both got out. I just wish they’d paid in more ways than prison. Selling your daughter . . . A mother shouldn’t be able to do that . . .” Charlie’s eyes gloss over, and a single tear falls that she quickly wipes away.

“Char . . .” I say. Not sure if I am ready to hear what happened to her to make her like this. Because I know in my heart that I would burn the world down for her.

And make sure everyone and anyone who harmed her pays the price.