Restitution (The Edge of Darkness, #3)

by Leigh Rivers

“Can you ask Jason to come up here? I need to talk to him.” He blows out a breath, shaking his head. “I fucked up bad, Stacey. I beat the shit out of him for that video.”

“We were close, you know? I always went to him for shit. I want my big brother back.”

“They want a war?” he says. “Well let’s give them one.”

“How does it feel? You’ve been married since you were eighteen, yet your wife sought out a teenager to get pleasure. She was so damn bored of your pathetic ass that she used drugs and manipulation to get others into bed.”

I’m done being her chained pet. The defective Kade Mitchell with no free will who was drugged and fucked by her family to save his own. Raped by men and women.

Dirty. Pathetic. Useless. You were raped by men and women. Your dad is going through it all now. And your brother is dead because of you.

“Falling in love with you didn’t ruin my life, Kade. Chris did. Without you, he would’ve locked me away and called me his pet forever.”

I won’t ever meet Eva. What good would that do? Oh, hey, kid. This guy here is a fuck-up and is basically dead inside. He has no idea where his soul is, and his heart is practically upside down and inside out. You see his face? Hideous. He’s killed hundreds and regrets only half of those deaths. He’s the monster that hides under your bed.

I want you to call me Stacey. Would that get you hard? Close your eyes and imagine I’m her. If you don’t get hard, Kade, I’ll go get Archie. That’s it, such a good boy. Fuck her harder in front of all of us. Now put a bullet in her head. Good boy. Good boy. Good boy.

“I need to shave.” I let out a breathy laugh. “Felt like I was touching a cactus.”

“It’s just me and you. It’s always been me and you. Against the world.”

“I love you. I’ve loved you since we were eighteen. And I’ll love you until we’re old and grey and we’ve lived our whole lives together.”

I can’t talk. I try to tell Stacey that everything’s going numb, but the words come out slurred. My vision blurs, and the last thing I hear is Stacey gasping as my body violently jerks before everything goes black.

Kade and Ewan are carrying the coffin, along with four of Jason’s friends, and the funeral director is leading the way to a deep plot. It was reserved years ago for Ewan and Aria; no one knew Jason would be the first to fill it.

“It’s Bernadette. She’s in my head all the fucking time. Every single thing I do, I hear her voice, smell her fucking perfume and feel her nails clawing into my skin. I’m trying so damn hard to push it all aside and be good enough for you.” He eats up the distance between us, making my pulse race. “I. Don’t. Know. How.”

“I need you too,” I add. “Even if I’m a bag full of trauma?” I smile. “I have my own bag. We can swap when they get too heavy and we need a balance.”

“Bernadette Sawyer was taken to hospital and is in a critical condition.”

YES

No one enters in time to stop Tobias from lifting her from her knees by her shattered jaw and slamming her back into the wall with brutal force. Once, twice, three times. Blood marks the wall where her head’s smacked into it.

“Where is my dad now? Is he still alive?” The older man looks at me then opens another file and stands back. The clip plays an unaired, pre-recorded news report. The reporter is standing in front of a cliffside, wind whipping at her hair as she addresses her audience. “Officials have recovered a body from the car. The individual has been identified as convicted killer Tobias Mitchell. He escaped his institution in the US not long ago and has been on the run ever since. It seems the hunt for the psychopath has now come to an end. There will be more information in the coming days.”

WHAT

No. Tobias Mitchell cannot be dead. I refuse to believe it. He took two doses of something that should’ve knocked him out cold, yet he still managed to push through and attack Bernadette. There’s not a chance in hell his end comes from crashing a damn car.

Kade Mitchell is the haunting definition of darkness.

“They took everything from me. Everything. We had a chance, but they took that as well.” He presses a firm kiss to my lips then shoves himself away, backing to the door while putting a fresh magazine in his gun and loading it. “Watch me destroy every last one of them, Freckles.”

Aria is muttering about how she was supposed to keep him safe – him, Jason, her children, all of them. She failed, and she doesn’t know how to fix it.

Kade stops scrolling and opens Cassie’s file. “Why do you have a folder on your—” He pauses, narrowing his eyes at the screen, then glares at Archie in disgust. “You fucked your own daughter?”

“You’re lucky your baby girl is dead, or I would’ve made a file for her.”

BRO

“You like what we did with him?” He laughs groggily, semi-awake. “Your daughter is next.”

“Let’s see you get yourself out of this, Bernadette. And if I find out my dad is really dead, you better hide, because nothing will stop me from breaking every bone in your body.”

I’d burn the universe just to see her smile at me the way she is now. She’s my entire fucking world.

“There’s been a huge social-media outpouring – reports of corruption in both the police and armed forces from the file you released. Victims have come forward and given evidence. Everyone is backing you, Kade. And I mean everyone.”

“But I’m not the good guy.” She smiles weakly. “Yes you are, sweetheart.”

Justice for Jason! Justice for Tobias! End corrupt cops! Arrest the real murderers! Keep Kade free! We stand with the Mitchells!

“Thanks. Tell Barry to stay where he is. Why are you and everyone else still here? I told you all that you could leave.” “As much as we appreciate the offer, our loyalty remains with you, Mr Mitchell. No one’s left; nor do they plan to. We will protect you and your family and” – he glances at Stacey – “your partner with our lives.”

Everyone knows his story; everyone knows what he went through and what he did, yet they stand by him. They understand why he killed Archie and the countless others. They want Bernadette to be next, and even set up another petition for him to live-stream her death as well.

Wild

“Before anyone else, love yourself, Miss Rhodes. You cannot give your all to someone if you aren’t doing the same for yourself.”

“He was terrible in bed. He started crying when he came.” We all wince. “Ew.”

I was such a dick to him instead of being a good son. Even when I told him to basically die, he still loved me. He escaped a highly secured institution to save me, to save Stacey when she failed to show up for her visitation. And now I have no idea where the fuck he is or if he’s still breathing.

“You were falling asleep on me the entire drive.” “Who’s fault is that?” Then she looks at me as if I give a fuck. “We were up all night consummating our marriage.” She tuts and looks at my mother. “Newlyweds. Can you blame us?”

Oh fuck Nikita but I love her

I think my dad is actually dead.

My dad loved us.

Dad loved our family, despite struggling to understand the feeling. Tobias Mitchell fell in love with Aria Miller, and no one will ever understand the level of obsession he had for her. “Just breathe, sweetheart.” He’s dead, so I guess no one will ever truly know how his mind worked.

“Because you’re going to be my wife. You’ve already taken my heart, my body, and my butchered soul, so you’ll take my fucking last name too.”

“Luciella needs us now more than ever.” I frown, confused. “Why?” “She’s…” Stacey lowers her voice to a whisper. “She thinks she’s pregnant, but she’s too scared to ask for a nurse in case someone finds out. She’s missed two periods.” I stare at her for too long before I blink. “What?” “You can’t tell Base.” “She thinks she’s pregnant with Base’s kid?”

Me: Also, marry me? I have four hundred million in my bank. I can use that for a ring? Would that be enough? I know you don’t care about money but think of how fucking nice that diamond would be?

“Do you want kids?” I ask, grabbing on to the subject. “Fuck, no. No offence, because I know you two do, but I couldn’t think of anything worse.”

Oh fuck. Luciella’s pregnant though

But before we can leave, there’s a loud explosion outside that rocks the pool house, smashing in the windows and knocking us off our feet. The ground shakes, and the eruption in my ears has me wincing as things fall to the floor all around us, and alarms begin to sound as people shout orders. Windows smash outside as another explosion goes off. Stacey.

My heart sinks as I come to a halt, every drop of blood leaving my face as I stare at my side of the manor – obliterated and up in flames. My balcony is gone, and the entire top floor is non-existent.

The fucking war is starting, but all I can focus on is sprinting through the burning manor, trying not to breathe in the toxic fumes to find my girlfriend and pregnant sister.

Pretty soon, the smoke will grow thicker, poisonous, and we’ll probably die in here.

Oh God. Where are the dogs? Kade? Tylar? Everyone?

The words stop, gurgling hits my ears then there’s a thud. I look around Kade to see the man on his front, a blade in his skull. The murderer steps over him, the gas mask he’s wearing drops to the floor and we all gasp. “No time for dramatics,” Tobias Mitchell says in a deep voice, standing above the dead body. He’s wearing the same uniform as his victim. He nods to the door. “Let’s go. The building’s on fire, if you didn’t notice.”