Crow was quiet for a while before he spoke again. “Vanessa wanted to talk to you.” He handed the radio over.
I was staring at the mountain from the front of the palace, the sun rising in the distance and casting the landscape in beautiful colors. The Atlas Mountains started to come alive as the smell of blood rose into the air.
Her beautiful voice sounded over the line, heavy with tears. “Griffin…”
“Baby.” My heart softened slightly, but not like it did before. I was still too livid to think rationally, to love her the way I usually did. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. They didn’t hurt me.”
“Good.” But that didn’t change my rage.
“Don’t do this…”
“I have to, Vanessa.”
“No, you don’t.”
I wasn’t going to change my mind. Fear and respect were the same in my world. If I wanted no one to fuck with me ever again, I had to scare them shitless. “It’s how it is, baby. Go home with your family. I’ll see you when I get back.”
“Griffin…” Her tears were heard over the phone. “I don’t want you to do this.”
“I love you, baby. But I don’t care what you want.” I was being harsh to the woman I loved because I couldn’t think clearly. I was so enraged by what these people had done to us. If they’d tried to kill me, I would have brushed it off without caring. But to touch my woman…was an idiotic move.
“Griffin, you killed all the men there. That’s enough. Don’t hunt down a woman and her kids. You took your revenge and protected me, but going after innocent people will just make you a monster.”
“Maybe I want to be a monster.”
“No, you don’t.”
“They took you. It’s only fair.”
“Don’t be like them, Griffin. You’re better than this. This isn’t you…”
“Maybe you don’t know me that well.” All I wanted to do was kill and kill some more.
“I do know you,” she whispered. “I know you better than anyone. You’re still angry right now, as you have every right to be. But this doesn’t solve anything. You killed the men who crossed us. You accomplished your goal. Now come back to me so we can go home and be happy together. Killing innocent people isn’t going to make you feel better. It’ll only make you feel worse. Not right away, but eventually.”
I stared at the mountain, silent.
“Griffin, please. I need you right now. I need you to hold me and kiss my tears away.”
I breathed hard, my chest rising and falling as I greeted the rising sun.
“If I’m the most important person in your life, then you need to listen to me. I’m telling you that I need you. I’m telling you not to hurt those innocent people. I’m telling you, commanding you, to get your ass over here so we can go home. Don’t make me tell you again.” Sassiness mixed with tears came over the line, sounding like the woman I fell so hard for.
But I still wanted to keep killing.
“Don’t you want to marry me?” she whispered.
The odd question caught me off guard. “Yes.”
“Then prove it. Come home with me, and let’s do it.”
“They deserve to die…”
“No, they don’t. And if you do kill them…I won’t love you the same way. The man I love is hard and vicious, but only when he needs to be. The rest of the time, he’s loving and devoted. He’s protective of the less fortunate. Don’t turn into someone else, someone I didn’t fall for. You’re better than this. I know you are. So don’t make me ask again. Come to me now—and let’s go home.”
I’d accomplished the impossible by slaughtering all the men in that palace. I only spared one man and butchered all the others. But the reason I did all of those things was because of the woman I loved. She fueled my rage as well as my joy. If this was that important to her, then I needed to let it go. I had to remember why I did all of this in the first place—to save my woman.
“Griffin?” she whispered.
I resisted the rage burning in my blood and focused on the woman asking for me. She needed me, and killing more people wouldn’t give her what she wanted. I folded, subdued by the need in her voice. “I’m coming.”
Seventeen
Vanessa
We waited on the outskirts of the border, the chopper ready to take us away the second Bones showed up. I was still disturbed by what he told me, that he wanted to kill the wife and children of his enemy. He butchered everyone in that palace and accomplished the impossible. I didn’t want bloodshed, but I understood it had to be done.
But to hurt the family was a line I wouldn’t cross.
I couldn’t let him do it, regardless of how angry he was. He was a different man when I spoke to him, his rage clouding his judgment. The second those men took me, Bones turned into another person. He regressed back into the man he used to be, the man I originally met. The second I was taken from him, all his civility was gone.