“What about Jasmine?” Chains growled softly from the back before I could get it out. Glancing at him in suspicion, I narrowed my gaze. His face was flatly emotionless, so I returned my attention to Venom.
“We’re not sure. She wasn’t with them,” he said with a furrowed brow.
A shaft of pain sliced through my heart. She had to be okay.
“None of them live,” Venom announced. Not a one of us disagreed.
All of us ensured we had silencers on our weapons. Not that anyone in this neighborhood would call the cops, but it mitigated the risk.
Ignoring the cold, we stealthily made our way across the park. Spreading out, we circled the house. There was a guy on our side carelessly leaning against the house smoking a blunt. He had no clue we were there. Cocky, stupid motherfucker. A muffled sound was all that carried out into the night as I put a bullet in his head. He crumpled to the ground like a puppet if someone had cut the strings. Kicker dragged him behind us to the back of the house and dumped him on the back porch.
Blade was dragging another one from his side.
“Getting a collection of trash,” Voodoo whispered with a sadistic smirk. I gave him a chin lift.
“Let’s finish this,” Venom said. Raptor tried the door. I was unsurprised to find it unlocked. Like I said, sloppy. Several of us shook our heads. He paused as he projected into the house, his face went white, then he rapidly motioned to us which directions we’d find the enemy.
Taking a fortifying breath, I exhaled slowly and moved in. Two in the kitchen, as Raptor had indicated. They were sitting at an old table playing cards but ended up facedown in their own blood. As we moved through the kitchen to the hall, we came face-to-face with a Bloody Scorpion.
“What the—” was all he got out before he fell to the floor. Between his outburst and his body hitting the floor, we knew we were out of time. Motioning us forward, Venom watched the back exit and waited for us to pass before he followed. As one, we kicked open the three bedroom doors.
Screaming briefly ensued, and we were in shock. The smallest room held my son and Lynda. My heart soared, and I almost cried as I rushed to them and scooped up my sleeping son. Lynda sobbed when Goob threw his arms around her.
“Stay with them,” I instructed Goob, Chains, and Phoenix.
“I’m coming with you,” Chains said.
“I’ll stay,” said Squirrel. I nodded in agreement. Chains and I moved on to catch up with the other brothers to see what the fuck was going on.
The next room made my blood run cold.
Raptor had been the one to bust open the door, but we were quickly at his back.
Standing there, holding my sister naked and bound in front of him, was Skid. Chains made a move to charge in, but Raptor’s hand flew out to stop him.
“Don’t fucking do it,” Skid warned.
Jasmine stood there, tears falling as they mixed with blood from a cut on her cheek. Bruises were already starting under her eyes and she had dried blood caked around her nose. It took everything I had to ignore her state of undress, but Chains lost his fucking shit next to me.
“You’re a dead man!” he shouted as Ghost, E, Blade, and Raptor pushed him out of the room. It took all four of them too, because he was a tall, buff motherfucker. His shouting became muffled, but I could hear the struggle as he fought to get back to us. My blood boiled at the implications, but I had more important things to deal with at that moment.
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t my dear baby brother,” Skid said with an overly dramatic dark chuckle as he grinned evilly at Voodoo and dug a pistol into the side of Jasmine’s head. She whimpered but didn’t say anything.
Confusion filtered through us as our gazes darted to each other.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Venom growled at the piece of shit in front of us. No one moved for fear of what he might do. Inside, I was screaming for Ghost to get his ass back in here. Fucking Chains needed to get his shit together.
Again, Skid laughed. “You’re serious? None of you dumb bastards figured it out yet?”
Everything started to click into place, and I could see when it did for everyone else too. Skid was from New Orleans. Once I knew, I couldn’t believe we’d missed it. Looking in his eyes, though slightly crazed and bloodshot, was like looking into Voodoo’s.
“I don’t have an older brother,” Voodoo ground out. “I’m an only child.”
“Bullshit!” Skid screamed and jerked on my sister’s hair. Jasmine jumped, and I noticed her trembling increased as her tears fell faster. Though I wanted to get her away from him, I didn’t dare make a move yet.
“Just because our fucking father treated my mother like a club whore and moved your bitch of a mother in with him like she was some kind of fucking queen doesn’t make you special! He was only with her because he found out she was the daughter of one of the Royal Bastards. He used to laugh about how he got one over on the Bastards by knocking her teenage ass up. You were nothing. A joke. A pawn. I. Was there. First!” he shouted and shook Jasmine with each word.
“Chill, she didn’t do anything to you.” Voodoo tried to appease the lunatic in front of us. He was either high or utterly insane. Skid continued on as if he hadn’t spoken a word.