I’m a twenty-seven year old man with a heart full of vengeance and hatred.

~*~

It’s still dark when I knock on Adam’s door. It doesn’t take him long to answer, which means he was already up.

“Jack,” he looks shocked to see me.

I’m still covered in grime, dressed only in my jeans. My whole body is trembling with rage. “I need your help,” I whisper.

He glances behind him before he steps outside and closes the door behind him. “Let’s go look at the damage that’s been done to the stables and then we can talk.”

We walk in silence until we reach the stables. Only piles of ash and wood cover the ground.

“What can I help with?” Adam asks as he starts to pick up some of the bigger pieces of wood.

I start to help him and I start to tell him my plan. “I want to go back to Cameron.” His head snaps up and I see the shock on his face so I quickly explain, “The past few weeks I’ve been living in a trance. I need to go back and make them pay for what they’ve done to me.”

“So you want revenge?” I can see Adam doesn’t like the idea.

“I’m going to go back and kill them. You can come with and help me or I’ll go by myself, but those monsters need to pay for what they have done.”

“How do you plan on making them pay?”

“That’s why I need you. I want to go when it’s one of Cameron’s busy nights. I want to get as many people as possible. You can take me as your slave. Just get me in and I’ll do the rest.”

“You still haven’t told me what you’re planning to do once I get you in.”

I point to the stables. “Did you see how quickly it all burned down?”

Adam nods and I can see he’s starting to understand me. “They burned my mother so I want to make sure every last one of them burns the same way.”

Adam takes a deep breath and then stares at the pile of debris. I don’t push him for an answer. I just carry on working, clearing all the rubble to the side. We work side by side for most of the day and it’s only in the late afternoon that Adam says, “I’ll do it.”

I drop the piece of wood I was carrying and I stare at Adam. He comes to stand really close to me and whispers, “I’ll do it because I can’t imagine what you and Sophia must have gone through. But you need to understand what you’re going to be doing. You’re going to kill people. I’m doing it to stop them. There is no right reason for killing another human being, but when they are so far above the law then it’s up to people like us to stop them. I want you to make sure that you can do it. I don’t want to get there and you freeze up on me. We’ll be endangering everyone here if someone sees us.”

“If we’re going to a party or scheduling a meeting they will see us,” I state the obvious.

“We don’t have to attend the party. We just go, set the place alight and make sure no one leaves alive. Then we get our asses out of there.”

“As long as they die.” That’s the important part.

“They will.” Adam wipes the sweat from his brow and then looks at the manor. “We have to tell River.”

“No!” I shake my head hard. I don’t want her involved.

“She’s my business partner and best friend, Jack. I will not go behind her back. Secrets only destroy trust.”

I understand what he’s saying but I still don’t like it. I know she’s going to try and stop us. She thinks I’m some lost puppy she picked up, a kid that can’t think for himself. I guess I am partially to blame for her thinking that. I practically disappeared the past few weeks. I did what was expected of me. I lived in a safe bubble trying to hide from myself and the pain.

But, now there’s no more hiding. It’s time to deal with all the destructive memories and the only way to do that is to eliminate the cause of them.

~*~

Chapter Twenty

River~

Doc stayed the night. Even though Miss Ella keeps saying that she’s fine, he won’t budge from her side. They’ve been arguing non-stop ever since Miss Ella opened her eyes! They’ve had this love-hate relationship for years and usually it’s funny to watch, but today it’s going to drive me to drink.

Everybody is back at work, as if nothing happened yesterday. No one is asking what happened to Colby and Beverly, they know better than to get involved, but I do hope it serves as a warning to them all. I don’t ever want to go through a repeat of what happened last night.

I’m holding off on freeing anyone else from slavery until I know that I can trust the group living here one hundred percent. There’s no use in bringing in new people if the old ones are out of control.

I peek outside and see that Jack and Adam are still busy over by the stables. With a huff I take a seat at the kitchen table again.

“Old man!” Miss Ella scolds Doc for what seems like the hundredth time today. “You have a house. Go back to it!”

“Woman!” Doc growls under his breath. “I’ll go home when it suits me just fine. For now I’m staying put so I can check on you.”

Miss Ella throws a dishcloth at Doc, hitting him in the face and I have to swallow the laughter down.

“There is nothing wrong with me! I’m as healthy as a horse!” She grabs another dishcloth and starts waving at him. “Get!” She smacks at his shoulder and then shoves at him until he gets up. “Go home!”

Miss Ella is red in the face from all the effort it took to get Doc out of the chair.

“One of these fine days you’re going to beg me to stay.”

Miss Ella makes an unladylike disgusted sound through her nose. She smacks him with the cloth one last time and then goes back to preparing dinner. We told her to take the day off but she wouldn’t listen.

“I’ll see you all tomorrow morning,” Doc greets, getting another disgruntled snort from Miss Ella.

When I’m sure Doc has left I look at Miss Ella with a huge smile on my face. “Why won’t you give him a chance?”

Miss Ella swings around, spraying soapy water everywhere. “Now look what you’ve made me do! Stop sitting there counting your teeth, and get to work.”

Just as I’m getting up Jack and Adam come in. I stare at Jack with wide eyes. He’s filthy and the jeans are hanging low on his hips, much lower than is healthy for my heart.

I swing around, ready to make my escape to the study when Adam says, “We need to talk.”

“We do?” I ask like a dumb idiot.

Adam nods and I slowly start to walk towards the study, knowing that they are following. What does Adam want to talk about that involves Jack? Did Jack speak to Adam about last night? A hundred things are racing through my mind.

I don’t bother with sitting, and I lean against the heavy desk. Both men come to stand in front of me and it only makes me more nervous.

“Don’t you both want to go clean up first?” I ask, hoping I can delay whatever’s coming.

“Jack wants to go back,” Adam says.

My mouth drops open and my eyes fly to Jack’s. There is determination and rage in his green depths that I haven’t seen before. Something has changed. “You can’t go back, Jack.” Disappointment and hurt slams into my gut as Adam’s words sink in. “Cameron will kill you!”

I push away from the desk but Adam is the one to hold up his hand. “Hear the man out before you jump to conclusions.”

Jack’s eyes bore into mine. The look of hatred is so intense that I have to drop my eyes from his. “I’m going back so I can kill every last one of them.”

My eyes dart back to his, not sure I heard him right. “You wanna what?”

I see the moment Jack snaps under the burden he’s been carrying for so long. He takes two stumbling steps backwards, as if he’s losing his balance. I reach out for him but he slaps my hand away. “Don’t fucking touch me!” he hisses.

He throws both his hands behind his neck and he starts to pace the floor. His body is wound so tightly that every step he takes makes his muscles ripple.