“Alex...” he tried to break in. But there was no stopping Alex when she got angry. And she was pissed.
“Do you think men like Lex are good employers? Do you have any idea how many of his own men he's had killed? No?” she asked, looking around. “Thirty seven as of my last count. Some of them because they were being disloyal. Some just for the fuck of it. To exercise his power. Or because they pissed him off. I know you Josh,” she sneered. “He'll get sick as hell of you in a few weeks. Then know where you'll be? In Oscar Street with your throat slit, arterial spray covering the walls. Just. Like. Glenn. But there won't be me around to tell everyone what a good guy you were. What a sad, gruesome, pointless death you had. Because, frankly, you'll have fucking deserved it.”
Joshua paled, looking around at his surroundings like he was seeing them for the first time.
Alex was right. He was as good as dead. And he just realized it himself.
I'd feel bad for the little shit if he wasn't the reason Alex was in that room.
“Well, well,” Lex broke in, clapping his hands together. “I guess he didn't break you after all. Alls the better for me,” he smiled in a evil, awful way at her that made all of the halfway decent men in the room (meaning me, Shoot, and even the sniveling idiot Joshua) stiffen. “Alright,” Lex said, his authoritative tone back. “Rick, you can take Shoot with you. Call in two extra sets of hands first. One to take Joshua here back to his room. The other to... lend me a hand.”
I moved. Fast. So did Shoot.
I was across the room and tearing into Chris, the guy who was holding Alex. Her body slammed hard into the wall then fell to the floor, but I was too busy sinking my fists into the guy's face to check on her.
But I barely got four good punches in before I was pulled away. I looked over to see Shoot already restrained by Rick.
My eyes flew to Alex who was pushing herself up.
It was worth a shot.
Shoot was thinking the same thing, giving me a shrug before he was hauled out of the room.
“Chris, I think you better take Joshua to his room then get yourself cleaned up. Greg can stay in here with us.”
Greg was the guy who had led me through the house and toward the basement earlier.
Greg was probably the only one out of the three who actually could restrain me.
Great.
And then he did.
And everyone else was gone.
Leaving just me being held down by Greg. And Alex across the room being approached by Lex.
Fuck.
No.
I knew where this was going.
And
Fuck
No.
I saw the realization hit Alex's face at the same time I felt the knowledge spread through me. She moved fast, reaching into her boot. For the heroin, I realized. She was going to end it. I was going to have to watch her OD and die.
Jesus fuckin' Christ.
But she wasn't fast enough and Lex had her by the throat, pulling the heels of her feet off the ground and slamming her up against the wall. Her arms swung out, trying to hit him, then trying to pull his hands off her neck as her air supply started to make her head fuzzy.
Then one of his hands moved away. But only to curl on itself, then plunge forward. Hitting her jaw much like he had made me do. But he wasn't holding back like I was. I heard the crack. I saw her head slam in the other direction. His hand dropped from her throat and then there was just the sound of his fists in her face. Her center. And her muted grunts as she tried not to show weakness.
“Stupid bitch thought you could take me down? Stupid fucking cunt. You are no one. No one!” he yelled. Alex's body fell forward, her palms slapping the ground in front of her to brace her fall. She was facing me, but her head was down, blood dripping onto the concrete below her.
I fought.
Against the hold. Trying to get to her.
Then Lex got down on the ground behind her, kneeling, grabbing for the waistband of her pants.
And the swirling in my stomach rose up my throat.
At the same moment, Alex's head rose to mine. For the barest of seconds, she was there. And then the mask came down and I knew she was gone. She was accepting her fate. She was going to be raped and killed by Lex Keith.
Just like her mother.
It was then, watching her shut down, watching Lex's sick face twist in desire as he pulled down her pants. It was then that I realized I still had a card to play.
It was something that came back to me the night before when I was laying in bed not sleeping and thinking over my conversations with Alex.
Like when she told me about her mom. Told me about what her mom went through at Lex's hands. For years. Before she got away. And when I thought about it hard enough, it made sense. There was even a similarity.
“You're gonna watch me fuck the woman you love as she screams for you to save her and you know damn well you can't,” Lex's eyes bore into mine as his hands went to the front of his pants.
My eyes begged her to snap out of it.
To tell him herself.
Why wouldn't she? It could save her. Was it worse, somehow, for her to admit it? Did she even admit it to herself? It wouldn't exactly be out of character for her to bury that and pretend it didn't exist.
But it did.
And if she wasn't going to use it, well, I sure as fuck was.
“Knew you were a sick fuck, Lex,” I said, feeling Greg's arm tighten around me, seeing Lex pause and look at me. “Didn't think you'd be as twisted as to rape your own fuckin' daughter.”
The look of shock over his face would have been priceless in any other situation. His eyes bugged. His shoulders slumped.
I was vaguely aware of Alex's eyes snapping to mine.
“What?” Lex growled.
“Yeah. You stupid shit. Got all these men, got all these hackers, looking all into your shit and somehow you missed that little gem.”
“No,” he said, moving away from Alex, zipping his pants.
“Yep. Know who her mom is? Think hard. Hell, just take a fuckin' look at her,” I spat. “I've seen a picture. She's the fuckin' spittin' image of her mother. Shouldn't be too hard for you to draw up the memory. Since you kept her in your house, beating and raping her for years before she finally got shot of you.”
Lex moved around toward Alex, grabbing her face. And I got to watch as his own face paled until he was practically see-through. Then he dropped her like she burned him, moving away.
“Allison,” he whispered, shaking his head.
I didn't know her name. Alex never said it. But Lex was clearly seeing a ghost from his past.
“Yeah. One of the many women you've broken in your time. She just so happened to be lucky enough to get some help along the way. Got a life. Raised her daughter. Killed herself though when Alex was sixteen. Know anything about that?” One look was all I needed to know he did. That he had, like Alex guessed, seen her that day. Leading her to kill herself to save them both. “Yeah. I bet you do. Killed herself that day, ya know. That's when your daughter decided to dedicate her life to taking you down.”
“Daughter...” he repeated, looking down at Alex who had pushed herself back onto her knees and pulled her pants back up.
“Yeah you...”
My voice trailed off. Or, rather, it was drowned out, by the sounds of gunfire. And then, incredibly, almost unbelievably, explosions. Enough that the ground shook. Enough that Greg got startled and I got my window. And I fucking took it.