Chapter One Hundred and Eighty-Four
Kelley had been right all along. Sometimes you needed to get your hands even dirtier to get to the bad that was buried so deep, you had to dig to get to it. People weren’t infinitely good, people were bad and he might just be the worst of them all.
There was a table in front of the three chairs and Jesse opened the laptop. Kelley moved Lee, Mason and Connor partially into the shadows so they stood behind the three chairs. None of them said a word and Kelley walked back to the front.
Jesse moved to the side and Kelley took the gun from the back of his pants. He saw Connor stiffen but the look on his face kept Connor standing there. All three of them looked worried and Kelley nodded his head at Jesse.
The first burlap sack was pulled off and the tape ripped away. “Fuck! That hurts, you asshole!”
“Hello, Lewis. I trust your accommodations have been up to standard.”
Lewis sneered at Kelley. “Fuck you, Kelley.”
“I’ve known you since we were four, Lewis. At times I try to think back to where it all went wrong. Do you even remember that you wanted to be a pilot? Did the stain of your father’s sins taint you so much that you forgot everything good about yourself?”
“What is this? You can’t keep me here!”
“You shot my brother, Lewis, and lucky for me there will never be a next time.” Kelley lifted the gun and pulled the trigger.
Mason, Lee and Connor jumped and their wide eyes found Kelley’s cold ones. He’d pushed everything away, every emotion, every memory. He clung to the darkness, he had to, otherwise, he’d never be able to do what he had to do now.
Jesse pulled the hood off of the person in the middle chair and Marcus’s eyes were wide as he turned to look at Lewis. His screams were muffled against the tape and Jesse ripped it off. Marcus looked at Kelley and then back at Lewis.
“You’re fucking insane,” he whispered.
“Play his video.”
Mason’s fists had clenched at the sight of Marcus but his gaze travelled to the laptop as the video started playing. Marcus smiled into the camera, a bottle of whiskey in his hands. The camera’s angle moved and came to rest on Andrea sitting on her knees on the floor.
The next ten minutes showed Marcus raping Andrea, kicking her, beating her and raping her again while he smiled and laughed and called her Mason’s whore. Lee was physically holding Mason back but he broke free and kicked the back of Marcus’s chair.
“You fucking motherfucker! I’ll fucking kill you, Holt! You’re dead! You’re fucking dead!” Mason yelled as Lee wrapped his arms around him and pulled him away.
Marcus coughed and blood bubbled from his broken face. Mason had straddled him and hit his forehead against the barn’s floor. Jesse lifted Marcus’s chair and he groaned in pain. Mason’s eyes were wild and his fear made Kelley feel warm inside.
“Burn in hell, Marcus,” Kelley said and shot him between his eyes.
Kelley turned away as Mason cried and clung to Lee. It was cruel to show him that video but he had to show Mason the truth, the reason Marcus had to die. He took a deep breath and blinked the emotion from his own eyes before facing them again.
“Lee, I’m sorry.”
Lee looked up at Kelley and then his gaze flickered to the laptop and his intake of breath sounded loud in Kelley’s ears. Lee’s breathing was ragged by the time the clip ended and Kelley couldn’t look at him immediately.
“They all knew, Lee. They watched this happen to you.”
Jesse pulled the last hood off and her eyes were wide with fear as she looked at Kelley. Jesse wasn’t gentle when he ripped the tape from her mouth. “Kelley, please, this is some mistake.”
“Play it, Jesse.”
Mason’s anguished scream could be heard when the car hit his brother and Lee and Connor had to physically hold him up. Other videos played, Marley’s sale being discussed, Marella’s attack and finally the last video flickered to life.
Her eyes travelled to the laptop and she visibly paled as that last video clip played. Mason, Lee and Connor stood and watched that video in horror and she looked down. Kelley walked towards her and pulled her hair up so she was forced to watch.
“This is who you are, the real you. This is what you do. You disgust me.”
“Kelley, please, I’m your mother. He made me do it!” Her voice was hysterical now and Kelley didn’t even blink as he took a step backwards.
“You’re the whore that gave birth to me, you were never my mother.”
“Kelley, please!”
“You killed my father, you killed him so you could be with Charles! You fucking helped him abuse girls and women! You're sicker than he could ever hope to be. You orchestrated The Club's move after he died and now it's your turn.”
Kelley looked her in the eye, raised the gun and fired it. The gun fell from Kelley’s hand and he walked out of the barn, around the corner and emptied his guts. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and leaned forward with his hands on his knees.
He took a few deep breaths and then he walked back into the barn. Connor was helping Jesse untie the bodies and laying them on the floor next to each other.
Jesse’s phone pinged and he looked at Kelley. “It’s done.”
“Thank you, Jesse. I’ll release the payments.”
“What’s done? What payments? Just … what the fuck!” Connor demanded.
“They’re all dead. The whole sick lot of them. Hanson in prison, Petey in his house, their parents, co-conspirators, everyone on the list. It’s over.”
Fifteen minutes later they all stood outside the barn and watched as it burned. Mason looked like a wreck, Lee didn’t look much better himself and Connor swore under his breath and muttered about cameras and DNA.
“What happens now?” Mason asked, his voice hoarse.
“Nothing, Mason. It’s all over. It took us eight and a half years to stand here. Whatever happens now is your choice.”
“Kelley,” Lee said.
“Don’t, Lee. She knew everything, she gave orders, she helped Charles with everything. She orchestrated my father’s death. That darkness is her and it’s me. I can’t lose my family but I think I just did. She did this to you, to all of you.” Kelley wiped the tears away angrily, not wanting to cry.
“She did this to you too,” Mason said.
“We’re family, Kelley, always family.”
Kelley, Lee and Mason looked at each other, the vow they’d made to so long ago loud in their minds. Another silent vow was being made as well. They would never stop fighting the good fight.
The End.
