Don Vidal

33 - I will burn the world!

Draven

Everyone turns to look in that direction, even me. A tall, stocky, dark-haired guy who looks like he’s been in more fights than a boxer is walking towards us, ignoring my security guy. Not that he will get close before one of my men stops him.

“You ain’t going no further,” Lorenzo tells him. After everything that man went through after my father shot him, he’s still one of the most loyal men I’ve ever met.

“Your kind don’t get to tell me what to do!”

“What the fuc.k did you just say?!”

“Lorenzo?” He looks at me, still with one eye on the fat shi.t in front of him. “Let him through.” Prick smirks, but I block him from going any further. “Who are you, and what do you want?”

“Brooke, come here!” He waves her over.

I turn my head. She looks like she’s about to crap herself. I’ve seen fear in a person’s eyes many times before, but Brooke’s are filled with terror. Nevertheless, she walks over slowly.

“This is what you and that other little bitc.h associate yourselves with?”

“What the fuc.k did you just say to my wife?!” Brooke leans back against Hawk, her rock, I can see.

From what I know of him, Hawk is a good man, loyal as they come. Brooke and Marnie’s family had a problem with him because his mother was biracial. Brooke gave birth to their first child, not even knowing before the moment she pushed him into the world that she was expecting him. Her father beat the crap out of her and told her that he was having the kid adopted.

Brooke waited for everyone to fall asleep before leaving that place and walking miles in the middle of the night to get back to the man she’d been forced away from in order to ask for his help in keeping their baby safe. Brooke loved Hawk and wanted to be with him; they wanted to be a family. She cut off her racist family for the man she loves, and that takes some damn courage.

I can’t even begin to imagine what it was like being raised by that family.

Racist cunt’s the lot of them.

It hits me in the face like a sledgehammer as I look at this man; he’s either their brother or an uncle. He doesn’t look like Marnie and Brooke as such, but I can see hints of Brooke around his eyes. He looks quite a bit older than them, though.

“Keep your monkey on its lease, Brooke.”

Smack.

Brooke smacked him so hard across the face that I felt it!

“You wanna be here, Peter, then you show some respect to my husband. He is a hundred times the man you will ever be!”

Peter, as she called him, rubs the very red mark on his face as he stares at Brooke in anger. Hawk clasps the back of her neck with pride.

“This man here is Marnie’s fiancé, Draven Vidal.”

“I know who he is! And Marnie will not be marrying anyone. She’s already married, and she is going back to her husband, or she’ll lose the one thing she would rather die than lose. I just came to check the kid was gone before I took her home. Paul ain’t gonna want to take on a half-breed.”

“What the fuc.k did you just say?” I stand in front of him, chest to chest.

Who the fuc.k is this cunt?!

He’s damn brave talking like this in front of me.

“Peter,” Brooke doesn’t give him the chance to answer me, even though he hasn’t taken his eyes off me yet. Good. He’s in the best place for treatment should I cap the cunt right now. “Did you hurt Marnie? Tell me! Did you hurt our sister?” Brother. I knew it.

“I didn’t intend to hurt...” That’s all I needed to hear. One look at Lorenzo and the other two men guarding Marnie’s room, and the prick is taking the long walk to... Never mind that. I’ll deal with him later. Sonofabitch isn’t even protesting as they lead him away!

“Draven, I’m so sorry.” Brooke looks at me with pleading eyes.

This is in no way her fault and fuc.k, I blamed Paul when it wasn’t him.

Why the fuc.k should I care?

I still want the prick’s head mounted on a plaque.

“You have nothing to be sorry for. However, that racist piece of shi.t will be dead before the nights out. No one will ever get away with hurting my girl. No one!”

Brooke closes her eyes before turning her head into Hawk’s chest. She shouldn’t be upset over that piece of scum. I suppose the guy is still her brother, but it’s time the girl learned to cut off the dead weight and cast it out.

“Baby, he’s nothing to you. He stood by and watched your father beat the hell out of you for being with me. He could’ve killed you. Peter could’ve killed Marnie. She fought so hard to get away from those people. Just as you did. You’re both happy here with Draven and me, right?”

“Of course. I love you, Hawk, more than anything in this world. I know Marnie has fallen for Draven; I see it in her eyes.”

I breathe deeply. Marnie has never said anything of the sort, but if Brooke sees it, maybe what I feel isn’t one-sided after all. Maybe when I get her home, I’ll tell her how I feel. Perhaps then she’ll find the courage to tell me how she feels in return.

“Then you know why we can’t let men like him hurt you anymore.”

“Brooke,” Maria strokes Brooke’s back.

I’m not a complete monster, not these days, at least; Maria softened my heart, Jessica melted it, and Marnie took the last piece I had. Between them, they’ve shown me that I am the man they believe me to be. In some ways, at least.

“No matter what people believe, I know Dray loves Marnie. It may not have started out that way, but he’s fallen for her. They’ve fallen for each other, and he meant what he said when he told you he would never allow anybody to hurt her again. Please trust that he’ll protect her.”

Damn straight, I will.

Until Paul is found, I think I’ll have a little fun with Peter. Show him what happens when you mess with Draven Vidal and what’s his.

* * *

I sit beside Marnie’s bed alone, just watching her sleep. She’s pale, bruised, and beautiful. I sent everyone home. It’s late, and Marnie’s sister and mine needed rest. Brooke is almost ready to pop; all this stress can’t be good for her. She only agreed to go home because the doctor told us Marnie would probably sleep until morning.

I take my girl’s hand in mine and kiss her knuckles. With my fingertip, I move a stray piece of her blonde hair from her face and close my eyes.

What if I’d lost her?

I thought I had made sure Marnie was safe, but this has floored me because it was her own brother who did this. My stomach is still sick with anger. I suppose because I always have a man outside the house watching over Marnie.

Where was the guy this time?

Where the hell was Tom?

Not doing his f*****g job, that’s for sure.

He won’t get away with this. I pay him a fortune to ensure my girl is safe when I’m not with her. The cunt couldn’t do his job right, and for that, he’ll lose his life. As soon as Tony locates him, at least.

There are no exceptions in my world. None whatsoever!

Looking at Marnie now, so battered, something inside of me churns.

Anger?

Fear?

Both?

I honestly don’t think I’d be able to deal with the pain if anything took her away from me. I never thought I’d love her like I now realize I do. I thought I had my heart locked tightly away. I’ve heard those three little words more times than I care to remember. Women only mean them when it benefits them.

Like my ex-wife. She screamed those words over and over before I killed her. I kept my hands around her throat as I squeezed the life out of her, looking into those dark eyes of hers and seeing nothing but the lie within them.

Women don’t love men like me; they love the money and the power fear brings. Nothing more.

But knowing Marnie loves me, I just can’t explain how it feels. It feels... real. I may have been cock.y in telling her that she’d fall for me. I mean, I was right about her falling into my bed, but I didn’t actually think it would happen.

“What would I do without you?” It’s not really a question; she’s fast asleep and can’t hear me. But I need to get what I feel out before it consumes me.

I’m not a man who shows his emotions. I’m coldhearted to the outside world. Only three women have ever seen the real me, apart from my mother. My beautiful baby sister, my beautiful cousin Avery, who is a sister in my heart, and of course, my Marnie.

They are the only people who need to see me as anything but a monster. They and their children. Of course, my brother knows me, but even he’s never seen the real me.

I stroke Marnie’s ever-growing baby bump. The fear I felt when I found her lying there won’t leave me. I haven’t felt fear like that since I saw my baby sister fall over forty feet and almost die. I didn’t even feel that much fear when Avery slit her wrists and nearly killed herself, not even the time my father took Maria and threatened to kill her. Don’t get me wrong, I was scared that day, but I knew he wouldn’t kill her. I knew either I or my brother would kill him first.

However, the fear that I could’ve lost both Marnie and the baby... Jesus, there are no words to describe it. I have never asked for much for myself in this life. The only thing I have ever asked God for is to keep Maria, her children, Avery, her children, Sam, his children, and Marnie and our baby safe. But I am asking him now to please keep a watch over her, to help me keep her safe from the scum of this world. I’ll do anything he wants of me just as long as he helps me protect my family.

If I had lost her tonight, I would have gone on living for my brother and sister, my niece and nephews, and my cousin, but I would no longer be me, and I would never love again.

How does one find love after losing the love of their life?

No. Everyone would become my enemy.

Hell, right now, every fucke.r is, and I’m not sure I won’t burn the world down around us!