Chapter 242 Nightmares Don’t Stay Asleep
The dream came fast and vicious.
She was small again, skinny arms, skinny legs, strapped to the cold exam table in Reeves’s office. The lights burned too bright overhead, and the air reeked of antiseptic mixed with something sour. Aiden Reeves loomed above her, a mask covering his face, a scalpel glinting in his gloved hand.
“Shhh,” he whispered, his voice soft, almost gentle, like he was soothing a baby. “It’s not going to hurt. Just close your eyes and it’ll be over soon. I promise.”
She thrashed, wrists burning against the restraints. “No, no, I want to leave! Where’s my stepmom?!”
He smiled behind the mask, slow and patient. “She paid me to help you. And I will.”
Then blood began pouring from his eyes, his nose, his mouth. His eyes went impossibly wide as he spoke again, his voice warped and wrong.
“And I’ll gut you and gut your child… just like your husband did to me.”
The scalpel pressed against her stomach.
Cold metal kissed skin.
She screamed.
Genesis jolted awake with a strangled gasp, drenched in sweat, chest heaving. The bedroom was dark except for the faint silver moonlight slipping through the curtains. Her hands flew to her stomach on instinct, fingers splaying protectively over the firm, rounded bump.
Still there. Safe. Alive.
She exhaled shakily, trying to slow her racing pulse. Just a dream. Just another goddamn nightmare.
Then….crack! crack! crack!
Gunshots.
Sharp, unmistakable, echoing from somewhere downstairs.
Genesis scrambled out of bed so fast she nearly tripped, bare feet slapping against the cold floor. She yanked the door open and ran toward the chaos rising from below, shouts, more gunfire, glass shattering.
Halfway down the stairs she almost collided with Revelation sprinting upward.
“We’re being attacked by bishop’s men!” she barked, eyes wild. “Go upstairs, now!”
She opened her mouth to argue, but Rev’s voice cracked like a whip.
“Go. For your baby.”
The words hit like ice water. She nodded once, sharply, and turned to race back up then froze.
“Where’s Daisy?” Her voice came out high and panicked.
Rev cursed under her breath. “Shit. I’ll go look for her. .”
“No…no!” Genesis cut in. “I remember, she went into Donald’s room last I saw. She must be there.”
“Okay, I’ll check ..”
“No.” Genesis’s tone hardened. “I’ll go in there. I’ll stay with them. I’ll keep them safe.”
Rev started to protest, but she stepped closer, eyes blazing.
“Give me a gun.”
She hesitated only a second before pulling a compact pistol from her waistband and pressing it into her palm.
“Go in there,” she said grimly, “and don’t come out.”
She nodded and bolted down the hallway.
She burst into Donald’s room. “Daisy? Father…?”
The words died in her throat.
Jimmy stood in the center of the room, tears carving clean tracks down his face. One arm wrapped tightly around Daisy, the little girl trembling and whimpering. His other hand pressed the muzzle of a gun hard against her temple.
Donald lay sprawled on the floor a few feet away, clutching his bleeding thigh, face pale and twisted in pain.
Genesis’s hand flew to her mouth, muffling a horrified sound.
Jimmy’s red-rimmed eyes locked on her. A broken, tear-soaked laugh escaped him.
“Tell me, Genesis,” he rasped, voice cracking, “what would you do… to feel the warmth of this child once more in your arms? What would you do to hold the people you love again?”
Daisy’s small voice broke through her sobs. “Lily…”
Genesis’s own tears spilled over. She raised the gun in shaking hands, aiming it at Jimmy’s chest.
He laughed again, raw, jagged, devastated.
“You killed my brother,” he whispered. “I don’t care about dying… as long as I take the people you love with me.”
“I didn’t kill your brother,” Genesis said quickly, desperately. “I haven’t even seen Mark. Please, let her go. She’s just a child.”
“NO!” Jimmy screamed, the sound ripping out of him. “He’s dead! He killed himself because of you!”
Genesis blinked, confusion crashing over the terror. She didn’t understand but it didn’t matter.
“Please,” she begged, lowering her gun slightly. “Please. Let her go. It’s me you want, right? So take me. Let her go.”
“No.” His finger tightened on the trigger. “I want you dead but I also want the people you love dead.”
Genesis’s scream tore out of her. “No, no please please, I’ll do anything!”
Jimmy’s tears fell faster, then he suddenly said. “I want to see my brother. Let me leave this place… and go see my brother.”
“Yes, yes, anything,” she whispered frantically. “Just don’t hurt her.”
“Then you walk ahead of us,” he said, voice trembling. “None of your people come near me.”
“Yes. Yes. Don’t hurt her.”
They moved, Genesis walking backward slowly, hands half-raised, eyes never leaving Daisy’s terrified face. Jimmy kept the gun pressed to the child’s head, using her small body as a shield.
When they reached the doorway, Revelation, Damon, Jaden, Rosie, the Angels, and several guards froze in the foyer, weapons raised.
“Please,” Genesis called, voice shaking. “No one comes close.”
She caught Damon’s eye in her peripheral vision. He gave one slow, tight nod, understanding.
Daisy, still clutched against Jimmy, spotted Elena near the doorway.
“Grandma…” she whimpered.
Elena lunged forward instinctively, Rosie caught her around the waist, holding her back with a whispered, “No, no, wait…”
Outside, beyond the gate, Zarina stood over a motionless body, Mark. Blood pooled beneath him.
She spun at the sound of footsteps, eyes widening in horror when she saw Jimmy emerge with Daisy as a human shield.
The moment Jimmy saw his brother’s body, something inside him shattered.
He released Daisy.
The little girl stumbled forward and Jimmy dropped to his knees beside Mark, dragging his brother’s lifeless form into his arms.
“No, no no no ..” His sobs were guttural, animalistic. “Mark, Mark I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, please, please wake up, I’m sorry…”
Daisy ran straight into Genesis’s arms. Genesis dropped to her knees and crushed the girl against her chest, both of them shaking.
Zarina raised her gun, finger on the trigger.
“No,” Genesis whispered hoarsely. “Zarina… no.”
Zarina hesitated, then slowly lowered the weapon, stepping back.
They watched in silence as Jimmy rocked his dead brother, tears and snot mixing on his face, whispering broken apologies over and over.
Sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder.
Jimmy finally looked up, eyes bloodshot and empty. He stood, swaying.
“You bitch,” he spat at Genesis, raising the gun toward her.
BANG
Zarina’s shot took him in the leg. He crumpled with a howl; the pistol clattered to the ground. She kicked it away just as police cruisers screeched towards the gate, lights flashing.
Fifteen minutes later
Jimmy sat handcuffed in the back of a squad car, leg hastily bandaged by the ambulance that had also been called for Donald, staring blankly ahead.
Genesis stood nearby, arms wrapped protectively around her belly, speaking quietly to the lead officer.
“The two of them came here angry, that their mother is in jail,” she said, voice steady despite everything. “One of them… seems to have killed himself. The other…” She glanced toward the car. “Well. He came into my home, shot my father-in-law, and took a child hostage. I think he needs a psych ward more than anything else right now.”
The officer nodded slowly, glancing at Jimmy who was now rocking slightly, muttering to himself.
“He’ll face charges, of course,” the officer said. “But yeah… we’ll make sure a full evaluation happens.”
They turned to leave.
Genesis looked through the car window. Jimmy’s gaze locked on hers.
She gave him the smallest, coldest smile.
He exploded, screaming, slamming his forehead against the window over and over again until he was bleeding, handcuffs rattling.
The officer sighed. “Yeah… definitely getting that psych eval.”
The door slammed shut.
Genesis turned away, one hand resting on her bump, the other still holding Daisy’s small, trembling fingers.
The night settled around them, sirens fading, chaos finally still.
“Finally,” she muttered.