Chapter 32

The last confession.

Micah

I’m reaching that street, blocking the voices in my head, blocking Hunter’s sharp words, and everything else that is distracting me from getting to that damn house. I have the image of Tahlia in my head, lying there in a pool of blood, beaten up and raped. No, I tell myself, she is not dead. There is still a chance, and I’m going to get her out of there. Vladimir showed up with some of his guys half an hour after we caught Kiki lying to us, just like that, out of the blue. Apparently he has been out of the country and didn’t like the fact that I failed to deliver on my promise. He was ready to put a bullet through my head.

I nearly lost it, told him that he hadn’t held to his end of our bargain, that he never gave me what I asked for, and that Asian dude in the warehouse knew jack shit. As it turned out, he was more cooperative this time around. He gave me the address and told me to get the job done, to finish the bastard. Josh has been drowning for some time now. He lost all his influence and most of his guys abandoned him when the police cracked his newly created gang in Braxton. This is my final chance to make him pay for everything he’s done.

Now I’m so close, so damn close to ripping her away from his hands. Hunter keeps talking about some sort of plan, but I’m breaking every speed limit, driving as fast as I can through London traffic. Every muscle in my body is tense. After what feels like forever I finally slam my foot to the brake when we reach our destination.

“This is it, the address. We need to think about our strategy—”

“Fuck the strategy. I’ll go through the front; you take the back door,” I cut Hunter off straight away, clenching my fingers around my gun. I gave Vladimir my word. I hope the old bastard isn’t about to screw me over, because I swear to God, I’m going to fucking kill him. This has been going on for too long now and I’m that close from losing my shit.

Hunter looks like he wants to argue, but I get out of the van, moving my eyes around the empty street. The terrace house in front is the one where the bastard is hiding. My heart pounds fast. I nod to Hunter to start moving, and for the first time he doesn’t question my judgment call. He disappears around the back, and I’m ready to barge inside without even thinking about what I’m doing.

Tahlia has been missing for more than three hours, and Vlad told me that either way Rudolf is finished. There is a high price for his head on the streets and the Russians want to claim the money. I approach the terrace house and then lose all sensibility, smashing the door with my foot. Inside, the smell of weed and sewage hits me instantly. A second later I hear a deep raspy voice.

“Feel that cock, feel how it’s going to rip you apart, you cunt?”

I storm inside, and my eyes adjust to the dark shaded room and smell of fresh blood. At first I think that I’m hallucinating, that there is something wrong with my vision. A man is hitting a naked girl underneath him, trying to force himself inside her. It’s Tahlia, and she is not even trying to fight him off. Am I already too late?

“Get off her, you son of a bitch, or I swear to god I’ll kill you on the spot,” I shout, aiming my gun at him, imagining his brains being splattered all over the wall. When he finally lifts his head, all my nightmares start crashing down on me like a plane cascades down hitting the ground. It’s Josh; it’s definitely him. I would recognise those deep blue diamond eyes anywhere. He is staring at me with absolutely no recognition at all, like I’m a stranger to him. His head is shaved and he’s bulked up over the years since our teens. Slowly his expression shifts—fury turns into a joy and curiosity. A huge disturbing smile breaks across his face.

“Stay away from this, Micah. The cunt is my cunt, and she’s always going to stay mine,” he says, looking directly at me.

Hunter storms into the room a moment later through the kitchen. His eyes fall on his ex-boss, then on my gun. He freezes on the spot.

“I’m not going to repeat myself, arsehole. I have nothing to lose, and a lot to gain. You will die today, one way or another,” I tell him, nodding to Hunter to move, to check upstairs for any signs of Tequila.  He moves past me and disappears quickly, without a word. Josh’s eyes never leave me.

My anger is so potent it tastes like blood in the back of my throat. All I have to do is press the trigger, but I’m thinking about Tahlia, wondering if she is going to survive this. She is barely moving now, covered with blood, spread on the floor underneath him. I can’t tell if she is wounded or if that’s his blood. Josh hesitates, but eventually lifts himself up. Blood runs down his groin, his damaged but semi hard dick hanging out of his trousers. This is the most disturbing shit that I have ever seen in my entire life. He is not the man that I used to know. Now he is just a murderer.

“You shouldn’t have come here, Micah. My guys will be storming through the doors before you know it,” he says, wobbling like he is unable to keep his balance.

I laugh, shaking my head, barely controlling myself. “You have no more leverage. Everyone has run away, left you all alone, so shut your fucking mouth and listen, because I’m ready to pull the trigger.”

He cocks his head to the side, like he is trying to stretch his muscles, not taking his eyes off me. We both hear some banging upstairs. I hope that Hunter found Tequila, that she is all right.

“You won’t kill me, Micah. We’ve been friends since we were kids. You’re like a brother to me.”

Anger begins to consume me, riding every breath and latching onto every cell in my body.

“Don’t you even dare to bring up the past. We were never brothers. You destroyed everything good when you murdered Steph, and when you hurt Tahlia. I don’t know how you manage to sleep at night. You’re a sadistic son of a bitch, a monster. Right now we are done. There is no one coming to your rescue. No one.”

He grins and looks down on Tahlia, like he still doesn’t get what is happening, that he lost. I can picture him with the bullet in his head, but that’s too easy. He doesn’t deserve to die like so easily.

A moment later Hunter comes downstairs, carrying Tequila in his arms.

“Oh dear, oh dear. My old friend Hunter is here with another whore. It’s good to see you, buddy,” Josh cheers, forgetting that Hunter was in the room with me a moment earlier.

“Micah, why the fuck is he still alive? Shoot the bastard. Finish him off,” Hunter says, spitting on the floor.

“Stay out of this, Hunter. I want this piece of shit to tell me first why he murdered Steph. Why did you have to hurt an innocent girl?” I ask through gritted teeth, thinking about ways I can make him suffer.

 “You pissed on our friendship; you forgot what I’d done for you for all those years, protecting you from the bullies in school. Besides, I wanted her for myself. I wanted to see what was so special about her silk wet—”

“So you fucking killed her because I was happy? You slit her throat because you couldn’t stand the fact that she chose me?” I cut him off, unable to listen to his cruel words. The memories of Steph are so vivid. “And then you thought that Tahlia was your pet, your slave? So you decided to abuse her, rape her continuously and then kept her in that hole so she kept her mouth shut?”

“She was just a whore, no one important. Her mother was one too. Besides, she was my possession, and I needed to keep myself entertained somehow. When I had Steph in that room that night … oh god, you should have seen her … she almost pissed herself when I showed and then she begged me to spare her life. I had fun, I was en–”

A split second later I’m ready to pull the trigger, to finally get justice for Steph and Tahlia, but then someone else beats me to it, firing the shot and killing the bastard on the spot. Time stops. All I see is Josh falling down on the floor, as the bullet goes straight through his brain, ending his miserable life forever. By the time his body hits the floor I know he is dead.

“Die, you mother fucker, this is for my little sister!” Kiki shrieks at him.

Kiki is standing at the door by the kitchen holding a gun. Her face is puffy, riddled with fury. The shock startles me. I take a step back, trying to get my head around this shit. I have no idea where she came from, but she killed Josh. 

By the time I get my bearings and walk up to him, I know that he is done. I glance at Kiki, who is still standing with her gun pointed at me. She stands frozen to the spot, shaking slightly as she processes what just happened. Her mouth is opened in a silent scream and her eyes well up with tears. I see in that moment how she was just as much his victim as the rest of us. I raise my hands and push my legs forward to walk up to her slowly.

“It’s okay, Kiki. You can  put it down. He’s dead now,” I say, not knowing what to do or what else to say. Her hands are shaking, and her eyes are wide, scary.

When I’m sure that Kiki is not going to shoot anyone else, I confiscate her gun and kneel over Tahlia, touching her, making sure that she is still alive. My hands are shaking and I’m praying to God for her to be all right. Hunter is talking to me, and Kiki is mumbling words, but I’m blocking them all. Tahlia looks so fragile, lying on the floor naked and abused. This whole thing is finally over. Josh is dead. The man that tormented and abused Tahlia is gone.

I lift Tahlia’s head gently and check the pulse, not paying attention to Kiki or anyone else—she must have followed us after Hunter and I left. There isn’t any other explanation as to why she is here.

 Tahlia’s pulse is faint, but it’s still there. My relief comes naturally, but I know this isn’t over yet. The police will want to know what happened, who killed the most wanted man in London, but that doesn’t matter for now. What matters is that Rudolf is gone from this world and he is never going to hurt Tahlia again.

***

12 months later.

Tahlia

The view outside is depressing, but as soon as I see snowflakes falling down from the sky everything changes. The white shiny layers of white fluff will cover the streets soon, transforming the landscape. I instantly know that today is going to be a good day.

Micah should be home soon. His train arrived at the station ten minutes ago. I had a few complex exams a couple of days ago, and it’s been a difficult and exhausting week. On top of that, Tequila has been nagging me to go away with her to Scotland. She keeps saying that she needs to recharge her batteries and I’m due to have a proper break.

A moment later I spot Micah. He appears around the corner of the building, walking towards the house. He notices me standing by the window and waves. Sometimes I still can’t quite believe that we are finally together, that we were given this amazing opportunity to start over.

On that terrible day, the last time I saw the rat, I woke up disoriented and drowsy in the hospital several hours after Kiki shot Josh. I remembered every detail from that afternoon, every punch and every vile word that came out of Josh’s mouth. My ribs and jaw were broken, and I had deep cuts all over my arms, but the doctors managed to stop the internal bleeding. Tequila was there too and when she broke the news to me that Josh was dead, I instantly felt better. Her face was all swollen and red. She told me that someone must have called the police when Kiki fired a shot. Micah was arrested, along with Hunter and Kiki. I had no idea if any of them were going to get charged with Josh’s murder. After all, it was Kiki that shot him, a girl that ran away from a mental hospital and betrayed us all, her new family. A day later Hunter and Micah were released. The detectives found a video upstairs in one of the bedrooms. Josh was planning to record everything that happened that afternoon, all the abuse that he put me through.

Days later, we found out that Josh had come back to London alone, without his people. Apparently the police had torn apart his newly created gang in Braxton and he had to flee the scene. It took him weeks to reconnect with some of his old friends, and put his final plan into motion. He had Kiki’s little sister and she had no choice but to point him in my direction. That was how his men found out about Tequila’s house.

Micah was determined to avoid prison, so he made a deal with the police, with his ex-boss, Superintendent Clarke. He promised not to go to the press and create a scandal. There was a lot that he could have talked about. After all, he made a decision to walk away from his career as a detective. The fact that Rudolf faked his death, and that very highly placed police officers were in his pocket might have jeopardised the work of the whole department. In exchange, the police agreed to drop any pending charges against him.

I hear the door and several moments later Micah walks into our small flat that we have been sharing together since October this year. Once I recovered from all my injuries and this whole thing was behind us, we both decided to go back to Braxton. I was anxious to finish my degree in psychology, to get back to the life I’d begun as Tahlia Sanderson. Micah, on the other hand, was lost. His life as a detective was over, and after spending his adult life working for the police, he needed to reevaluate his options. Josh had paid the ultimate price for his crimes. He was lucky that his death was quick and he never had to suffer like I had.

Once the investigation was shut down, Micah went to London, to visit Steph’s parents. They needed to know what happened to Steph eight years ago so they could find closure after the loss of their beloved daughter.

Then we began our new life, away from London and everything that was wrong with our old lives. It took a while to heal the emotional and physical scars. The nightmares about that day kept coming back, but we worked through them, attended therapy together.

Micah was headhunted by one of the top agencies in the country, and after some time he managed to secure a forensics technician position in London. He stayed in the city during the week, and on the weekends he travelled back to Braxton. Tequila decided to take some time off. She went away travelling for a few months alone. We haven’t heard back from Hunter since he was arrested along with Micah. Eventually Tequila stopped talking about him and went back to her old life.

“Hey, gorgeous, it looks like you missed me?” Micah whispers when I throw myself into his arms as soon as he walks through the door. His lips cover mine and we stay wrapped around each other until we are both out of breath, lost in a moment of passion. He is back and this time he’s staying for a bit longer than just a weekend.

“Yes, I’ve been counting the minutes until I would see you,” I reply looking at him.

For a long time neither of us believed that we could get past what happened. We lost our family, our new friends and years of normality. For some reason I understood Kiki. Her sister was ripped away from her and she was pushed to pull that damn trigger. I don’t know how this whole thing would have ended otherwise, if she hadn’t followed Micah and Hunter all the way.

“Good. I would be upset if you didn’t miss such an awesome guy like me,” he whispers in my ear, kissing my cheek. I laugh and smack him playfully. “You have a few hours to get ready. We are going out this evening to celebrate.”

“Celebrate what?”

“Us, life, the fact that my boss thinks that I’m hot. Rogers and Lisa are joining us, so make sure you wear something really special tonight,” he adds, winking at me. I look at him slightly confused and let the comment about his boss slide.

We haven’t socialised with anyone since we settled back in Braxton and this is the first time that he even mentioned Rogers and Lisa. Micah wanted to start over completely and I knew that he owed a lot to his old partner, who wasn’t planning to keep his distance. Lisa had stopped over a few times, but Micah always gave her some lame excuse not to go over to see them. It was like he was afraid to get back to his old life.

“Rogers and his wife? Are we seriously going out for dinner with them?” I ask, stunned.

“Yes, Tahlia, that’s what is happening. We all are having dinner together tonight,” he snaps back, irritated.

“All right, hot shot, I’ll be ready soon, but first I need to take a shower,” I say, pulling away from him. I start counting—five, four …

“You’re such a tease,” he mutters, bringing my body closer. I know him better than he knows himself now.

I laugh. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, darling.”

“You know exactly what the phrase “taking a shower” does to me. We have a lot to catch up on, and we are starting just about now,” he says, lifting me up and carrying me towards the bedroom.

“Okay, okay, I get your point, but you need to put me down for a second, because I need to tell you something,” I say, touching his face with my palm, letting him know that I’m serious. He frowns but puts me down.

“Hmm, I don’t know if I should be scared or happy when you say serious shit like that,” he mutters. We are standing in the corridor between the bedroom and living room. I take a deep breath, trying not to make a big deal out of what I’m just about to say.

“I want to start looking for my siblings, Micah. We were separated almost nine years ago. I think I’m ready to look for them. I need to know if they had a better life after … after they were taken away.”

Micah watches me for a really long time without saying anything. His expression softens. He grabs my hand and brings it to his lips, kissing my knuckles softly.

“Of course, we will look for them together. I haven’t even realised how hard it must have been for you not knowing what happened to them,” he says, and I nod.

I have been thinking about my brother and sisters for a while now, even the memories about my crack addict mother slipped in sometimes. She was a toxic person, but she did give birth to me. I feel like I owe it to them to at least try to find them. Now I’m happy enough to dig out that other part of my life.

“There is one more thing,” I say slowly. Micah raises his left eyebrow.

“Anything for you.”

“Your parents, Micah, have you … I mean have you considered forgiving them?” I ask gently, knowing that Micah hates bringing up his difficult childhood. Since our time together in Braxton, he never mentioned his parents again. We have talked about them during the therapy, but we never sat down alone and discussed how his life was impacted by the choices that they made, about how much they hurt him.

He sighs loudly but doesn’t let go of my hand. The raw pain fills his eyes. After Josh’s death, we promised each other that we wouldn’t talk about the past until we were both ready and now I truly believe that he is finally ready to forgive them.

“I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it,” he says, looking away.

“But … will you consider it at least?”

There is a long pause, and my heart swells in my chest. When he finally replies, his answer is surprising. “I’ll do anything for you, but first you need to let me make love to you. It’s been too long. After that we can talk about whatever you want, even serious shit like that,” he says and lifts me again, switching back to being that playful hot shot Micah.

When he throws me on the bed and starts taking his clothes off, I stop thinking about his parents, Josh, and the past and concentrate on that determined look on his face. Sudden joy and love fill my heart. Micah Thomson is mine, and there is nothing else stopping us from being happy, being us.

“I love you, hot shot,” I say, standing up, lifting my arms, so he can remove my T-shirt. He winks at me and throws his shirt over my head instead.

“I know, gorgeous, I always knew.”

The end