Beautifully Brutal (Southern Boy Mafia #1) (31 page)

Chapter Fifty-Two

Fuck.

(The only word that comes to mind.)

“Fuck!” Max yelled, shoving Leyton away. “Get the fuck off me.”

He was on his feet, scrambling to get Courtney while chaos ensued, people yelling, screaming, someone crying. The only thing he could focus on was her. She was on the ground, eyes closed, and he was sure his life had come to an end right there in his parents’ living room.

“No! Goddammit, no!” he roared, pulling her to him.

“Where’s she hit?” Leyton asked, moving in closer while Courtney’s father attempted to force Max away.

Max grabbed his gun and aimed it directly at Casper’s face. “Move back!”

A hand pulled at his arm, and he glanced down to see Courtney’s eyes open. She reached for the back of her head, rubbing as she looked around, seemingly confused.

“I’m not hit,” she said. “Someone pushed me.”

“Put the gun down!” RT barked.

All eyes turned to see…

Samuel was lying on the ground, blood pooling around him, his eyes closed. He was dead. There was no doubt about it based on the single bullet wound straight through the center of his forehead. Angelica had fallen to the floor, curled up in a ball as she sobbed uncontrollably. The last person Max gave a shit about was her.

“Fuck.” Max helped Courtney to her feet, holding her against him as he watched in horror as his mother held a gun to her own head.

“I’m sorry,” Genevieve cried softly.

“Genny, don’t do this,” Casper stated softly.

“I won’t go to jail,” she said, her green eyes shifting toward Casper. “I’ve spent my entire life in this prison. I won’t survive.”

“You won’t go to jail,” Casper assured her. “You’re finally free.”

Max couldn’t believe his ears. He glanced toward RT and Courtney’s two brothers. One nod from Casper and the three men turned and retreated from the house.

“Put the gun down, Genny. It’s over. It’s over, honey,” Casper pleaded, his tone calm.

“Please, Mom,” Ashlynn called out. “Put down the gun. It’s over. He’s dead.”

Max watched as Ashlynn slowly approached Genevieve, her voice soft as she continued to talk her down. A minute later, Casper had Genevieve’s gun in hand.

Victor and Madison were at her side, helping her into a chair.

Having lost at least ten years off his life, Max turned around and pulled Courtney into his arms. And that’s when he saw him.

“Fuck!”

Releasing Courtney, Max ran to Dane’s side. He was lying in the hallway, blood pooling around him. He’d been shot. His eyes were rolling back as he held his shoulder.

Voices grew louder as the others realized what had happened.

Courtney dropped to her knees beside him, slapping a cloth over the bullet wound on Dane’s upper arm.

“You crazy asshole,” she mumbled to him. “You’re the one who pushed me down. Why’d you go and do that?”

Dane smiled. It was weak, but it was a smile. “Boss woulda killed me if I didn’t protect you.”

Shit. Dane had taken a bullet. One that had been meant for Courtney.

“Rock! Victor! Clean up!” Max ordered, glancing over his shoulder at the others standing in the living room.

Leyton retrieved the gun from Casper’s hand, ordering Courtney’s father out of the house.

They had to get Samuel’s body out of there. They could only do so much to keep the police away, and a gunshot wound meant police. They had plenty of people in their pocket, but this would be the second cover-up, not something the good boys in blue were going to like doing.

Not that Max gave a shit. He’d do what needed to be done.

But with the Sniper 1 guys there, Max didn’t see this ending well.

“I said move out of the fuckin’ way.”

Max pulled his gun when Courtney’s brother pushed his way through. Aiming at Conner’s head, Max watched as the big man squatted beside Dane. Ignoring Dane’s echoing howl of pain, Conner ripped Dane’s T-shirt from collar to sleeve, then roughly turned him onto his side.

“It’s clean. Went straight through. He’ll live.”

Conner let Dane drop back to the floor.

“Mad, get the doctor over here,” Max demanded. “Rock, Victor, I still want that body out of here.”

They had to get the house cleaned up, and someone needed to deal with Genevieve.

Taking Courtney’s hand, he helped her to her feet, then crushed her body to his, burying his face in her neck. Her fingers slid into his hair as she held him. He would’ve never forgiven himself if something had happened to her.

When he managed to gather some semblance of control, he pulled back from her, cupping her face in his hands. “Are you all right?”

She nodded. Smiled. Then she pulled his head back down and whispered in his ear. “But I think Dane needs a raise.”

Max laughed, shocked by the sound. Everyone else appeared to be as well because all eyes turned to him. He ignored them. There’d be a lot of conversations taking place now that this was over, but for the moment, Max didn’t want to talk. He simply wanted to hold Courtney in his arms and never let her go.

Glancing across the room, he noticed Rock helping Angelica to her feet. In his hand… Holy hell. Rock was holding a gun… Was that the gun his mother had used to kill Samuel? What the hell was he…?

Right before his eyes, Rock took the gun and placed it in Angelica’s hand, placing her prints on the butt of the gun.

“If I had to guess,” Rock told her, “you’ll be walking outta here on your own. Just remember, if you decide to talk, decide to tell anyone anything about what you saw today, you’ll be the one the cops come for. Between you and me, orange ain’t gonna look good on you, neither.”

Angelica’s eyes widened as she stared up at the big enforcer who’d just done what no one had thought to do. He’d placed the murder weapon in Angelica’s hand, effectively arming them with something that was sure to keep her quiet going forward.

“He’s a smart one,” Courtney said softly, causing Max to peer down at her.

“That he is.”

“Maybe he needs a raise, too.”

Max smiled.

“Is your mother gonna be okay?” she asked.

Max looked over at Genevieve, who still appeared to be in shock. “Eventually,” he told Courtney. “Now that it’s over, I’m sure she’ll figure it all out eventually.”

At least he hoped that was the case.

Two hours later, Max was sitting at his mother’s dining room table with Genevieve. Courtney was in the kitchen making coffee for the three of them. Everyone else had left a short time ago, but Max hadn’t been ready to leave his mother alone. She was doing better, or so it seemed, but he was still worried about her. Enough that he intended to leave one of his enforcers there to keep a close eye on her, even though he knew she would try and refuse him.

“Here you go,” Courtney said softly, delivering Genevieve a steaming mug of coffee.

“Thank you, dear,” Genevieve responded politely.

Courtney disappeared and then returned with two more mugs before joining them both at the table.

“You don’t need to babysit me,” Genevieve stated, glancing from Max to Courtney. “I promise, I’ll be fine.”

“Will you?” Max questioned disbelievingly.

Genevieve’s gaze slid toward the doorway to the living room. There was no trace of what had happened earlier. Victor and Rock had cleaned the scene while Madison assisted. It wasn’t the first time they’d had to sanitize a room, so it hadn’t taken them long.

“Do you want me to handle the funeral preparations?” Max offered, watching his mother closely.

Genevieve simply nodded, her attention quickly turning to Courtney. “Your father looks well.”

“He told me that he knew you when y’all were kids,” Courtney prompted, clearly curious as to the story there.

Max knew that Courtney had heard her father’s version, and he’d heard Samuel’s, but as of yet, no one had heard Genevieve’s account of events. He was just as interested as Courtney was in understanding what had prompted her to stay with a man like Samuel for four decades.

“He feels guilty,” Courtney said when Genevieve didn’t respond.

Genevieve offered a small smile. “He shouldn’t. I never blamed him.”

“Maybe you should have,” Courtney replied.

Genevieve looked up, meeting Courtney’s gaze directly while Max studied the two women.

“No. It was never Casper’s fault. We were young. And I was definitely too young for him at the time. I knew when he went off to the military that he wouldn’t be coming back. Not for me, anyway.”

“According to him, that had been the plan,” Courtney interjected.

“Maybe in the beginning, sure,” Genevieve replied. “But my life had been mapped out for me long before that time would’ve ever come.” Genevieve looked away, her eyes clouding as though she were remembering that life. “My father didn’t make the best decisions. And then Samuel came into our world, and my father was scared. Actually, terrified was probably a better way to explain it. I remember talking to him after Samuel came to collect the debt the first time. He’d given my father one week to come up with the money. I knew that wasn’t possible. We didn’t have any money. My mother was already gone, and my father was still grieving, all those years later.

“Despite what Samuel believed, he didn’t bully my father into using me as payment for the debt. It was actually my idea. I knew how boys looked at me, and I’d seen that disgusting praise in Samuel’s eyes the first time I saw him. I told my father that he needed to offer me as payment, so he did.”

“Why would a father do that?” Courtney asked, anger apparent in her tone.

“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Genevieve explained, meeting Courtney’s gaze before glancing over at Max.

In that moment, Max saw all of the anguish he’d never seen before on his mother’s face. She’d spent forty years with a man she hated, but she’d followed through with her promise. She’d married him, had his children, and ultimately stayed by his side. The fact that she’d been the one to take his life was only fitting considering the hell she’d lived through because of him.

“My father tried to argue with me, but I played up the guilt. He was all I had. My mother died giving birth to me. I didn’t have any brothers or sisters, no aunts or uncles. My grandfather, Clyde’s father, wasn’t exactly the doting type. So, I refused to lose the only person who’d ever loved me.

“We played it off as though it were Clyde’s idea, which seemed to appease Samuel. I don’t know if it was the idea of taking a thirteen-year-old virgin that appealed to him or simply taking Clyde’s only daughter away, but either way, he agreed. In fact, he made a big spectacle of it all, and in the end, everyone believed Samuel had been the one to bully Clyde into handing over his only daughter.”

Courtney leaned forward. “What about my father? Did he know?”

“No,” Genevieve confirmed. “I didn’t want him to know. I made my father swear not to tell him. Casper deserved so much more than me,” Genevieve said sadly. “I used to use him as a way to piss off Samuel, telling him that Casper would come back for me although I knew that would never happen. Only because Casper didn’t know what had happened.”

“He suspected,” Courtney relayed.

“Of course he did. He knew my father and my grandfather, knew the types of people they were involved with because of their gambling problems. People like Samuel had been coming to the house plenty over the years. In fact, Casper was always the one to protect me from them. We’d hide out in his tree house until they left. Truth was, Casper was more like a big brother than anything else. Sure, I thought I loved him. I was young and he was handsome, charming, smart. And very protective. Casper is a good man.”

“Why’d you stay with him?” Max questioned.

“So he didn’t kill my father. He used to throw that in my face all the time, telling me he could off Clyde in a heartbeat. I was scared of him at first.”

“And then…?”

“I had always planned to leave him. The older I got, the more opportunity I thought I had. We’d been together for nearly thirteen years when I got pregnant with you,” Genevieve said, looking directly at Max. “I had been on birth control for a long time, hiding it from him. Then, I had some problems, and the doctor removed the implant and put me on the pills. I was twenty-six. I knew it wouldn’t be long before Samuel found them. He wanted me pregnant. When he discovered them, he…”

“He what?” Max asked, knowing what the answer was.

“He beat me. Then he threw away the pills. The next thing I knew, I was pregnant with you. After that, leaving him wasn’t an option. He stopped threatening to kill my father because he had something else to hold over my head.”

Genevieve glanced down at her mug.

“He started threatening to take you away from me. And then when Brent was born, it got worse. He told me if I ever left, he’d kill you both. At that point, I knew there was no way out.”

Silence filled the room. Courtney placed her hand on Genevieve’s. “I’m so sorry.”

“It was no one’s fault. Not your father’s, not my father’s. I made the choice to stay. And now…”