Dauntless (The LockDown Series Book 2) (25 page)

The kill was far more important than the blood pumping through my veins, connecting me to my siblings, Joseph and to my mother.

“Yes, yes we fucking do Brandon and you know it. You said you were handling it but look at you, you stupid fuck, another fucking family member dead because of your arrogance and self-pity. Joe, that poor fucking boy, scared to death, unable to sleep properly without seeing it, without remembering his auntie’s face bleeding. If you had just listened to me to begin with, none of this would have bloody happened. Now, pull your head out of your arse, go and apologise to our brother and sort the last bits of our family we have remaining, or so help me god I will walk out of that fucking door and never speak to you again. And I will be taking the kid.” My heart calms a little in my chest, as I hear he is okay, that Joseph is unharmed.

I have never heard my baby sister so passionate. At twenty-three she is a force to be reckoned with now, she has always been so timid and shy; now I think I could use her on my team.

“Sort out this family? Are you for real Georgia? It’s because of that arsehole we’re ripped apart at the seams to begin with. Have you forgotten he’s the reason
OUR
parents are dead. God, you seriously are a naïve little bitch, if you think I’d even consider his help.” I hear the slap as it hits his face. I feel angry at the way he has spoken to my sister, and so fucking proud of her for sticking up for herself. She was always treated like a delicate little flower the whole of our childhood.

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that Brandon, who the fuck do you think you are? I stopped talking to my brother for you. You selfish prick. I didn’t even give him a chance to explain himself. I have lost five years with him and you will not stop me from seeing him ever again. Get your fucking arse out there and sort this out. At least give him a chance to tell us what happened. You have sat there for five years blaming him, but not once did you bother to see that it could have been our stupid fucking father’s fault. He’s the reason Leighton does what he does. Where do you think he learnt it from you fuck head?” God the girl is on fire, it is amazing to hear the passion and drive in her voice. I feel a pain inside my chest at the thought of the lost time with her. I have always cherished her, been close to her. She is my baby sister for fuck sake.

“What the fuck are you going on about Georgia? Dad would never do what Leighton does. He has always been fantastic to us, the best father we could ever have.” Brandon knows full well our father was a lying, cheating, dangerous man. He knows what it feels like to be at the end of his violent wrath. Fuck, he knows I’ve taken more than one hit for him to stop his tiny body from absorbing it. He is either delusional or in denial.

“FUCK. You are really fucking stupid. I’m the fucking youngest and even I have seen it. Did you not ever wonder how Leighton knew how to shoot at the age of bloody twelve? How dad even had a gun? No?” I chuckle at my sister, from my perch on the chair where my scotch warms me.

“For protection.” His anger is evident in the bite of his tone.

“Yes, because it’s legal for people to get guns in the UK. You are seriously fucking dumb Brandon. I can’t deal with this now, I have my brother out there, who I haven’t seen in five fucking years and I am going to go and give him a cuddle and tell him how much I have missed him, and how sorry I am that I let a silly fuck like you impair my fucking thoughts. If you kept your fucking nose out of the computer for long enough you’d have seen how dad worked and how he always brought trouble to our house, you dickhead.” I hear a glass clatter into the sink and the heels of my sister’s boots cross the landing back into the enormous drawing room of my childhood home.

I stand up when I see her tiny frame come into view. She is all of five foot in height, and seven stone nothing, but her newfound confidence and personality overpowers her size by a monstrous amount.

“Leighton,” she says when she sees me again, running into me. Her head only lines up with the underneath of my chest. I squeeze her hard, my arms wrapping around her and holding her close. Fuck, I feel the tears in my eyes approaching and I try my hardest to keep them at bay.

She was always there, always like a best friend to me. When I lost the most important person in my life she stood by me, kept me tall and proud, made me into a man I loved.

I hear her sobbing into my chest, her body shaking as she releases her hurt. “Shhh, George, it’s okay baby girl.” I lift one of my hands from around her back to wipe away my own tears. God, it hurts so much being here, the memory of my mother’s withering and dying body as I said goodbye to her and learnt the truth of Josie’s death.

“God, Leighton, fuck I’m so sorry I blamed you. I never once thought of how you were feeling. God I hate myself right now.” She continues to cry into my chest, her tears soaking my shirt.

“Shhh, let’s just forget it, flower.” I don’t blame her for blaming me. Neither of them knew the truth of what really happened. They both assumed that our father had died because of me, that someone I had fucked off was taking revenge. Neither of them knew I had actually killed our father myself.

“I can’t forget it Leighton, I can’t forget his bloody body, the screams as Brandon blamed you and you walked away. I can’t forget how I have sat here for five years and blamed you and made you feel so fucking worthless. I can’t forget how I abandoned my own brother when he was hurting just as fucking much at losing his parents.” She screams, frustrated into my chest, her fists punching repeatedly trying to release some of the anger she feels.

I don't feel sad at the loss of my father, he deserved everything he got. My mother on the other hand, the woman who had always protected me, brought me up and respected all my decisions. I mourn her loss every day, but also the loss of my own self. The day my mother left this world was the day I went with her, my spirit flying with hers as I let my humanity take a leap.

I pull her away from my chest, clasping her face in my palms and lifting her head to face me. “Georgia, you listen to me, and you listen to me good. I do not blame you for anything; there is nothing to be sorry for darling. You are my sister and I fucking love you so goddamn much it hurts babe and Brandon, Jesus the man is infuriating but I love him. I just want to put this shit behind us, let mum rest and be a family again. I want you do know my daughter and my fiancée.” Her face lights up at the mention of Melissa, then sadness covers it as she thinks of Joe. I know she is probably thinking I’m a selfish bastard, moving on and finding a new love, not coming back for the ones I already had.

“You’re a dad?” she asks me, her eyes sparkling behind the water sheet covering her irises.

“Yup, her name is Melissa, she is absolutely perfect. She is tiny, just like you were, but not as small as Joe was. She looks a lot like you and me. And Abigail, my fiancée, fuck the woman is amazing, you’d love her.” I stroke away a stray tear as it falls; I’m not sure if it is still from pain or if it is from happiness and memories.

“I’m so glad you’ve had someone there,” she says lowering her head in heartache. There hasn’t been anything I’ve regretted more in this world, than leaving my family behind, moving on and forgetting the things I already had.

“I’ve got some very close friends that have kept me strong, who have helped me out in dad’s business.” It was sick of me, but the day I drained my father of his fucking life, I took his business as well, taking his clients, his weapons, his resources, making them my own. Ant and I had been planning to make our own company for a long time, but it was perfect and almost a trophy to me, to take one that was already fucking successful, and has continued to be for the past five years.

“Antonio?” she asks me. The girl has always been like a bad smell around him. Since I have known Antonio, my little sister has been obsessed with him.

“What about Antonio?” I ask, wishing we weren’t venturing into this topic. I can still remember her teenage strops she threw every time I told her to steer clear of him.

“Well, how is he?” Her face is scarlett red, the blush spreading across her cheeks and throat.

“He’s awesome. Got a girlfriend, he’s godfather to my daughter. He’s built like a brick shit-house, covers my back in everything I do.” I try to elaborate on the whole girlfriend part, try and steer her away from the thoughts she is clearly having, when the smile etches on her face at his name.

“He’s never gonna want you Georgia, so fucking forget about it.” I hear Brandon shout from the kitchen down the hall, his voice echoing through the house.

“Stop being a fucking cock, Brandon.” I shout back at him, pissed at the attitude he has today, and fucked off at his tone with our sister.

I hear his footsteps in the hall as he walks towards us.

“Finally, he shows his face,” I say as I see him, his body powering towards me. He is angry, frustrated and hurt. I can see it all on his face. The death of our parents has fucked his head up something chronic, and I think in some ways he just wants someone to blame, someone to stop him feeling so fucking shit.

I deserved all the blame; I had completely driven this family apart by my desire to protect my mother. If I hadn’t caught James Lock fucking that bitch nine years ago, threatening him to stop, then my Josie wouldn’t be dead, my mother would have gotten the help she needed to fight her illness, and in some ways my dad would probably still be alive.

“You think you’re something special Leigh, think you’re fucking God? You are a worthless cunt, you got my dad killed and you, you can just go fuck off mate, coz I couldn’t give a shit about your existence.”

Georgia steps in front of me, her tiny body trying to block Brandon’s from mine. Her fist rears back and smashes into his cheekbone, a loud crunch permeating the air. “You just don’t give up, do you Brandon. How about you say sorry to your brother, love him like he deserves. Why do you always have to be like this. You have never ever sat and thought about how he coped on his own, without his family, without Josie and Joe. You haven’t sat and thought how it felt for him to sit with our mother for three months whilst she got weaker and weaker, Leighton at her beck and call, until her last fucking breath.” I can see the tears trickling off her chin as she’s caught in the middle of this battle.

I am struggling hard, I want to lay him the fuck out, knock some sense into him and then I want to hold him, to wrap my arms around him and feel him once more.

“MURDER GEORGIA, OUR FATHER’S MURDER, AND YOU’RE STICKING UP FOR THE FUCK WHO MADE IT HAPPEN,” he shouts at her, his face close to hers.

I step in front of her, getting into Brandon’s proximity, I can feel the waves of absolute rage rolling off
him. His eyes are black and aggressive.

“Sit down Brandon,” I command him.

He ignores me, trying to heighten himself to scare me. “I said, SIT the FUCK down NOW!” He cowers a little, drawing back into himself. I walk towards him causing him to step back. I carry on walking until he is in line with the sofa and then I place my hand on his shoulder and push him to sit down.

“Now, Brandon. You are going to sit there and you’re going to fucking listen to the truth. It’s going to hurt and most probably disgust you, but you are going to listen nevertheless. You are not going to talk until I am finished and you, if it’s the last thing I do for you, are going to drop this childish, petty façade you’ve got going on.” He nods, his fists tensed slightly.

“Now, I’m going to start at the beginning, the point that caused our father to lose his life.”

“You have five minutes Leighton, and then you’re gone. You understand?” he tells me once again, trying to act the big man.

“Our father was not the straight-laced, perfect husband/father you thought him to be. He was a criminal, a murderer and a fucking asshole. He fucked people over, killed them and left no trail behind. There were always other women in his life. He didn’t give a shit for our mother. He paid for her luxuries to keep her happy, but I knew, hell I caught the fucker more than once. How do you think he got most of his black eyes?”

“I don’t believe you,” he tells me, always the naïve little brat.

“That’s your problem, but I’m telling you the truth you fucktard.” I roll my eyes at his insolence. “Anyways, the last time it happened I caught him. I threatened to throw him out; I packed his stuff and left it on the doorstep. He threatened me back, told me if he came home to his stuff outside, I would pay.” I hear the breath Brandon inhales through his teeth.

“I just don’t get why he’d do it, Leigh, he loved mum.”

“He did once upon a time, but power changes a man. He became the animal most power-hungry men do. The man who would take and use anything he wanted to. He was a fucking asshole, Brandon; you were just too quiet and self-absorbed to see it. I’m glad in a way that you were so into your computers to even notice the wreck he was turning our family into.”

I saw his head lower in sadness, his childhood perfect family images ruined. “Brandon mate, look at me. I need to tell you the rest. I know you’ll hate me after, but at least you’ll know the truth.”

He nods slowly, still looking to the floor.

“I killed our father, Brandon,” I say aloud, hearing both of them gasp in shock. They have always believed it was my fault, but never thought it was actually me who took his life.

“WHAT THE FUCK!” my brother shouts, standing up and puffing his chest out.

“Sit down, let me finish,” I order him, standing myself up to make him cower.

“Our father got back at me, like he always promised he would. He got back at me by killing my fiancée, Brandon. He was the person who ripped Josie from me and nearly killed Joe in the process,” I bite out, needing him to hear me.

“What? No, he’d never do that, Leighton.” Brandon defends our father, whilst Georgia bursts into a violent flood of tears, her heartbreak evident. She had seen me at my worst and weakest, dragging me through it, to find out she had done so all because of our father. I knew she disliked him, even thought of his death herself, but I knew her finding out how bad of a person he was, has destroyed any trust she has in this world.