Valor

Chapter 36

*adding another chaoter today bc this is short!!

Kai

"Yeah," Mav says letting out a breath, "it is."

We're all silent for a moment looking down at the unconscious woman below us who less than 24 hours ago was smiling and laughing with us. Now, we have stab wounds and bullets in us that prove how royally we fucked up.

"I don't blame Lilah for going crazy I mean look at this shit," I say gesturing to the room around us, "this is insane. Whoever did this wanted Lilah to know and suffer."

We all look around the room with new eyes. It's not like we've never seen death before, and as for me, I have dealt with blood and guts so much that I'm immune to them.

Tell me why the blood in this room and the horror across it is affecting me then. Is it the fact that I had met Casey and knew how innocent she was? It is the fact that there is a recording playing in the background of her tears and the gunshot that killed her? Is it the copious amounts of blood splattered across every surface?

It sends a shiver down my back and for a moment, less than a second, my mind reels back to the death of my mother. It wasn't this graphic but she was an innocent as well. She didn't deserve that death the same way Casey didn't deserve this one.

"There's a note." Onyx says from the side of the bed. He's holding an envelope in his hands which are now covered in blood. He limps back to where we stand near Lilah's body, accepting Mav's hand for support.

"It's addressed to her." Mav says grabbing the envelope from Onyx's hands and holding it in his own.

"Let's open it." I say snatching it from his hands.

"We can't do that. This was obviously meant for Lilah and what if there's shit in there she doesn't want us to know!" Dame yells grabbing the envelope from my hands. He winces as his side strains.

"I think we're past that." Mav deadpans. He takes the letter from Dame who doesn't fight. By now the envelope is covered in handprints of our collective bloody hands. It feels eerie to have something so sinister be signed with our blood–it feels like we're damning ourselves by doing it.

Mav takes a deep breath and tears the envelope open, taking out a piece of white paper and folding it open.

"It's not nice to ignore messages, Lilah. I told you time was of the essence and you chose to ignore it. Best not to ignore my messages now.

I'll be seeing you soon. Signed Marco." Mav reads aloud to us. It's creepy as fuck is what it is and I'm so lost in thought at the fact that this asshole killed a little girl just to remind Lilah of her place. This is not the work of Brand's men and Lilah never really mentioned that someone else had it out for her. Of course she talked about her abuser, but there was never any evidence to suggest he was a part of this.

"Wait, Marco? As in Marco Graves?" Onyx asks, looking down at the letter.

"Why the fuck is Marco Graves after Lilah and what the hell did he mean by 'ignoring his messages." Dame grunts, leaning forward slightly to read the letter once more. I can tell by the looks of my brothers that we need to get out of here and to our doc, but none of us can move.

"Fuck." Onyx whispers under his breath, his face paling slightly. I would normally assume it's from the blood loss if we were in any other situation, but from what I can see on his maskless face: this is fear.

"What? What do you know?" I say through gritted teeth. If Onyx knew something and failed to mention it, then he will feel my wrath.

Dame, Mav, and Onyx share a glance which only serves to enrage my more.