Chapter 03

Title: No Other Lover (part 3/3)
Summary: Anger, resentment, guilt… the perfect mixture to create a lethal cocktail called Rekindling.
Pairing: Saul Peterson/Lily Hades – OCs
Fandom: Original Characters from FiveM roleplay.
Rating: Mature
Word Count: 13650 words

WARNING: Darkness, torture. With a happy ending. Like… I go a little bit crazy in here, okay. This is your warning for blood and electricity.

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“You need to stop.”

“One Reaper a day keeps the insanity at bay,” Lily grinned as she rolled into Saul’s arms. It was 3 am, and Lily had just kicked another Reaper off the dam. “All their babies are gone. We now only have to deal with the OGs. You can pick a fight with them and go to war.”

“Do you think we’re ready for that?”

Lily trailed her finger over Saul’s naked form and wrapped her legs over his. “Everyone’s improving,” she noted as she nuzzled his neck. “We can always do a paintball war for practice and play dirty.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Saul let out a content sigh as he ran his finger up and down her back. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For playing along with you being an enforcer and helping everyone get in shape, for some reason nobody wants to listen to me, Nikky or Steele.”

Lily barked out a laugh as she continued nuzzling his neck. “That’s because they know that you guys like to fool around, and I haven’t shown them that side of me yet. I’m the mean one who will shoot someone if they don’t listen to me,” she trailed her finger down Saul’s waist, down to his inner thigh. “I’m the scary one.”

“You’re not scary at all,” Saul drew circles on her back with his finger. “Especially under my hands…”

She brushed her thumb over his cock while she continued to draw circles on his inner thigh. Lily hummed against his neck as she continued to play. Saul was so easy to get aroused, and she was going to drive him insane. She moved her fingers up to his lower stomach and gently pressed down while drawing tiny circles.

“Lily.”

“Saul,” she smiled against his neck.

“What are you doing?” He asked playfully, still drawing circles on her back with his finger.

Lily hummed as she repositioned herself, now laying half on top of him, straddling his leg. She used her weight to press herself down on him and stretched. Lily reached up and ran a finger over the outside of his ear. “What does it look like?”

“You worked so hard today,” Saul had a goofy smile on his face. “It should be me who… Hey, you want to play?”

“We are,” Lily purred, squeezing his leg between her thighs. “Aren’t you enjoying yourself?”

“We can play in the room next door…” Saul suggested as his hand traveled down her back to her ass and squeezed it. “I know you like to be tied up…”

Lily froze and stopped playing with his ear. “No…”

“No?”

Lily let out a breath and rolled off of Saul after reaching for the joint on his nightstand and lit the joint. “No.”

Saul sat up with a worried look on his face. “What’s going on?”

She took a few hits from the joint and passed it to Saul. “It’s silly.”

“It made you freeze up and say ‘no’, it’s not silly,” he assured her as he took a hit from the joint. “What is it? You don’t feel safe with me?”

“I do,” she smiled at him. “I’m always safe with you.”

“But?” He handed her the joint back. “Are you scared I’ll hurt you? You know I wouldn’t hurt you like that. You’re safe with me.”

Lily sighed as she took a few more hits, feeling the weed taking hold. “Saul, I want to play. But I don’t want just to play. I want to…” She sighed again; Lily could feel the heat rise in her cheeks out of embarrassment. “I can’t do this; it sounds stupid.”

He pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “Do you trust me?”

“Of course,” she felt safe in his arms as she continued to smoke her joint. Lily put her head against his shoulder. “With every fiber in my being.”

Saul inhaled her scent. “Oh, I know what’s going on,” he smiled into her hair as he caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. “You’re afraid that if we play… you’re going to get hurt. Baby, I will never hurt you again, not without your consent, you know that.” Saul kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer.

Lily liked being held like this. Her naked skin against his, his strong arms locking her in, and his breathing soothing her. She passed the joint back to him and closed her eyes, listening to his breathing. “I want it too bad. I need it too bad,” she eventually said in a soft voice.

“Okay,” Saul replied in the same tone of voice that Lily had used. “Why?” When Lily didn’t respond, he nuzzled her neck. “Lily, tell me why.” He knew why. He’d always known why, but she needed to tell him. That’s how things worked. His own need was the opposite of what she needed, and he had always believed that they could have such a healthy relationship with a great dynamic.

“I’m good at being in charge and taking the lead… torture…”

“And you’re very good at that,” Saul kept nuzzling her neck. “You pulled everyone in the Dukes together and trained them well. They follow you blindly, and that makes me so proud of you,” he continued as her body continued to heat up. “And the way you take your time with those baby Reapers… Works of art.”

“I know.”

“Can’t be easy.” Although Saul noted in his head, it did make for some really good sex. “How do you deal with that?”

She looked up at him and rolled her eyes.

“Don’t roll your eyes at me,” he said amused. “Use your words.”

“Sex. But it’s not enough. I… I need no need. I want… no want. I want to feel so intensely that it’ll drown out everything I’m feeling,” Lily took one of his hands and toyed with his fingers to avoid wiggling around. “I need no control but to be controlled. Not just wild and amazing sex.”

“There you go,” Saul kissed the top of her head. “Good job,” he praised her with a smile on his face. “Now… it’s late, so we’re going to sleep. Tomorrow, you’re going to write me a list of what you don’t want me to do and write down your safe word if you want to use one. We’ll talk about that list when you’re done, okay?”

“Really?”

“Of course,” he pulled her down to the bed and continued to hold her close as he covered them up. “To be honest, I never thought that that room was going to get used anymore,” Saul let out a laugh. “I had it built with us in mind, like… I paid someone to design it with stuff that we’d spoken about when I was away…”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, baby,” Saul whispered. “It’s all good now, and I know it was hard for you to tell me this, which is my fault, so thank you.”

Lily smiled as she pulled his arm closer and closed her eyes. She was so tired, but she felt relieved and lighter. Her day couldn’t have ended better. “I love you,” she yawned.

“I love you too,” Saul replied in a calm voice. “Go to sleep.”

The paintball attack was fun, and it was clear that the new Dukes would do just fine in times of war. They had found roofs in the street where they could hide, one of which was next to the orange house belonging to Saul. It had a flat roof, and while the orange house obscured some of the street, there was a pretty decent view from all sides of the canals.

Jumping off the roof, however, hurt like a bitch.

The Reaper killings had escaped no one’s attention. The cops were finally doing their jobs and investigating, and other gangs were now looking out for the Reapers. Which was a tremendous change, and one that Lily hadn’t anticipated, but once the Reapers would start robbing them again, she was sure that that support was going to go as soon as it came.

However, with the dwindling numbers of the Reapers and the Dukes getting more organized and assertive, Lily had seen far too many Reaper cars around the canals, and she didn’t like it. They had clearly watched her train the Dukes. For the sake of fooling the Reapers, Saul was usually high during the day or pretended to be, and Lily left the Reapers alone for now.

The Dukes were instructed to always travel in pairs when running drugs or guns, preferably with another vehicle with an additional two individuals. Work smarter.

“I need you guys to set up a meeting with Rick,” Lily said as she walked in on the meeting Saul was having with Nikky and Steele. “As you know, our fearless leaders,” she took a swig of the bottle of whiskey she walked in with. “Ask him why the fuck he’s having his minions watch us.”

“But you watch them.”

“Without them knowing,” Lily pointed out as she took another swig. “This is pissing me off. I mean… I can do something about it right now, but that will likely end up in war.”

“Will we survive another war?” Steele asked annoyed. While Jenny had been doing a great job of taking care of all the Dukes, there was something about her that he didn’t trust. But Saul did. And Saul was usually an idiot. There was a reason enforcers weren’t allowed to join the meetings anymore. And that was Jenny.

“Yes… but…”

“This is our turf. Protect it,” Steele replied with a shrug. “Send them a message. We’ve been hiding too long.”

“Hell yeah, war!” Nikky agreed. “It’s your job to make sure we’re protected, right?”

Lily looked at Saul to see what he thought, and he just shrugged. “What’s that shrug for?”

“Let them watch,” Saul eventually said as he snatched the bottle of alcohol from Lily. “They just want to get on our nerves. You’re too high-strung, Jenny. Relax.”

Lily scoffed as she snatched her bottle back and left the room in search of muskets. She was going to put the best snipers on the roofs, just in case, and then she was going to watch the watchers. Take pictures of every Reaper left and then post on her shit account who her next target was going to be, but choose someone else instead. Yes. Good plan.

Even though the idea was to leave the Reapers alone for a bit.

To have them watch the canals was too unnerving.

She grabbed a few muskets and headed outside, passing them out. “Head to the roofs. If Reapers come close, shoot their tires as a warning,” she ordered before pulling Pablo with her. “Let’s go. We’re going to get more guns.”

“More guns?” Pablo stammered as he followed his superior. “Don’t we have enough?”

Lily smirked as she pulled her car out of the garage. “Can’t ever have enough guns,” she replied as she started the car after Pablo got in and drove off to the nearest black market. However, she noticed they were being followed by a black Sultan, with at least two people wearing all black. “Hey, radio over that we’re being followed, and keep them up to date as to where we are while I try to lose them.”

“Your driving sucks. We’re not going to survive,” Pablo muttered before pulling out his radio and doing as he was told.

Lily stepped on the gas and headed straight for the storm drains, raced through them, and made the jump back onto the highway, the car still following them with ease. Cursing, she drove towards Fudge Lane and the oil fields, trying to shake them as she went onto the freeway heading to Sandy. “Please tell me someone’s coming.”

“Yeah, but Saul’s driving.”

Lily cursed as she hit the dirt road leading to the dam. “You know how to swim, right?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, good. Listen… I’m going to yeet this car into the water, dive as deep as you can, and swim as far away as possible. Split up.”

“We can take them though…” Pablo said as he held on to the handles above the door as Lily drove like a bat out of hell. “Surely we can. Just stall long enough for backup to arrive. You’re a better driver than Saul. They’re currently in Vinewood and heading our way. Keep driving.”

Lily saw another black car on top of the dam and hit the brakes, hard, turning around and driving in the opposite direction, causing the black car that had been following them to swerve off to the left and broke the fencing on their way into the water. She let out a chuckle and continued to drive back to the highway before another black vehicle, a 6×6, came around the corner and impacted the driver’s side, causing Lily’s car to roll multiple times.

And then the world went dark.

Lily slowly came to in a dimly lit room, or she believed it to be a room, it looked like a room, but then again, her vision was kind of blurry. She tried to focus on the nearest wall. Not a room. Maybe a warehouse.

She couldn’t move. They had tied her wrists to the metal chair she was sitting on, her ankles too, but wrapped around the legs of the chair so she couldn’t move them. Her body was tied to the back of the chair. Lily was strapped in and groggy. Likely a concussion, but she couldn’t quite remember what happened.

Lily couldn’t see any windows, nor a door, no matter how hard she tried to focus. Her ribs hurt. Breathing was hard, but she made it a point to steady her breathing.

She’d been in more challenging spots.

Lily wasn’t sure for how long she’d been tied to the chair and how long she’d been feeling her chest burn from breathing, but at some point, a large metal door opened, followed by the shadow of a male entering. The light behind him dimmed when the door closed again.

“Well, well, well,” it was Sully. Lily could hear his footsteps approach, and he eventually came fully into her vision. “Y’know, I heard whispers. My boys told me dat a bird was training de Dukes up to become scutty. I didn’t believe it.”

“Hi. That’s me.”

“I did not appreciate yous taking Femke away like dat, either,” he continued as he circled the chair. “Although I would have done the same if I wuz in yer position. Can’t have de boss’ missus canoodling with de enemy.”

Lily hated the Scouse accent, although fortunately, Sully was still pretty much understandable. “It had to be done.”

“I don’t disagree with dat,” Sully replied. “If anything, yous have done me a faver. Femke is stubborn. I’m made-up that the divorce went through dat fast.”

Saul hadn’t told Lily that yet. Strike one. Lily shrugged. “What do you want?”

“To send yer boss a message.”

“Ah.”

Sully picked something up from a table nearby. “Tell me, Jenny, are yous Saul’s new bird?”

“Yeah right,” Lily scoffed, and then a big smile appeared on her face. She was fearless; nothing scared her other than losing Saul again. “What do you have there, Dully?” She asked perkily and tried to see what he was holding. Likely a knife.

Lily winced when Sully’s fist connected with her cheek, and she felt something crack in her face. She felt how that side of her face burned and spat out some blood. She barked out a laugh. “Is it that easy to piss you off?”

Sully pressed a blade against her neck, and Lily felt all giddy. She’d been right. He had grabbed a knife. So predictable. “Are yous Saul’s new bird?” He repeated, and trailed the tip of the blade up to her ear. Lily liked knives.

“Why do you want to know this so bad? Is Femke not enough for you?” Lily quipped, earning a piece of hair being sliced off. Sharp knife. Nice. “Oh, thanks, I needed a haircut!” Sully was so easy to piss off. Another punch to her face. Something was definitely broken now. And another, which was followed by a punch to her torso. Lily let out a yelp in surprise, it hurt like hell, and she had not expected that as he was so focused on her face. Her breathing had gotten upset, and she was trying to get her breathing back under control.

“Answer da bloody question!”

“The answer is no,” Lily spat out some more blood as she tried to get out of her restraints, but everything was so tightly bound that she still couldn’t move. “You may want to pace yourself, though, get your emotions under control if you want to last me a while.”

“Shut it.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be the big bad Sully Hunter? Everyone’s afraid of you, but I don’t see why, really.” Lily felt some blood trickle down her chin and spat out some more blood.

“Shut it.”

She flashed him a big smile. “The Big Bad Sully Hunter made a rookie mistake by not gagging the person he wants to hurt.” Without warning, Sully drove the knife into her shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain and try to get away from it but couldn’t. The knife went in like butter, and she couldn’t feel him pulling it out, so it was likely still in there. The pain definitely woke her up.

“Look what yous made me do,” Sully sighed as he angrily walked away from the chair. “Now I need to get yous some help!”

Lily barked out a laugh and cursed when the door closed and whimpered. Fuck, it hurt. She wasn’t sure what Sully wanted from her because she wouldn’t give him any information. The worst thing that Sully could do to her was kill her. And then… and then he’d have an issue with Saul. Or… Saúl, rather.

But thinking about Saul hurt, and it made her feel weak. She needed to put that aside otherwise, Sully would get the satisfaction of being able to break Lily. Lily didn’t break. She only broke in the comforts of her home. In the comforts of her mind. With Saul.

Fuck.

The knife hurt. It didn’t feel like the knife had hit anything bad, but Lily was really uncomfortable. But it was interesting to find out that Sully wasn’t the big bad wolf after all. At least not with kidnapping and torture. Sully had always impressed Lily, but then again, most of his reputation came from word of mouth. And you never knew who was lying or not.

Breathe.

She needed to untangle her ankles, and it wouldn’t be hard to do. It was merely going to hurt. Lily tried to rock the chair over to the side and managed eventually, keeping an ear out for the door. She fell sideways on the cold floor, fortunately right side down and not the side that had the knife sticking inside of her shoulder, but she could feel the blade shake inside her body. She shifted a little and slid one leg down so that she could free herself from the chair pole.

It was then easy to do the next one and slide her back off of the chair as well, but since she couldn’t free her wrists, she would use it as a weapon. It paid to be limber. However, she knew she was definitely concussed when she rose to her feet, and the world spun in and out of focus. Lily stumbled and fell back flat on her ass.

If only she weren’t concussed…

When the door opened, she squinted to see Sully’s form enter, followed by a female with a big bag. “Really?” Lily laughed mockingly. “You bring your new girlfriend?”

“Shut it,” Sully said as he untangled Lily from the chair and simply bound her ankles and her wrists behind her back, running another rope between the ankles and wrists.

“Kinky,” Lily replied as she moved in her restraints. “You know… if you want to have your go with me… all you needed to do was ask…” Lily winked before looking at Femke. “Your new boyfriend wants to have sex with me.”

Sully picked her up and put her back down against the wall, shifting her a little so that Femke had easier access to the knife in the shoulder. He grabbed a bandana from his pocket and gagged her. “Shut it,” he said again. “Go ahead, Fem; she won’t be much trouble.”

Femke squatted down in front of Lily and sighed. “I need some light,” she said as she tossed Sully a flashlight. “You know, I don’t agree with this,” Femke continued as light illuminated Lily’s face and body. “Jesus Christ, Sully,” she said as she looked at the knife and the surrounding wound. “She needs the hospital, not me.”

“Nah hospital, love, Jenny will be fine.”

Lily winced when Femke used a penlight in her eyes. Definitely concussed, and Femke was visibly disturbed by the state Lily was in, which was interesting. Sully showed his bad side to Femke, and Lily didn’t think that Femke knew about this side of Sully much. A lot seemed to miss Femke’s attention.

Lily let out a whine when Femke carefully touched her on her cheek. She’d forgotten about that one. Her body shivered. Lily told herself not to go into shock. She hadn’t had that much blood loss yet. She could take it.

“How’s the shoulder, Jenny? Does it hurt?”

Lily shook her head.

“You need to be honest with me.”

Lily shook her head again.

Femke turned to Sully. “This can get me to lose my job. If she survives and talks to my boss.”

“Yous will be sound, just patch her up,” Sully shrugged.

Femke grabbed a vial and syringe from her bag and filled it up with the estimated amount needed. “Jenny, I’m going to have to make you go to sleep, okay? I can’t have you writhe in pain while I work on you because I’m not a doctor, and I’m not sure if my hand can be as steady as it needs to be.”

Lily rolled her eyes. Death by Femke. Saul would love that.

“I just really don’t feel comfortable making you go to sleep because I think you have a concussion from the car crash…”

Ah, so that was the missing link. Lily had been in a car crash. That explained why she was currently in Sully’s custody. Lily shrugged instead.

“Okay,” Femke cleaned a part of Lily’s arm and injected the solution into Lily’s arm. “Don’t worry, I’ll deal with him after I’m done,” Femke whispered in Lily’s ear and squeezed Lily’s arm reassuringly. “He prides himself in not hurting women.”

Lily could feel herself slip away as if she was being pulled underwater, and she tried to fight it but couldn’t.

She woke up with the worst headache since a long while and found herself strapped down on another chair, better tied this time. She was gagged. There were some wires attached to her arms, like hospital patches for wires, and Lily tried to focus on where they were going to, but she couldn’t find it.

Lily had difficulties focusing on anything if she were to be honest. She was hungry. Thirsty. And sitting on something wet. Would Saul be looking for her anyway? Surely he was going to look for her, right? She meant something to him. They had spoken about it all. Yeah, Lily was confident that Saul was going to find her, eventually.

But she had to forget about him if she were to survive. Because she wasn’t supposed to have a weakness. Weaknesses made you weak, especially in situations like these. If Lily would show Sully that she was weak, he could do a lot more damage.

Lily wasn’t sure for how long she was by herself. There was still barely any light coming in. She also wasn’t sure if it had just been morphine that Femke had given her, but for now, Lily was comfortable with not hurting too much.

She tried to focus on sounds that she was hearing from outside, but she heard nothing. Not even a boat or birds or cars. Lily wasn’t sure if there was a building that far away from civilization, at least not this big, so wherever they were, it was soundproof. And a big building like this, it must have cost a fortune. Which means that there was likely a paper trail, and she would be found easily, right?

Right.

Lily wondered if Sully knew that taking her would likely cause another war. And if he did, he was stupid because the Reapers were going to lose. She trained the Dukes boys well and they were dependable and smart. The remaining Reapers were definitely in for a surprise if there’d be a war.

There was no use to being hyper-vigilant right now; it was quiet, she couldn’t move, and all she could do was wait for what was going to happen next. And she still hadn’t figured out what the extra wires were for.

She wondered if Saul would love to see her tied up like this. Ready for him to do with her, whatever, and Lily would enjoy it. She couldn’t wait to feel his hands on her skin or hear his voice. To tell her that she was a good girl. Yes, he would definitely love to see her like this, perhaps less bloody and hurt.

She smiled at the thought of that. But she had to forget about it because it made her soft. Weak. But Lily could see the future and hang on to it. Just for a bit. But not too much, because while she didn’t know for how long she’d been away from Saul, Lily felt as if she was missing a limb.

If she could, she would have hit herself in the face. Lily had to stop.

She had to stop.

Lily focused on her breathing. Trying to level it out, calm herself and collected. In one piece. Banish Saul from her mind as the thought of her like this, and him, made her horny.

The door opened and Sully’s outline appeared in the door. There was daylight outside. Which was good, but she wasn’t sure what day. Lily glared at him as he closed the door and strolled towards her. “Yer awake, good,” he noted as he pulled a chair over to her and sat down with a little box in his hands. “I do apologize about what happened the other day, I took things too far.”

She narrowed her eyes on Sully and then shrugged with her good shoulder.

“Yer phone is broken and yous don’t save anything to yer card.”

Good. Lily had saved all of her kills to her phone, not to mention she was still logged into that Twitter account too. And god forbid Sully would see the old messages between him and her. That would have been awkward.

“But we found items in yer car that belonged to some of me boys who are now dead.”

Fuck.

“Did yous kill them?”

Lily shook her head, and before she knew it she felt electricity course through her veins, her muscles seizing and her body straining against her bonds. There was a sound in her throat that sounded like a scream, but nothing came out of her mouth because of the gag. Well, at least she now knew why she was wired. It felt as if the wires were digging into her skin. Her body stopped being rigid after Sully turned off the electricity and melted back into her chair, trying to catch her breath again.

“Try again,” Sully said calmly after Lily had somewhat recovered. “Did yous kill them?”

Why would she tell him the truth? It wasn’t as if he didn’t already suspect, perhaps knew. Why would Lily give Sully the satisfaction of confirming it? She shook her head again and before she knew it, her body was seizing again. She tried to get away but her restraints were cutting into her skin. Lily tried not to scream, but couldn’t hold it in. Her head felt like it was exploding, and if Femke had stitched her up, Lily was pretty sure that her stitches had ripped.

Lily couldn’t breathe, everything hurt, her body felt as if it was on fire. She tried screaming to make it stop, but she couldn’t. Her breathing ragged, tears appearing in her eyes. She wouldn’t beg anymore. Lily was going to take it and ride it all out. She could do this.

Fuck it hurt.

Wave after wave hit her, and when it died down, and she caught her breath, the waves came back. Her mind stopped thinking and focused on trying to ignore the pain, but her entire body was convulsing against her bonds, the gag making it impossible to scream, and she almost choked on her saliva as the tears fell from her eyes.

It was odd to be at the receiving end of this.

The smell of burnt flesh and piss was filling the air, and in normal circumstances, she’d have loved that smell, but right now, it did nothing for her.

Another pause. Lily coughed as she was trying to breathe, and again, her body jolted again.

“Did yous kill them?” Sully demanded while she was trying so hard to escape the chair she was sitting on. Her wrists were bleeding, so were her ankles from moving so much. “Be honest, and it stops.”

Lily almost blacked out from the lack of oxygen as another wave hit, running down her spine, causing her entire body to move out of the chair. The wires were digging into her skin more, her bonds rubbing her skin raw, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

The jolts kept her awake. Kept her from passing out. The lack of oxygen kept making her cough as she screamed. Her knuckles were white from trying to hold on to the chair; Lily wouldn’t give Sully the satisfaction to be the first to quit. She wasn’t.

She wasn’t.

Absolutely not.

“Jenny, don’t be stubborn,” Sully said in a commanding voice. “I don’t know how much yous can take. This is the wrong time to play chicken.”

Her eyes shot open to look at him, tears still coming as she managed a glare between her now sobs, her lack of oxygen, and her breathing all over the place.

“Yer fucking insane,” Sully said as he switched off the electricity and removed Lily’s gag.

Her body kept twitching as Sully removed the wires, her fingers and her toes doing things she disagreed with, her body filled with aftershocks as she tried to breathe. She couldn’t stop herself from sobbing and coughing.

Once Sully had removed everything from her, he stormed out of the building, leaving Lily alone to recover. She was sweaty, bloody and her heart was racing like a maniac. Her muscles were still not behaving themselves, and Lily felt as if she could melt and slide off the chair. She was dizzy, and the room was spinning in and out of focus.

With Sully gone and her body coming down, she allowed herself to pass out.

Lily felt raw when she came to; she was still stuck in the chair, her blood had dried up but everything hurt. Every single muscle in her body felt tired. Her head was still on the brink of exploding. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen next or how long she’d been out. Or if Sully had done something to her while she was out.

Lily preferred her ways of torturing people; she didn’t have to take days to get what she wanted. Even when she kidnapped someone to prove a point, she usually let them be by themselves with their own thoughts, no torture needed, so what was Sully’s point? What was his goal?

“Did yous kill them?” Sully’s voice sounded from across the room. Had he been sitting there all along? In the dark?

“W-why is that so important to know?” Lily’s throat hurt, and she wasn’t even sure if her words came out properly. “Isn’t there something more important you want to know?”

“Nah, see, if yous killed me boys, I can take me revenge.”

“Eye for an eye,” Lily chuckled and shook her head. “No, I didn’t kill them. I don’t know how those things got into my car.”

“So a Duke killed them?”

“I don’t know,” Lily coughed, tasting blood in her mouth and swallowing it. She was so thirsty. “Not my job. What’s the message you have for Saul?”

“I’m asking the questions.” Lily could hear Sully move and walk over to her. “I figured yous killed me boys, and I wanted yous to suffer. I’m not the bad guy.”

Lily scoffed. As if the soft puppy routine was going to work. She was still a Duke, and he was still a Reaper. She closed her eyes for a second, trying to force the pain to leave her body but the pain didn’t want to go away.

“Did yous kill them?” Sully asked her as he leaned back in his chair.

Lilly’s eyes snapped open in surprise. “Didn’t I just tell you?”

“I just got here,” Sully replied, a worried look on his face. “I just sat down in front of yous, didn’t yous see?”

Lily was confused. Hadn’t he been sitting in the corner of the building earlier and walked over? She hadn’t closed her eyes that long, had she? “I told you I didn’t,” she coughed.

“Okay,” Sully said as he grabbed a bandana from his pocket and gagged her. He then got to his feet and walked out of the room, leaving Lily by herself once again.

Sully came inside the building and sat down on the chair next to Lily’s. “Good, yer awake. Let’s try again. Did yous kill them?”

Lily blinked at Sully. What was going on? Hadn’t he asked her before? Was she drugged or something? Hallucinating? Lily shook her head.

“Don’t lie.”

Lily shook her head. “I didn’t,” she tried to say through her gag. She would never say yes.

Sully nodded as he got up and walked away again. Lily was hallucinating as the routine kept repeating itself for quite some time; she lost count after the twentieth time of Sully asking her if she’d killed his boys.

At some point, Lily felt how her body had turned cold, she tried to look at her body as well as she could, and there was still blood coming from her shoulder. Not her wrists or ankles. But extra cuts had appeared, and she didn’t know where they’d come from. She was clearly hallucinating. Fresh pools of blood were on the floor and on her clothes.

She just wanted to sleep. Sleep was good. Lily couldn’t feel her legs, arms, feet and hands anymore. Sleep sounded too good. No, sleep was bad. She needed to stay awake. Or fuck that, really. Sleep was good.

Sleep.

Lily tried to look up when she heard a lot of commotion in the building after the door had opened, followed by two gunshots. She saw Sully’s shadow drop on the floor followed by a female’s form and another form running towards her.

“Jesus Christ,” was that Saul’s voice? No, she was hallucinating. This was Sully again, asking her the same question.

Lily shook her head weakly.

“Lily,” Saul’s heart broke. He knew that there was a reason Saùl had been around in the last few days but Saul had never expected this. His beautiful Lily was all bloody and weak, her lips cracked, her skin pale. Burn wounds. And that was just on the surface. Saul removed her gag and worked on untying her. “Talk to me, baby,” he encouraged her even though her eyes didn’t seem to focus at all

“No,” she said in barely a whisper. “I didn’t do it. I won’t break. You first…”

“You’re going to be fine, baby, I promise.” Saul wrapped Lily into a blanket and lifted her into his arms. “Someone call Thomas Hansen. He’s going to have a patient at my house,” Saul ordered Steele as he stepped over the dead bodies of Sully and Femke. “Round up the remaining Reapers and bring them to the Canals. And burn this fucking place to the ground.”

Lily shivered as she was carried around, her head against someone’s shoulder. She closed her eyes as the night lights outside hurt her eyes. Whatever was going to happen next, she was ready for it. Even if it was death. She wouldn’t see Saul ever again. This was the end, and it made her feel so incredibly sad. She couldn’t help but cry. Saul was too late. She couldn’t hold on any longer.

Sully finally did it.

Sully had broken her.

“Fine… I did it,” Lily sobbed with a soft voice. “I killed your boys, and I liked it…”

Saul winced when Lily whimpered as he gently set her down in the car and got in himself, taking her back into his arms. “Turn up the heat; she’s cold,” he told Jason. He was one of the best drivers in the Dukes, and there was no way that Saul was going to drive himself and Lily home. Saul wrapped his arms around Lily and cradled her. “You’re safe now. Just hang in there,” he whispered in her ears.

At least her hallucinations gave her Saul for her final moments. Or perhaps it was a cruel punishment. “I love you, Saul,” she whispered. She had failed him. Lily hadn’t been as strong as he had believed her to be.

“I love you too,” he kissed the top of her head.

“I’ve got to go.”

“No,” he said as he willed Jason to drive faster inside his mind as he pressed his fingers against her neck, her pulse was fading and fast. “No, you’re going to stay with me, you hear me?”

He panicked when she let out a small moan, and as soon as they got home, Saul brought her inside the house, being followed by Dr. Thomas Hansen. “She’s not going good, doc,” Saul said as he ran up the stairs with Lily’s lifeless body.

“I see that,” the doctor replied and set down his bags. “There’s more equipment in my car. You mind getting it upstairs, Saul?”

“I’m not leaving her.”

“Saul,” Thomas got to his feet and grabbed him by the shoulders. “I need that equipment to save her. She’s not going anywhere and she’s safe with me for the few minutes you will be away,” he said calmly. “You called me for a reason.”

“Yeah, I trust you.”

“Then trust me when I say I need that equipment.”

“Okay,” Saul nodded and hurried downstairs to grab the rest of Thomas’s gear. When he came back upstairs with Jason carrying some of the equipment as well, he stopped dead in her tracks. Thomas was on the bed performing CPR. “Thomas.”

“Grab me the adrenaline, 1cc. Inject it into her thigh. It’s too early to panic.”

Saul watched Thomas work to get Lily’s pulse back and breathed a sigh of relief when he did so. He sat down on the edge of the bed and took Lily’s hand. She looked so fragile. So damaged and yet so strong. Lily had been missing for days, and while Saul had been turning the city upside down to look for her, the more anxious and stressed he got, Saúl was roaring inside of him, and eventually, he allowed him to come forward. To take care of things for Saul and Lily.

Saul had been along for the ride and watched many people fall as Saúl tore the city apart. Lily and him needed to leave the city as soon as possible; there was no doubt that Saul had a bunch of warrants out for his arrest, and he’d be locked away for the rest of eternity, but anything for his Lily. Even Saúl loved her.

Except for jail for eternity. Saul had promised Lily he’d never leave her again, so that was definitely not going to happen. He’d already bought a house in Las Vegas for the both of them, which was big enough to house any additional Dukes if they wanted to come with.

But first, Lily needed to get better. She needed to be alive. Safe and sound.

Saul was anxiously pacing the room while Thomas worked on Lily. Running his hands through his hair and tugged on it as he kept pacing. She’d better make it through. She had held on this long.

About two hours later, Thomas finally spoke up. “Can you please stop pacing?”

“How is she doing?”

Thomas let out a breath. “Physically? There are signs of electrocution,” he replied as he pointed at the veins and marks on Lily’s body. “There are some injection sites and a shoulder wound that was likely caused by a knife and has seen some medical attention because the stitches ripped open.”

Saul let out a breath. “Femke must have fixed her up.”

“She did a good job too; it was just that the stitches ripped open…” Thomas said as he pointed at the bandaged shoulder. “I cleaned it out the best as I could, disinfected it, and restitched it. Lily also has some knife wounds. Rope and metal burn around her wrists and ankles…I will have to get a portable CT scan for her head, but her pupils are worrying me. She’s likely concussed, but I want to see if that’s all.”

“Jesus,” Saul muttered as he balled his fists. It was a good thing that he had killed Sully already because Saul was out for more blood. “Is she going to be okay?”

“Physically? Yeah, I’d like to think so,” Thomas said cheerfully as he connected an IV to Lily’s arm. “I’m starting her on antibiotics, fluids, vitamins, all the good stuff. She’s dehydrated and likely hungry. I packed up her ribs as they’re bruised.”

Saul punched the nearest wall, breaking his knuckles with the impact. “Mother fucker…”

“She’s going to need a lot of care, Saul,” Thomas said as he turned his friend around and wrapped up his hand. “That requires you to have two hands and your head firmly on your shoulders. I’m going to stay with you guys until she doesn’t need my care anymore, but Lily will need rest. She’s going to need you.”

Saul put his arms around his friend and couldn’t stop himself from falling apart. “I’m sorry,” Saul sobbed as his friend put his arms around him for comfort. “I just need a moment of weakness…”

“It’s okay buddy,” Thomas said as he gently pat Saul on his back. “The last few days have been stressful for you, too. I think Lily and I are the only ones you show this side of you to huh?”

Saul nodded with a sigh as he just held on to his friend. Thomas Hansen was someone from Saul’s past, and they both owed each other a lot. Saul usually needed Thomas for medical, Thomas needed Saul for clean-up purposes from time to time. But they were old, trusted friends.

“Now, she’s going to be asleep for a while, how about I leave the two of you alone and you can clean her up, tuck her in, and get some rest yourself, huh?”

There was a knock on the door and Saul opened the door, revealing Steele. “Rick, his wife, and kid were the only ones standing; they’re cuffed and gagged outside.”

“Perfect,” Saul replied as he crawled onto the bed and kissed the top of Lily’s head. “I’ll be right back, baby, I promise.” While Thomas was right, Saul needed to end this. He strolled out of the room and followed Steele out. Once outside, Rick and his family were being held at gunpoint, and Rick looked defeated. “Amazing turn of events, huh?” Saul smiled as he stood in front of them. “This was a long time in the making.” Saul nodded towards Nikky to remove the gag from Rick. “How does it feel, Rick?”

“Well played, Saul.”

“Well, I had some help,” Saul smiled at Rick. “She’s currently resting after the damage done to her by your boy.”

“I don’t agree with his methods, but it was personal, apparently.”

“You didn’t stop him, either,” Saul countered angrily. “The plan was for us to take you down one at a time, have a good old-fashioned war, and win, but you had to take her.”

“So she is your new girl.”

“No,” Saul shook his head as he put his hands in his pocket. “Anyway, what do you think? You and your family leave the city but leave everything behind, or, you and your family die and leave everything behind.”

“First option.”

“Good,” Saul nodded and pointed at his house. “Come on in. We’re going to transfer all your shit. One at a time. If you don’t follow the rules, somebody’s going to get shot, got it?” He walked inside the house, followed by Rick and Nikky, and sat down at the kitchen table. Everything could be done by phone, so that was good. “Nikky, shoot him if he makes a phone call, or even shoots out a text message.”

“Of course,” Nikky grinned as he sat down next to Rick with his gun on the table, pointing at Rick.

“Now,” Saul retrieved a piece of paper from his pocket and put it down in front of Rick before uncuffing him, and cuffing his wrist to the side of the table. “I want my car back.”

“Your car?” Rick scoffed. “That was a trophy!”

“And I want it back,” Saul said calmly. He had lost his car to Rick after a previous war. After Saul killed a Reaper. After Saul experienced torture at the hands of Reapers. There had been a cattle prod involved back then. It was something he didn’t want to remember. “I just want my car.”

“What about the rest? You know I have a lot.”

Saul really wanted nothing else. All he had ever wanted from the Reapers was to have them destroyed and have his car back. With his car, he’d be complete again. Everything else was just extra, but Lily deserved everything. “Everything else, your homes, your warehouses, cars and money, you transfer to the person on that paper. That’s their ID and bank account number.” Lily was likely going to give away all the cars herself, but Saul wanted to give her a choice.

Rick looked at the note and blinked. “Lily Hades? Didn’t she marry Ash Houston and died?”

“Remember Ash’ dead body at my wedding to Femke?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah,” Saul nodded with a smile on his face. “And Sully almost killed her.”

“Well shit,” Rick said impressed as he pressed buttons on his phone. “The girl’s come a long way.”

Saul nodded and got to his feet. “Once he’s done, get his wife in. Once she’s done, get the son. Everything goes to Lily,” he told Nikky. “And yes, you can yell at me later why I haven’t been honest about Jenny once she’s back on her feet, okay?” He didn’t even wait for Nikky to reply and ran back upstairs to Lily.

After grabbing a bucket with warm water, a towel, and a washcloth, Saul sat down on the bed next to Lily and after Thomas left the room, Saul undressed Lily some more, careful not to disturb the IV line. Saul washed the blood off of her body as well as he could and brushed her hair.

After changing the sheets, Saul dressed Lily into one of his shirts that looked far too big on her, got changed into a pair of sweat pants and a shirt, and carefully laid down next to her.

Lily was home.

Everything was going to be okay.

Saul sighed happily and kissed the top of her head. “Welcome home.”

Lily woke up the following day, screaming as if electricity was running through her body and temporarily couldn’t move until the weight on her chest disappeared in an instant and she could sit up.

“Hey, you’re alright.”

Lily yelped when she felt someone’s hand on her back and fell off the bed.

Bed.

She sat up and pushed her hair out of her face before looking around with a confused look on her face. Lily recognized the bedroom. It looked like home. There was a wire hanging from her arm that lead up to an IV bag.

“Welcome back, baby.” Saul’s voice caused her to snap her head towards him, Saul was sitting on the bed, crossed-legged and seemingly fighting to help her up as he was sitting on his hands. He looked tired and his hair was a mess, sticking out on all sides. “Do you need me to help you up?”

“No,” Lily whispered as she crawled backward and stuck herself in the corner. She was dead, wasn’t she? Either she was dead or Sully found a whole new way to fuck with her mind. “Am I dead?”

“No, you’re not dead,” Saul said as he moved off the bed and sat down in front of her. “Baby, it’s me.”

“No.” she shook her head. “Not real.”

Saul gently took her hand and squeezed it. “I’m very real. You’re very much alive and you are safe, I promise,” he drawled. “Come on, let’s get you back on the bed before the doctor yells at me.” He helped her to her feet and made the bed nice and comfy for her to sit down on against the headboard.

“This is a trick,” Lily whispered as she sat down on the bed and allowed “Saul” to cover her up again. “It’s not real.”

“You were lost, and I found you,” Saul said as he sat down on the edge of the bed and took her hand. “Just like I promised you. I am very real.” He reached out to her face to the side that wasn’t hurt and gently cupped her cheek. “See?”

Lily freed herself from the blankets and crawled into Saul’s lap, her arms around his neck and her head on his shoulder, holding on for dear life. Tears stung behind her eyes. Even if this wasn’t real, it felt good to pretend. Her hallucination smelled like Saul, too. She closed her eyes and just listened to his heartbeat and breathing.

What Saul loved about Lily was that she was this tiny little spitfire that took no shit and could make anyone wet their pants one way or another, but she looked even smaller now. He was happy that she woke up though, Saul had been worried that she wouldn’t wake up, but Thomas has assured him she was alright, and likely just needed the rest.

Once he was sure she was asleep again, he shifted so that he was comfortable with her on the bed and pulled the covers over them so she would stay warm. Saul then sent a message to Thomas that she’d been awake for a little and to start making some soup. Everyone loved a good soup and Saul wasn’t sure if Lily had been eating in the days that she’d been missing.

Lily was shivering in his arms when Thomas walked in with a steaming bowl of soup and some tea. “She’s asleep again?”

Saul nodded. “I don’t think she’s fully aware that she’s safe, though,” he replied softly.

“You remember how you were after they did this to you, right? I mean, you still have PTSD from it.”

“It’s a lot better now that I have my car back.”

Thomas chuckled as he set the soup and tea down. “My point is, it’s going to take some time for her to catch up mentally and you’re going to have to be patient,” he carefully unwrapped Lily from the blankets to look at her bandages and the IV line. “And I hate to be the asshole here but I’m going to have to wake her up so she can eat and answer some questions so I can confirm the concussion that we saw on the portable CT scan.”

“Hands off, Thomas,” Saul swatted his friend’s hands away.

“You wake her up,” Thomas said amused, his arms crossed over his chest, looking at his friend with a playful glint in his eyes.

“Turn around.”

“Nope.”

Saul scoffed as he kissed the top of Lily’s head. He softly ran his finger up and down her arm. “Lily,” he whispered in her ear. “Breakfast is ready.”

“Hmm…” Lily responded sleepily, opening one eye to look at Saul. Then her other eye opened, and she blinked at him. He was still here. And he was still holding her. She looked around, confused, and then saw this stranger stand in the familiar bedroom and she froze.

“Relax,” Saul whispered in her ear. “He’s the guy that patched you up, and I trust him with both our lives.”

“Hi, Lily, I’m Thomas,” Thomas said he sat down on the bed with a smile. “Ask me anything about Saul and I’ll likely know the answer. Like how he hates singing, but the man can hold more than a decent tune. He doesn’t like people to hear him sing though.”

“Thomas, stop,” Saul chuckled. “That was supposed to be a surprise for Lily at some point in the future,” he kissed the top of her head. “Guitar, candlelit dinner… some good booze…”

“Not real,” Lily sighed, shaking her head. “Do your worst.”

“Lily, you were taken on a Sunday and now it’s six days later. What day is it?” Thomas asked her.

“I don’t know,” she muttered, nestling herself back against Saul and closing her eyes. “It’s not important.”

“What is important, Lily?”

Lily remained quiet and kept holding on to Saul. Or fake Saul. She wasn’t interested in whatever sick torture this was. Medical shit? Really? And fake Saul smelled like him. Did they really go through their laundry? But why did he sound like him too?

“Hey,” Saul whispered in her ear. “Don’t fall asleep, we’ll have some soup if you can answer the doc’s question.”

“What was the question?” Lily murmured, shifting a little, still keeping her eyes closed. “Oh, I killed those boys,” she replied as she opened her eyes and looked up. “Are you going to torture me with food?”

“No, we’re going to heal you with food,” Saul replied as he reached for the bowl of soup and handed Lily a spoon. “Go on, do your worst to that bowl of soup.”

Lily put some soup on the spoon and ate it, and continued to eat in silence. She recognized the taste of the soup, she had made the soup, hadn’t she? Once she was halfway through the bowl, she placed the spoon in the bowl. Lily had liked the feeling of the soup warming her up on the inside, but she knew she couldn’t eat all of it. “Saturday.”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty six.”

“What is Saul’s full name?”

“Saul James Peterson.” Lily took Saul’s hand after he put the bowl down and placed it flat against her face, and held it there. It was Saul. Smells could be faked. Voices could be faked, but touch couldn’t be faked. That soup, couldn’t be faked as it was hers. Lily had made a lot of soup the other week and had tossed it in the freezer for later dates. Everything was real. She looked up at Saul with tears in her eyes. “You’re real?”

“Yeah baby, I’m real,” he said huskily. “You’re safe. No one is ever going to be able to take you away from me again or lay a hand on you, I promise.”

Lily’s body shivered and didn’t stop. It was almost as if everything inside of her wanted to come out, a relief. Saul covered her back up with the blanket and held her as tightly as he could without hurting her. “Everything hurts so bad,” she said in barely a whisper.

“I know, baby,” Saul looked over to Thomas who was already preparing a syringe with a painkiller and injected it into the fresh IV bag. “You’ll feel better soon.”

“Can you tell us what they did to you?” Thomas asked carefully as he threw the syringe away. “Just to see if I need to check you over for more injuries.”

“No.”

“Hey,” Saul caressed her hair. “It’s okay not to be okay, especially after what happened. Everything that’s being said in this room will stay here, you know that.”

“Talking hurts.”

“You screamed a lot, huh?” Saul kept caressing her hair. When Lily nodded, Saul nodded and looked at Thomas. “I’ll make sure she eats the rest of the soup and drinks the tea, thanks, Tom.”

“Yep, you know where to find me,” Thomas immediately left the room and closed the room.

“So,” Saul kissed the top of her hair. “Do you want to piss off the doctor with me once your pain stops?”

Lily looked up at him. “What?”

“Once you don’t hurt so much anymore, do you want to piss off the doctor with me?”

“How?”

“Take a nice, refreshing bath to start feeling human again. That means getting your bandages off of you, too. Wash your hair… Warm up your bones. Maybe it will help your hurting throat a little too.”

Lily smiled at him. “Sounds good.”

Saul picked up the bowl of soup and finished it. “Hey Lily.”

“Yes?”

“You make some good soup.”

She reached up from underneath her blanket and ruffled Saul’s hair with a smile on her face. Lily then noticed a new scratch just above his eye and gingerly touched it. “What happened?” She continued to examine his face and his neck. She tugged on the collar of his shirt to check his collar bones, there was a bandage on his shoulder. “And there?”

“You were gone for a few days, babe. Me, Saúl, and our guys were looking for you all over and we may have used some force and received some force back.”

Lily thought for a moment as she watched Saul put the bowl away again, trying to make sense of his words. “You got shot.”

“Yes,” he smiled brightly. “We turned the city upside down. Even the cops were surprised by our anger and determination,” Saul laughed as he played with her hair. “You should have seen the boys in action, Lily. They were amazing. I’m so proud.”

“Bonus?”

“Yeah, we will reward them handsomely once you’re up to it.”

“Do we have the money?”

Saul barked out a laugh. “Baby, we won. We got all of their shit, cars, houses, guns…money…” He kissed the top of her head. “We won. The nightmare is over, and the Dukes came out on top. On top of everyone.”

“I’m proud of you,” she smiled at him before pointing at the IV. “You want some of the good stuff?”

“Baby, you are the good stuff,” he grinned, glad that she was feeling better with the pain medication kicking in. “Will you be okay here if I started the bath?”

“Don’t leave me.”

“Okay, we’ll run your bath together.” Saul carefully lifted her off his lap after untangling the blankets and grabbed her IV bag before lifting her into his arms and planting a kiss on her nose. He carefully placed her down on the toilet and filled up the bath. He talked about how Pablo arrived home after the car crash with all the information that Saul needed to hear. They immediately looked for Lily in all the known places and when there was no trace, they went to war with the city, leaving no stone unturned.

Saul kept talking as he briefly left the bathroom to fetch another hoodie of his and returned with a warm, comfortable one. He told Lily about how he was freaking out so much that Saúl argued with him to take over so that Saul wouldn’t lose his head and to do more damage, without remorse.

Plain war.

Saul also explained that it would take a lot for Saúl to take over. He and his worse half lived in harmony. Saul was always in front, in the driver’s seat, and Saúl could watch and listen whenever he wanted, but to take over there needed to be an agreement. When Saúl was running the body, Saul was in the same seat. Watching and listening. And cheering him on, if Saul were to be honest. Nobody had ever experienced the full wrath of Saúl, or knew about him. Some only knew about Saúl as a joke. But Saúl was no joke.

And Lily just looked at him with adoration, a big smile on her face. After everything she’d been through in the last few days, she found the strength to listen. To pay attention. To praise him and be inquisitive about his health. “Okay, now strip,” Lily said from her position on the toilet seat lid after the bath was filled up. “Let me look.”

“It’s your bath,” Saul chuckled as he threw one of her fancy bath bombs into the bath. Once the thing hit the water, it immediately fizzled and disperse into purple and orange colors.

“Let me look.”

“Thomas checked me over.”

“And I want to look.”

Saul sighed as he pulled off his shirt, revealing the bandage that she’d earlier spotted, and only a few scrapes. “See? I’m fine. We stole body armor from the cops when we raided Paleto PD.”

Another confirmation that this person was really Saul. His tattoos in all the right places, including the Celtic Knot or Triangle, whatever it was, that reminded him of his family and people that he had lost. He had a few old bruises on his torso, but he looked in good health. “Wait, what?”

“That was fun,” Saul grinned. “We blew the hinges off of the evidence locker and stole some good stuff. I’m pretty sure that some of us are wanted for terrorism now.”

“Saul.”

“All for you,” he squatted down in front of her, only wearing his boxers, and smiled at her. “Are you ready to take your bath now and feel like a human again?”

“I think there’s a lot of damage…”

“I know,” he took her hand and squeezed it. “I already noticed when I put that hoodie on you.”

“I like the hoodie,” Lily replied as she tugged on it with her free hand. “Can I take a bath with it on? I don’t think I want to see…”

Saul softly brushed her lips with hers. “You can keep your eyes closed, but you really need a good clean, Lily. It’s just you and me. I’ll even put new bandages on when you need new bandages. It’s not that bad, you just feel really bad.”

She eventually allowed him to help her out of the hoodie and he lifted her in the bath. Lily let out a small moan as she felt the warm water all around her and how it warmed her body slowly. Lily closed her eyes and put her head back against the edge of the bath and tried to relax. She made sure that the IV thing set up wouldn’t get wet because she didn’t want Saul or the doctor yell at her, but didn’t care about anything else. This was good.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” Saul asked amused. Some of the old blood that he hadn’t been able to clean off of her had immediately soaked off her body and some bandaging was already loose, but he monitored her as she was soaking. Trying so hard not to touch her because he wasn’t sure where it hurt. But he was going to make sure that she wouldn’t drown.

“Don’t make me fall asleep.”

Saul kept talking to keep her awake, using a washcloth to help her get cleaned up, and washing her hair. In the end, he didn’t want to bother by putting her back into a hoodie for now and simply wrapped her up in a big fluffy towel before tucking her back into bed. He was going to have her dry up a little before putting bandages back on, and maybe even wait until she was asleep so that Thomas could re-bandage her wounds.

Lily did everything in her power not to fall back asleep, even though the warm bath had made her feel all rosy and warm. She kept Saul talking just so that she didn’t have to.

When Saul had dozed off, Lily made a plan of getting out of the bed and pull on Saul’s hoodie that he had left in the bathroom, but the plan stalled when she fell flat on her face as soon as she got up.

Okay, that hurt.

She wasn’t too sure why her legs didn’t seem to want to work but she didn’t want to rest anymore. Perhaps it was the pain medication that had been given to her by Saul’s doctor that made her feel brave and all, but this just sucked.

“Lily…” Saul said sleepily as he peeked over the edge of the bed. “If you need something, just ask.”

“I need my legs back,” she pouted as she sat up and gently rubbed the side of her face that hurt, the side that Sully had punched her a few times. “I don’t want to stay in bed,” she said as she ripped the needle of the IV out of her hand.

“Baby, you need to rest,” Saul sounded more awake as he got off the bed and helped her to her feet. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “What do you want to do?”

Lily shrugged. “I don’t know, reward everyone?”

“Are you ready to see everyone?”

She thought for a moment and shrugged again. Lily wasn’t too sure if she wanted people to see her weakened, but it was all part of the process, wasn’t it? The sooner everything went back to normal, the better. At least for her.

When Lily shivered, Saul wrapped her back up in the towel and set her back down in bed. He covered her with the blanket and got in bed himself, wrapping his arms around his little bundle of ice. “How about you and I talk about our future instead?”

Lily looked at him in shock. “What?” Was he going to leave her?

“Relax,” he laughed and kissed the top of her head. “Do you honestly think that I’m going to leave you? Really? I promised you I wouldn’t, didn’t I? I promised that I’d always be with you, forever, or for as long as life will allow us to be.”

Lily slowly nodded and settled back into his arms.

“So, remember I told you all those things that the boys and I did to get you back?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah…” Saul sighed as he took his phone and showed her the list of charges against him on his warrant. The use of bombs, class three weaponry, terrorism, hurting at least a dozen cops, murders, torture, speeding. “If I get caught, what do you think will happen?”

“That’s life in jail or the death penalty…”

“Exactly. And seeing as I’m immortal, and you’re not…”

“You can’t go to jail, Saul. And none of the boys should, either,” she said as she kept scrolling on his phone, reading the warrants for everyone else.

“That’ll be their choice, but, seeing as we have options… I’d like to talk to you about one of them.” he took the phone back and showed her the picture of a mansion. There were additional pictures of how big of a house it actually was, including an enormous swimming pool and even stables for horses. “That is a ranch, a fancy one at that, close to Vegas. Loads of acres, loads of rooms, several houses on the property.”

“Oh I know that place,” Lily said with a fond smile on her face. “I broke in at some point and spent the night in one of the stables of that property. It’s absolutely gorgeous— wait… you want to buy that?”

“I already did,” Saul replied. “That last time in I was in Vegas where you were following me. I saw the property was for sale, looked at it once, fell in love, and just bought it. I’m going to have to transfer it into your name though, because of that big ass warrant.”

“You really want to leave the city?”

“I think it’s time we moved on, don’t you think?”

“What about the boys?”

“They can come if they want. We have enough room on that ranch and as long as they don’t bring cops back to our place, I think we’ll be good.”

Lily smiled then and nodded. “I hate this fucking town.”

“But we’ll only leave once you’re better. Stronger,” he pulled her closer to him. “Just because your brain doesn’t want to take a breather, doesn’t mean you’re not hurt. So tell your brain to stop being stubborn and let me take care of you.” Saul knew she was pretending to be alright, to pretend that she was on the mend and forcing herself to be active. “And if you don’t want to take your rest, I’ll make sure that you get your rest anyway.”

“Oh?”

He nodded to his nightstand. “I have pink fluffy handcuffs in there and I’m not afraid to use them, but I don’t want to because your movements were restricted for the last few days anyway, but I will use them if I have to.”

Lily’s eyes widened in fear before she closed them and nodded.

“Don’t pretend to be better than you are, okay?” He kissed the top of her head. “Healing is a process, it’s not something you can force upon yourself.”

“I want to forget.”

“I know, but as long as your body is telling you no, you’re going to have to deal with it. Stop being brave, because I know you are. And I am so proud of you,” he kissed the top of her head again. “My little warrior princess. Safe between these walls to fall apart. Cry. Scream. Be angry.” he took her hand and played with her fingers. “No one will judge you. This feeling isn’t going to last forever, I promise.”

“I don’t want to fall apart, Saul… or lose control. I need to be strong.”

“For who, baby?”

“You,” she looked at him with tears in her eyes. “You don’t deserve weakness.”

“But you’re not weak.” Saul lifted her chin and kissed her softly. “If anything, your emotions strengthen you. It’s okay to cry, to feel things. You’re not a robot, nor do I expect you to be. The world won’t end with you falling apart, okay? The world ended when they took you, and all is right in the world now that you’re back, so if you need to cry, scream or punch someone, go for it.”

Lily put her hand against his chest and kissed him back. “What about sex? What if I want you to make me forget? What if I want you to make me forget in the room we haven’t used yet?”

Saul barked out a laugh. “Soon, not now.” It was, of course, something that he needed right now, but he needed to be patient because what she needed right now was to rest and to decompress. “Tom will definitely kill me if we’d do that before he gives you a clean bill of health.”

Lily pouted as she snuggled against him and closed her eyes. “I enjoy sitting like this though…”

Saul was glad that he eventually got Lily back to sleep again, and he called Tom upstairs so he could redo her bandages where necessary. Thomas scolded Saul for allowing Lily to be so active as he took the time to examine Lily’s sleeping form to see how her cuts and bruises were healing and to rub some ointment on everything.

After Thomas was done, Saul tucked her back in bed, laid his hoodie over her on the blanket, and got dressed. Saul then headed downstairs and made himself something to eat while cleaning up the mess while thinking about what he and Lily should bring with them when going to their new home, because technically, with all of Lily’s assets gained from slaughtering the Reapers, they didn’t need to bring anything and could just start over.

The only thing he really wanted to bring with him was his car, his beloved Rolls Royce Cabrio. That was his car. Saul had bought a new one after Rick took his as a trophy, but it didn’t drive the same even though both cars were identical.

“Lily Hades?” Nikky’s voice sounded from behind Saul. “Wasn’t that something you could have shared with us? Like… that she wasn’t dead?”

“We were working on something together and I realized I needed to give her a family, but we weren’t ready telling people she wasn’t dead,” Saul explained as he took a sip of his coffee. “It was important that nobody knew she was alive.”

Nikky sighed as he poured a cup of coffee himself and leaned against the kitchen counter. “I get it. I’m not mad, just… a little pissed that you felt like you couldn’t tell me.”

“Nikky, if we tell you anything, everyone will know by the end of the day,” Saul laughed, shaking his head.

Nikky thought for a moment as he took a sip of his coffee. “True. And from what I’ve seen so far, she’s crazier than her brother ever was.”

Saul nodded slowly. “I can’t help but feel that I failed him, you know.”

“That’s just bullshit. Shit happens, it’s called being part of a gang, and the Reapers knew she was our strongest link,” Nikky countered. “Occupational hazard. One that caused us an impromptu war with the Reapers and we won.”

“Thanks to her.”

“Yeah,” Nikky nodded.

“Will you come with us to Vegas?”

“Duh,” Nikky grinned. “This town sucks. You know me, I go where you go. Steele might want to stay with whoever stays behind though.”

“We left him in a good place, Dukes are on top,” Saul laughed, shaking his head.

“So when are we going?”

“Once Lily’s doing better and doesn’t require daily checkups from Thomas,” Saul answered with a sigh. “She hasn’t said a word about what happened.”

“Girls are different. Give it some time. You know how you were after they got to you.”

“Yeah, which is why I’m afraid what will happen once she processes it.”

“One step at a time. Have a joint, some booze, and chill. She’ll be ready once she’s ready and in the meantime, we’ll try to keep these cops away from the Canals. Would you like me to move your car somewhere?”

Saul thought for a moment and smiled. “You know that long-term parking at the beach?”

“Yep.”

“Yeah, put it there. My car. The original one.” Saul liked hanging out with Nikky, just normal talk, no shop talk, no Dukes talk. Just be. It had been an intense few days for everyone and everyone needed a break. “Let everyone pick out a car or two from the Reapers collection too; we won’t be needing them when we leave, and the rest can be sold for money. You know what to do when you find something we can use.”

“Put all the shit in crates and ship off to Vegas?”

Saul smirked. “Pay Diego handsomely, too.” Saul’s head jerked up when he heard Lily scream from upstairs and ran towards her. She was laying in a fetal position, hugging the hoodie and the blankets, crying. Lily’s body was shivering, the occasional jolt, but she was still asleep.

Saul sat down on the bed next to her and gently rubbed her back. “Lily.”

Lily whimpered and moaned. “I already told you, no… No….”

“Shhh,” he laid down next to her and pulled her into his arms. “I’m here, you’re safe.”

Lily turned around and desperately clawed at Saul’s shirt. “You’re not real, you’re not here, this…” She sniffled as she panted and she clung onto him.. “I can’t keep doing this… he’ll find out…”

“Open your eyes, baby,” Saul kissed the top of her head. “I’m here. I’m real. You’re safe.”

Lily stilled as her eyes shot open, confused for a moment and realizing what position she was in. She visibly relaxed into Saul’s arms, wrapping one of her legs around him and snuggled up against him. “I love you,” she muttered, closing her eyes again.

“I love you too.”

It took a few days for Lily not to need the heavy-duty pain medication that Thomas had given her, and Thomas was happy with how her healing was progressing. And Saul was glad that whenever she woke up from a nightmare, it did not disorientate her anymore.

Lily even made it downstairs and into the garden, where the boys put on a car parade with all the cars that had been taken from the Reapers and Saul loved the look on Lily’s face.

Lily was so proud of the Dukes, and she told them that, too. She gave away the Reaper houses Rick had put her name on, and the cars. After hearing how many Dukes were going to move to Vegas with her and Saul, she made the decision that they were to keep half of the guns and a third of the drugs in the city. All the vehicles not being taken were sold and the money split in half too.

By doing so, Lily was certain that they wouldn’t have a thing to worry about in Las Vegas, and could enjoy life for a while before having to work hard again. They had earned it.

Everyone needed a break so badly, and with this, it could become a reality for everyone.

Lily and Saul were standing in their garden. Saul had his arms wrapped around Lily to keep her warm, despite her wearing a cute wrap-around blanket with a hood. Saul thought she looked absolutely adorable and so did she; plus, she kept reminding him that she wasn’t wearing anything underneath it.

And of course, a perfect day had to be ruined by Pablo yelling that the cops were on their way and he counted a few bearcats and K9 units as well. “Alright, time for us to leave,” Saul said as he lifted Lily up and headed inside the house. There wasn’t anything in the house that the cops couldn’t take anymore, but he needed to disappear. There was no way that he was going to get arrested and carted off to jail to wither away. Lily didn’t deserve that.

“You need to get dressed,” Saul said as he put her down in the bedroom. “We have little time. What do you need to take with you?”

Lily nodded towards the duffel bag that she’d packed the day before and tried to get dressed as soon as she could while Saul gathered some of his clothes. “The fastest way for you to go is without me, you know that, right?”

“And I’m not leaving you, so screw that,” Saul shook his head and helped Lily to get dressed before quickly gathering his favorite hoodies. They were his favorite because Lily told him they looked good in them, and she definitely looked good in them too. He stuffed them into her duffel bag, slung it over his shoulder, and lifted Lily in his arms. While she was making so much progress on healing, he didn’t want her to over-exert herself, so he was going to have to make this work. Mentally, she still had a long road to go, but Saul was happy with that progress too.

Lily was a fucking warrior princess and he cared more about her than anything else.

While the sound of stopping vehicles outside the house and following gunshots were happening outside, Saul carried Lily to the basement and through the tunnel system headed towards the beach.

His car was left where he told Nikky to leave it and helped Lily to get inside the car. “Are you ready to have a quiet life for a bit, baby?” Saul asked with a smile as he started the engine.

“There’s nothing quiet about you, Saul Peterson,” Lily laughed as she strapped herself in and grabbed a gun from the car’s glove box, just in case she needed to shoot. “You’ll be socializing, networking, and running drugs within the week now that I can take care of myself.”

“Nah, we’re going to live on a ranch, remember? I have bigger plans than that,” Saul said as he drove away from the garage towards the only bridge leading to the mainland. Las Vegas was going to be a drive and a half, but he wasn’t going to leave his car behind. “And I’ll tell you all about it on our way.”

Lily smiled at him as she pushed her seat back to make herself more comfortable. A new adventure awaited for her and Saul, and she couldn’t wait to hear what he had dreamed up now. Together, they were going to make anything work, no matter what.

“I think I should drive,” she commented as Saul almost hit a pole on their way out of town.

“Not a chance, baby, not a chance!”

THE END
(unless I decide to write a short one about their life in Las Vegas LOL)