Waking up the next morning was hard. All I wanted to do was lay in bed and not get up for the entire day, but sadly I knew that I couldn't.

So when I woke up at around 11am the following day, I forced myself to get out of bed and go to the bathroom to shower. It took me a lot longer than usual because of how slow I was moving. I had zero motivation to do anything, and I knew I wasn't the only one feeling it.

I knew that everyone was effected by what that woman said about Ripper. But the thing is, I didn't know how badly Ripper was effected by it. I knew that he was, but since he never really had talked to me about anything I hadn't have even known how bad he was abused.

I sighed as I got out of the shower. Lazily I dried off and got dressed before making my way out of the bathroom. Scarlett was just waking up by the time I walked back into the room.

I laid down on the bed beside her on my stomach and sighed as she started to rub my back.

"How're you feeling?"

"Angry," I mumbled. "Sad. Guilty. Basically what I was feeling when I found out about what Bethany had done to Lilly."

"What are you going to do?" She asked. I hesitated.

"I want to kill her. I want to torture her until she's begging for mercy. I want to make her feel every ounce of pain that she caused Ripper to feel. I want her to scream for help and to feel the sinking fear that no one will answer her. I want her to pay for what she's done. And if that changes your mind about being with me I understand," I sighed as I looked away from her.

Her hand had only briefly paused its movements on my back before she was scooting closer to me.

"I know that you have killed and tortured many people Bryan. I knew that coming into this place. Ricky had told me a lot about y'all awhile before so I knew what I was getting myself into before I even called him for help. You doing what you have to do to get justice for one of your members is not going to turn me away. I promise."

During her little speech, she had rolled closer to me, to where half of her body was on top of mine. I could hear the sincerity in her voice as she spoke and I started to feel all of my emotions well up inside of me. This woman has stuck by me since she basically met me, and even though I literally just told her that I wanted to torture and kill someone she was going to still be here tomorrow morning, and the next, and so on.

What did I ever do to deserve such an amazing woman like this one?

Turning so I was able to kiss her, I spoke my thoughts out loud.

"What did I ever do to deserve you?"

She smiled. "Fate saw that you were a good man. And that you were incredibly lonely, so she decided to pull a couple strings and make it to where I was destined to meet you. From the moment I laid eyes on you I was smitten, and I know you felt the same way. I would like to believe that no matter what, it was destiny for us to meet. That I was meant to come to the club and see you. Granted the circumstances could've been better but oh well," she chuckled. I laughed quietly as well and pulled her closer to me to where her whole body was on top of mine.

"From the moment I laid eyes on you I was able to see a future with you. Of course I was worried about your brother kicking my ass knowing what you went through, but it was worth it to me. I knew that as soon as I saw you, that you were going to be mine. And Scarlett, I love you so much sometimes I can't even express it, but just know that I will cherish you for as long as you will let me and I will always stay by your side no matter what happens in the future." By the time I was finished talking, I was softly rubbing my thumbs under her eyes to catch the tears that were slowly falling.

But I knew that they were happy tears. I knew that she was content right where she was and without her even having to say anything, I knew that it would be a long long time before I would not be laying in bed beside her.

And even then, death would have to take me first.

_______________________

Slowly I made my way down the stairs and to the bar where, surprise surprise, everyone was already. Surprisingly even Ripper and Lilly were there. I had expected them to stay in their room all day so Lilly could comfort him, but I guess that wasn't the case.

I sat down and smiled as Scarlett sat down right beside me. After our little heart-to-heart, we decided that it was probably for the best if we went downstairs to check on everyone. After all, I was still their leader and I still had duties in the club to tend to no matter how much I just wanted to stay in bed all day.

"What can I get you Alpha?" A prospect asked from behind the bar. I was kind of surprised to see that Smiles wasn't behind it, but when I noticed the lack of Key as well I got kind of excited, hoping that those two were together.

Sheesh, I sound like a fangirling teenager.

I rolled my eyes at myself and asked for some scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and toast. Scarlett ordered her breakfast before turning and striking up a conversation with Kali who was sitting beside her.

My eyes trailed to where Ripper and Lilly were sitting. The two were quieter than usual, but that wasn't surprising. Neither of them looked like they had slept a wink, which also wasn't that surprising. Lilly was whispering something softly to Ripper, what she was whispering I didn't know but it seemed to be calming him down to where he looked almost normal. However you could tell that he was sadly still extremely bothered by what had went down yesterday. You could tell in just the way that he was carrying himself.

If he was up for it, maybe in the next day or so I would ask him how he would like that vile woman tortured. I know he has to want his revenge, so it's only fair that I ask. I will not ask him if he wants to join in. That he will have to decide on his own without my encouragement. Would I like him to? Yes. However, no matter what that woman in the shed is still his mother, and still the cause of his nightmares. I would understand if he didn't want to revisit those demons more than what he probably already had last night.

Lost in thought, I almost gave myself whiplash when my breakfast was sat down in front of me. Thanking the prospect, I dug in. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until I practically inhaled my food, eating at a speed that was probably inhuman until the plate was completely clear.

"Holy shit dad when was the last time you ate? You literally finished that in like a minute," Lilly pointed out, shocked. I chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of my neck.

"Must've been hungrier than I originally thought," I shrugged. She still didn't look convinced but she thankfully let the subject drop.

Scarlett leaned over and offered me a bite of her food that she wasn't finished with yet. Even though I shook my head in response she proceeded to bring the fork up to my lips and hold it there, glaring at me. I rolled my eyes and took the offered bite, chewing dramatically.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around. Joker was standing there with Jason.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What's up?"

Jason started to fidget nervously. He eyed Ripper who was too busy talking to Lilly to notice. Immediately I got the hint and stood up, following the two to my office. As soon as the door shut behind us I was anxiously staring at them.

"Well?"

"Last night, something happened with Ripper's mom. We didn't check on her after 3am, and she did something after that," Joker spoke.

"What'd she do?" I asked. This was one of the times where I hated that some of my men liked to beat around the bush. It was incredibly annoying in situations like this.

"She managed to bang her head against the wall so hard she required medical attention when we checked on her next. However, that was at 7:30 this morning and Doc thinks that it happened somewhere around 5 or 5:30 judging by how dried some of the blood was. She's still alive, but hardly. We weren't sure if we should've woken you up or not so we waited. What do you want us to do?" Jason rambled.

While I was slightly shocked by what he said, I wasn't entirely surprised. That woman was absolutely crazy, but not stupid. She knew I was planning on killing her after a lengthy torture session, and most likely attempted to kill herself that way so she wouldn't have to deal with the torture aspect.

Slightly complicates things but oh well.

"Where is she?"

"She's still in the cells. Doc treated her while she was in there, we didn't want to take the chances of taking her out of the shed and her somehow getting away," Butcher said.

I nodded and sighed. "I guess I'll tell Ripper. I know he won't be happy but he won't be sad either. Thank you for telling me, and if something like that happens again and there's a good chance she'll die, wake me up. I would like to be informed of things while they are happening and not after," they nodded along with me before leaving once they were dismissed.

I sat down in my office chair and rubbed a hand down my face.

Well there goes my plans of using that bitch as a punching bag to get out my anger. I won't be able to do it until she's at least somewhat coherent.

Fuck.