**I just wanted to thank everyone who reads and enjoys this story! you guys really have no idea how much it means to me

She didn’t say a word. Not even as I was cutting her arms down. Her finger tips were purple from how tightly she was bound. Her shirt was ripped open and spotted with blood. She had a nasty cut on her head and small lashes all over her arms and chest. As fast as I could I broke the cuffs that were on her wrists and pulled her close to me.

“It’s okay. You’re alright. It’s over.” I whispered into her ear.

She held me tightly and I could feel her shaking. Over my shoulder I nodded to Tig and he took off the shirt he was wearing.

“Here sweetheart put this on.” He said softly.

I took the blue button down shirt from him and wrapped it around McKayla. She reached up and fastened a few of the buttons. I put my hands gently on her face and pulled it up so she was looking at me.

“Listen to me. Tig and they guys will take you back to the clubhouse. I’ll meet you there soon I promise.” I told her.

McKayla nodded and looked into my eyes. They were empty. I didn’t see sadness, fear, or even love in them. It was almost like she was high and checked out of her head. Tig slid his arms around her and helped her out of the room. Opie ran his hands over his face and let out a deep sigh.

“Shit brother. What now?” He asked me.

Now that McKayla was safe, it was time to take care of business. I tossed some rope to Sack.

“Tie him up.”

Sack caught the rope and walked over to Derek, who was still unconscious and started tying his wrists.

“What happened to you guys?” I asked Ope.

He shook his head and looked at Chibs.

“The Devils were waiting for us around back. Only three of them though, we took care of it.” He said with a shrug.

I sighed and shook my head. It was pounding. My body was aching from sitting tied up on the floor and for the rib shot I took. Once Sack was done with Derek I turned to the guys.

“Okay, you guys split. Head back to the clubhouse and I’ll meet you there.” I said.

Chibs and Opie exchanged glances at each other and then to me. I nodded slowly and they started to leave. Chibs put a hand on my shoulder before he reached the door.

“You’re doing the right thing here Jackie.” He said to me.

I nodded and pulled him in for a hug. Sack started for the door but I stopped him.

“Sack, I need you with me.” I said.

He turned and looked at me with his eyebrow raised. Opie shot me a look over his shoulder, but left with Chibs. When I heard the sounds of the bikes roll out, I turned to Sack.

“I know you’re close with McKayla and I thought you might want to help me with this.” I said.

Sack took a deep breath and nodded to me.

“I’ve been going over and over this in my head since we found out. How I could’ve done something to have fixed it. How I never should’ve taken her to that stupid party. How I could make it right.” He said. His voice cracked and I knew he was struggling to keep it together.

I nodded and put my hand on his shoulder.

“We’re gonna make it right brother, together. For McKayla.” I said slowly.

He sniffled and wiped a tear that was in the corner of his eye. We nodded together and I looked around the room.

“Okay this is what we’re gonna do. Go get the van and get it as close as you can. Once we get him inside we gotta clean this place up. I’ll call Juice and Happy for that. We take him out of Charming and we finish this.” I explained to Sack.

Without a question he ran out of the room and to where we had the van parked. I took a look around for anything that would tie Derek, McKayla or me to it. The only thing I found was a suitcase filled with torture instruments. There were whips with tacks on the ends and clamps and canes and everything else you’d need to run an S/M club. Sack pulled the van up as close as he could to the room and ran back up the stairs.

I stripped the blankets from both of the beds and tossed them down. Together we loaded Derek into the back of the van and I called Juice and Happy to wipe the place down since there were specks of blood all over. I had Sack drive about an hour out of Charming and into the woods. I didn’t want anyone to ever find this bastard when we were done with him. Before we left I tied a bandana around his eyes and mouth in case he woke up. It’s a good thing I did because as soon as we parked the van he started to come around. He mumbled something and I hauled him to his feet.

“I’m sorry, did you say something? I don’t think you were spoken to asshole.” I said darkly into his ear.

Without warning I punched him as hard as I could in his gut. He cried out and doubled over. Sack helped me drag him deeper into the woods.

“Take the blindfold off.” I said to Sack.

He yanked it from Derek’s head and tucked it in his pocket. The sun was coming up and light was just spilling through the trees. In a weird way, it was beautiful. There were no sounds in the woods. No animals or anything around us. It was perfect. Derek was breathing heavily and sweating. I’ve seen the look he had in his eyes before. It was fear. The little bastard was terrified of what was about to happen. I took my gun from my cut and took a deep breath as I held it in my hands.

“One shot. Nothing fatal.” I said to Sack in a low voice.

I looked at him and held my gun out to him. Slowly, he reached over and took it from me. Derek started screaming into his gag and his eyes danced between us. Sack nodded and raised the gun in his hands. He looked long and hard at Derek before he spat in his face. Then he aimed and fired one shot directly into Derek’s crotch. I winced as Derek screamed louder in pain. He dropped to his knees and doubled over. Blood poured from him and soaked into the ground. Sack handed the gun back to me and nodded.

“Nice shot.” I said to him.

I had to admit, I was impressed with the Prospect. Now it was my turn. I tucked the gun away back into my cut and nodded to Sack.

“Hold his legs down.” I said.

Sack nodded and I pushed Derek onto his back. He stopped screaming as I towered over him. Sack pulled his legs out straight and held them tightly. I crouched down so that I was almost sitting on him and stared at him. As I thought about what I was going to do, I couldn’t help but smile. I knew it had to be a sick, frightening smile because it made Derek go completely still and silent. I leaned down so that my mouth was just touching his ear and whispered.

“I told you that I was going to rip your heart out with my bare hands, as I am I want you to remember every time you hurt McKayla. Every time you beat her, raped her and left her bleeding on the floor. Because no matter how much of a monster you were to her, you’re nothing compared to me.”

Derek swallowed hard and took a few deep breaths. I heard him mumbling something but I was done with him. I didn’t want him say another word. I took my knife from my belt and cut his shirt off. He started screaming again and kicking his feet. Sack held him so tight that I don’t think he could’ve gotten away if he wanted to. I held the knife above his chest for a moment and just looked at him. Images of McKayla tied up and being whipped and beaten flooded my mind.

“Jax, you okay?” Sack said to me after a minute.

I smiled that sick smile I get when shit like this happens and turned to him.

“Oh yeah, I’m good.” I said.

Sack swallowed hard and gripped Derek tighter. Slowly, I turned back around and after I spit in his face I plunged the blade into his chest. His muffled screams got softer and softer until I yanked his slowly beating heart from his chest and out of his body. I stood there, holding it in my hands and looking at him. It was over. He was dead and could never hurt McKayla again. Sack stood up and put his hand on my shoulder.

“It’s done man.” He said softly.

I could hear how scared he was in his voice and his hand shook slightly on my shoulder. I nodded and dropped the heart back into the hole I carved in Derek’s chest. My gloved hands were covered in blood and so was a lot of my face and shirt. Sack helped me away from Derek and I leaned against a tree.

“I’ll take care of it.” He said.

I nodded and let him get rid of the body. It hit me all at once that I actually cut a man’s heart from his chest. I collapsed on the ground. I couldn’t breathe. Everything started spinning and I started trembling hard. Sack was coming back over the hill and ran when he saw me.

“Shit Jax, what happened? Are you okay?” He asked me worriedly.

I looked up at the sky and managed to get a grip on myself. I nodded and he helped me up.

“Is it done?” I asked.

My voice hoarse and scratchy. Suddenly I was exhausted. My body hurt and I felt weak and shaky. He nodded and put a hand on me to keep me steady.

“There’s a spring not far, you should clean up a bit.” He said.

I just nodded and he helped me down to it. He helped me shed my cut and my shirt so I could get all the blood off of me. Derek wasn’t the first man I’ve killed by a long shot, but he was the first that was this personal. I splashed the water on my face and gasped at how cold it was. It woke me up and brought a little bit of life into me. Once I was clean, Sack handed me another shirt and I threw it and my cut on.

I dug a small hole with my knife and stuffed the blood soaked shirt into it.

“No loose ends.” I said to Sack as I filled it back up.

He just nodded and we went back to the van. Sack drove and we headed back to Charming. Neither of us said very much until we got inside the city limits.

“What do you want me to say happened?” He asked me.

I sighed and leaned back into the seat.

“Just tell them I handled it and you stood watch. They don’t need to know details.” I said.

My voice was low and tired but I know he heard me. I could feel my heart start to race as we pulled into TM. McKayla, she was safe and waiting for me. Opie was waiting for us outside when we pulled up. I met him half way to the door.

“How’d everything go with Juice and Happy? Did they take care of it?” I asked him.

He nodded and I sighed in relief. At least that was taken care of.

“What about with you? Is it done?” He asked as we walked into the clubhouse.

I nodded but didn’t say anything. No one but me and Sack needed to know whatever really happened to Derek. All anyone needed to know was that he was dead and buried. Gemma rushed over to me as soon as we hit the bar.

“Oh baby.” She said as she wrapped her arms around me.

I held her tight and closed my eyes.

“Are you alright?” She asked me softly.

“Yeah mom, I’m fine. Where is she?” I asked.

Gemma bit her lip and looked at Tig. He looked at Chibs and then to me. I pulled away from her and looked at them.

“What? Is she okay?” I asked them.

I could hear the fear in my own voice. We’d been gone for hours, something horrible could’ve happened to her while I was gone. Gemma put her hand on my arm and gave me a look of sympathy.

“What?” I asked again.

She sighed and nodded to the apartment.

“She’s in there. She won’t say a word Jackson. She’s just sitting on the bed looking at nothing. I couldn’t even get her to clean up. I don’t know if she’s okay or not.” She said. Her voice broke and she started to cry.

I couldn’t say anything. I pushed away from her and ran down the hallway and slowly opened the door. Like she said, McKayla was sitting on the edge of the bed staring at the wall. I shut the door behind me and barely made it into the room before I dropped to my knees. Everything that happened washed over me at once. The party, us fighting, her spending the night in jail, getting kidnapped and having God knows what happen to her and then having to watch me get beaten and then beat the guy who took her. Seeing her stare blankly at the wall broke me completely.

“I’m so sorry.” I choked out.

I started sobbing and crying hard on the floor. I crawled to her and put my hands on her thighs and cried into them. I felt McKayla start to move and I looked up. She was looking at me and sliding down onto the floor with me. Tears were steadily streaming down her cheeks as she sank onto the floor. I pulled her into my arms and held her tightly to my chest. She started crying louder and I just held her tighter. I thought I was going to break her in half, as hard as I was holding her.

All I could do was whisper in her ear that it was all over and he was never going to touch her again. She didn’t say anything at all. Once she was quiet, I gently lifted her up in my arms and carried her to the bathroom. I placed her on the toilet and started drawing a bath. When it was ready I looked at her and touched the hem of Tigs shirt. She nodded and I started to unbutton it. She helped me take it off and reached behind her to take off her bra. As she was taking her pants off, I started to undress as well. I took her hands in mine and I led her into the tub with me and held her with her back to me as I carefully washed the blood from her body.