All my control slips away and it’s me I should have been worried about losing control because I have a fistful of his suit clenched in my hands as I drag him in between the cars and slam him up against Ryker’s Bronco in a split second. My tone promises him pain and death as Ryker growls low and hard next to him.
“You piece of shit, if you want to make it out of this parking lot alive, shut your fucking garbage mouth, right fucking now!”
He must see his death in my eyes because a tremor of fear shakes through him and his eyes start darting around for a path to escape. I slam him against the car again.
“This is how this is going to go. You’re going to sign all the paperwork we brought. No more wife, no more daughter, and then you’re going to scurry away like the coward you are and never think of them again.”
His eyes dart to Ryker who’s baring his teeth in a feral look and he swallows hard before focusing back on me.
“Or what? You’re going to beat me up?”
I smile menacingly. “Yes, with so much fucking pleasure and when we’re done, I’ll hand you over to the Feds for embezzlement. We know all about your offshore account. Or, you sign away all your rights, never so much as think about them again and walk free, here and now. What’s it going to be?”
A sneer forms on his lips. “I’ll sign. You can have the cunt. She and the kid are useless anyway.”
Red fills my vision and the fists holding his suit let go to wrap around the fucker’s throat. I squeeze and squeeze and his face turns a pleasing shade of purple until Ryker finally tears me off of him leaving the weasel gasping for breath. Ry pushes me away before stooping to pick the envelope and pen up from where I dropped them on the pavement and thrusts them both at the douchebag.
“Sign!” He snarls.
The guy takes it from him and pulls out the documents and starts scrawling his signature on page after page as I lock down my temper to a low simmer and Ry breaths menacingly down his neck. When he’s done, I snatch the papers from him and go through them all making sure it’s complete.
At my nod, Ryker’s lips twist into a sneer and then his huge fists plow into the guy’s ribs in four brutal hits. Pleasure washes through me at the pained grunts as each hit lands. This is what Avery felt when he went to work on her delicate body but it just doesn’t feel like enough so when Ryker steps back, I pass the paperwork to him to free up my hands and slam my fist first into his mouth and then once more into his eye. The guy crumples to the pavement moaning in pain and it’s a beautiful sound to me. Let this fucker have a little taste of his own medicine.
I straighten my suit jacket and then lean over, pick up my pen and use it to wack him between his eyes to get his attention.
“This is the end of it. As far as you’re concerned, you don’t have them, know them or even think of them again or we will be back and it won’t end in a few fists. It’ll end with your life. Do you understand?”
I see the hate in his eyes when he nods his agreement and then Ryker’s dragging him to the front of the cars and out of our way. He throws him back down and stomps one of his big feet right into the guy’s back and it reminds me of the boot print on Avery’s skin but I need this to be done now or I won’t stop. I’ll kill him. With one more glare at the sniveling mess he’s become, I open and slide into the Bronco and shoot a quick text to Bishop letting him know we are done and his men can pick up the trash. And then I dismiss that waste of space from my mind as Ryker pulls us out of the parking lot and drives away.
Him
Iuse that bitch’s car to drag myself back to my feet with a groan. The way the bones grind in my side tells me at least two of my ribs are broken. I take a shallow breath to not aggravate them and swipe my thumb across the blood dripping from my mouth as I watch them drive away.
That fucking whore is dead.
I stagger over to my car and get in as fast as my injuries will allow. I peel out of the parking without a backward glance at the office I’ve worked at for years. I won’t be back. I’ve had an exit strategy ready to go for the last few years that would allow me to disappear without a trace. The plan was always to walk away from this job and the useless wife and kid but this changes that. The fact that she defied me this way, tried to dictate terms to ME? That can’t stand so she will need to learn one final lesson before I ghost away.
As I catch sight of the Bronco those two fucks who dared to lay hands and fists on me drove away in, I hang back and follow. A grim smile pulls at my bleeding lip when I picture her violet eyes bulging from my hands around her neck. Imagining the fear, the terror, and then finally acceptance as the light leaves them has my dick going rock hard. I wipe the blood from my busted lip with my tongue and revel in the taste. Oh, yes, she’s going to learn the biggest lesson of them all and I can’t wait to deliver it.
Avery
“What do you mean he’s fucking gone? We practically gift-wrapped the guy for you!”
I hear Easton yelling as Ryker and I walk into the house after dropping Chloe off at school. I’m surprised he’s still here as he usually leaves for the office before we take her to school. Harsh swearing cuts off abruptly when we enter the kitchen and he catches sight of me. I watch him rush out of the room with his phone to his ear after sending a hard look Ryker’s way and my shoulders tighten up at the tension suddenly filling the room.
I look between Zack and Ryker nervously before busying myself with cleaning up the kitchen from breakfast and I spot the slight tremble in my fingers as I reach for the dishcloth. This is the first time I’ve felt this kind of anger and tension in this house since we came here and it brings back way too many feelings from before. I know it has nothing to do with me, I haven’t done anything wrong but years of walking on fragile eggshells have me hunching my shoulders as if a blow will be coming at any moment.
Ryker’s big arms come around me from behind and he kisses the top of my head.
“Stop. You’re safe.” He rumbles, and some of that tension, that tightness flows out of me. I know I shouldn’t but I lean back into him. It’s so darn nice to have someone hug me this way. Someone to reassure me. Someone to care. I just can’t help myself. He makes me feel so safe and like…I matter. His arms tighten briefly before he lets me go and steps to the side. My eyes lift from the sink and meet Zack’s where he sits across from me at the island and I don’t understand the wistful look in them before they clear and he flashes me a dimpled smile.
“Yeah, East can get pretty heated when things don’t go right at work. You can’t let it bother you, Aves.” He tells me, so I let the last of the tension drain away and nod with my own small smile.
He’s right. No one in this house has ever given me a reason to be afraid. I need to start trusting them more. I’m safe here. We’re safe here and I need to start believing that fully so I can start to heal. So when Easton comes back into the kitchen with a grim expression I swallow past my nerves and offer him a tentative smile. I’m just about to ask him if he has a preference for what he would like for dinner when he holds out a thick, legal-sized envelope to me.
“These are for you, Avery. He signed everything.”
My mouth forms a perfect O of shocked surprise as I stare at the envelope. My heart surges with joyful relief but my head tells me it can’t be that easy. My hands shake as I take it from him and clutch it to my chest.
