“Good, now look to your left.”
“Seriously, Dor?”
“Shut the fuck up and do as you’re told.”
Her lips flatten in a thin line, but she moves her eyes to the left.
“The other way now,” I order.
She clicks her tongue, clearly irritated, but glances to her right. She then brings her eyes forward again and narrows them at me. “Satisfied?”
I cup the side of her neck and give her a soft kiss. “Not really. Let’s go to the ER and get you checked out.”
She grits her teeth. “What about Fredrick?”
I arch a brow. “Well, news flash, sweetheart: that sewer rat and his band of misfits arenotmy priority right now.”
“But we’d be letting them escape by not dealing with them, Dor,” she persists.
“Absolutely not. I’ll have Aras hold him and his people in. I can fuck the bastard up later; he ain’t leaving here tonight, that’s for sure.”
“No.” She blinks. “I want to see him hurt –now. I want him to pay, Dorran. I want him to fuckingfeelwhat he mademefeel.”
“Listen to m–”
“Please,” she says, fisting my shirt. “Please.”
“Little Swan…” I frown as I study the bruises on her face again, conflicted between giving her what she wants and putting her health first. And then, because I know I can’t defy her, I let go of a breath and give her a nod. “Fine. But the moment you feel dizzy or unwell, you tell me. No excuses, no lagging. Promise me, Cigs.”
Her face all but lights up as she smiles. “I promise.”
“And once I’m done with Fred, you’ll let me take you to the ER.”
“I will, I promise.”
I shake my head at her. “You’re too stubborn for your own good.”
She rises on her tiptoes and presses her lips to my jaw. “And you’re the best,” she says.
“Yeah, yeah.” I wrap my arms around her waist and give her yet another kiss, just because I can. “Come on, let me rough up a drug lord for you.”
“Thank you,” she all but sings, making me laugh.
30.
Iam seconds away from pummeling face-first on the ground; I can all but feel the now-mangled grass calling my name. Each breath I take feels icy in the back of my throat, and every other second, I notice darkness creeping at the edges of my vision. Not a fun experience, if you ask me. All I need is a pillow, and I guarantee I’d fall in a slumber so deep that it’d take the world crumbling to shit for me to wake back up. But I fight against the constant heaviness in my limbs, unwilling to miss the moment Fredrick finally pays the price for his audacity. Pain surges through my bruises, but my sense of vengeance pulses stronger in my head, which gives me enough strength to put one foot in front of the other.
I’ve got this; I can make it.
I can, can’t I?
31.
“Alright, everyone; quiet down a little for me, will you?” I call out. The part of the estate garden we’re currently in is a chaotic orchestra of noises – some angry, some frustrated. Some too incoherent to understand.
Safiya, Solo, Alex, and Varsha are busy forcing the remaining guards to drop their weapons and kneel, whereas Aras is keeping a close eye on Heyman and the security personnel who is still holding him at gunpoint. Fredrick, groaning and cursing, is exactly where I’d asked Magner to drop him at, but the latter – he’s nowhere to be seen.
Cigs sighs heavily from next to me when the chatter around us grows, so I clap my hands together, loud enough that it instantly gets everyone’s attention.
