It was him, the man from the club! I knew there’d been something off about him, but I never would’ve assumed he posed a threat to my family. I wracked my brain to remember his name. “Brandon?” I recalled.
He scoffed a bitter laugh and shook his head. “You can’t really be that stupid.” He wasn’t calm like he’d been that night at Mickey’s. His eyes were wild, manic grin gleaming with wicked intent.
“What do you want?” I asked, feeling Lazlo’s fingers clawing at the back of my shirt. I wanted to reach for him, hold him and reassure him it would all be okay, but I needed my hands free. If I saw an opening to take him down, I would take it. “Money? My wallet is right there on the table. Take it.”
He showed no interest in my wallet, though. His gaze flicked behind me to the hallway, then up the stairs. “Where are they? Upstairs? You can’t keep them from me.”
I frowned, adrenaline making my senses spark. “Who are…” The words died on my lips as realization slammed down on me like a ton of bricks. “Victor,” I spat, and I heard Lazlo’s gasp behind me.
“That baby is mine.” He wanted what he thought was his. Too bad I wasn’t willing to let them go. I would take a bullet for them if it meant protecting them from this monster.
I kept my eyes on Victor, refusing to give away their locations. I only hoped August stayed in the barn.
And that was when Mia’s voice echoed down the stairwell, and Victor’s grin turned satisfied. “There they are…”
AUGUST
Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.
I’d lost track of time cuddling with the chickens. Bernadette had hopped into my lap like a cat, demanding pets, and she made it impossible to ignore her—not that I wanted to. And then, to be fair to the others, I had to give them all an equal amount of attention. Otherwise, they got jealous and rowdy.
When I slipped back into the kitchen, though, a laugh on my lips, expecting to be teased about how long I’d been gone, the earth had dropped away beneath me at the voice I heard.
“Good to see you again,hero,” Victor said, and for a split second, I thought he was talking to me. That my life with Jerry and Lazlo had all been some kind of blissful dream, and now I was waking up, dropped straight into a nightmare.
The air in my lungs froze, my heart tripping over itself as I tried to make sense of this terrifying reality. My past and present were colliding, and trapped in the middle, I was suffocating. I couldn’t breathe! I dropped to my knees, a hand clutching at my chest.
His voice chilled the blood in my veins, dragging me back into my own personal hell. Victor found me. Because of course he had. It was always going to happen. He couldn’t just let me behappy. He was the same cruel master he’d always made himself to be.
Except… I wasn’t the man I used to be. I’d changed.
Jerry and Lazlo had shown me that I could be strong, that I could be brave.
And right now, Victor was in the living room with them.
No. I refused to stand by and do nothing while he hurt the men I loved. My eyes darted to the hook beside the door, where my keys were hanging, the bright red cannister of pepper spray right where it needed to be.
Distantly, I heard Mia’s cry from upstairs, and it was enough to spur my body into motion. I’d broken free from my prison to protect my daughter, and I knew I would do whatever it took to protect her now.
“There they are…” Victor drawled from the next room, and I was already in motion.
My fingers closed around the cannister, unhooking it as I marched out of the room. Fear was banished from my mind; the only thing left driving me was hot, blinding fury. How fucking dare he treat my loved ones like that—treatmelike that. I deserved better, I always had.
Rounding the corner, I saw my piece-of-shit ex starting toward the stairs. I barely registered the gun in his hand. I only had eyes for my men. Jerry met my gaze, eyes fierce with his own rage. I expected him to tell me to stop, but he saw the spray in my hand, and he nodded. He knew exactly what I intended to do.
I was taking back my life—this time for good.
“Fuck you, Victor,” I shouted, bringing his attention square on me, just like I’d intended. I wanted his eyes wide open for what I had planned for him.
He started to bring the gun around, but he was too slow. I already had the cannister pointed right at his face, just like Jerry showed me. I sent a spray of gel directly into his eyes. Heshouted in surprise and pain, and he fired the gun blindly in my direction. Behind him, Jerry was in motion, seeing his chance.
I ducked to the side, the bullet flying wide, buried in the kitchen’s plaster wall. Jerry didn’t miss, though. He slammed into Victor’s back like a linebacker and took him down hard. They wrestled for the gun, but with Jerry’s full weight bearing down on his back, there was only one possible outcome.
“Stay down!” Jerry barked, gripping his hair and knocking his face into the floor with a satisfying crack. He groaned, going limp. Blood pooled beneath him, gushing from his broken nose, and Lazlo easily pried the gun from his hand and moved back with it, keeping it at the ready in case it was needed.
It wasn’t. Victor was smart enough to know he’d lost.
The whole thing felt so surreal. The police were called, and Victor was taken away in handcuffs, dried blood down his chin and shirt. He looked… weak. Broken. A shell of a man. He wouldn’t even make eye contact with me. Just as well, since I had a feeling Jerry would’ve gladly punched him again.
