“This is our town. We fucking own it, and this is what happens when slimy motherfuckers think they can destroy the peace,” Mal growls, bitterness dripping off his every word.
I blink back at the two of them, feeling their hurt. They have all been through so much growing up here like this. It’s terrible. Where I was sheltered from my reality, they had it thrust in their faces constantly. They were forced to grow up quickly and deal with the reality they had been born into. Maybe I’m only just now learning I haveto deal with mine. “I’m so sorry that happened to your teacher. It’s heartbreaking.”
“It is. But now you know. Everything we do is for the right reasons, even though it might seem violent to a sheltered little princess like you. It’s about keeping order and protecting what is ours. At any cost. And these boys have decided you’re one of us, so that includes you. This cunt will die for ever thinking he could mess with you.” Mal sneers, but it’s not at me. He’s moved closer to the window and is staring at the man. His hate is for him.
More whimpers and cries of pain from the man next door, and I realize Mal must have turned off the sound while he was telling me that story, and now it’s back on in all its disgusting glory. “O-okay, I’ll talk. I’ll talk, just get this crazy son of a bitch away from me.” He snorts, his words disjointed over the sound of his cries.
“Name?” is all Jagger barks back. He sounds so cool and collected in the face of such violence. It’s unnerving when I know such a different side of him. But it’s not like I didn’t know it was in there. I knew from the first night I met him he had this dark side to him.
“Silas Vance,” the man splutters out.
Asher looks to Malachi, confusion registering on his face, like he knows the man and he’s the last person either of them expected it to be. He picks up his phone and dials a number. “Paige, I need you to take a VIP off the list immediately, a Silas Vance. If he tries to get access to the club, get security to hold him until I get there. Do you understand?” She must agree because he disconnects the call almost as quickly as he made it, his eyes coming back to me. He wraps his arm closer around me as he breathes me in. “No fucker is getting his hands on you.” He kisses the top of my head.
A gunshot rings out through the speaker, and I can’t help the gasp that comes from me. I spin around. The man is slumped over inthe chair, his head a bloody mess. My stomach rolls. There is so much blood, it’s a cloud of crimson. I try to stop the spinning in my head, but it’s no use. The room goes blurry. Asher’s hands grip me tightly. Then it all goes black.
Chapter 33
All For You
Coolairhitsmyface like I have just stepped inside a freezer. I blink my eyes rapidly to find myself lying on a rustic leather sofa in Jagger’s office at The Precinct, the air-conditioning unit blowing cold air on me. I sit up in a rush, remembering the last thing I saw before I passed out. Blood, a lot of it.
I regret the fast movement immediately when my head spins. With my head in my hands, I take some deep breaths to steady my nerves. I’m okay, I’m safe, I tell myself on repeat, not wanting to pass out again. When I raise my head, Cruz is right in front of me. He was sitting in a chair just to my side, but he stands. His clotheshave been freshly changed from what he was in when we left this morning, and his hair is damp.
With a soft smile, he comes toward me and drops on his knees, taking my hand in his. “Little darlin’.”
I flinch away, not wanting his hands on me after what he just did. I understand why, I really do, but it doesn’t mean I’m okay with having the same hands that caused all that harm on me.
“How are you feeling?” he asks, his voice soft, caring. The Cruz I have come to know, my Cruz. But I can’t understand how he can be both the vicious man who inflicts pain for fun and the man I find before me, the one with so much love for me in his stormy eyes. It’s not possible, is it?
I rub my head, wondering if I hit it on my way down, but I think Asher caught me. He was right there, and I wonder where he is now and how long I was out of it. Normally when I pass out from the sight of blood, it’s not long before I come to. “I’m fine,” I mutter, not feeling any pain in my body. But I can’t focus on Cruz, not really. Instead, I stare off to the far side wall. The window is black again. Whatever is taking place in the room next door is finally blocked from my view. I’m relieved, knowing I don’t have to see any more of it. That man is dead because of me, and the thought is sickening.
I feel Cruz’s eyes on me, but I can’t look at him. “You gave us a scare.” His hand comes to mine as he tries to lace our hands together.
My body goes all stiff. I’m not sure how to act around him for the first time. Normally, I melt into him, unable to help it, but I just can’t.
“Look at me, little darlin’,” he whispers.
“I can’t, Cruz.” The words tremble out because I don’t want to hurt him, but I can’t be near him right now.
His hand comes to my face gently, stroking his thumb down the side of my face tenderly. Then he moves me, so I’m forced to look athim, his hands lacing into my hair as he holds me. His stormy eyes show the chaos inside his brain. Violence lights him up inside. How could I be falling for a man like this? “I knew you shouldn’t have been here for this. Fucking Jagger.”
“Maybe it’s best I knew the truth,” I whisper, but even I know my voice sounds far away, like I’m not really in the room with him right now. It was too much for me.
“Not when you’re looking at me like I’m the monster.” He sighs heavily, and I feel his pain.
“We’re just so different, Cruz. I mean, I understand why. I know you’re trying to fix things, but the way you do it… I don’t think I can ever wrap my head around the delight you take in others’ pain.”
“Not others. Heartless motherfuckers who…” he growls out before pulling away from me. He gets to his feet and paces, running a hand through his long hair as he goes. He shakes his head and huffs out a laugh. “You want to know who Silas Vance is?”
My brow furrows. “Who is he?”
“The fucker who tried to rape you for not going into the private suites with him? His fucking brother.” He practically yells it, anger coming over him that makes me flinch back into the sofa.
I have been trying to block that awful memory from my brain, but it’s still crystal clear. His face when he attacked me, the feeling of the knife slicing through his skin and his face afterwards when the boys had killed him. Another man dead because of me. My stomach rolls at the thought.
“You want to know what I do when I’m not fighting, little darlin’? I rid the earth of scum. That’s what I fucking do.” He stares back at me, an emptiness in his expression I have never seen before. “When you got off that bus and stumbled upon us in the alleyway, we were just taking out the trash. Those two men, both serpents, had been linkedto a string of crimes, including raping girls who worked at Sloane’s club. They deserved every fucking thing we did to them for the pain they caused. You can look at me like you hate me all you want, but I will never stop trying to save you and other innocents.” He turns and storms from the room, slamming the door as he goes.
Fuck. I swing my legs over the side of the sofa and run my hands through my hair, trying to get my emotions under control. I don’t know how to navigate this, any of it. That was a lot of information to learn in one morning. I hated them for keeping me in the dark, but this is all a lot to process. And the worst part is that man’s brother is still out there hunting for me. Someone always will be until my papa gets his way. The idea of going home and having to marry some new man who he has selected for me makes me so angry my whole body stiffens ready for a fight. I won’t do it. I have the prospect of an exciting life here, a career of my own, and if it comes to it, I will stick up for myself this time. There is no way I will marry this person no matter what my papa’s threats are.
