Amber put up a fight but lacked strategy. Dom had taught me to think fast, to look for openings and to keep up my guard. Luc stood back, per my request. I’d told him that I wanted to deal with Amber, and after many arguments he’d agreed. She grabbed one of my arms, nails digging in again and I drove an elbow into her side, causing her to double over. I grabbed her ponytail, kicking her behind the knee and driving her to the floor. My free hand reached into my back pocket and pulled out the blade that Dante had gifted me. I rested it against her throat and leaned down to whisper in her ear, “I’d think carefully about how you talk to me now.”
Amber swiped behind her to get at me, but I pushed her to the floor so that she lay in front of me. One of my knees was pressed into her spine and my other foot rested on her forearm. If I added pressure, I could possibly break it. Winding her hair around my palm, I pulled hard so that her head lifted up, pressing the blade a little harder so that her breathe came in ragged gasps.
“Where is he, Amber?”
“Who?” she asked.
“Xavier. Where is he?”
“I have no idea.”
I placed pressure on her arm with my foot. “Seriously, Amber.”
“Fuck!” she yelled. “I don’t know!”
I didn’t believe her. The logical and reasonable part of my brain had shut down and I was unsatisfied with her answer. Drawing my foot back, I stamped down as hard as I could and I heard it, the crack that occurred and the strangled scream that left Amber. Her arm moved in an unnatural way under my foot and I swallowed back the bile.
“FUCK! I don’t fucking know! He gave me money to do it. He told me he’d get me back with Luc! No one knew you’d make a run for it!” She heaved in between the sentences, struggling with the pain.
How stupid had I been? I’d played straight into Xavier’s hands. If I had stayed, things might have worked out differently.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you, Amber.” It wasn’t just anger. It was a blinding rage that couldn’t be contained. So many people had been instrumental in attempting to derail my life, and I wanted to regain some control. “Tell me why I shouldn’t end your pathetic excuse of a life.”
“You don’t have it in you.”
I slammed her head against the concrete floor of the basement. “You have no idea what I would do.” I never thought I’d have it in me to physically hurt someone, but I was surrounded by it. I’d learned that sometimes the reasoning wasn’t malicious so much as an act of loyalty and love. It was a reminder of where respect should be directed, and I was tired of the disrespect that kept coming my way. Tired of people who believed they could scare me away from my life. “You threatened my son,” I reminded her. “So, you better tell me why I should let you walk out of here alive.”
“You don’t have it in you, Mia. We all know that. You’re a precious little petal who—”
The knife sank into Amber’s back, just off her shoulder blade, eliciting another scream. I wanted her to feel pain. I wanted her to feel scared, the same way my Dad must have when she pulled that gun on him. With some struggle, I pulled the knife free and she hissed and groaned. She writhed beneath me and I pressed down hard on her spine. The blade was covered in a thick, dark liquid and it dripped on the floor and started to bloom across Amber’s shirt. The coppery scent of blood filled my nostrils and I was surprised at how familiar it was.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Her voice was thick with pain and tears. “I swear to God I’ll stay away. Let me go!” The bravery she possessed had vanished in an instant.
I listened carefully to what she said, a small part of me enjoying listening to her pleas. There was a strange sense of joy at hearing the panic in her voice. That addictive high of having all the power in the situation dulled any other emotion. Would the heady rush I felt ever ease, or would the thrill be just as brilliant as the first time?
“Please. Please! I’ll move. I’ll help you find Xavier.” Amber appeared to have realized that just because I wasn’t born into this didn’t mean I wasn’t a part of it now. Everyone expected Luc to take the lead. He was the irrational one who left his conscience at the door and never returned to collect it. No one expected that I could run alongside him.
“I thought you said you didn’t know where he was.”
“I don’t, but I can help, I swear. And then you won’t hear from me again.”
“Make that a promise, Amber.”
“I promise. I swear.”
I looked up at Luc, who was leaning against the wall by the door, arms folded across his chest. He gave me a curious look before I pushed myself off Amber and stood up. “Mia?!” Luc pushed off the wall, eyes wide. “No! You can’t be serious.” This was not what we’d discussed. Our deal had been that if Amber admitted to it then she wouldn’t leave the house alive.
She struggled but got to her feet, no longer in the pristine state she had arrived in. “I swear to you,” she repeated, words unsteady from the pain.
“Move, Luc,” I told him.
“No.” This was a battle of wills. Luc wanted to clean away every obstacle as quickly as possible. What I was doing didn’t fall in line with his ethos, but he’d need to learn that we both had a different view of how things should be done.
“You told me you’d let me handle this, now move!”
Luc was seething, but he moved out of the way and Amber made a beeline for the door.
So many people had commented on my soft nature, had underestimated me because I didn’t wear my anger like a badge of honor. As I walked up to Luc, my mind filed with thoughts of my Dad and my son. I couldn’t do anything to save the man who’d raised me, but I would do anything to protect the one I would raise.
