Her wails fill the quiet.
My body numbs, floats away from itself.
As Silence presses her face into Y’s chest, we all sit totally still, the impact of the evening pouring over us like shards of poisoned glass.
“Well.” Sawyer whoops. “That amped up the night, didn’t it?”
I shift my tear-filled gaze to him. “You’re a bastard.”
Sawyer Sinclair steps forward, and I take a second to consider the man in front of me. A sharp suit and well-groomed hair hides a beast—one who tears, and rapes, and beats, and kills.
But I brought him here. I put these people in his firing line.
This is my fault.
“I am a bastard, and you know what else I am?” His smirk grows, and a shiver skitters down my spine when I realize that might have been the last thing Ava ever saw. “Unsatisfied.” Silence’s quiet sobs drift across the evening as Sawyer keeps his eyes locked on mine, a promise in them that has my heart picking up. “I don’t think I’ve broken you enough.”
The blood dripping down my arm has my head swimming, but still I stand, angling myself in front of Guy.
But Sawyer laughs.
“Silly Lina,” he coos. “I don’t want Guy to die.” I tremble,blood spreading across my palm as I close my hand into a fist. “I want him to hate you.”
Realization dawns too slowly.
I draw in a breath, my eyes widening.
He won’t kill Guy.
He won’t even kill me.
But he will kill Ella.
And by the time I think it, I’m already too late.
Chapter 23
Gable
“Iwant him to hate you.”
As soon as those words leave this mother fucker’s mouth, I know. I’ve been around men like him enough to track their way of thinking. So while Ella’s life has been in danger the entire night, now, she’s staring death in the face.
I won’t let that fucking happen.
The moment I realized I loved Ella Gibson, I knew she’d make me happier than I ever deserved to be. She pisses me off, she’s messy, forgetful, and the love of my god damn life. I like listening to her mumbling to herself in the kitchen when she’s figuring out plot holes, I love that she falls asleep mid-story time with the twins, and for some unearthly reason, I like the heat she emits in the night. When she turns over in her sleep and cuddles into me, it helps me sleep, too.
It’s annoying, but unavoidable. She’s my fucking everything.
But I had another realization the moment I realized I loved Ella Gibson.
I’d probably die for her one day.
Sure, we’ve got our new lives, but danger sticks. Violence follows. People don’t forget, and revenge runs deep. I’ve prepared her and the twins for the day I might not be here because to me it was inevitable. We still run drills, there are getaway bags in every room of the house and both cars. At a moments notice, if I’m gone, Ella can run and I know she’ll be okay.
So, yeah. When Sawyer Sinclair said those words, I had seconds to accept the clawing, shredding painful truth that I’d never see my babies again, and Ella would never have another opportunity to piss me off.
But she’s always deserved more and so do my kids.
