Page 157 of Where Sinners Repent

Before she threw it all away for her brothers, who never once protected her. In those few weeks, Kai and Kaleb did more for me than anyone ever has. They showed me I didn’t have to do it all on my own. Fixed my studio and paid the bills I could barely keep up with. They took my pain and turned it into something beautiful. Something only they could do.

Taught me how to protect myself. Put the power and choices in my hands, while standing on either side of me the entire time. They saw every ugly and fucked up part of me and matched it with their own. The parts I’ve tried so hard to hide, they saw. And they didn’t look away, like everyone else would.

My gaze finds my reflection again. Staring at the same girl in the eyes. And then it shifts. To the bat, leaning against the motel bed, behind me. The stained wood. My eyes linger on it.

Kitty. My friend, who’s killed two nightmares.

No. I killed them. And when Kaleb slid her into my hands and whispered instructions on how to kill one of them, he gave me a choice. A way to fight back.

My eyes lift back to my reflection. The girl who’s spent so long running. The girl, waiting for someone to save her.

Kai and Kaleb didn’t save me. They taught me how to save myself.

“No,” I whisper.

Sliding my hands through my hair, I tug the messy strands before wrapping it into a high ponytail. I can’t undo what I did. Fuck, it’s probably already too late. That door is open. It’s too fucking late to go back and turn the lock back.

My choices have always been someone else’s. Even when I escaped my brothers. Everything I did was to avoid them. To hide. To escape.

Not anymore.

Maybe it’s about fucking time I made one for myself.

I give myself one more second. One more second of the all-consuming guilt and fear. All the horrible things I feel looking back at me.

It might be too late. I have no fucking clue what I’m doing and where I’m going. No clue if I can even help at all. I’ll most likely die trying to cross my brothers. But whatever waits for me there, I can face it.

What I can’t do is stay here. I can’t wake up in the morning in this shitty motel and wonder whether Kai and Kaleb are alive. I can’t spend the rest of my life wondering whether Maddy’s name lighting up my phone over and over again was her trying to tell me that something had happened to them.

Kitty waits for me. My fingers curl around the handle, lifting her against my shoulder.

I didn’t deserve Kaleb’s beautiful knife, but fuck, do I wish I had it now. Having that piece of him with me would be the strength that I need.

My throat aches, but I refuse to cry again. I’ve done enough fucking crying. Crying hasn’t fixed anything, and neither has hiding.

I already know where I need to go. The thought is drumming in tune with my heart. The freezer.

I haven’t been there in years. I’ve pushed the place out of my mind, since the one time Jacob dragged me there. But I can remember the fucking scent and feel of the grimy walls like it was yesterday.

If they were successful in getting into the Devil’s club, that’s where they’d go.

My stomach twists at the thought of Kai and Kaleb being there now.

My fingers tighten around the bat, all my fear and guilt being eaten up by red, hot rage.

“Time to find another victim, Kitty cat,” I purr to the bat.

Chapter 39

Kai

Devils as far as the eye can see, all of them with malice in their eyes. Ready to avenge their brothers.

Their leader.

Motorbikes fill The Pitch’s parking lot. Even Theo and Jules join the crowd, arms crossed and ready for revenge.

All of them looking to me. Their vice president. Their second.