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Before Xander, I never would’ve done this. I probably would have submitted to Luke again. Let him take me.

Luke destroyed the very core of who I was, who I wanted to be.

Xander took those broken pieces and rebuilt me. Helped me heal. Made me realise who I was. Made me realise that it’s okay to bear the scars and heal in the only way I knew how. And he helped me. Those scars and cracks will always be there, but they’re held together by Xander.

And Luke threatened him.

He threatened a piece of my heart. My safety pin.

I reach for the knife, and Nova helps me up by my good hand.

I look over at Luke, whose face is already swelling. A pang of sadness hits me at the fact that I missed him getting his ass handed to him by a furious-looking Axel who’s glaring at Luke.

I approach slowly, like a predator stalking its prey. He looks comical tied up with his dick hanging out. An image of the things he made me do all those years ago.

“You really fucked me up, Luke,” I start. “How do you like the shoe being on the other foot?”

“Slut,” he spits, his eyes squeezing in pain.

A slow grin spreads over my lips.

“You ruined my fucking life. It was painful. Slow. For years, you were breaking me apart bit by bit. You vowed that you’d break me so thoroughly that I’d never be able to escape you.” I crouch in front of him. “Well, guess what? I found someone who put those pieces back together. So now, it’s time for you to die a slow and painful death.”

I grin, my eyes widening as I slice the knife through the air, right across his dick. He screams out in pain, pathetically whimpering. His decapitated penis rolls across the floor as he wails.

“I could drag this out… But I have somewhere more important to be.” I slice the knife across his neck, blood spraying everywhere and covering me in crimson. I laugh as he gurgles, his eyes staring at me, life already draining from them. He chokes and starts slowly sliding to the ground. “Burn in hell. I’ll see you there when it’s my time.”

Axel chuckles next to him before he kicks him to the ground, saving him a trip. “Dickhead.”

“The world could do with less of those,” Nova yawns, lazily gesturing towards a convulsing Luke.

The dark cloud that’s been raining on me for years finally stops.

But I need to find Xander.

I stab the knife into Luke’s thigh and stand. Turning, I walk out into the morning light.

Chapter 56

Xander

My body bends forward with the bullet's impact, a searing pain spreading through my torso, which I grit my teeth through.

“Xander,” Jac shouts, bending one of their guards’ arms backwards and knocking the gun out of his hands.

I twist off Jenny, the chair landing with a thud as I kick the leg of the chair backwards, snapping it off the chair and freeing my leg. Jenny scrambles for her gun, which she dropped in our fall, but I snap away the other leg of the chair, fully freeing my legs and booting the gun further away.

She growls as she crawls along the floor, escaping the brawl that’s replaced the flying bullets.

I search for Jac, who knocked down two of her guards, but two more are making their way towards him. I slide my arms out from the backrest of the chair. My wrists are still tied behind me, but I’m free. I push myself to my feet, burning pain making me catch myself on the edge of the table.

Penelope runs to Jenny’s aid, helping her up off the floor in the corner of the room.

The basement door clangs open amidst the chaos, flashes of bullets hitting Jenny’s guards, making them drop to the floor.

Ezra and Daniel flood into the room, guns pointed at Jenny and Penelope, dried blood down the side of their faces. Jac has one of her guards in a chokehold as silence fills the room.

“Put the gun down,” Ezra threatens her, his tone lower than I’ve ever heard it.