grip the gun that’s been waiting in the waistband of my jeans. My finger runs over the trigger, feeling the power it holds.
This motherfucker is finished.
Memories of Maryne begging for her life filter through my mind. Harrison desperately trying to protect her, Ocean standing beside me terrified, Maryne on the ground being dragged from the wine cellar by her hair.
The gun forced under her chin.
That haunting echo of the gunshot.
The blood.
Ocean’s scream.
Maryne would have been so fucking scared and I just stood there, unable to do a fucking thing, but that ends now. Marco will not get away with this. Tonight, he is going to learn that coming into my home and threatening my people, was the biggest fucking mistake he ever made.
Gripping the gun, I spy Marco in his cramped kitchen. His back is to me and despite the dog barking in the distance, warning him that I’m here, he’s too fucking engrossed in the cheap whore he’s hired for the night.
She sits up on the counter with her legs spread wide as Marco slams into her with a force that couldn’t be comfortable. I don’t doubt that he’s hurting her but because he’s paid for her, he thinks that she’s his to do with as he likes.
Her pained groans sound through the warehouse walls and has my jaw clenching, even more determined to finish him. It’s pretty fucking obvious that he’s hurting her, but he couldn’t care less.
I wonder if she knew what she was getting herself into when she showed up here tonight.
Marco DeCarlo is fucking scum. He has zero respect for anyone but himself, but I guess after tonight, that won’t matter because I won’t be leaving this shitty warehouse until it’s done.
I just know that Ocean is going to find out about this. With her connections to the Black Widows, she’ll know what I've done before the night is out and she’s going to hate me for it.
I stopped her from taking revenge on Jude and ending his life knowing the guilt that would have sat on her chest until her dying days. She’s too good, too pure, but me? I’ve been a fucking goner since the day I was born. There’s nothing good left. The only good I have comes from Ocean. She makes me a better person, she makes me want to be her everything.
She won’t forgive me for this. She thinks I'm stronger, she thinks I have self-control, she thinks I’m different from the guys she grew up with but she’s wrong. I'm just like them. The things I’ve done … fuck, I’m not proud of myself, but I’m my father’s son. If only she knew who I really was, she’d hate me.
I’ve seen the way she pulled away from Nic when she saw him end another man’s life and it would kill me if she did the same to me. She’s too fucking precious. I want her with me all the time. She thinks she’s this big badass bitch who can face down anything, but truth be told, she’s like a little puppy with a nasty bite. She needs to be protected at all costs because girls like her are fucking rare.
I never intended for her to find Jude in that cellar but she did, and every day I fear that the darkness I brought down on her is too much for her soul to bear. She’s surprising me though. I don't think I gave her enough credit. She’s fucking stronger than I ever thought.
Maybe that’s why I pushed her away so hard at the start. It’s almost as though deep down, I knew she was going to destroy me. She was going to get inside my world and tear it apart from the inside out. I think on some level, I knew that she’d discover all of my secrets, and damn it, I’m so fucking bewitched by her, that if she decided to take me down, I’d go willingly.
The question is; what’s she going to do with my secrets once she finds them out? Surely she knows me well enough to know that I'd never hurt her. I’m not a bad guy, I just handle the shit that others are too fucking scared to touch.
I guess tonight, I'll finally have my answers.
Taking a breath, I unhook the open padlock from the chained backdoor and gently drop it into the overgrown grass. I’m never going to get a chance like this again. It’s too good. Too easy.
Fuck, I must sound like