“What the fuck is going on?” I ask when we’re taken into a large room.
It is full of men of all different ages yelling at the top of their lungs as a man in the center of the room pulls a pair of metal cutters from his pocket and walks to Vincent, who is strapped to a chair. He picks up Vincent’s hand and touches each of his fingers with the tip of the clippers before settling on one.
Vincent doesn’t even flinch when his finger is clipped off and it rolls across the floor. His body is now black and blue, and he’s bleeding from his nose, mouth, and other wounds. I can tell just by looking at him that he’s in shock. The good in me fights to the surface, not wanting any human being to suffer like he is, but then I remind myself of the shit he’s done and how much pain he’s caused and the urge to end his pain is beat back as anger is put in its place.
“You’re up next,” Paulie Jr. says, walking up to me and handing me a knife. “What’s going on?”
“Payback. He betrayed a lot of people, and all those people get their pound of flesh before he’s ended,” he explains.
“Take this back.” I hand him back the knife and pull my gun.
“You can’t kill him, and you only get one hit,” Junior tells me.
“I won’t.” I walk past him to the center of the room.
Vincent raises his eyes, but at this point, with the kind of damage that’s been done to his body already, I would be surprised if he even understands what’s going on. When I reach his side, I put the gun to his shoulder at the same place he shot Autumn. Then I think about her face, the damage that’s been done, and how, regardless of how much she heals, every time she looks in the mirror, she will be reminded of what happened. I pull the gun away from his shoulder and walk around to the front of him. My hand moves to his jaw and I pull it open.
“I told you, you can’t kill him.”
I ignore him, put the gun in Vincent’s mouth, and lean it to the side so the muzzle is sitting against the inside of his cheek. I feel a gun come to rest at the side of my head, and I start to say something when Kai comes over and whispers inaudibly to Paulie Jr., making him back up.
“You shot my girl,” I say quietly, tilting his head back and forcing his eyes to mine. “You know I could kill your son and wife and you can’t do shit about it,” I taunt only loud enough for him to hear.
His eyes widen and I know he understands. Before he can respond, I pull the trigger, and blood and flesh spray out across the room and onto some of the people who are standing too close.
A loud cheer goes up as I make my way back to Sven and Kai. When I reach them, I notice a man talking to Kai. He’s young—I would guess mid-twenties. He’s wearing a suit and his blond hair is pulled back into a ponytail. His posture is casual, but the expression on his face is anything but.
“We good?” I ask, stepping into the mix when the man presses his chest into Kai’s.
His eyes come to me and he looks me up and down before looking back at Kai. “Tell Myla I send my love,” the guy says, starting to walk off.
I put a hand to Kai’s chest when I see a look I’ve become familiar with over the last few weeks come across his face.
“You don’t even get to say my wife’s name!” Kai growls, grabbing the guy around the throat.
Wife? I look at Kai’s hand and notice for the first time that a very thick band is wrapped around his left ring finger.
“What’s going on here?” Paulie Sr. asks, walking up and putting a hand on Kai’s shoulder.
“Just making a few things clear,” Kai says, shoving the guy away from him. The guy looks like he wants to say something before thinking better of it and walking away. “Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Kai says, shrugging off Senior’s hand.
I look at the older man and give him a chin lift before leaving the warehouse.
“You okay, man?” Sven asks Kai, and he nods, but I notice that his body is still tight and his fingers have started rolling his wedding band around his knuckle. I don’t say anything, but I do watch closely as he and Frank have some kind of silent conversation. Sven looks at me and shakes his head, saying, “I’m gonna call and have the plane ready.”
“Thanks, man,” I tell him, sitting back. I pull out my phone, sending a message to Autumn, telling her that I love her and I will be home soon. It didn’t take long for her reply to come through. The simple “I miss you” message has me smiling to myself. A few more hours and I would be home with my woman, leaving all this shit behind us.
Chapter 11
Future, Meet Past
Autumn
I look in the mirror and turn my head to the side, taking in my face. My jaw is still slightly swollen, but for the most part, I have healed completely. I know I’m the one who said that I hated being beautiful, but when I was able to see myself in the mirror at the hospital for the first time, all I could think about was how disgusting I looked. My face was swollen and deformed, my lips cracked from being so dry. It wasn’t so much that I cared what I looked like, but I was worried Kenton would see me and the look of love I was so used to receiving from him would turn into something else. I didn’t want that.