“Shut him up before I put a bullet down his throat,” Viper roared.
Two Jacks grabbed Shaggy and a third stuffed a bandanna in his mouth while the mayor looked on in horror.
Viper huffed his annoyance. “Keep going. I want the shortened version.”
“Do you, Naiya Kelly, take this man, Marcus Wilder, to be your lawful wedded husband?”
Naiya turned to face Viper and put the full force of her anger in her words. “I, Naiya Kelly, do not take Marcus Wilder also know as Viper for my lawful husband and if you force me to marry him, I will bite, kick, scratch, and punch him. I will claw out his eyes, rip out his tongue, and twist off his balls. I will do everything in my power to cause him pain and make his life a living hell. I will try to kill him at every opportunity with whatever weapon is at my disposal. I will shoot, stab, burn, or maim him in health and in sickness, in prosperity and adversity, forsaking all others until he is dead. And then I will spit on his fucking grave.”
“That’s a yes,” Viper said, his eyes cold and hard. “She said yes.”
Naiya opened her mouth to protest once more, but before she could speak, the office door slammed open, and Holt stalked into the room. He had an automatic weapon in each hand, weapons and ammo belted across his chest, and weapons strapped to his legs and arms. Tank walked by his side, heavily armed and ready for battle.
Naiya had barely processed their entrance before Viper had his gun to her head.
“That’s far enough,” Viper warned Holt.
Holt and Tank froze, and Holt’s gaze fell on Naiya. “You okay, darlin’?”
“I’ve been better.” Her heart pounded in her chest, and she tried to remain calm and focused. She needed to be part of the solution here. Not the problem.
“Drop your weapons,” Viper directed.
“Or what?” Holt cocked an eyebrow. “If you kill her, you don’t get your money.”
“It’s not her I’m going to kill.”
A gunshot cracked the silence. Tank cried out in pain, his weapons falling as he crumpled to the floor. Naiya glanced down and saw Viper’s gun aimed where Tank had been standing.
“Tank!” Holt stared at his friend in horror.
“I know everything about you, Holt Savage,” Viper said. “I know you inside and out. I know what scares you, what gives you nightmares, what keeps you up at night. I know how many times I can whip you before you pass out, how much pain you can take. I know how to make you scream and how to make you cry.”
“You bastard,” Naiya choked out. “He never did anything to you.”
Viper looked down at Tank writhing on the ground and sneered. “Did you know he cried for you in my dungeon?” he said to Tank. “It was your name he called over and over and over again. It was you he imagined coming to rescue him. It was you he missed more than seeing the sun or feeling the rain or breathing the fresh air. At the very end, he gave up because he thought you had abandoned him.” He shot a second bullet at Tank, missing only because Tank rolled to the side. “If you die, I’ll destroy T-Rex in a way the dungeon never could. And it has been too long in coming.”
“No.” Shaggy leaped from the chair, the ropes that had held him secure falling to the floor with the wet bandanna. Taking advantage of Viper’s surprise, Naiya spun around and jammed her knee into his crotch. Viper grunted, and Naiya slammed a well-placed fist into his solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him as she mentally congratulated herself on her thorough knowledge of anatomy.
Before Viper could recover, Shaggy tackled the Black Jack president from behind. Naiya jumped to the side and Viper fell the ground, battling a ferocious Shaggy. Naiya grabbed Viper’s gun from the floor and aimed at the two men rolling on the ground as Viper’s bodyguards closed in.
Naiya heard the door slam. And then the sound of boots. She looked up to see Sinners pour into the room, Jagger in the lead. Within minutes, the Black Jack bodyguards were disarmed and on the floor, while the fist fight between Shaggy and Viper raged on.
“Never seen him fight like that before,” Jagger mused. “It’s like he’s possessed. If I’d known he had it in him I woulda sent him out on some of the more dangerous missions.”
“He’d better not fucking kill him.” Holt, still fully armed, stood on Naiya’s other side.
Shaggy rose up over Viper and smashed his fist into Viper’s blood-streaked face. Viper slumped back on the ground, eyes closed, his body struggling for breath.
“Everyone out of my way,” Shaggy gritted out as he drew his weapon.
“He’s mine.” Holt stepped forward. “He owes me a debt.”
“He owes me a bigger debt.” Shaggy’s body shook, whether from adrenaline or emotion, Naiya didn’t know, nor could she tell whether his cheeks were wet with sweat or tears. “He destroyed the woman I loved. He raped my daughter. I won’t rest until I pull that fucking trigger. My family needs to be avenged.”