Page 5 of If You Fight

I looked down at where our hands met and brought her fingertips to my lips in a kiss. “What does that mean for us? What am I if I’m not the one person you trust to protect you?”

She smiled for one of the first times since I’d entered her hospital room. “Equals, like a man and woman should be.”

I didn’t mind the idea of Serena being my equal. From the first moment she appeared at my room right after I arrived at the house, I’d thought she was far superior to me, and not only because she came from money and I came from The Pit. Something inside her made her sweeter and kinder than anyone I’d ever met. I wanted to have someone with those qualities in my life.

“You’ve always been better than me,” I said quietly, slipping my hand from hers as I stood to walk to the window again.

“That’s not true, and you know it. I’m just some poor little rich girl with a powerful father. At least that’s all I’ve been, but now I want to be more. I want to be someone who has control over her life instead of being sold to the highest bidder and forced to live with other people’s decisions.”

As I gazed out at that place I imagined in the mountains where we could finally be free, I said, “You want to be like your father.”

From behind me, she said, “Maybe I want to be like you.”

Her answer made me chuckle. Turning back to face her, I asked, “Like a junkyard dog? You’re not the biting type.”

“Not the biting type but the type of person who has the power to say no.”

Her newfound strength didn’t frighten me, but I worried what she might want to say no to. Or who.

“I would never say no to you, Ryder, if that’s what the look on your face means. You’re the only person I know cares for me.”

“So this is about having the power to get your revenge on Oliver? Because I meant what I said about revenge. I’ve seen what it does to people like you. It’ll eat you up from the inside, Serena.”

She placed her hands over her belly and nodded. “I want the chance to make him pay. I need to do this. I hope you can understand why.”

Part of me did. Although I’d come around to wanting a child after she told me, Serena had lived with the baby inside her, something I could never truly feel. Whatever Oliver had taken away from me, he’d taken more from her when he decided to kill her and our baby.

But another part of me didn’t want to think about how different things were for her and simply wanted to exact revenge on the man who had hurt the woman I loved and killed my child. That part didn’t want to stand aside and let her do just that. That part wanted to look him dead in the eyes as the life drained out of his body so he’d know who he’d crossed before he left this world.

Accepting for the moment that Serena needed me to support her in this, I asked, “So what do you plan to do? I can’t stand the idea that you’re going to have to go back to that apartment and live in the same house as him. I don’t trust that he won’t try to kill you again.”

“He won’t. He pushed me down the stairs because of the baby,” she answered as she fought back tears.

And for that one horrible act I’d someday get my revenge, even if it didn’t mean killing him.

“My father will be watching. I saw how suspicious he was when he was here listening to me tell my story. I want him to be suspicious so Oliver knows he’s being watched. One word from me and he’ll be under arrest, but I’d rather him live in terror that I’m going to finally tell the truth one day.”

“Why? Why not tell the truth and be done with him?”

I knew the answer before she said it. It would never be that easy.

“Because he might get some sleazy lawyer who finds a way for him to wriggle out of any charges the police bring. No, I’m not leaving my revenge to more men in expensive suits. I want him to leave me because he can’t take the threat of me telling the truth one of these days. Then my father won’t have anything to say about it and I’ll finally be free.”

“And then what, Serena?”

My question confused her. “What do you mean? Then I’m free to be with you.”

I shook my head at how simple that sounded and how impossible it would be. “Don’t fool yourself. He’s never going to let that happen. You know that. He married you to Oliver because it helped his bottom line, and if Oliver leaves you, he’ll make sure the divorce is quick and your second marriage happens even quicker.”

Serena seemed to think about what we both knew was the truth and then nodded her agreement. “Then knowing my father, I’m going to have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

As I began to ask how she’d do that, she reached for my hand and kissed it. “I’m tired now, Ryder. I think I need to rest. Promise me you won’t take this into your own hands and steal my revenge from me.”

Leaning down, I pressed a soft kiss onto her lips. “I promise. Now I want you to promise me something.”

She looked up at me and smiled. “Anything.”

“Promise me if your plan doesn’t work that you’ll accept the fact that I will kill him for what he’s done to you.”

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