Page 144 of Burn It Down

She fingered the trigger.

A shot rang out.

I jolted and it took me a moment to realize it hadn’t come from her, that I wasn’t hit.

She slapped her hand to her chest, her gun slipping from her grip and clattering to the floor as she fell against the wall.

A shadow fell over the door and then Lance strode in, his Sig still trained on her.

He kicked her gun across the floor, far out of her reach, all the way to me.

I snatched it up and watched as he stood over her, glowering down at her as she grimaced and gasped for breath, holding her chest wound.

“How could… you?”

“How could I? You betrayed me. Betrayed our own daughter. You took everything we loved and twisted it. All for power. You’re just like Carson. And now you’ll die with him.”

He pulled the trigger and blew a hole through her skull, killing her instantly.

He took a moment, scrubbing his hand over his face, then turned to me. “Life debt repaid.”

“Yeah,” I breathed, holstering the gun, then snatching up the knife off the ground. “I’d say so.”

His gaze darted to Carson and a whole slew of emotions flickered across his face.

Before they could settle, a commotion came from the steps leading out from the tunnel.

I heard Olivia and Aaron yelling, and then Samuel Carmichael burst into the room.

I just reacted, tossing my knife.

He roared as it plunged into his shoulder and pinned him to the wall, basically crucifying him against the concrete.

I stormed over there, grasped his jaw painfully, then spat, “This little prince is now your motherfucking king. How does that taste, you sick son of a bitch?”

“You… you defeated… Carson?”

“I warned you. I fucking warned you what I was really capable of.”

I twisted the knife in his arm with my free hand and he screamed out, writhing against the wall.

“And I promised you a brutal death. Isn’t that right?”

His terror flooded me and it was the sweetest feeling, rolling through me and calling to the beast at a whole other level.

A dangerous level.

I was snarling in the next moment, yanking out the knife, then driving it into his hand, only to wrench it out, then bury it in his gut.

His shrieks filled the room, calling to the beast like nothing else. Feeding it, ramping up its ferocity. I dragged the knife down, widening the wound, watching his guts beginning to spill out.

And then a shot rang out, ripping into his skull.

Killing him.

I stepped back as he dropped like a ragdoll.

And then I saw Aaron standing there at the entrance of the tunnel, his gun still in firing position.

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