Page 168 of Hate Me

He was already being shoved into one of the vans.

“Noooo!” I cried weakly.

Before Damien could get close enough, it tore back down the road.

I saw him start toward his car, but then he pulled up short when he looked at me.

In the next moment, he was rushing over to me and hauling me into his arms. “It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay, Bluebell. I’ve got you.”

It was the last thing I was aware of before blackness descended.

34

~Caleb~

A job well done.

More sick motherfuckers taken down.

More innocents liberated.

And no blood had been spilled on my end. My team had come out of it completely unscathed.

That was a lot more than could be said for the demented shits we’d taken down.

None of them had survived.

Fuckers like them couldn’t. They were beyond redemption. Given the chance, they’d just be back at it again. Something I’d never allow.

As I watched my team drive off in their transport vans with the hostages, taking them to my North Rehabilitation Facility where they’d be treated and cared for, I dragged hard on my smoke. I needed to let the adrenaline from the fight earlier ebb a little before I got back in my Audi and drove.

I leaned against the warehouse we’d just taken and looked out through the dark night at the cornfields that extended for miles, along with a couple of farmhouses in the distance.

As I spaced out and allowed myself to calm down, it hit me that maybe Cas had been right.

Maybe I was strategically-minded after all.

My input on the tactical plan for tonight and the changes I’d made to Sven’s approach had actually been what had prevented any of us from sustaining injury.

And, yeah, that suspicious fuck, Dante, was right too. About me being afraid of making that call to lead my people into battle on my plan knowing the risks that came along with it.

But tonight I’d done it, I’d moved past that fear. I just hoped I could continue in that vein going forward, that it wasn’t just a one-off.

I smiled to myself.

I couldn’t wait to tell Caspian all about it.

I couldn’t wait until he returned home victorious from his years-long mission against Elijah fucking Bane.

There was so much to celebrate.

Bastian would be graduating soon too.

Skylar was getting back to her career.

Everything was finally looking up.

And I couldn’t wait to get back to King Manor and bask in it all with them.

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