Page 101 of Awakening

“It was Ian Sullivan,” Austin spits out. “Okay? There. Are you fucking happy?”

“Do I look happy, you sick fucking dick? What was in it for you?” Nick asks, crouching down again, rubbing his opposite hand over the brass knuckles.

“Money.”

“How much?” Nick asks.

“Two thousand dollars.”

“Two thousand dollars? My daughter lost her life so you could get two thousand fucking dollars?” I yell from across the room. The power of my rage surges through my muscles, and Lance has a hard time keeping a hold on me, so one of the other guards named Jeremy comes to help him. “The money isn’t the real reason you did it, though. Is it?”

Nick looks back at me with a frown, then turns back to Austin. “Do you have some other reason that you haven’t stated?”

“You just don’t like me. Do you? You sick fuck,” I spit out, wishing like hell I could get my hands on him.

“You know what? Yeah. I fucking hate you. After that night in the restaurant, you knocked me down anytime you got a chance. So, when Ian came to me and asked for my help, I jumped at the chance. I thought it would be fucking hilarious to see you lose everything special to you,” he says with a slimy smirk. I lose my shit, forcing Lance and Jeremy to fight to keep a hold of me. “My only regret was that I didn’t take advantage of her unconscious state to get a taste of her sweet pus—” Before he can finish his sentence, Nick stands and punches him hard in the face with the brass knuckles, knocking him out cold, while I go ballistic in Lance and Jeremy’s hold.

“Put him in a cell,” Nick orders the two remaining guards, then turns to face me as I struggle to control myself. “Hmm. Look at that,” he says, looking down at Austin’s blood on his hand. “I guess these dark clothes came in handy after all,” he says with a grin.

“You should have let me knock his ass out,” I say as I breathe hard. Lance and Jeremy release me as Austin is carried out of the room to his cell.

“Better me than you this time,” Nick says, slapping me on the back. “We got it all on video. Let’s go. We’ve got a council meeting to attend. You’re going to get your revenge.”

I shake my head with an angry sigh. “It’ll never fucking be enough.”

Twenty-Six

Olivia

“So, I need to ask you something,” I say to Chloe as she and I sit down in the common area of the pack house with a bottle of wine.

“Anything,” she says, pouring wine into each of our glasses.

“Ethan and I decided we’re ready to move forward with the wedding,” I say, and her eyes light up. “Would you be my matron of honor?”

“Of course, but you already asked me when you got engaged, and I accepted then.”

“Right, but that was before I needed to ask you to help me plan a wedding in a week,” I say, smiling and scrunching up my shoulders.

“Oh.” Chloe’s eyes widen and her mouth falls open. “Wait, what? Did you say a week?”

“Yep.”

She sighs and takes a big drink of her wine. “This is his idea, isn’t it?”

“Mm hmm,” I say with a tilt of my head, taking a big drink myself.

“Hey!” Vanessa says, rushing over to our table. “Sorry I’m late! What did I miss?”

“Liv and Ethan are moving forward with the wedding, and your crazy brother wants it to happen in a week,” Chloe says, shaking her head.

“What?” Vanessa says. “How does he expect you to accomplish that?”

“Well, before we get into that, I have something to ask you,” I say, pouring Vanessa a glass of wine.

“Yeah, anything. Shoot, girl.”

“Will you be my bridesmaid?”

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