Page 63 of Seizing Control: Part One

Every atom in my body vibrates with rage as he slips out of my grip, and I find myself held against the wall by Gabriel. I go to push him out of my way, but the tell-tale click of a safety stops me. When my lawyer jams the muzzle of a handgun under my chin, I slump against the concrete. Glaring at Slash over Gabriel’s shoulder, I do my best to find some semblance of equilibrium before I call “fuck it” and allow my mild-mannered attorney to pump lead in me while I work out my frustrations on the face of the man-bunned prick who betrayed me.

As I calm down, it becomes obvious that Slash is trying to get under my skin.

He wants me to hit him again, so he can garner Lily’s sympathy.

And he’s lying about my sweet thing to goad me into doing it.

I know, deep down in the dark corners of what’s left of my soul that metukà shelì isn’t the kind of woman who’d fuck another man the same night as I’m locked up to protect her from the repercussions of killing Alex. No matter how much she loves the other man. Lily is steadfast. Loyal as fuck, even to those who don’t necessarily deserve it. For as long as I’ve known her—her entire life—she’s put everyone else first. So, the way she melted against me in my new bedroom the night before, the genuine fear in her eyes when I took the fall for her with Joseph, the promise she extracted that I return to her before the cops dragged me out of the compound... it all makes sense now.

Lilianna Mayberry is going to martyr herself.

Again.

My plan to save her from jail. My dumbarse scheme to stop Brutus from destroying the club. My idiotic scheme to marry her off to Slash in exchange for the Trinity’s protection. It’s doomed us. Slash and I have trapped Lily in the same type of predicament as Alex did.

We’ve forced her into a corner and made it, so she has to hurt someone she loves to escape.

But I know her better than Alex ever did, better than Slash does.

Lily will sacrifice her own heart to save ours.

Fuck.

“We need to get back for the meeting with the UK Trinity,” Gabriel reminds Slash. He scans my face for a moment, then takes his weight off me. After flicking on the safety of his Sig Sauer, Gabriel pats my chest twice. “I’ll bring Cherub with me when I return this afternoon. It’ll do you both good to talk things out before we move forward.”

“No.” I sidestep Gabriel and stride over to Slash. Dressed as I am in an ugly green prison tracksuit, my piercings, heavy rings, and neck chain removed, I shouldn’t be intimidating. Even so, my ex-best friend must spy the violence vibrating through me because he widens his stance and curls his fingers into fists at his side when I reach him. “Don’t bring Lily.”

“Fuck you,” Slash curses. He thumps me in the chest, forcing me to take a backward step. “I won’t let you do this.”

Mimicking his earlier arrogance, I shrug, then cock my head to the left and smirk. “Do what?”

“You’re gonna make me the bad guy.”

“You did that all by yourself.” Turning to Gabriel, I continue. “I won’t see Lily while I’m locked up. Don’t wanna put her through that.”

“She won’t like it.”

“It’s for her own good.” As I bang my fist on the glass in the door to rouse the guards, I bite back a smile. I know my woman. Lily will rage at whoever bears the bad news. She’ll rant and rave. Plead. Then, every time Slash comes to meet with me, as the newly patched president of my club, she’ll resent him a little more. “Lily’s been through enough. Seein’ me in here will only make things worse for her.”

Slash ignores me as he storms off down the corridor.

A small inkling of guilt tries to prick my conscience.

I swallow it down.

My tactics are underhanded.

Kind of shady.

But I’m a desperate man, who’ll do anything to keep the woman I love and the club that is my home out of the hands of an arsehole I no longer trust. Slash could’ve played things a dozen different ways after I messed up by leaving her, but he chose to take the underhanded route.

Everything that happens now is on him because I’m playing to win.

My club.

My heart.

My life.

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