Page 71 of Seizing Control: Part Two

My bad blood with Slash cannot become the defining factor of my life.

“Laz?” Layla’s voice erupts in my ear. I startle at the sound, and it annoys Garrett. He gives me a baleful look that softens when I angle his bottle to his liking, and he resumes feeding. “Got news, mister boss man.”

I hit the small button on the receiver in my ear. “Thought you were taking the night off?”

“I am.” The smirk in her voice is easy to decipher, even without laying eyes on her. “I’ve been wining and dining Lucas Hayes... even talked him into taking me home with him for the night.”

“Goth girl...”

Layla continues speaking, my warning tone having zero effect on her. “Poor Cub’s dealing with a small intrusion in the Shamrocks business accounts. The annoying one who never stops eating is on his way.” I grin at her description of Toker. My stoner friend has the munchies twenty-four hours a day since he spends those same hours baked out of his brains. “The presence of your nemesis was requested, however, he begged off.” I shake my head at Slash’s lack of involvement in the Shamrocks. For a man who went out of his way to steal my life, he’s sure done his best to fuck it all up. “A brother with the road name Meeyal has been dispatched in his stead.”

Raising Garrett to my shoulder and patting him on the back, I blow out of breath.

I have a choice to make.

Option one: Stick by my promise to Lily.

Option two: Take this opportunity to end Slash.

The decision sorts itself when Layla continues. “Thought you’d like to know that the coast is clear for the next hour and a half. The prospect on the gate is one of ours. Hunter is on sentry duty, so he’ll allow you inside without issue.” The youngest Hudson brother wasn’t happy when he was ordered to return to the club he left after my death, but he took one for the team without complaint. “We both know he won’t blink at the sound of gunshots.”

The bloodthirstiness that has become Hunter’s calling card is surprising.

He’s recently turned twenty.

A birthday he spent elbow deep inside a Maddison captain’s gut cavity.

The intel extracted has proven invaluable.

We have three more Maddisons in various stages of interrogation thanks to him.

“There won’t be gunshots.”

“Ooooooo,” Layla jokes. “You’re gettin’ up close n’ messy with this one.”

On my feet, I sway from side to lull Garrett back to sleep. His little fist seizes hold of my shirt, and he grips tight. The innocence in his face strips the air from my lungs. I am planning on killing his father tonight. Slash deserves a messy end, but I can’t escape the guilt that builds at the idea of depriving the little man of his father.

“Don’t wilt, Laz....” she commands when I don’t respond to her gleeful assessment. “Think about what he did to Lily. That kinda shit needs to be met with violence. He needs to bleed, a lot, then he needs to die.” Layla De La Rue hates men on the best of days. Throw in cruelty to women, kids, or animals, and her savagery eclipses Hunter’s. “You’re more of a dad to Garrett than Slash has ever been. He’ll do just fine with you raisin’ him. You are one of the few good men that exist... and I know you’ll be a kickarse father too.”

This is the first time anyone has verbalised the secret worry that resides, unacknowledged, in the recesses of my mind. I love Garrett. Would kill for him. Would die for him if it came to that. His survival is important to me. Until I held him the first time, I’d only ever felt that kind of fierce protectiveness for one other person.

My sweet thing.

The twins she’s carrying also create a similar instinctual response in me.

Savagery.

Vigilance.

Mercilessness.

Still, I promised my sweet thing that I wouldn’t kill Slash.

Is that a promise I can break without losing her?

“I’ve got to go,” I tell Layla. “I’ll let you know the outcome once it’s done.”

“Don’t be a soft touch,” she huffs. “You know I’m right.”

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