Page 52 of Wicked Vengeance

They’ll understand when this is over.

Unless I die. Somehow, I don’t think they’ll understand quite so much if that happens. Pushing the thoughts out of my mind, my back plasters to the side of the house as soon as I clear the corner. Conversation filters through the broken window above me.

“How long is he going to make us hide out in this shit hole?” A man asks, his speech slightly slurred as glass bottles clink together.

“I don’t fucking know, man. We wouldn’t be in the situation if he wasn’t so goddamn pussy whipped with that stupid whore.” A second man responds. “I don’t know what all the fuss is about. I’ll tell you, it wasn’t that special.”

Make that a dead man.

Keeping low, I slip beneath the window and around the back corner, halting dead in my tracks when I see what’s waiting– or rather, who. King sits on the back deck, reclined back in a lounge chair, a whiskey glass in one hand, swirling the ice around while looking lost in thought. His head snaps to me in an instant, eyes narrowing when he realizes who I am.

“You,” he growls, his movements slow and calculating as he turns his eyes back to the watered-down whiskey. In one slow motion, he puts it to his lips and drains it, then sits the empty class down on the wooden arm of the chair. “Where are your brothers? Where is she?”

Ignoring his question, I step forward, my gun steady and level, aiming between his eyes. “You’ll never touch her again. It’s over, King.”

The laugh he barks back at me is haunting, coming from a man who thinks he’s still got a chance to come out on top. Too bad I’m willing to sacrifice myself to make sure that doesn’t fucking happen. I knew what I was doing when I left my family behind. There are at least six men here with King. The second I shoot this fucker in the head, they will be after me. I’m under no illusion that I’m going to make it out of here alive. But King will be dead, and my family will be safe. They’ll be okay.

“You’ll be dead before my body even hits the deck, son.”

“Then I’ll see you in hell, Dad.”

Without a second thought, I pull the trigger. But before I can see his brains splatter on the wall behind him, a brick wall slams into my side, following me to the ground.

I can’t make out who it is in the dark, but pain explodes against my temple, sending me careening into the darkness as my eyes close on their own accord.

No matter how much I fight against the inky fog that covers my mind, they do not open again.

Chapter 37

Raena

“What do you mean he’s gone?” Alek’s morning voice infiltrates through my warm, sleepy haze.

“Who’s gone?” I ask, stretching like a cat in this… empty bed?

No, no, no!

Shooting up like a flash of lightning and immediately regretting it as the bandages on my back pull at my skin and ache. After some mumbled curse words, my feet hit the floor before my eyes can fully open to take in Alek and Maddox standing in the doorway, blocking my view on who’s on the other side.

“You have about two seconds to move your asses out of my way. I’m short, so my punches land low,” Snow says, making me smile through my sleepy brain fog.

What the fuck has her so fiesty this morning?

“Easy there, little mama. Come on in,” Maddox says, blocking his junk and stepping aside to let her through.

“What’s going on?” I ask, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

“Well, first things first, put your tits away, Red. It’s too early for that. Second, that broody, control freak of a man you have? He’s gone. He left in the middle of the night. I found this note on the stove when I went to make breakfast.”

“What? He left!?” I scramble for the blanket to cover myself and reach for the note she’s holding.

Raena,

I’m going to kill King. Before you get mad, remember you wanted to do the same thing. If I can protect my family, that’s what I’m going to do. I know you, out of everyone, understand that. If I’m not back by morning, I’ve failed. Come find me.

I love you, Angel

Royal

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