Page 83 of Crime Lord’s Captive

Lyla had a vivid image of Gavin over Pervert’s body—savage and devoid of all humanity. She reached for him. “Gavin.”

He stepped away from her. She stilled with her hands suspended in midair. His eyes were a burning copper that revealed nothing. Gavin was morphing into the man she ran from, the man she didn’t want him to be.

“This won’t stop,” she said.

“It will once I make them pay. They’ll beg for death before I give it to them.”

“Gavin, when does it end?”

“When they end.”

Lyla licked dry lips. “You’re supposed to be letting this go, not going deeper into it.”

“My cousin died,” he said quietly.

“Yes.”

“It’s my fault he’s dead.”

She shook her head. “No, Gavin.”

“He wasn’t cold enough to blow their heads off for insulting him. He was too soft. I fucking knew that but I was so desperate to be with you that I allowed you to cloud my better judgement.”

Lyla accepted the blame and the verbal blow. Vinny’s death was on her as well. “So, you’re saying you’re the only one that can do this?”

Gavin said nothing. He didn’t have to. He was going to keep the crime lord mantle and turn back into the monster he had to be. Lyla’s eyes filled with tears.

“So we’re back to where we started,” she whispered, heart splintering.

“You want more people to die?” he hissed.

“What if it’s you next?” she shot back. “What if it’s someone else you love?”

“I won’t give them the chance.”

“Gavin, please, don’t do this,” she pleaded.

“No.”

“Gavin—”

“They’ll pay. They all will.”

Lyla reached for him and once more, he avoided her. “What are you doing?”

He stared at her, a mixture of need and rage spiking across his features before he turned away from her. “I don’t have time for you. I have to fix this fuck up.”

“By killing more people.”

He stopped, turned. “By doing what I have to.”

Lyla swallowed hard. “So you’re not going to let go of the business?”

“And have someone else die in my place? No.”

Lyla felt a slashing pain in her chest. “You promised, Gavin.”

“What do you expect me to do?”

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