Page 107 of Peaceful Chaos

Showdown

Raven

"What the fuck happened here?"Grant shouts when he enters the building.

He cringes at the look I give him. My fingers are laced with Sin's and that's the only thing keeping me from curling into a ball. Numbness is taking hold of me, and I'm sure he's seeing blankness in my eyes because I'm empty. My rage drained with the last body that hit the ground. I'm sure somehow I'll muster the strength to finish this, but not at this moment.

I wave my free hand to the side, gesturing to the dead men who leered at me then tried to get close so they could rape me. "You are the one who thought to use me as bait, so now you have to decide, can you operate in the dark or not?"

His mouth opens and closes rapidly. Good, I'm glad he's speechless. He's said enough stupid shit to last a lifetime. He might not have gone after Sin the last time in earnest, but his blind faith in the system led us to this.

"It was self-defense," he chokes out. "Lucien shut down the video footage the second we moved in. It would have shown self-defense either way, but the two men Sin shot who were trying to flee might have caused a bit of a problem."

I cross my arms and glare at him with all the emotion I have left. Anger is an emotion after all. "Is it a problem for you?"

My uncle shakes his head. "No. The only problem I'm having is that this shouldn't have been necessary. Damien deserves to die for this and so, so much more."

Javier slaps him on the back. "Welcome to the dark side."

Grant grunts and looks around the room. "We need to call in a team and get the hell out of here before they come. If they catch us, that slippery fucker is going to get away again."

Sin's hand clenches mine. "Not tonight he's not." He jerks his chin towards Javier. "Is your team in place?"

Javier nods. "That place is locked down tighter than Fort Knox. Let's roll."

Grant takes out his phone and calls Brett to handle the crime scene. There's still space between them, but their friendship has spanned a lifetime. They'll see their way back to each other. And maybe someday they'll be ready to share the truth of what we all see.

I force the random thoughts out of my head. Now is not the time to contemplate my uncle's love life. Never would be a good time, actually. I think I'll be able to forgive him now. He's proven himself, and if he has the guts to abandon a lifetime of worshiping the law, he might just have the courage to claim the man he loves. I hope he does. Grant deserves to be happy. The route he's taken to save his sister might have veered occasionally off course, but he stuck by us in the end.

As a team, we walk out of the building without a second thought. I don't feel an ounce of remorse for any life I've taken here tonight.

Outside, Sin pulls me to his chest and holds on tight. I can feel his entire body shaking.

"I'm so sorry," he repeats over and over with his face buried in my neck.

I push him back, and his arms fall limply by his side. His head hangs down, and he slumps to his knees.

With my fingers, I tip his chin up so I can look into his black eyes. "You kept me safe. Do not apologize to me for what we had to do in there."

His chest rises and falls rapidly with each choppy breath. "I never wanted you to know what that felt like."

A single tear falls down his face, and my heart cracks for everything he had to relive in there. I give him a sad smile. "I already knew what it was like to have my choice taken away. What is killing me right now is seeing you suffer like this."

He stares at me with wonder and confusion. He's breaking me right now. This is the boy who was slowly stripped of everything, turned into a thing to be sold. There's only one thing I can give him, but I think it's the only thing he needs.

"Sin, I love you. You're my everything."

He chokes trying to fight back a sob. "Still? How can you love me after what I did?"

Gently, I wipe the moisture from his face. "Simple. You are easy to love. No one has ever fought for me. You did everything possible to keep me safe. You could have shut down on me in there. Not only did you fight those men, but you fought every demon that's been haunting you your entire life. For me."

Lucien pokes his head out of the van and sees Sin on his knees. Luce's eyebrows raise, silently asking me if he's okay. I shake my head. No, he's not okay. None of us are really, but my husband is breaking and I don't know how to help him.

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