Page 152 of Prized Possession

Caleb looks between Jake and Scott, before finally casting his gaze over to Chloe. She’s poking her head around me, and he looks down to see our hands are still firmly interlocked. He lets out a sigh as he lowers his gun.

Caleb pulls his back straight and lifts his head high as he turns to Scott and Ewan, a stern, powerful expression on his face.

“Jacob is my heir, and I honour his position as the ruler of the Santoro family. His decision is final.”

“You can’t fucking do that,” Scott snarls, lowering his gun just enough for his father to take it from him.

“Shut up, Scott,” Ewan whisper-yells as he puts the safety on the gun before placing it back in his pocket.

“I will not shut up. Promises were made, and now they think they can fuck us over and go back on their word. I will not be disrespected like this.”

Jacob clears his throat loudly, interrupting Scott’s rant.

“Since you feel so slighted by us, my ruling shouldn’t bother you too much. I hereby declare, officially, that the Caprillo family are exiled from Blackthorn.

“You and your family have twenty-four hours to get out of our town. If you even think about returning, I will kill every last person in your family. Do I make myself clear?”

Both Scott and Ewan’s faces fall, looking distraught, but it’s clear Jake isn’t playing around. Ewan grabs hold of his son and bows respectfully at Jacob.

“We understand. We’ll leave now.”

Jake nods to the door, a polite way of telling them to fuck off. Ewan is dragging Scott behind him, who looks to be in a daze.

Just when I think they’re going to make it out of the room without incident, Scott glares at Chloe as he passes us, and decides to open his big mouth.

“I didn’t want to marry a dirty whore like you anyway,” he snarls at Chloe, who takes a step back under the weight of his hateful sneer.

Without even hesitating, I raise my gun and shoot him in the leg.

“Oops, it looks like my gun went off as I was trying to put it away,” I deadpan, not at all sounding sorry.

Jacob and Miles chuckle, and I’m pretty sure I hear my father laughing too. Scott is swearing loudly, all his words jumbling into one.

I turn to Miles. “Can you make sure this sack of shit gets off the property and out of town, please?”

Miles steps forward and grabs Scott’s arm, gripping it hard, but he doesn’t say anything.

“It would be my pleasure.”

He then pulls a bleeding Scott from the room, his distraught father following behind him. Once the Caprillos have left, and the tension starts to die down, we all put our guns away.

Chloe walks over to her brother and pulls him into a hug.

“Thank you for what you just did, Jake.”

He wipes the tears from her eyes, giving her a smile. “You don’t ever need to thank me for looking out for you.”

Caleb clears his throat, looking more than a little uncomfortable. “So, you two…”

He pauses, clearly not quite knowing what to say, so I finish for him.

“We’re together.”

Chloe looks at her father, pulling her shoulders back to stare at him with the confidence I’ve seen grow in her over the last few weeks.

“If he’ll have me, I plan on staying with Marcus from now on.”

I chuckle, shaking my head at her. “There’s no way I’m ever letting you leave.”

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