Page 65 of Vengeful Secret

I know this world like the back of my hand, and thirty seconds are an eternity where hell can rain upon you in several different ways.

I make my way through the crowd toward the exit, and Brady grabs me on my way by.

“Gray Burke, as I live and breathe,” he drawls, and I curse inwardly, plastering on a smile.

“Great to see you,” I lie. “What are you doing here?”

He shrugs. “You know, picking up bitches.”

Lovely.

I bark out what I hope is a believable laugh. “Aren’t we all? Listen, I gotta get some air. Talk to you later.”

I push past him outside, hoping against hope that Sutton is out here, and the first thing I see is the man who shot my father standing there with a gun pointed at the love of my life.

I rush him, tackling him from behind, and he goes down, the gun scattering across the floor.

Sutton’s doubled over, but she starts to stand up.

I’m distracted, and he flips me, putting me on my belly.

It’s a bad place to be in—that is, if you weren’t captain of the wrestling team in high school. Fortunately, I was, and I’m able to get him on his back, straddling him, punching him over and over.

He’s lanky like Kael, and the strategy was always to get him on the ground.

I punch him in the face, in the throat, and he chokes out a scream as I stand up, grinding my boot down on his throat.

He claws at my foot but it’s too late, he’s already passing out.

I breathe hard, rushing to Sutton and pulling her into my arms.

Sutton’s barely breathing, wheezing, and I pull away to look at her.

“My stomach,” she chokes out.

“It’s okay,” I tell her calmly, even though my heart is beating ninety miles a minute. “You just got the wind knocked out of you. Just breathe,a ghra.”

Sutton tries to take a breath, but it catches, and she moans, bending over again.

I slowly help her up and breathe in through my nose, slowly, hoping that Sutton mimics me.

She slowly begins to breathe deeply, and finally she whoops in a big gulp of oxygen, and I crush her into my arms.

I bury my face against her neck, trying to keep it together.

“I’m so sorry, Sutton. I’m so fucking sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” she says brokenly, but it feels like my fault. I didn’t pay enough attention. I was looking for vengeance instead of sticking to the plan I’d gone through so many times with her.

I take Sutton to the car, calling Liam on the phone to handle her captor.

I’ll want to speak with him later.

But for now, Sutton is all that matters. I put her in the SUV, buckling her in. She’s still gasping for air, so I don’t drive away, just staring at her.

“What happened?” I ask.

“He just grabbed me, pulled me right out of there. Then he told me he knew I was your girl… He knew Ciara’s name…” She bursts into sobs, tears streaming down her face, and I draw her into my arms again.

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