Page 116 of Queen Of Dark Money

Shame.

“Youwere supposed to be mine,Kenzie-bear,” he muttered, the knife wavering slightly at her throat, drawing a thin line of blood. “Andyou left me for that trash jockWeatherston, who fucked you and walked away.Youwere a drunken conquest to him.Nothingmore.”

Sheshook her head slightly, uncaring that there was a knife at her throat, her voice weak yet full of venom. “Youwere never the end game,Theo.Youwere an ass, an abusive piece of shit who should have crawled back up inside his mother and died.Savedthe world a lot of heartache.”

Heslammed his fist into her gut, smiling like a loon when she coughed up more blood, the red like rivulets running down her chin as she groaned through the pain.Iwinced asIwatched her suffer, inching ever closer, hoping he’d miss my presence until it was too late.Ihad to get close enough to get the blade from him.IfIcharged him and he still held it, her chances of escaping trailed down to nearly zero.

Icouldn’t risk it.Icouldn’t riskher.

Ihad to be patient, but inside, my mind was racing, heart pounding out of my chest, my soul bleeding out like she did, every drop of blood from her lips like another fragment of my soul being shattered and laid out on the floor.

Itwas killing me to watch her die in front of my eyes.

“Yougave it over to him like a fucking slut, and then you come here, to my town, and you sleep with every single one of those degenerates.Youlet them fuck you for their protection–fat lot of good that did you, huh?Istill managed to almost shoot you down three separate times, set a club on fire, cut the power to my dad’s building, and ran you off the road–you just kept bouncing back up like a fucking cockroach.”Hecaressed her face with the knife, dragging the bloodied tip down the side of her cheek. “Youjust refuse to die, don’t you?Idon’t get what they see inyou anymore.Iwanted you to have my babies, wanted to make you a trophy wife, and instead, you wanted to spread your legs for any asshole who was drunk enough to think your fat ass was pretty.Apity fuck, that’s what you were to him.”Hislaughter was barking, harsh, and deranged. “Andlook where it got you.”

Heshoved the knife in her side, and she groaned in agony, her eyes lifting from the floor to meet his, darker thanI’dever seen them.Ispurred into action, tackling him to the ground with a rage-filled yell of triumph.Thefirst punchIlanded knocked the wind out of him.Thesecond sent him reeling.Thethird had his eyes rolling into the back of his head, and when the sound of screeching tires echoed outside,Iturned his addled ass loose and rushed toKenzie’sside, frantically searching for a way to cut her loose of the chains that bound her.

“Kenzie, hey there,Kenz, look at me–hey,hey!Youlook at me, dammit.”Hereyes were barely open, blood streaming from a head wound on her temple obstructing her view.Iheard the others in the background, butIcouldn’t make out their words.Mymind was on high alert, wild and out of control, focused only on her.

“Wehave to get her down.Comeon, somebody fucking help me get her down!”

Someonemust have found the crank to lower the chains because the sound of grinding gears echoed around me, andKenziebegan to fall into my waiting arms, her body limp and destroyed, her breathing shallow, eyes closed.

Ifelt for her pulse, despair settling in whenIrealized how faint it was.She’dlost a lot of blood.

No.Shecouldn’t die on me.Therewasn’t enough time.I–

“Kenzie, baby, don’t you give up on me now.Westill have to have that chat, yeah?”Ibegan to chuckle hysterically as her hand reached up and caressed my cheek weakly, the touch like an electric pulse in my veins, grounding me like nothing elsecould.Riverwas at my side,Jasperon the other,Dominickbusy hauling his son to his feet by the collar of his shirt.

Kenziecoughed, her blood painting the side of my face as she struggled to whisper something in my ear.Ileaned closer asJasperdialed emergency services, tears falling freely now from my eyes asIwatched this amazing firecracker fade before me.

“Comeon, now, sweetheart, save your strength,”Riverwhispered, his hand grabbing blindly for hers. “Don’tspeak if it hurts.Yougotta fight, gotta hang on.”

Sheshook her head, determined to say something, andIcouldn’t blame her.Iunderstood, in the deepest parts of my soul, that she thought she might not make it, and something needed to be said.

“Kenzie,”Iwhispered, my heart breaking into a million pieces as she parted those lipsI’dkissed just days ago, the whisper of her voice like the faintest sighs on the wind.

“Danny,” she coughed out, her eyes slamming shut against the pain. “Rafe–I’m. . . sorry.”

“Oh, no, no, no, pretty girl, don’t be sorry,”Imuttered, the darkness seeping in at the edges of my vision. “Yougotta fight for me, you hear?Fightand survive so we can have that talk.”

Theambulance screeched to a halt outside, sirens blaring, but it was too late.Theywere too late.Asshe closed her eyes and her hand fell from my cheek, the rest of my soul went with it, agony building inside me asIclutched her to my chest, the sound of a broken soul crying out in the night echoing around me.Icould hear someone screaming, the pain in their voice like shattered glass, slicing me to bits asIrocked back and forth, holding her lifeless body in my arms, praying to aGodIdidn’t believe in thatIwas hallucinating all of this, that the whole night was one bad dream, that she wasn’t really gone.

Thescreaming didn’t stop, not until the person behind the voice went hoarse.Ifought theEMTswho tried to pull herfrom my arms untilRivertugged me back, andIwas forced to abandon her to the cold, hard, unforgiving concrete, laying in a pool of her own blood.Bloodthat now coated my knees, my shirt, my hands, and splattered across my face.

Thescreaming wail of a broken heart didn’t cease untilIshut my mouth, andIrealized with a sudden moment of clarity that the cries of horror had been my own.

“She’sgone,”Imuttered to no one in particular, still fighting againstRiveras he tried to pull me away, move me soIcouldn’t see her as they performedCPRin vain, pumping a heart that refused to start beating again, bagging air into lungs that refused to remember how to breathe.Herhand lay there on the ground, reaching for me, the feel of those soft fingers searching my face one last time etched into my memory for the rest of my life.

Iwanted to jump off a bridge.Iwanted to take that blade and shove it into my own heart so thatIwouldn’t be forced to keep living now that she was gone.Tothe others, she might’ve been a woman they could love, but to me, she’d become everything–she’d been my obsession sinceIleft college and arrived in this unforgiving city.

Theolaughed from the corner as they put the defibrillator paddles to her chest, shocking her in a last-ditch attempt to restart her heart.Iwatched her body jump, only half-hearing the words that fell from his mouth until he said my name.

“Servesher right, refusing to have my kids, just to turn around and fuck some deadbeat like you and end up pregnant with yours.FuckingWeatherston, you piece of shit, you left her alone, andImade her pay for opening her legs for the likes of you.”Hislaughter was unhinged, his words reckless, asIturned to him slowly, like a predator calculating his approach. “Ialmost killed them both, but she refused to die.Shelost the baby, though.Ifshe wouldn’t carry mine, she sure as fuck wasn’t about to get away with carrying yours.”

Ifroze as still as a statue, his words slowly registering in my brain.Ialmost missed the last part, but my brain ran over the words again, reassuring meI’dheard him right.

“She–she was pregnant?”Istared at her stomach, confusion and agony in equal parts roiling in my gut. “There’sno way.Wejust–we didn’t–”

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