Page 71 of With This Ring

Confusion settles in my gut when the video plays and all that shows is Pop’s gravestone, the mound of dirt just spouting weeds around the edges.

Then dread forms low in my belly. They found his grave. “Son of a bitch,” I mutter, staring hard at the screen, my hands balled into fists so tight, my nails dig into my flesh.

Then two people, a woman I don’t know and Sam Fenster walk on screen. The woman is stark naked, her tits swaying as she pulls Sam back to where the dirt is piled over where we laid my father to rest.

She gets on her hands and knees, reaching behind herself to play with her pussy. Sam hurriedly pulls down his pants, settles behind her and thrusts into her. He starts to pound her immediately, her high, annoying moans burrowing to my ears.

Declan makes a noise in the back of his throat that I thought was arousal. When I look at him, all I find is disgust.

“No fucking respect,” he spits, shaking his head and walking over to the window. “No fucking respect for the dead.”

I mean, Pop wasn’t someone who earned respect, but this is a new low. Fucking on the grave of your rival? Some things are off limits, and this is one of them.

“Turn it off,” Carter says through clenched teeth.

I shake my head. “No. There are five more minutes. They might say something. There might be a message.”

Continuing to watch sets my teeth on edge, but I do it. Not only does it disgust me, but it also fuels me to fucking kill them all with my bare hands if I can.

About two minutes later, Sam pulls out of the woman and turns to Pop’s grave marker, spraying his jizz all over it.

A growl percolates up my throat, my vision whiting out with my anger. “I will fucking kill that cocksucker,” I snarl.

Before the video ends, three other men step into frame, including Anthony Fenster. He smirks at the camera, pulls his dick out and they all start pissing on my father’s grave.

When he’s done, Anthony stuffs his cock back in to his pants and walks to the camera that I assume is set up on a tripod. With an evil grin on his face, he says, “You can’t hide from us. We’re coming for everything the St. Clair’s and Whitlock’s have.”

The video ends and I explode from the chair, grabbing Carter’s computer and throwing it across the room. I scream, the force of it so hard the back of my throat hurts. I’m fucking livid and have no fucking outlet for it. No one knows where these sons of bitches are, so I can’t take my frustrations out on their flesh.

Carter wraps an arm around me, but I push him away. His eyes flare, but he doesn’t try to approach me again. “Don’t leave,” he murmurs.

As quickly as the fight engulfs me, it deflates. My chest still rises and falls rapidly, but the anger isn’t burning as white hot as it was before.

Pushing my hair from my face, I blow out a long breath and walk over to him. “I’m not. I’m just…I’m pissed. I told you I’m not going to run again, and I mean it. Fuck, Carter. What are we going to do?”

“I’m not sure, pretty baby, but I’ll make sure they pay.” Tentatively, he walks over to me and puts his hands on my cheeks, framing my face. “We’llmake them pay. Okay?”

I nod and rest my forehead against his chest. I still feel like screaming and throwing shit across the room but I need to control my temper so I make sure the bastards on that video pay.

All of them.

Declan curses and both Carter and I turn to look at him. “Someone’s coming. Someone…shit! Get down!”

Without questioning him, we hit the floor. A few seconds later, the whole house shakes, pieces of the ceiling dropping all around us.

“The fuck was that?” Carter asks, pulling his gun out. Seconds later, the office is flooded with our guards, Nico, and Gavin ahead of everyone. When they get to us, they take our arms and pull us out of the room.

“Rocket launcher,” Declan says, trailing behind them. “Hit near the kitchen.”

“Those fucking—” Carter tries to dart off to go downstairs, but Declan grabs him, slamming him against the wall. “I know you’re pissed. But fucking think Carter. They want you and Kai. You need to get the fuck out of here.” Another explosion rattles the house, closer to where we are. The lights flicker, but they don’t go off. “We need to go now.”

Even though he looks like he wants to do anything but, Carter allows himself to be pulled from the room.

Carter pushes away from the guards and runs down the hall to his room and we all follow behind him. I wonder at it for a moment, then I remember Carter saying all the upstairs rooms, including mine and Nico’s have a secret entrance in his closet that leads down to his basement and his panic room.

“Is that body cleaned up from downstairs?” he asks over his shoulder.

“Yep,” Gavin replies. “I took care of it myself.”

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