Page 109 of My Vigilante Valentine

“When it all went wrong,” Luna finished.

As I still struggled to fight through what he’d done to me in the present, memories of that day flashed through my mind.

“Yes.” His eyes hardened into something empty and cold. “I cowered in the corner, no emotions breaking through other than my love for them. And when you blew it up and wound up getting the physical enhancements? Well, everyone else died, but at least we got that out of the deal, right?”

I chewed on that new information, but I didn’t have long to process it before he spoke again.

“But their deaths taught me something. Love makes us vulnerable. Makes us stupid. Makes us weak. Now, I’m strong where you aren’t. At first, I tracked you down just so I could kill you for what you took from me. But when I arrived in Slate Harbor and watched you sit in that cafe? Mooning over her day after day? The Valentine Villain was born.”

I gulped, nodding. “Okay, well, point made. But this ends here?—”

“You’re right, Jax. It does. It ends with you losing what you cost me.”

He raised his hand, another device glinting in the dim light like the world’s most depressing disco ball.

But he’d made one crucial mistake.

He’d forgotten about Luna.

While he’d been focused on me, lost in his supervillain movie monologue—which Luna would definitely mock with me later if we survived this—she’d been getting ready for her close-up.

And the moment his attention shifted, she moved.

The chair came up with her as she stood, and she swung it hard—using the momentum just like I’d taught her. It caught him in the side with a satisfying crack that suggested at least one rib would need attention.

He stumbled, the device flying from his hand, and the look of absolute shock on his face was almost worth everything we’d been through.

Almost.

The toxin made my limbs feel like they were moving through molasses, each step a battle against my own enhanced biology. But I pushed through it, forcing my body to blur forward even as my vision swam.

It was a good thing she’d gotten herself free. If I only had a fraction of my speed or strength, I needed it to take him out.

Chris’s voice crackled through the comms in my ear. “Your vitals are all over the place. Whatever that gas is, it’s?—“

“Not helping,” I ground out, ducking under a wild swing from The Villain.

He recovered faster than someone with broken ribs should, producing a wicked-looking knife from somewhere. But Lunawas already flowing through the defensive maneuvers we’d practiced, proving once again that she really was a quick study.

With me at half-power and him fully loaded, having a partner was a big advantage in this fight.

She stayed just out of his reach, keeping him off balance with the kind of grace that made my chest tight with pride.

“You’re proving my point,” he snarled, alternating between slashing at me and at her with increasingly desperate strikes. His cultured voice had devolved into something raw and broken. “You came for her. Put yourself in danger. Let your emotions control you even after I’d taken away what made you special. Just like I knew you would.”

Luna and I worked together, still fighting for our lives and ignoring his incessant chatter. It was much worse than the cousin commentary in my ear through the comms. In fact, if we made it out of here alive, I’d happily listen to Luna and Chris’s bickering during any and all future fights.

“You’re both fighting me even though you won’t win,” he went on, “meaning you’re dumb enough to die together instead of saving yourselves. Love makes you?—”

Luna ducked under his swing, rolled, and drove her elbow into his solar plexus with perfect form. “Makes us stronger,” she finished.

Her move had him backing right into me, where I was waiting, bent over at the waist so he’d go over me and fall. The fierce pride in her voice burned through me as I flipped him, pinning him just long enough to use a pressure point to knock him out cold.

And I’d done it without anything special flowing through my veins. Without my abilities, her help was enough.

More than enough. It was all I needed.

After that, it was a simple matter to secure him—with extra zip ties, put on extra tight.

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