Page 14 of Dagger

“Just a friendly warning,” he assured me, the color on his face heightening. “We don’t want trouble, but unless you bring Elise out, I’ll have no choice but to allow these men to use force.”

“Nothin’ we can’t handle,” Cash declared from behind me. “We protect what’s ours.”

“She’smy wife,” Henderson spat again, his glare falling on me. “She’s always been mine. I’m not going to just give her up.”

My expression darkened, and I stared him dead in the eye. “That’s just it, Robert, you’re wrong. She was never yours. All those years, you lied, cheated, and manipulated, but through it all, she still belonged to me. It must be a head-fuck to realize that even after everythin’ you did to smash us apart, she was still mine. Is that the reason you beat her? ‘Cause you couldn’t stand the fact that even after the horrific shit you did to get her, you could never force her to love you back?”

Henderson’s face twisted painfully as my words hit a big ol’ nerve.

“You’re more fucked up than I ever imagined,” I declared. “I know exactly how deep your psychopathic tendencies dig. You’re no man, Henderson, you’re a damned parasite. Bert would be ashamed of you.”

Henderson’s face contorted. Slowly, he turned to the commando and gave him a nod.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The soldiers went for their weapons, but I knew there was no way my men would allow anyone to get the jump on us.

The flashes of sunlight on metal almost blinded me as my hand went into my cut, and I whipped out my FN 510.

A barrage of clicking filled the air as the men on both sides clicked their safety buttons off and took aim until all our weapons pointed at each other.

My heart began to race, but I breathed through it and aimed directly between Henderson’s eyes. The air whippedhard around my ears, whispering to me. My heart calmed, the adrenaline in my veins making the world around me shrink inward to a small point of tunnel visionthat only existed down the barrel of my gun.

“I want every weapon pointed at Henderson’s head,” I ordered the men at my six. “If any fucker shoots me, take him out first and take him out fast.”

The mayor visibly paled as my brothers shouted their agreements.

“Come on, boys,” the sheriff murmured placatingly. “There’s no need for all this nonsense. Just get Elise and Stafford, and we’ll be on our way. Nobody needs to get hurt.”

“You’ll have to shoot me dead along with every Speed Demon in this parking lot to get to her,” I vowed. “Elise is under my protection.”

“It can be arranged,” Henderson spat.

“The second I go down, you go down, too,” I said, warning lacing my tone. “I’ll die here and now to keep Elise away from you, and you’ll be comin’ with me. Don’t fuckin’ test me, asshole, or I’ll see ya in hell.”

The mayor opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. Instead, his eyes fell over my shoulder, and his expression relaxed as a smirk spread across his face.

She was there.

Fuck.

I closed my eyes frustratedly, my heart plummeting.

“Elise. At last,” the mayor crowed, throwing me a victorious look. “Come on. Time to come home.”

I glanced over my shoulder, and my heart sank further.

Atlas and Colt helped Elise limp slowly toward us wearing a sweater and track pants. I sucked in a painful breath at the sight of her house shoes. Fuck. Why didn’t Atlas take the damned time to make her put somethin’ warmer on?

My duchess held onto Atlas and Colt for dear life as they helped her walk, and sight of those fuckin’ house shoes sliced through me again. She’d come out here to fight our corner so beaten up that she couldn’t even get dressed.

“Christ, Elise. Go back inside,” I ordered gently.

Her chin jutted proudly, and I remembered all the times over the years I’d watched her carry out that same move, knowing she was about to do precisely what the fuck she wanted, usually while paying me no heed.

“Atlas,” I grated out. “Get her ass back to the clubhouse, or you’ll find yourself without a damned patch.”

My SAA’s eyes bored into mine as he approached. Then he said something that stopped me in my tracks.

“For God’s sake, let her speak.”

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