Page 53 of Sugar Coated

“You sick son of a bitch,” he growled out, his hand tightening around my neck so hard it was becoming difficult to breathe. Mike had the height and the muscle mass to overpower just about anyone, so even if I was at my best, fighting would be pointless.

My talents were elsewhere, not in brute strength.

Laina got to her feet. “Mike, stop!” Fang was slow to rise with her, though his silver gaze merely watched the scene before him unfold; he probably didn’t care what happened either way.

It was more than clear Mike didn’t want to stop. If he had his way, he’d put a bullet in me, or perhaps beat the shit out of me. Alas, with her looking on and giving him the command, he did just that: he stopped. He lowered the gun and relaxed his hold on my neck, and then he let me go.

He shoved me back when he let me go, causing me to slam against the door pretty hard, but he let me go.

He did not, I noticed, put away his gun.

As I recoiled from the sudden shove, I muttered, “Ow. That’s probably going to bruise, just so you know.”

Normally Mike rolled his eyes at my sarcasm, but here he was all glares. All glares and protective stances between me and Laina, making it clear he didn’t want me to get too close to her.

I met her natural, blue-eyed stare. “I think we need to talk.” And then, because there were two men in between us, I added under my breath, “All of us.” If the situation was a little different, I might laugh at the big guy’s aggressive stance, but given everything… I couldn’t be upset.

He’d saved her when I couldn’t. Him and Fang. I owed them a debt as much as Laina herself did. Without them… I didn’t want to think about what could’ve happened.

Mike, the man who was typically the silent and stoic type, growled out, “I think that’s an understatement, Kieran. Or do you prefer Devil?”

“Look,” I said, “I get it. I totally understand why you’re a little miffed at me, and I’ll be the first to admit that maybe I have made a few mistakes along the way. I’m not perfect, but who is?” I flashed them a smile, although it was mainly meant for her.

Laina stepped around Fang and Mike, much to the latter’s chagrin. “Why did you do it? Why did you kidnap me and keep me for two years? Why… why let me go?”

My eyes fell to her left hand, to her missing fingers. “I could ask you similar questions. Why mutilate yourself?” A sigh left me. “I didn’t keep you for so long just so you could return to the world in pieces.”

“Kieran.” The way she said my name made it sound like a prayer on her tongue, though that prayer was cut short by what she said next: “For once, stop dancing around it. Just say it. Tell me the truth.”

I had to stick my hands in my suit jacket’s pockets, because if I didn’t, I was liable to touch her—and I didn’t think Mike would like that too much. He had to calm down a bit, first. Maybe after hearing what I had to say, he would aim his anger somewhere else.

“When I told you this wasn’t how I pictured any of it happening, you have to know I meant it,” I told her, trusting that she would believe me in what I was about to say. “Ever since I woke up, I had doubts, but… I don’t know. I guess I just assumed, like we all did, the shooter was aiming at you.” A bitter laugh left me. “I should’ve known it was for me. She’s been pissed at me ever since you came back.”

Laina’s brows furrowed. “Who?”

“You weren’t supposed to come back. Hell, you were supposed to be dead. I never went against her before—I always did what she told me to. Even when I was a kid, I was her attack dog.”

When those beautiful baby blues widened, I knew she’d realized who I was talking about.

I couldn’t resist; even though my hands were in my pockets, I had to step closer to her as I whispered, “But when she told me her plan, I couldn’t go along with it. I also couldn’t say no. Shewanted you to disappear and never come back. She wanted you dead—”

“Wait,” Mike cut in. “We’re talking aboutTessa?”

Glancing at him, I quipped, “Slow on the uptake, huh?” My sarcastic comment earned me another growl, but I did get a smirk from Fang. All right, maybe the silver-toothed freak wasn’t too bad after all.

With a shake of her head, she said, “So, Tessa wanted you to kill me? Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious? She wanted your father to win the mayor’s seat. A candidate with a missing, presumed dead, daughter makes an awfully compelling case, doesn’t it? She heard about his ambitions through the grapevine, and she got us both in close.”

Fang asked me, “But why?”

“Oh, you know, all the stupid, typical, cliched reasons: money, power, everything that comes with it. We didn’t grow up poor, but most of our childhood we scraped by. Mom left before Tessa turned eighteen, and our father put in more hours at work. It left us to fend for ourselves. We relied on each other. We did everything for the other. I never went against her… until she told me to get rid of you.”

The look Laina gave me right then might’ve broken my heart, if I had a heart that could break. She had every right to feel betrayed by me, but at the same time, she had to see that I saved her life. “Why didn’t you, then? Why didn’t you just kill me like she wanted you to? Why go through the trouble to keep me locked up for two years?”

“Because—” I gave her a serious look. “—even before I took you, you were mine. I watched over you, made sure you didn’t do anything too stupid. And when you did do something stupid, I dragged you back home. You were mine from the first moment I laid eyes on you… only I couldn’t have you.”

I shook my head once before I went on, “I think, in a way, Tessa knew it, too. She knew my loyalty had shifted, and she wanted to put me to the test. She told me to get rid of you, but she left the details of it up to me. It… wasn’t the first time she told me to get rid of someone.”

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