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"I was thinking some piece of shit tried to rape my woman!" I roared, losing all hold on my temper. "I was thinking that the prick that fathered you needs to be dealt with once and for all. IneedGonzalez to make that happen. " Slamming my hand on the steering wheel, I strived to compose myself, but couldn’t manage it. "I was thinking smart, Noah. With my goddamnhead. Like I always do!"

"This ain't your head talking, Lucky," Noah barked. "This is your heart, man. Your heart is clouding your judgement here. And your heart is gonna get youkilled!"

"You saw her face tonight!" The memory of Hope lying on that kitchen floor beneath that bastard flooded my mind, bringing with it every drop of poison and hatred inside of my body. "Did you see what that piece of shit did to her body? Tell me what the fuck you would have done differently had that been your wife on the other side of that knife?"

"Nothing," Noah conceded, jaw ticking. "Problem is, man, she's not your wife."

"Doesn’t matter," I hissed through clenched teeth. "Still love her like she was."

"Think she'll still love you?" he shot back. "When you're drowning under the weight of your conscious? When the blood on your hands makes you unrecognizable to the people who care about you most? Because that's what's gonna happen, man.Ifyou go through with this."

I thought about his words for the longest time before taking a drag of my smoke and saying, "Someone has to be the bad guy."

"Goddammit, Luck –" Noah began to say, but I cut him off.

"I've been keeping your ass alive for years," I growled. "Do you think I haven't thought this through?"

"I’m not talking about –"

"Nameonetime in all the years you've known me that I've done something on impulse without thinking it through?" I demanded. "Do you think I haven't thought through every possible scenario and possibility? I know how this has to end, man, and I'm gonna get it done!" When he didn’t reply, I continued, "Trust me when I tell you this is theonlyway. The only play I have. Ithasto happen."

"And if it ends up getting you killed?" Noah deadpanned. "What then?"

Exhaling a cloud of smoke, I threw the truck into gear and tore off, tires spinning on the dust and gravel. "Then I die."

****

Chapter Nine

Hope

"I wish you would reconsider going to the hospital," Max grumbled, rubbing away a bead of sweat from his brow with his forearm. He placed the needle back on the little tray, having finally finished sewing my skin back together and frowned at his work. "As it stands you'll have a scar, but if I had the facilities I could –"

"I'll be fine," I whispered, not wanting to think about it. "Thank you."

"Do you understand how close you came to hemorrhaging?" he demanded then. "An inch lower and this could be a very different outcome!"

"Yeah," I whispered. "I know."

"You have thirty-six sutures on your face, Hope," Max shot back, clearly unimpressed with my less than stellar response. "Thirty-six!"

He didn’t need to keep reminding me.

My face was held together by thick black stitching crisscrossing from the highest point of my cheekbone to the lowest point of my jaw. With a scar curved like the metal wiring inside a bra, I knew what I looked like.

A monster.

"I know, Max," I choked out, my emotions threatening to get the better of me.

"Who did this to you, Hope?" Max finally asked, his voice showing the tiniest hint of cracking. "If you tell me, I can help you in therightway."

I opened my mouth, ready to spout some lie to appease the paternal instincts inside the man, but was saved by the knock on the door that distracted us both.

Seconds later, we were greeted by the sight of Noah as he stormed through the front door, not waiting to be invited inside, with Hunter hot on his heels.

The moment I laid eyes on him, my heart jackknifed in my chest.

The feeling of dread that had settled in the pit of my stomach when I walked away from him tonight evaporated into thin air.

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