Page 177 of Kiss the Villain

I rush to the bedroom, but I know he’s not there even before I search.

Sure enough, there’s no trace of him. I call him, but his phone is turned off.

Pushing my hand in my hair, I curse out loud. God fucking damn it.

Why would he leave if he was bleeding that much?

My phone vibrates, and my muscles wind up at the view of Declan’s name. I consider ignoring him, but I have an extremely bad feeling about this.

“Davenport,” I reply in my usual detached tone.

“My dearest brother-in-law.” His cheerful, slightly high-pitched tone grates on my frayed nerves. He has an Irish accent and a prominent position in Chicago’s Irish mafia.

“We stopped being related a long time ago, Declan.”

“That hurts, ye know. I thought we were having fun these last couple of years, avenging Caysie and shit.”

I keep looking at the blood—Gareth’s blood—and a headache forms at the back of my skull, snapping to the front with dizzying speed.

Declan is right, we were.

Truth is, Declan really cared about his sister, and he was there when we hunted each of the motherfuckers who raped and killed my wife.

Every single one who was present in that house.

All except forone.

“If there’s a point behind your call, you should reach it now, Declan.” I put him on speaker and shoot Jethro a text.

Me

Track Gareth.

Jethro

First, take a look at this. We have a problem. A big problem.

He’s still typing as Declan speaks. “Heard you found our last name, Davenport, but you somehow hid him from me? I’m so wounded, I could cry.”

“Don’t you dare?—”

“Alexander Carson’s grandson isn’t yours to keep.” His voice darkens. “His blood is fucking mine.”

My whole body snaps upright, my throat closing with rage. “Don’t you touch a hair on his head or I will?—”

“You’ll what? Kill me? Find me first. Caysie would be rolling in her grave that yer protecting the grandson of her rapist.”

“Gareth is not Alexander.”

“No, he’s not, but he’s the one person Alexander loves the most, even more than his own son. He loves him so much, he’s been depressed since he left the States for school. Ye must’ve noticed that, too, which is why ye pulled this. It’s pointless to kill Alexander when we could torture the old man first. I wonder if he’ll have a heart attack if I send him his grandson’s fingers one by one before I ship him the corpse in a box.”

“I will kill you, Declan. You touch him, and I will fucking kill you.” I’m breathing so loud, I’m panting.

“And I will killyouif you interfere.”

The line goes dead.

An emotion I’ve never felt before courses through my veins. It’s so strong and overwhelming, my entire body tightens.

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