Page 99 of Redeemed

I slam the door, but Kellan jams his boot in between it and the doorframe so it won’t close. I roll my eyes. “Seriously, Kellan? Just take the loss. Move on.”

“You don’t want to play this game with us. We always win, and you know it.”

Not true, but of course he’d see things that way. Him and his friends are all so small-minded.

Glancing back at the painting, I give Kellan a smug look. “Not this time.”

Kellan’s retort is cut off by the sound of glass shattering from the garage. Immediately, it clicks into place what he’s doing.

“You motherfuckers.”

Fuck the painting.

I swing the door shut, but a gust of wind—or maybe Kellan—must catch it, because I don’t hear it close. Whatever. I’m already halfway to the garage. All Kellan wants is the painting, so the worst he’ll do is stealRetributionand get out. Whoever is in the garage is obviously acting as a distraction, but they’re who I really need to be worried about.

In the kitchen, I grab the gun I have stashed in one of the drawers and then dash through the mudroom that connects to the garage. I already have it cocked by the time I burst through the door.

Cal is standing over my car with a golf club—not the BMW, but the new Lamborghini my dad got me as a birthday present. Cal has already shattered two of the windows, and there’s a dent on the hood.

“Get out,” I shout.

He whips around, a huge grin on his face, but it vanishes when he realizes I’m aiming my gun at him. Dropping the club, he lifts his hands. “Jesus, man.”

“Get.Out.”

Cal is already scrambling out of the garage and diving into his car. Kellan follows withRetributionin his hands, and they speed off.

My first instinct is to chase after them. I could catch up to them on my bike easily, but Haven is upstairs. My bedroom is far enough away that she probably didn’t hear my car’s windows shattering, but I know she’s probably freaked out, anyway. I can’t leave her.

In the living room, I glare at the empty spot on the wall where I hung upRetribution.It pisses me off, and I’ll make sure those three assholes pay. For right now, though, I slam the front door, lock it, and make my way back upstairs.

At least I managed to scare Cal good.

“Haven?” I call as I enter my bedroom.

At first, it doesn’t seem like she’s in here, but then she crawls out from underneath the bed.

“It wasn’t him?” she asks, voice small.

“No.”

Haven stands and hugs herself, and I stifle a sigh. This isnothow today was supposed to go.

Setting my annoyance aside, I open up my arms to her. “C’mere.”

Even as Haven moves closer, she eyes me with suspicion. I pull her into a hug once she’s close enough, and I feel her tense up more instead of relax.

“Even if it was him, I wouldn’t have let him hurt you,” I say.

“What if he’s stronger than you?” she asks, and her voice wobbles.

“That’s why I’ve got a gun.”

She rears back. “What?! You do?”

“Never know when you’re gonna need it.”

“But—but guns are dangerous!”

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