Page 336 of Redeemed

Mark struggles as we haul him through the house and then out onto the back patio. The fire pit isn’t quite big enough for him, but the patio is stone. The flames won’t spread.

Lucas kicks down the door to the maintenance shed and comes back with a gas can. With his jaw clenched, he dumps the entire thing on Mark, completely soaking him.

“You have a lighter?” he asks.

I nod.

“Good.” Lucas steps back. “He’s yours.”

I pull it out, but before I light it, I crouch next to Mark. We gagged him so his screams don’t disturb the neighbors, but that’s all right. I don’t want to hear his response to this.

“You want to know why you failed in the end, Mark? You want to know why you lost everything you built so carefully?”

Mark glares up at me.

“It’s because you forgot what’s really important,” I tell him. “You got the nice house, the cars, the power, the extravagant trips. But what’s the fucking point if you ice everyone out in the process? You end up alone and defenseless, just like you are now. Not even your own son wants anything to do with you.”

Mark tries to kick out of his restraints, but we tied them too well. He can’t escape this.

“End it, Xan,” Lucas says. “It’s time.”

He’s right. I’ve said my piece, and we’ve made Mark suffer. Now it’s time to get back to what matters to us—Haven.

Standing, I flick the lighter, and the moment the flame appears, I drop it onto Mark. The fire engulfs him immediately, and as I step back, I smile at his gagged cries of pain.Thisfeels more like justice than cutting his throat open.

Lucas turns to me. “Let’s go home.”

I nod. “Let’s.”

Hand-in-hand, we make our way off Mark’s property, his muffled screams and the smell of burnt flesh following us as we go.

Lucas

“Doyouthinkhe’llbe done soon?” Haven asks from where she’s cocooned in a hammock on Colton’s back porch.

“Not sure,” I answer honestly. “Sometimes these meetings take a long time.”

She sighs, and it sounds more disappointed than frustrated. “I’m worried he’s going to work himself to death.”

“He won’t, doll,” Xander says. “He just needs to find a balance, that’s all.”

It’s been two weeks since we got Haven back. Her anxiety has calmed significantly, to the point where she doesn’t need all three of us with her anymore. She still can’t be alone, but she did perfectly fine when it was just her and Xander here yesterday. It’s a huge improvement, one that I know has taken a lot of work on her part to get to.

“Things will even out on their own,” I add. “He has to put in a lot of work up front so he can establish himself as the head of the Rooks. He has to prove that he’s committed.”

At that, Haven pushes herself into a sitting position. Her purple hair falls over her shoulders, catching the sunlight. When she told us that Isaiah made her cut it, she couldn’t stop crying. The next day, Athelia came over with hair dye and determination in her eyes, and they dyed all of Haven’s hair the same shade of dark purple that it was before.

“But heiscommitted,” Haven says.

“We know that.” Xander gestures between the three of us. “But there are still some people who’re uneasy about someone so young leading the organization.”

“Well, they’re stupid for thinking that, and if Colton doesn’t start balancing things, I’m going to force him to.”

I grin. Haven has gotten a lot of her fire back, especially in the past week. She still falls into flashbacks and panic attacks more than she used to, but those are slowing as well. Someday soon, I’m hoping I’ll be able to hear her laugh and know it’s completely genuine.

“Yeah?” Xander asks, tone teasing. “How’re you gonna do that? Gonna pick him up and carry him out of his office when you think he’s worked enough for the day?”

“I don’t need to,” she says, her smile smug. “I’ll ask Lucas to do it for me.”

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