Page 72 of House of Soot

A baby? Our baby. Growing inside her right now as that bastard threatens her life.

“You think I’d spare your life for a bastard? Probably an Ifrinn bastard?” Ronan scoffs. “The baby will die with its whore of a mother."

Red fills my vision. The rage that consumes me is unlike anything I've felt before. It’s primal, all-consuming.

I kick the door in, wood splintering under my boot. The crack of gunfire follows before the door even finishes swinging open. No hesitation. No warning. Just three precise shots, center mass.

Ronan's eyes go wide with shock as the bullets tear through him. His own gun, half-raised toward Jenna, clatters to the floor. Blood blooms across his expensive suit jacket.

He stumbles back, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. "You…" The word comes out wet, gurgling.

“Time to die, Ronan.” I repeat the words he said to Jenna as I point the gun at his head. He staggers and then crumples to the ground.

I step closer, wanting him to see my face, wanting him to know exactly who ended him. "That's for my parents. For Jenna. For our baby." My finger tightens on the trigger one final time. "And that's for thinking you'd ever touch what's mine."

The last shot echoes through the small room. Ronan goes still, eyes staring sightlessly at the ceiling.

Ten years of plotting revenge, and in the end, it wasn't about vengeance at all. It was about protecting the future I didn't even know I wanted until tonight.

I rush to Jenna huddled in the corner.

My hands reach for her, but she flinches.

"Are you hurt?”

She presses herself further against the wall. Her eyes, wide with fear of me, cut deeper than any wound I've ever received.

"Don't touch me." Her voice shakes, arms still wrapped protectively around her middle. Around our child. “You killed him.”

I’m confused. I mean, yes, I did kill him. Surely, she knows that if I hadn’t, he’d have killed her.

“Jenna, we’re still in danger. We need?—”

"You used me. Just like him."

It doesn’t sit well that she’s comparing me to Ronan. But as I watch her shrink away from me, I understand the full magnitude of what I’ve done. I didn't just plan to hurt her. I became exactly like Ronan. I used her innocence against her, just like Ronan did when she was thirteen.

"Jenna, I…” The words stick in my throat. How do I explain that in exacting my revenge, everything changed? That I fell in love with her? That all I want to do right now is get her safe and protect her and our child for the rest of our days?

The fear in her eyes tells me it’s too late. I've broken something precious. Her trust in and love for me are irrevocably destroyed.

29

JENNA

Ifeel utterly destroyed. In a matter of what feels like minutes, everything I thought I knew about my world crashed around me. The worst of it is from Blaise. The man I gave all of myself to, whose DNA runs through our baby, stands before me with blood on his hands. Ronan's body lies on the floor lifeless.

My shoulders shake as sobs of fear and pain rack through me. I wrap my arms around myself, trying to hold the pieces together as my world shatters.

"We need to leave. Now." Blaise's voice cuts through my tears. "Ronan's men will come looking for him soon."

I press closer against the wall, torn between the urge to run from him and the cold reality that I have nowhere else to go. My eyes dart to the door, but Blaise shifts to block my escape route.

"I won't hurt you." His hands raise, palms out. "I know you don't believe anything I say right now, but we're both in danger."

I can’t get over the image of his face, the deadly coldness in his eyes as he fired shot after shot, killing Ronan. How can I trust a stone cold killer?

And yet, if he wanted me dead, he could have let Ronan do it, unless he wanted the satisfaction of doing it himself.

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