Page 109 of Cold Hard Truth

Stepping on the center of his throat, I apply pressure and Bullet chokes on his spit as I rest my body weight on my heel.

“Keep her out of your fucking mouth, you worthless piece of shit.”

Bullet tries to laugh but he can’t breathe. His eyes bug out as I hold my foot on his throat.

“Sage.” Kane stops beside me, crossing his arms as he looks down at Bullet.

“He’s not going to tell us anything.” I might say it because I believe it, or because I need an excuse, but when Kane nods his approval, I’m relieved, nonetheless.

Leaning the full weight of my body on one leg, I slowly crush Bullet’s throat. His legs and arms twitch as he chokes for air. Blood dribbles down his skin and spit and vomit leak from his mouth. His eyes roll back, and I don’t let up, appreciating every gurgle and twitch.

Lyla has done nothing to deserve this except for being born into this world of blood and violence.

Ellie paid for it.

Lyla continues to suffer because of it.

She’ll never escape this life because of Kane and because of me. We continue to drag her back into this world when she’s fought to escape it.

I could walk away from her. I could be selfless and let her go to keep her safe. But I’m not that good of a man. She makes me selfish, and I’ll do anything for her.

So, I become the beast. Her protector. I become stronger than I ever was back then because now I’m not letting her go. If she can’t escape this, I’m going to be by her side to make sure it doesn’t hurt her.

Bullet is no longer moving, even if I haven’t released him. He’s still, his eyes are open and vacant.

“He’s dead,” Kane says, planting a hand on my shoulder.

I finally release my foot and the weight on my shoulders leaves me. It’s not the first time I’ve spilled blood for Lyla, and I get a feeling it won’t be the last.

Taking a step back, Kane looks at me.

All of them are looking at me.

I’m not known for spontaneous violence, and that’s exactly what this was. I couldn’t help it. Bullet could have said anything he wanted so long as it wasn’t about Lyla.

Kane’s hands clench, and he moves so fast I don’t process it until his fist connects with my face. The sheer burn of his knuckles, crunching against my skull has me stumbling backward. But, before I get too far, Kane grabs the front of my shirt and pulls me to him.

And I don’t fight back because there’s no point. I gave myself away the moment I defended Kane’s daughter. I did this to myself, and I saw it coming. I wasn’t subtle about it, and I don’t regret it.

“I warned you not to touch my fucking daughter, Sage.” Kane’s in my face, his jaw tense and his eyes narrowed.

He pulls me close, and I wait for him to tie me to the chair next. If I’m lucky, he’ll snap my neck and make it quick, but if he’s smart, he’ll cut off my dick. Instead, he shoves me away from him, his expression unreadable.

“I fucking warned you.” He rakes his hands in his hair and growls.

Blaze stands up, stepping to Kane, planting a hand on his shoulder, like it will stop whatever he has planned, but Kane just shakes him off.

“You hurt her, and I’ll make good on my promise.” Kane points at me before turning to walk away. Right as he gets to the front of the stalls, he yells over his shoulder, “Blaze, deal with this shit.”

Blaze chuckles, walking over to me once Kane is gone. “You’re a lucky son of a bitch, you know that?”

He slaps me on the back of the shoulder and moves to Bullet’s body, kicking him once, like that will do anything.

Steel steps forward. “Get the prospects to dig a hole. We need to send a message. Hopefully the right eyes will see this.”

“Because he’s not the only one?” Blaze asks, looking down at the body.

“We aren’t that lucky.” Steel shakes his head. “We need to clean house before shit gets worse. I’ve called Helix; he’ll be here in the morning.”

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