Page 19 of Reaper
“I don’t have any concrete evidence it was self-defense, Dylan. As I’ve said, I wasn’t in the room. But I know Nikita better than you. I’ve had contact with him more than I would like. And I’m learning a lot about Paris too. She may have planned to kill him, but there’s no way she didn’t do it without him attacking her first. She’s not like that.”
“You don’t know what the hell she’s like, Logan. You don’t know the bitch.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Call her a bitch again and we’re gonna have problems, Dylan. I’m so goddamn serious.”
When he says nothing, I think I’ve got my point across. I’m not going to allow anyone to talk down about her or talk down to her. She’s had enough of that shit, and I refuse to let it continue while she’s under my protection.
“Maybe I don’t know her, King, but like I’ve said, I know Nikita a hell of a lot better than any of you. She had a good damn reason for doing what she did.”
He folds his arms across his chest. “Then if you believe that, why in the hell didn’t you go to the cops if it was self-defense?” he asks, like that would have been the most sensible thing to do. “Instead of bringing this shit to our doorstep.”
When the hell do we ever get the cops involved? And I sure as hell wouldn’t be around when they showed up.
“I don’t understand why the hell you didn’t drop her ass off at the police station and wipe your hands of all this bullshit?”
Because I’m drawn to her. There’s just something about her and I can’t let her go through this by herself.
“Now with her living with you,” he continues, not giving me a chance to respond to his question, “Oleg is going to think you’re involved in his son’s attack, which means the Sinners are involved.”
“You don’t think I already know that shit, Dylan?” I raise my brow. “Do you want to hear what happened or are you going to keep interrupting me before you know the entire story?”
“Fuck you, motherfucker.” He tosses his hand at me. “Get on with it.”
“Long story short she was payment for a debt and a gift from Oleg. Nikita kept her in his house for the past six months doing shit to her that she hasn’t repeated to me. And I refuse toforce her to tell me, but I know it was horrible because she has nightmares every night. That night she just decided it was time to escape, and he ended up threatening her because of me.”
He arches his brow. “What the hell did you do?”
“She’s fucking gorgeous, and I kind of pissed him off when I looked at her, while he was standing there.” I shrug. “Anyway, on the way to the cage during her escape she ran into me after she stabbed him. She wasn’t even sure if she had killed him. I didn’t find out he survived until later. So, she’s been staying with me while I figure out a way to keep her alive.”
“And why the fuck didn’t you just come to me when all this shit happened? And I’m talking about all of it—the fighting, Aleksi, and about this girl. Why didn’t you tell me about all of it?”
His voice, though carefully controlled, betrays a tremor of disappointment and hurt. And I know why. It’s been a long time since I’ve gone to King for anything. After Blake’s death, I needed to do shit on my own. That kind of loss just does shit to you. I didn’t even come back to Oakland until months after her death. I wanted to deal with my problems without anyone else telling me how to feel about the shit I’ve gone through. And Paris’s situation is no different.
“Sometimes you have to work out shit on your own, Dylan. There are some things you can’t fix for me no matter how much you want to. I have to work through it by myself. I don’t expect you or anyone else to understand but fighting helps me. It keeps me sane. The issue with Paris, I wanted to see if I could get it cleared up on my own before pulling all the brothers into it.”
“Like I said, we were already in it the first day you stepped foot in that damn warehouse, Logan.” He runs his hand through his hair. “There’s no way to get around that. The question is where do we go from here? How do we get through this without having a war with the Bratva?”
“I don’t know, but we have to protect her. She doesn’t deserve any of the shit that’s happened to her, and I’m going to make sure she makes it out alive.”
He narrows his eyes. While I see the question ‘who is this girl to you’hanging on the tip of his tongue, he doesn’t ask, which I’m grateful for. I haven’t decided who she is to me yet. Only that she’s something.
“You want to bring her to the clubhouse?”
Although that’s the best option for her safety, I don’t know how she would deal with being around all the brothers and the shit that happens around here given the situation she just got out of.
“Not just yet. I don’t know what her mental state would be if she’s surrounded by all the brothers and the shit we get up to here. It might trigger her. She’s already dealing with nightmares. I don’t want to make it more difficult for her.”
He blows out a breath, like what we’re getting ready to do is about to be a shitstorm, and I can’t disagree. But I’m not sorry for what I’ve done. I couldn’t help Blake, but I can help Paris.
“Understandable. She stays with you, at least for now. I’m calling Church. Lives are on the line, and you’ve already made the decision for all of us with your actions. You better make sure the brothers understand why this girl is worth Sinner blood.”
I nod. As long as she’s safe, I don’t care what we have to do to keep it that way. So, I guess she is worth Sinner blood.
Paris
Twoweekslater,I’mstill hiding out in Logan’s apartment, still holding on to hope that I’m safe from the Petrovs.
Days and nights blur together—a relentless cycle of waking up with unanswered questions, then falling into a restless sleep, only to repeat the agonizing cycle the next day. The silence of the nights only magnifies the questions that plague the days I have no answers to.
