Page 44 of Vendetta
Dylan went still.“He’s coming here?”
“He won’t get the chance,” Josh said.“We’re taking the fight to him in Oak Grove, where it belongs.”
Staring down at her hands, Dylan sighed.It was bad enough Josh had been dragged into this.Now Peggy was in the hospital just for trying to help her.“I don’t want to be the reason Mercy or the Hounds get pulled into this.”
Josh reached out, gently took her hand in his.“You’re not.You’re not responsible for any of this, Dylan.Not Eli pointing a finger at Mercy.Not Peggy being put in the hospital.You can’t blame yourself, okay?”
Dylan’s heart sank.It sure felt like everything was her fault.
“One thing you need to understand about your uncle,” Josh told her.“You escaped him, Dylan.And that’s got him rattled.You made it out and that wasn’t supposed to happen.Now he’s spiraling.If he’s paranoid enough to blame Mercy, he’s scared.That means he’s already cracking.”
She swallowed hard, her voice barely above a whisper.“What happens now?”
Josh looked at her,reallylooked at her.For a moment, he didn’t speak.Just brushed his thumb gently across the back of her hand like he was grounding both of them.
“Now,” he said quietly, “we finish it.We bring the truth into the open.Expose everything he’s built and burn it down before he can do to someone else what he tried to do to you.”
Dylan sat back, her breath catching.Her voice came steadier this time.“For your revenge.”
Josh blew out a breath and nodded.“Yes.”
Dylan’s gaze held his.“For every girl who comes after me.Formypart.”
There was a pause, then a mutual spark between them.
Josh gave a small, solemn nod.“We do it together.”
Chapter Nine
Vendetta
The morning air was sharp, the perfect match for the mood, anticipation, and quiet resolve.Vendetta stood outside the Hounds’ clubhouse with Tank’s leather cut on his back, his hands flexing at his sides.The roar of engines echoed through Mercy as bikes lined up, headlights glaring through the thin veil of mist clinging to the road.It wasn’t just the Hounds now.It washisbrothers too, Ripper and Shade, suited up and ready to ride.
This wasn’t just payback.This was the reckoning.
Outcast stood nearby, speaking low with Razor and Beast.Snow and Axel tightened the straps on their gear.Crash lit a cigarette with a glint in his eyes that said he hoped someone tried to stop them.Hero ran one last check on weapons from the bed of a truck, and Player leaned on his bike like he was itching for war.
Vendetta’s eyes scanned them all.These weren’t just men with patches; they were the line in the sand.The answer to what had been done in Oak Grove.The last thing Eli Crizer and his crew would ever see coming.He felt the weight of what was about to happen settle into his spine.Dylan was safe, and as long as that was true, he could do anything.Margot and Ryder were holding down Mercy.
But none of them would be safe, not for long, if Eli kept his grip on Oak Grove.Not after what he’d built.
When he looked up, he saw Dylan standing just beyond the line of bikes, her arms wrapped tightly around herself like she could hold all the fear in if she squeezed hard enough.The cut on his back didn’t say Vendetta.It saidTank.And maybe that’s what scared her the most: him going back as the man they tried to kill.
He was going back toendit.
Ryder stood beside her, quiet and watchful.Margot’s hand rested gently on Dylan’s back, grounding her.Margot wasn’t in uniform at the moment, but Vendetta sure felt better knowing Dylan would be looked after by both sides of the law if anything happened.
Vendetta studied Dylan’s face, memorizing every flash of emotion like it might be the last time he saw her.Her jaw was set.He knew she was trying to be strong for him, but her eyes betrayed her.They were shiny and brimming with fear she didn’t speak aloud.He knew she wasn’t just scared for herself.She was scared for him.Her fingers curled tightly into the hem of her hoodie like she was holding herself together by a thread.Her shoulders were tense, but she didn’t cry or beg him not to go.That wasn’t who she was.
His Dylan stood there, rooted by loyalty and terror both, and he saw it in the way her eyes kept drifting to his throat.To the scar.Like she was still haunted by how close the world had come to losing him once already.She was terrified he wouldn’t make it back this time, and he felt that fear like a weight in his own chest.
“They’ll bring him home,” Margot said softly.
But Dylan didn’t answer.Her eyes were locked on Vendetta as he crossed the lot toward her, heavy boots crunching gravel.Every step appeared to tug something loose in her chest.He stopped in front of her, close enough to notice that she was shaking.So much emotion in her big, beautiful eyes including just how much she cared about him.While Tank had had his share of one-night stands and short-lived old ladies, he’d never had anything like what he had with her.
“You don’t have to say it,” he said quietly, even as he saw it in her eyes.In her entire being.
“I might not get another chance,” she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes.
