Page 89 of The Heart of a Villain

One of the men walks up to us, gripping her elbows, but I punch him, which is not well-received as I’m slapped across the face.

And then I get a blow to my stomach—so harsh and swift I fall on my knees, while Lavender screams, “No!” The man pulls her in the direction of the house, and although my head is spinning, I dig my fingers into the ground, trying to get up.

The earlier man catches my ponytail and tilts my head back, tugging on it so hard tears form in my eyes while he grins. “Looks like someone lost.”

My entire body weeps in exhaustion, and yet I prepare myself for another battle, ready to fight tooth and nail for them to not put their hands on me, when a whistling sound echoes in the space.

Then someone shouts, “Fire!”

That’s when I see orange-blue flames mingling together, sliding over the perimeter in perfect symmetry, in a line as if someone made an artform out of it, lighting up everything in its wake.

“Have you ever wondered how your uncle Arson got his name?”

Rush’s words pop in my head as men try to run away, but the fire burning brightly is followed by several things dropping on the ground, the small bottles rolling along the perimeter, emitting a smoky haze that almost blocks our view around us.

“What the hell?” The man pulls me backward, my knees scraping the ground as I hit at his hand, wanting to escape his hold. Yet it’s very firm, even though he watches the chaos around us in stunned silence.

The various men cry out as someone shoots at them, the bodies dropping rapidly. Others’ throats are sliced, and I gag when their blood spills on the grass.

Panic envelops me whole while I desperately think about ways to escape and finally manage to elbow the man in the groin. He hisses in pain, and I search through the smoke for Rush’s sister. “Lavender!” I call for her, blindly moving around and finally getting up on my shaky legs while more bodies drop, their cries of terror oddly bringing me pleasure.

Fuck all of them. I have zero compassion.

“Lavender!”

That’s when I see the man pushing her to the ground, trying to force himself on her, and I rush to her while burning flames surround us, the air so hot my clothes plaster to my body.

If the fire doesn’t stop soon, it will burn everything, us included.

Lavender kicks the man away, scooting to me while we wait for another attack, and then we turn to the fire as more bodies approach, the smoky haze slowly disappearing around us.

The two men flick their guns, pointing at us and gritting out through their teeth, “Follow us inside the house. Now!”

I open my mouth, ready to send him to hell while internally dying from despair, not knowing how to get away from this freaking fire and these people, when more men rush from the mansion toward us, firing bullets blindly, it seems, but suddenly they all fall to the ground, and that’s when my gaze moves upward.

On the roof, there are two people who hold sniper rifles, and the minute a red dot settles on a person, one shoots them dead.

They are too far away for me to recognize them while the fire grows even more rapidly, the men abandoning us and running to their buddies, saving their asses.

I cough from the smoke, watching in fascination as all these monsters face losses without much victory, curious who came to our rescue.

We move farther from the line of fire, while Jade’s men continue to pour out of the house. How many arrived on this island?

And that’s when the haze completely disappears, and a gasp slips past my lips.

Because in a single line, ten men walk in sync through the fire, shooting and killing whoever is in their way.

They are wearing all black, and a man runs toward them, Uncle Callum grabbing him by the throat and squeezing so hard as he casually puts a cigarette in his mouth.

Uncle Santiago pours gasoline on him, I assume, and then they throw him toward the fire, grinning when he screams.

Uncle Arson flips the lighter in his hand and lights Uncle Callum’s cigarette before dropping it on the pile of not-quite-dead bodies, and they continue to kill anyone who so much as blinks toward them.

Mercilessly. Skillfully. Without an ounce of emotion on their faces.

All my uncles, the men I grew up with, who showed me nothing but love, came to the rescue, showing their true selves to me for the first time.

Family comes first.

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