Page 56 of The Last Time You Break Me

Because I got that one moment of seeing the smile on her angelic face.

After years of being the one to put a frown there, I could never give away the moment I got to see the day I put a smile there instead.

What kind of sick and twisted cunt did that make me?

I knew in my heart that Lucas would have struck either way. That this was in his plans since the day he formulated this fucked-up journey of his.

I knew that one way or another, he would have lit the match and tried to set that fire, taking my Hellcat with the inferno that would blaze.

But I should never have made it this fucking easy for him.

She walked down those stairs, and my entire world ground to a halt. She looked like a wicked angel that had no place on this earth. The dress she wore billowed out around her like the demons of hell themselves had held it up for her descent. She painted her face in dark and wicked tones, just like her.

She had turned all of the darkness she wrapped around herself on the daily into an awe-struck moment of absolute beauty that would see angels weep and the devil purr. We were suspended in time, and I wished more than anything that we were still there, captured by that moment so that I could hold her within my arms and protect her from the danger I knew would befall her the second we stepped foot outside the mansion doors.

Everything that was finally so fucking right, twisted into something so beyond wrong I couldn’t even put it into words.

Lara laid there, eyes closed, and kept me from drowning within those enthralling emeralds. Her chest still, breaths subdued as she fought for her life.

I had the untamable urge to hunt this motherfucker down and destroy him, but I was unable to leave until she wakes up.

Until I knew she would be okay.

I couldn’t risk not being at her side and her thinking that I had abandoned her when she needed me the most. It was an impossible thought, one that had my fists clenched into her bedsheets. With a roar at the turmoil of thoughts that had coiled into a hurricane within my mind, I stood from my seat and sent it flying backward until it thundered into the wall. I spun and embedded my fist into the wall, the debris and plasterboard fell like dust onto the discarded chair that laid on its back.

The door swung open and Dom bombarded his way inside. I kept my eyes shut tight, chest labored as I fought for one painless breath. “You need to take a breath,” he groused. “Go and get some coffee.” There was a demand in his tone and it had my eyes snapping open to glare at him.

He looked like utter shit. His shirt was open, displaying his chiseled abdomen and tattoos that covered the expanse of his chest. An intricate design of his children’s names that weaved between the lines and were hard to see. Small tokens that reminded him of each and every one of his kids made up the unusual pattern. To look at it, you would think it was just some random design.

But unless you knew what it held, you would think it held nothing at all.

His hair was a mess, sleeves rolled to his elbows and his jaw was covered in unshaven stubble as he rubbed his hand across his face roughly with a frustrated breath.

“Fuck off, Dom,” I sneered and his head snapped toward me with something cruel in his eye.

“The fuck did you just say to me?”

“I told you to fuck off and get out. We don’t need you here!” I snapped with a savage snarl, face as cold as stone as I stepped forward begging for a fight.

“She is my daughter, I’m not going anywhere. And the fact that you think you have some moronic claim over her is laughable. You will never,ever, replace me, Reg,” he spoke low and deadly as he met me step for step.

“What’s laughable is you playing the doting dad. You haven’t been in here once to see her, to check on her. She has and will always be mine, and if I have to protect her from the likes of you, a man who picks and chooses when to show his fucking love, then I will.”

“I’d like to see you try.” He chuckled darkly, those green eyes of his brewed menace and violence. “I’d like to see you fucking try and keep me from my daughter. Because brother or not, I will fucking kill you. You hear me? I will fuckingendyou.” I thought he was about to do what he promised right there and then with those words, but instead, he heaved a deep breath and took a step back. “I know you’re hurting. We all are. This isn’t your fault, Reg. Playing the martyr doesn’t help us and it sure as fuck won’t help her.”

“Not my fault? You should have me strung up right now. My entrails laid at her very fucking feet for my failure. I failed her, Dom. I failed you! I never should have taken her out,” I bellowed, my fist made contact with the wall once again, to the hole that sat beside it. The impact made the entire thing cave in as the wall on this side of the room collapsed in on itself.

“Stop destroying the fucking hospital I pay for,” he snapped as he yanked me away from the wall by the shoulder. “You took her on a date? So fucking what? You think if you hadn’t madeplans for the two of you that she wouldn’t have? Or that she wouldn’t have gone back to The Gates to blow off some steam? She is there almost every night. You couldn’t lock that girl up if you tried. So stop with the pity fucking party and straighten the fuck up. My daughter deserves the best and right now, you are nothing but a sniveling pup. Bring back the beast, Reggie. You’ll both fucking need it.”

“He’s right,” a soft voice croaked. “Bring back the fucking beast. I know mine’s ready to play.”

We both turned, flabbergasted at the low and vicious voice that whispered around us in brutal conviction. Lara flickered open those beautiful emeralds and my heart stuttered in my chest as she sought out the voices which must have woken her.

“Lara!” I rushed as I hurried to her side, fell to my knees and took her hand in mine.

“My love, how do you feel? I’ll call for the nurse,” Dom spoke as he ran for the door. “I need a fucking nurse in here, now!” Then he was at the end of her bed, hands wrapped around her ankles above the covers as if he just needed to feel she was alive and well. Her voice was raw and low, with each word spoken, I wondered how it didn’t cause her pain.

“I feel…” she whispered before those striking eyes locked with ours. “Like there is a fire burning in my chest and the only place I can unleash it is on the fucking cunt that ruined the best night of my life.”

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