Page 64 of Dove

“On your knees.” He ordered.

I spat at his feet. “I’ll kneel for you when I’m dead.”

Gunshots rang out as Tristan fired into the mattress behind us on Kincaid’s side of the bed. “You’ll kneel now, or I’ll make you watch while I break her.”

She was my only weakness. And he’d known it long before I had. I was confident he wouldn’t find her, but I wouldn’t risk her life for my pride. I was dead anyways. She could still live.

I dropped, my knees making a soft thud on the carpeting as I brought my hands to the back of my neck. Stilled but ready to strike if I saw another opportunity. “You know they’ll come looking for you first.”

The longer I kept him talking, the more chance someone would come. Bash had to realize I wasn’t at Entice. And when he did, he’d come looking. It might be enough time to save me. Or at least enough time to keep Tristan distracted from searching for Kincaid.

“Why?” He laughed. “When she’s the one who’s been trying to get away. It’ll look like your—what is it you call her?” Smug arrogance crossed his face as he smiled down at me.

“Oh yes, you’re little dove finally snapped. She’s been trying to leave since the minute you touched her. Since you forced her to stay here. Everyone has seen it. No one will question that she stole my gun and killed you to escape.”

I ground my teeth together as he paced slightly in front of me. Now that I could see him for what he was, I noticed the manic energy that had made Kincaid nervous. This wasn’t the kid I grew up with. Money and power had eaten away at him.

That’s what it always came down to. More money and power. Even though we had enough to last lifetimes. More than even the next generation could spend.

“Your little dove.” His lips twisted into a smile. A look so evil that even the demon inside me was wary. “Dove, so pure. But she won’t be when I’m done with her. I’ll turn her out just like your whore mother. Without you here to protect her, it’ll be easy. By the time I’m done with her, she’ll beg for death.”

My fists clenched as my body rebelled the stillness. I wanted to hurt. Make him bleed. I wanted him to be unrecognizable from the man who stood in front of me. Only the sight of his blood leaving his body would bring me peace again.

I let out a subtle sigh of relief, knowing he’d never find her. That he would never inflict that life on her. She was too strong for that. She might be my little dove, my weakness, but she was far from weak.

“You were the one who was supposed to break her. You were supposed to toss her aside like all the others, but luckily for me, something changed.”

Tristan took a step back from me, still aiming the gun as he walked around the room. Removing my backup weapon from the nightstand, ejecting the magazine, and tossing them aside. My chest tightened as he walked towards Kincaid’s side of the bed, his fingers tracing over her things. The book she kept there. Her chapstick. I didn’t want his greedy, disgusting hands anywhere near her things.

“She became your weakness. A distraction. Exactly what I needed to move my plans forward.” He lifted her pillow to his nose, inhaling deeply as he stared at me. I jerked as if to attack before the gun was steady on me again, making me shrink back to my knees.

“You were the one who had Kincaid kidnapped.” I snapped, a deep possessive growl escaping my chest. “Why?”

“You were so obsessed with her. You can’t even see what’s in front of you. The Gallos were never trying to take over. It was all me. I threw them information here and there. Kept you both looking in the right direction.” He pointed the gun at his own chest as devious pride lit his face. “If you thought the Gallos took her, I knew you’d tear them apart. You’d get rid of them, then I’d get rid of you, and I could take over their drug trade.”

He shrugged and started his pacing again. Drugs? That’s when I saw them; the track marks on his arms. His slow descent into mania made sense. He was frying his brain with his own addiction.

“It was simple, really. It worked even better than I planned. You killed so many of their men looking for her you actually did start a war.”

Leif had been right. Matteo hadn’t taken Kincaid. He hadn’t hurt her. I should probably care that a war had been started over this. But I couldn’t feel guilt for being deceived. Tristan had played us all. If he wasn’t such a fucking rat bastard, he could’ve done well in the family. He could’ve risen. Instead, he’ll fall.

“Except killing you and staying hidden has been harder than I thought. You survived the car bombing. My attempts to poison you.”

Poisoning? I thought back to when Kincaid had been sick, sweaty, and flushed with a high fever. The fuckingstronzohad almost killed her again.

“Even tonight, you were supposed to be at the club.” His face twisted into a snarl as he once again focused on me. “I guess I’ll just have to do it the old-fashioned way with a bullet to the brain. Nothing can save you this time.”

“I should’ve killed you when I had the chance.” My voice was low, menacing. Mad.

I had him. I had the knife in his body. His blood on my hands. And I’d let him live.

“Yes, you should’ve, but you were too distracted by pussy to pay attention. Mad, who’s so above the rest of us brought down by a tight cunt and a pretty face.”

I resisted the urge to grind his bones together as he talked about Kincaid that way. The demon inside rattling his cage. Adrenaline bursting through my veins, making my limbs shake.

“I told them all about her, and they tortured her poor little mind. You’ve been so busy trying to bring her back to you that you didn’t even notice me working in the background.”

“But I did.”

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