Page 5 of Ruined (The Knights of Ruin)

‘I don’t know. He seemed fine when he dropped her home last week.’

Justin had been quiet for weeks, with the threat of a restraining order keeping him in line. He was a lawyer, and he was always talking about how he could get around it, but he hadn’t done anything—much to my relief.

Then again, if Smoke went and got Annie and some shit went down...

‘Don’t do anything stupid, okay?’

I hooked a finger into one of his belt loops, holding him in case he decided to take off without listening to me. He never had before, but I wanted to be sure. He viewed Annie as a surrogate daughter and was hugely protective of her.

‘I know Justin’s a dick, but he could make life difficult for you.’ I didn’t add that he could also make life difficult for the rest of the Knights, too, but I didn’t need to.

Smoke looked down at me, his face unreadable. ‘He’ll get what’s coming to him, Cat. Nothing you can do to stop it. Especially if he tries pulling any more of this kind of shit.’

I swallowed, my throat dry all of a sudden. ‘It’s not him I’m worried about.’

Something shifted in his guarded dark eyes, but I couldn’t tell what it was.

‘Yeah, I know. Don’t worry.’

He smiled. and I knew then that he was furious. Because he only ever smiled like that when he was angry.

‘I’ll let him live.’

And for the second time that night I shivered.

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