Whirling around, I sweep low to swipe his legs out from under him and pull a blade of my own. The fight is brutal, each of us getting solid blows in, our blood contaminating the crime scene I worked so hard on.
I’m going to have to burn it all to the ground now, the fucking asshole.
My wallet falls to the ground during the struggle, falling open to showcase both my ID, and the picture of Kiara I keep with me always. My heart stops in my chest as he turns automaticallyto investigate the movement in his peripherals. I merge with the floor and snatch it up, hastily shoving it in my pocket.
He doesn’t get to steal her from me, too.
“I don't care how much you hate me, she’s off limits. Understand? “ I snap, heart racing as I watch him frown.
“She?”
My fist snaps out so fast, it catches him off guard, and I land a solid hit on his jaw. “Promise me! You want to kill me? Fine. Come at me bro. But I thought you were better than collateral damage and using innocent people to get what you want.”
His icy blue eyes stare at me in confusion. “What the hell are you talking about, you deranged psycho? I haven’t picked up any new bounties in weeks.You’rethe only target on my list.”
With a sigh of relief, I sling a knife into his shoulder. “Good. You already took my brother from me, you don’t get to steal my girl, too.”
“Your girl?” Havoc asks, yanking out the blade and glaring at me. “Dear lord, what woman would actually put up with your unhinged ass?”
“Jealous? You should be.”
Face pulled into a contemplative frown, he raises his hands in surrender and takes a step back. “How about a truce? Our fight stays between the two of us; our families are off limits. No kids, no women, no casualties.”
Wellthatpisses me off all over again. “Kidnapping a kid wasn’t enough, you had to steal some poor woman to finish off your picture perfect family?”
“Why the fuck do you keep saying that shit?” he growls.
I raise an eyebrow in challenge. “Am I wrong?”
Havoc’s jaw tenses before he blows out a heavy breath. “I didn’tkidnapanyone. I rescued a boy whose family was trying to sell him off to a dirtbag in the skin trade to settle their debt.”
Yeah, rescuedhim.And leftmeto fend for myself.
“And yet, you paid their debt and left them alive, running off with the boy into the night. Sounds like you bought him to me. Why not just kill them, collect the bounty, and take the kid anyway?”
“Because those kills were his. When he was ready to face his demons, I made sure they’d be waiting for him. No bounty was enough to steal the closure Arson desperately needed. He may not be my son by blood, but he is in every way that matters.”
My heart skips a beat. “They’re dead?”
He eyes me warily. “Why do you care about them so much?”
All of my retorts die on my tongue. ‘I don’t’, ‘If you cared this much about Arson’s family, why did you never look for me?’, and ‘Suck a dick’, being the top contenders.
The sound of sirens has him whipping his head towards the door, and I jump at the chance to disappear into the floor, popping up in the kitchen long enough to start a quick, high-fuel fire, unsettled and thrown off-kilter. I watch as he curses and flips the coffee table, glaring at the walls like he expects me to pop out and slit his throat at any moment. But I won’t… not today. Because if he’s telling the truth? That he saved our parents’ heads as a present for when my brother became a fully-fledged Shadow Knight?
Maybe Havoc Knight isn’t the monster I made him out to be.
Chapter 31
Havoc
My alarm goes off, and I throw the blanket off with an exhausted groan. I slept like shit last night, yesterday’s events playing in my head on repeat. Sitting up, I reach for my phone to swipe away the alarm when I catch sight of the sheet of torn notebook paper tucked beneath it.
Deal accepted. Family’s off limits.
I crumple the note in my fist, pissed off on an entirely new level. He broke into myhome. Snuck into my roomwhile I was sleeping.
And I never noticed he was here.
