The crowd screams as blood trickles from my eyebrow, causing him to grin like he’s gaining ground.
Then I grab his wrist mid-swing… and break it. The snap echoes through the cage, and he screams like a bitch. Not a tough scream either.A real one. Sharp. Panicked and horrified.
I twist his arm harder until he drops to his knees as the Dungeon erupts into complete chaos.
People slam money onto the tables while others scream for more blood.
“YOU WANNA TOUCH WHAT’S MINE?” I roar in his face, causing his eyes to widen in pain and confusion. Then I slam his face into the cage wall. Once. Twice. Three fucking times.
Blood smears across the metal links while his body starts going limp.
The bouncers outside the cage begin moving nervously. Ryker’s watching closely from the crowd, because even he knows I'm one bad second away from murdering this boy in front of everyone.
Brayden collapses onto the mat gasping, and I crouch beside him slowly, then fist my hand into his hair, forcing his ruined face upward.
Grinning, I whisper, “She still moans my name.”
He thrashes under my hold but I pull his head back further and someone whistles in the crowd. I know it’s Ryker giving me the signal to cool it down, but I apply just a little more pressure, making him scream out. But most of all, I force his face in her direction.
Toward Ophelia, my Firefly. Then I use my other hand to pull down my hood for everyone to see.
“Look at your fucking fiance,” I snarl.
And that’s when her eyes finally meet mine and the world shatters as I watch the exact moment recognition hits her. The exact second she realized who’s beneath the bruises, tattoos, and darkness.
Her lips part. Tears instantly fill those blue eyes.
“Hayden…” she breathes.
Fuck! That one word nearly destroys me.
The crowd noise disappears completely and all I see is her.
My Firefly. Alive. Breathing. Looking at me like she’s seeing a ghost crawl out of its grave.
Every instinct inside me screams to go to her. To pull her into my arms. Bury my face into her neck and tell her I survived for her, but then another image crashes through my mind.
Her fucking father sentencing me to die in prison. Ophelia never answered my letters. Never visited. Never fought for me.
Pain hardens inside my chest instantly.
No. If she wants Hayden Marks back… she’s too fucking late.
I release Brayden and step backwards while bouncers rush into the cage. The fight is over. Augustine can barely stand. Blood pours from his nose while one eye has already swelled shut.
And still… I only look at her.
She pushes through the crowd towards the cage frantically. Tears streak her cheeks while her hands shake. “Hayden!”
God, hearing her say my name again nearly drops me to my knees.
I hop down from the cage before she can reach me.
For one dangerous second, I almost grab her.
Almost.
Then some blonde girl wraps herself around my arm from nowhere. One of the Croweaters. I don’t even know her damn name.
