Page 129 of Thaw My Heart

Cole puts the car in gear and heads off. My eyes follow Kit until he disappears into my cabin. I can only imagine what he’s going to do to him. A part of me feels almost guilty to want him to hurt… but another part, the biggest one, hopes that he makes him suffer.

You will never see him again.

A blessing to know he can no longer hurt me.

The greatest freedom in knowing he’s finally gone. That I wouldn’t have to keep watching over my shoulder for a shadow because that shadow won’t be able to follow me anymore.

He’ll never make another scar.

When we pull up to Cole’s mansion, Averie hops out of her white Jeep Wrangler. The sight of me, with what I can only imagine to be a bruised neck and face with a bloody lip, puts her into a frenzy. “Sadie, who the fuck did this to you?” Murder shines in her green eyes. “I’m going to⁠—"

My arms wrap around her, cutting off her words as I sob into her long blonde hair.

Averie squeezes me, and I’m reminded of how much she cares for me. “Is this some kind of new fashion trend? I’m here for it,” she jokes to lighten the mood.

I probably shouldn’t laugh, but I do, hiccupping as it rolls through my sobs. God, I’m a mess.

Averie glances at Kit’s Carhartt, which practically goes to my knees. “I have an extra sweater in my Jeep. Let’s get you inside before you freeze to death.”

Inow understand why Sadie felt the need to tell me that she never wanted marriage. That was her experience. Everything about her started clicking into place. Her inability to trust, her fears about getting too close… the reason she wouldn’t let me touch her back.

A thousand questions burn in my mind. How did she end up with someone like him? How in the hell did this piece of trash have a chance with a girl like her?

She deserves every goddamn happiness in the world. Not this.

Never this.

When I enter Sadie’s cabin, my eyes burn into his, trying to put together all the missing pieces. I crouch down next to him, watching him squirm like the pathetic worm he is.

Bandit’s hold is tight around his neck. If he were to move even a single inch, Bandit would cut off his airflow and dig his teeth in deep. Markus whines, the only noise that’s able to come out of his mouth. I’ve never wanted to kill a man as much as I want to murder this one.

If you can even consider him a man.

Seeing Sadie with cuts and bruises on her face is an image I now have to live with. Hearing her scream in pain is a festering memory that makes me want to give the order for Bandit to clamp down harder.

“What do you want to do?” Blake asks me.

For starters, I don’t want him in her house. This is her safe place, and he’s not welcome in it. “Take him outside.”

With a shrill whistle, I command Bandit to let him go, and he runs back to my side. “Good boy, Bandit,” I stroke his head, pride beaming under my skin.

Wes and Ryker pull Markus to his feet, dragging him towards the door.

“You’ll pay for this,” Markus seethes with a rasp.

Ryker, Wes, and Blake laugh amongst themselves all the way down the porch steps, dropping Markus to his knees in the snow. He darts his eyes to each of us, waiting for our next move, but we’re quiet. Slow with our intentions, which only makes him more nervous.

“Well, what are you going to do to me?” he asks.

But none of us answers. True power was calculating and quiet, and much more terrifying. Let him sweat it.

Blake retrieves a rope from his truck, tying Markus’s arms behind his back.

“If you let me go right now, I can… I can make a deal,” Markus pleads. “We can work something out.”

“I think this city boy is scared,” Ryker taunts.

“He hasn’t pissed his pants yet, so he’s nowhere near scared enough,” Blake fires back, tightening the rope until he whimpers.