Page 65 of Ruined By a Devil

“Consider it done.” Cain adjusts the jacket over his shoulders, a grim smile touching his jaw. “We’ll hunt him down, brother.”

“Go get that son of a bitch.”

The three of them turn without another word, pushing through the heavy oak doors, their heavy footsteps fading fast down the stone steps outside into the rain as I turn back to Jade.

She stands near the wooden altar railing, her eyes fixed entirely on my face. She heard every word. The anger that burned in her during the argument on the road hasn't vanished, but looking at her now, I see a shift in her gaze.

She is smart, she realizes that the ambush on the road stripped away the last remaining boundary between business and blood. Nolan made this personal when he targeted her. And because he targeted her, I am going to tear this city apart until I have his blood on my hands.

She takes one slow step toward me, her hand reaching out to touch the heavy dark metal ring sitting on my left finger.

I wrap my hand around hers, locking our fingers tight. “I’m going to make him regret being born. Now, let’s go home.”

“Aren’t you going with your brothers?” She asks.

“I’m not leaving you, Jade,” I smile.

“No one sets foot onto the grass. No one gets to come anywhere near the doors or windows,” I say into the radio once we pull up to the house. “If a car idles too long on the street, you put a bullet in their engine. Understood?”

The rain is now pouring, but my men are already posted in the driveway, along the fence, and at the rear perimeter.

A crackle of static is followed by Milo’s voice. “Copy that, boss.”

I toss the radio onto the entryway table. While this is just a house, unlike other properties my family owns, and it doesn’t even come close to a fortress or a compound, tonight I’m making sure it becomes a vault.

“I can’t believe we’re husband and wife.”

When I lift my head, I see Jade stand at the bottom of the stairs. In the dim light of the hallway, her white dress looks like a casualty of war. The lace is stained with oil and wet dirt, the hem torn, ruined with dark dried blood.

“Let’s go upstairs,” I tell her.

“We’ve been married for what? Twenty minutes?” She raises an eyebrow, but a smile is dancing on the corners of her lips. “And you’re already giving me orders?”

I don’t answer, instead I follow her up the stairs, watching her. I notice that she favors her left leg slightly. The adrenaline is burning off.

“My room,” I say when Jade tries turning to her door. I notice her swallow, but she remains silent and follows me inside.

I shut the heavy door behind us and lock it.

“Let’s get you out of this dress,” I say.

To my surprise, Jade doesn’t argue or make any weird joke. As she turns her back to me, I notice how tangled her dark hair is. I find the small white zipper hidden at the base of her spine, but the metal track is warped and crushed.

“I don’t think we should waste time trying to fix it,” she speaks, her voice low and vulnerable and that’s all I need to grip the torn fabric at the collar and pull.

The fabric gives way with a sharp tear. I peel the heavy lace down her shoulders, dragging the material over her arms until it pools on the floor around her bare feet leaving her to stand in front of me in nothing but thin white underwear.

She’s beautiful.

I reach out to push her hair over her shoulder, and the breath stops completely in my lungs at the sight in front of me.

There are dark bruises across her ribs and the pale curve of her hip. The marks are the exact shape of a man’s heavy fingers, the bastard who tried to drag her through the shattered window. A deep, ugly purple shadow stains her side where she slammed against the door panel.

I grit my teeth, the overwhelming rage blurring my vision, the type that requires a knife and an empty room with no witnesses. Jade is saying something but I struggle to keep my eyes open, completely consumed by the anger.

“Mal…”

I drop my hands and take a step back toward the bedroom door. Nolan is breathing right now. Somewhere in this city, the man who ordered his minions to put their hands on my wife is still breathing right now.