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“No, please let me…” The man didn’t even have a chance when Killian’s bat came hurling at his face. A sharp thud echoed through the walls as the man fell to the ground, screaming in pain, but Killian didn’t stop there. He continued beating the shit out of him.
A high wave of terror flickered through the air when the Covent members pointed their guns at us, asking us not to move or speak. But I didn’t listen.
“Stay here,” I told my sisters, and Ari’s panicked eyes found mine
Ella’s fingernails dug into my skin, but I assured her with a smile. “I’ll be fine.” And before she could stop me further, I walked away.
A burly man was onto me the minute I approached the front, pointing his gun, but the man next to him rested a hand on his arm and shook his head.
I nodded to him, recognizing his eyes through the mask as one of Killian’s friends from the night at the Covent mansion.
“Ooh, look who’s here.” Killian chuckled upon seeing me, pausing briefly on his attack as he made his way to me. “Did that fucker send you here?”
Thankfully, my sisters were far back enough in the store that they couldn’t hear what he was saying.
“Arkane and I are no longer associates.”
“That motherfucker played you, didn’t he?” Killian asked, amusement high in his tone. “Did you finally figure out what a mind-numbing liar he is?”
“He’s a good liar,” I agreed. Also, a good man in a way. A misunderstood man.
Killian paused for a moment before laughing. “You’re different, aren’t you? Possibly why he let you hang around him for this long. But don’t worry.” He bent low to whisper in my ear, “I’ll take good care of you, just come to me.”
Was I suddenly glowing or something? Two men had shown interest in me in a matter of weeks. Although the same couldn’t be said for the man I really wanted. But I’d be a fool to think that men like Karl and Killian genuinely wanted me. All they wanted was a challenge or to get a rise out of Arkane.
“I’m not here for that,” I said, gesturing to the men on the floor. “Take your fight elsewhere.”
“Who are you to say that?” His voice hardened in an instant, losing his cool. “I’ll fight wherever the fuck I want.”
“I get that you want to take your injustice out in the world, but this isn’t the place.”
“Fuck your morality. You don’t know fuck about me,” he shouted, getting in my face, which made his men hush in silence. “And I don’t give a fuck about anyone’s feelings.”
“Okay,” I said in a calm tone, not moving an inch as I stared into his mask-covered eyes. The man we all thought was the White Hand. “But there are children and women here, the kind of people who didn’t ask to be a part of this. You know how it is, Killian. Once you see it, it taints you for the rest of your life. So just let them live in their ignorance. They don’t belong in our world.”
I didn’t know what went on in his mind, but my words made him still, and surprisingly, he slowly nodded. “You’re right,” he admitted almost solemnly, and with that, he whistled to his buddies, who didn’t waste another second and carried the bleeding men out.
Instead of continuing with his baseball bat, Killian simply pulled out his gun, shot the two men, and got back on his bike as if nothing happened, and drove away.
The cops stood helplessly in the corner, knowing very well they couldn’t do a thing, and if they interfered, it would be the end of them. It was only after they all left that they approached the wounded men on the ground.
A collective sigh of relief swept through the crowd. Most looked like they had almost brought their lives back from the dead. But there were also whispers. Whispers of the cruel White Hand and how he must be stopped for killing innocents.
That told me how clueless the people of the Twins were, since the two men’s faces were plastered all over the news last week for an arson attack on a local school bus. And the gunshots were mere flesh wounds that would have the men standing tomorrow.
It was interesting when you fought violence with violence—the ignorant pointed fingers both ways.
“Don’t ever do anything like that, ever again.” Ella’s eyes were glistening with unshed tears when I made my way back to them. Some even gave me weird looks, while others feared to even look me in the eye.
“Yeah,” Ari mumbled, eyeing me with concern. “What were you thinking?”
“It’s okay. I know him,” I assured with a small smile.
“What? You know the White Hand!” Ella muttered in shock.
He’s not the real White Hand.
“That’s it. We’re leaving now,” she muttered. “First, she comes home crying, and now she’s saying she knows the White Hand. I’m seriously worried about you, Bellebelle,” Ella berated me as she pulled me back to our car with a frowning Ari following us.
