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“You’re so strong, Nugget,” he whispered in her ear. “Our brave little flower…”
And despite her pain, her impending trauma, the damage that may come from this to the trio, shesmiledat Hunter.
Leo had never seen a more beautiful sight.
*
After Skye had been cleaned up, her deep cuts stitched, her chin wound glued, they had thrown a blanket over her and dosed her up with painkillers. She lay under it, her lids heavy as she lightly dozed. The bruising was already turning dark. The leg was going to be stiff for days, her hematoma would slowly recede over time, but it would need to be checked often, maybe even drained.
It…
It could have been so much worse.
Had Rick not slowed down the car, she might have broken bones—might have lost her fucking life. Had her head taken the brunt of the fall…Leo shuddered to think.
He stepped out into the crisp air, away from the sterile room and the quiet murmurs of the doctor. Leo needed to think. He was so angry; it took everything for him to try and redirect that flame. But he wasn’t home. He didn’t have that gym, its punching bag, his trainer. He didn’t have Shane’s voice in his ears, drawing him back, telling him to embrace the void, to shield himself from emotion.
Leo was concerned he was going to behave impulsively.
He envisioned knocking down his mother’s bedroom door, imagined his hands around her neck. He wanted to choke her, watch the light fade from her eyes. He thought perhaps he might enjoy killing her.
He ran a hand down his face, shocked by his thoughts—shocked more that he enjoyed the sick images that ran through his mind.
Just…thoughts, he reminded himself. He could never get his own two hands dirty. Could he?
“If you don’t kill her, I will,” said Hunter from behind him.
He hadn’t even heard him step out. Hunter stopped at his side, looking at him with a dead expression. Leo should have been alarmed at the sight of it, but somehow…it did not surprise him.
“No one hurts our girl,” Hunter added now. “Not without dying for it. Understand?”
Leo nodded once. “Yeah.”
“I will kill her,” he repeated calmly. “If you don’t.”
Leo didn’t answer straightaway. But he blurted, “There would be repercussions if you did it. My dad—”
“I’m not afraid of him.”
Leo hesitated. “He would not let you live.”
“Who says he would know I did it?”
Now he was wary. “How are you going to do it without getting caught? Skye would never forgive me if something happened to you.”
But Hunter looked unperturbed. “I can do it, and no one will suspect it was me. Decide.”
Leo began to pace, adrenaline zipping through his system because…what the fuck? He was plotting his mother’s murder. And he had never loved his mother, she had never given two shits about him except for what he represented to the world.
Still.
This was his mother.
But she tried to kill Skye, his inner voice roared.She tried to take what isyours!
Bold bitch to have put such trust in Rick—but Rick answered to Leo, had always answered to Leo in secret since he was a young boy. Because he was the next in line to the seat. Leo was more valuable than his mother would ever be.
He felt a mad impulse to lock Skye up, make sure she was never in danger again. He could make sure his mother never got to her again—
