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The Storm stared at us and then at the corpses around him, his face taut with horror. One of the remaining bodyguards made a grab for his weapon, and Wylder raised his own pistol to shoot him in the shoulder. “Next time it’ll be your head,” he warned.
In that moment, standing in front of the man who’d caused so much pain and bloodshed in my home, I wanted to put a bullet of my own between his eyes. My hand itched to leap to the gun tucked into the waist of my jeans. The only thing that held me back was the thought of Beckett and his pleas that we let his father leave here alive.
We’d trusted Beckett, and he’d delivered on his promise. Now we had to show we’d been worthy of his trust. We’d never have gotten this opportunity without his help.
“W-what is this?” the Storm demanded, his voice getting firmer with each syllable. He drew his substantial frame taller. “Who the hell are you, and what do you think you’re doing here?”
I exchanged a glance with Wylder. The man didn’t recognize us at all. He knew so little about the county he’d invested so much in taking over that he wasn’t familiar with his main opponents. Somehow that both pissed me off and took the wind out of the sails of my earlier desire for revenge.
We were just pieces on a gameboard to the Storm, not actual people he’d been fighting like we were to Xavier. That must make it awfully easy not to think about the blood being shed—until it was trickling across the pretty marble floor all around him.
“We’re the people whose territory you’re trying to steal,” I said, coming to a stop right beside Wylder. “Mercy Katz, leader of the Claws of Paradise Bend.”
“Wylder Noble, heir to the Nobles of Paradise Bend,” Wylder said, with a motion to his friends. “And my close associates. We’re here to see if we can’t come to some arrangement that involves you getting your men the hell out of our home.”
A starker fear flickered in the man’s eyes. He knew what was at stake for us now—and he’d already seen how far we’d gone to secure what was ours. “You won’t get away with this,” he snarled, but his bravado was obviously only for show.
“We already have,” I said. “We got you here, didn’t we? Ironically enough, you’re now at our mercy.”
Kaige snickered at my remark.
Wylder stepped a little closer to the Storm, leaving plenty of room in case one of our men overhead needed to take a shot. “Exactly. We’ve just proven that we have the means to overpower you. You could make a run for it and let the rest of your guards take the bullets, and maybe you’d make it out alive—though I doubt it—but then you’ll be on your own again. And we’re only getting stronger.”
“We’ve damaged your operations in multiple ways,” I said, picking up the thread, and folded my arms over my chest. “Ways you never expected we’d be able to, I’ll bet. You thought your men could roll into Paradise Bend and crush us with a snap of their fingers, but it hasn’t been anywhere near that easy, has it?”
The Storm’s lips pulled back from his teeth. “Perhaps you’ve given me a little more trouble than I counted on, but you have no idea what you’re up against, how much force I can bring down on you if I choose to.”
“But should you choose to?” Wylder said with a quizzical air. “Do you even really want to? Is that tiny place that you’d never even heard of until, what, a few months ago worth so much to you that you’d refuse to cut your losses and move on?”
“Just how much do you want to lose while you keep fighting us?” I added.
“I couldn’t possibly lose as much as you will,” he snapped.
“We’ll see about that.” I motioned to the fallen bodyguards. “Looks like today the sacrifice was all on your side. You have no idea what else we might be capable of.” Never mind that if we didn’t succeed today, both sides would be wiped out. I wasn’t going to tip him off to the Long Night’s involvement. If he knew how closely his competitor was watching his movements here, his ego might balk even more at giving up.
Wylder shrugged. “Maybe it’s not even your decision anymore, and you just don’t want to admit it.”
The Storm’s eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“Xavier,” Wylder said. “It seems to me that he’s the one who’s been in charge for a while now. He pushed for you to move on Paradise Bend in the first place, didn’t he? And he’s been badgering you into letting him take more and more control over operations there. I’d say at this point he’s gone right off the leash.”
“Bullshit. Xavier acts on my behalf—what he captures will be mine.”
“Really? Or is that just what you want to believe?” I said. “Maybe your pride won’t let you face the truth that you’re no longer in charge. He’s made himself the boss, and you know it, but you’re too scared to stand up to him, no matter how much this war of his is costing you.”
My taunt made the Storm bristle, but I caught a hint of doubt in his expression. His anger was starting to fade. At the end of the day, maybe he was simply a businessman at heart—finally realizing just how much of a liability one of his supposed assets had become.
“Nonsense,” he said. “I can call him off anytime I want. I simply don’t want to.”
Wylder hummed. “It’s hard to believe that when we’ve all seen him out there carrying out his own personal vendettas. What’s in it for you anymore? I’m sure you’ve already made a fortune selling Glory. If you don’t get out now, the losses are going to keep piling up. I can’t see a man as smart as you risking so much unless he was frightened of the consequences of taking charge.”
The Storm sneered at him, but he’d deflated a little more. “Of course I’m in charge. Maybe your little territory simply wasn’t at the top of my list of concerns.”
“Well, it should be right at the top now,” I said brightly.
His gaze snapped to me. “You people have festered like an infected wound, refusing to leave.”
“The feeling’s mutual,” Wylder said. He spun his pistol in his hand. “And we can finish this here, but only if you have the guts to do it.”
