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He was arrogant, selfish… he was a monster. But I couldn’t…wouldn’t, let him turn me into one too.
I took a breath, composing myself. I wouldn’t run from him, not anymore. I’d stand firm, and he’d have to face up to what he did to me. In fact, I’d do my best to shove it in his face at every possible moment.
I’d make him hurt. I’d make him feel all the pain I did when he’d shattered me and I’d make him retreat back to wherever the fuck he’d been all these years.
This was my city. My home. He didn’t belong here.
The sun was beginning to rise, but there was still much to be done downstairs. Displaced residents still needed somewhere to stay until Cullen could find more permanent solutions, and I wasn’t about to leave these families out in the cold.
I descended the stairs and out the front door, jogging across the street. It had been blocked off by police cars and fire engines, but the crowds of families who’d lost their home had started to be cleared out by our men.
“Have we found spaces for everyone?” I asked Brady as he stalked by me.
“Think so. Just taking the next group over now.” He pointed at the SUV parked just at the end of the block behind a fire truck.
I nodded. “Great.”
I glanced around. The fire was finally out, which was a relief. The NYC Fire Department had been stretched thin taking care of two blazes, and a lot of the homes and shops seemed to have been gutted. Cullen’s men had started moving inside the blackened buildings to see if there was anything to be salvaged.
The fire chief tried to stop them, but a handshake and a few whispered words from Cullen seemed to have been enough to make him back off.
A few belongings that had been saved from the flames were sitting out on the sidewalk already. Someone would need to start sifting through everything to figure out who it belonged to, so I asked Cullen if his men could start laying everything out in apartment order, and I would grab some tags to categorize things.
He agreed, and after I found a bag of gift tags in Brianna’s room that would work, I started to label and number everything that came out.
Luckily, it seemed no one was seriously injured, but the same couldn’t be said for the Italian building our men had torched. They’d had losses, and we hadn’t, which meant they’d be coming at us again.
I shuddered, turning to scan the faces of everyone here. I recognized most of them. No one looked like they might be from the other side of this war.
“Cait,” Bree called from the other side of me. I whipped my head around to face her.
“You okay?” I asked, dropping the child’s teddy bear I was holding. She looked flushed. Almost panicked.
“Enzo showed up. He wants to talk…”
“After they did this!” I shrieked, looking at the mess of charred and drenched objects the firemen had not been able to save on my left.
He had some nerve.
“I know… I-” Shame colored her cheeks.
God.
I softened. She really liked him… it must have been awful for her to know he did this, but still want him anyway.
“Just be careful.” I squeezed her shoulder and she offered me a small smile before jogging out of the fire perimeter.
“Look at you, a regular Mother Theresa,” a voice came from behind me. My shoulders automatically tensed, but I didn’t react. I knelt, picking up the teddy I’d dropped to wrap a label around its paw. It belonged to Apartment 32, and after a wash, would be good as new. I wanted to make sure its owner got it back.
“Isn’t there a cliff somewhere you need to jump off? Preferably without a parachute?” I quipped, my back still to him. I’d heard that he’d become quite the adrenaline junky in the years since he’d left Cullen and Bree to attend his mother and sister’s funeral alone. Unfortunately, he’d not had any serious accidents.
Not yet anyway. There was still time.
“No, I think I’m going to stick around for a while.”
I spun on my heel, glowering at him.
“Why? Why are you still here?” Some of his trips back to the city hadn’t lasted more than an hour before… “You’ve not been bothered about your family in years. Why start now?”
