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But she stared down at the man as if his words had carved something from her.
“The way he screamed in the fire.” Raneer’s eyes squeezed shut as he shuddered. “I did it for you! Your eyes begged me to do it.”
The meaning behind the words wrapped around Malcolm, and Jami’s hand trembled against him. She pulled away, hugging herself.
Malcolm’s fury kindled at her expression. He reached down, his hand fisting in the man’s dress shirt as he dragged him up. “Don’t put that guilt on her. Jami would have never wanted that.”
“She did! Her eyes—”
Malcolm punched him in the stomach. “Stop it about her fucking eyes! Did she say the words?” He shook Raneer as the man struggled to drag in a breath. “Did she?”
Raneer’s face softened. “Jami doesn’t say a lot of things. Especially when it comes to her wants.” His eyes fastened on her. “I’ve always loved that about you.”
Malcolm released him, his fists shaking as he told himself Raneer wasn’t worth it.
It was as if Raneer no longer saw him. “Like when you continued to give yourself to me,” he told Jami, “despite how it hurt you. I knew then how much you loved me.”
Jami simply shook her head.
But Malcolm’s vision turned splotchy at the edges. “You knew you were hurting her? And you kept doing it?” When she’d mentioned her monthly visits, he’d thought they’d been different from the first time. Malcolm realized he’d convinced himself the man was just terrible in bed.
“That she would let me hurt her like that, it made what we had special. Jami was too pure to ever truly desire to fornicate. That’s why she cried. Every time.” Raneer smiled at her with an expression that Malcolm wanted to erase.
Malcolm couldn’t help but picture the man holding a crying Jami down as he shoved himself into her. The dam inside him broke. He lunged for Raneer, his fist trying to punch straight through the man’s face. The thudding sound echoed in his heart as he swung again. And again.
“Malcolm!” Jami cried from the other side of a long, muffled tunnel. Even her hands clutching at his arm became distant enough to shake off. He was going to kill the fucking rapist prick.
It took three sets of muscle-bound arms to pull him off.
Reggie said nothing. He’d seen Malcolm’s anger burst forth before.
Detective Borden sighed as the other officer Malcolm didn’t recognize bent to check Raneer’s vitals. “Goddamn it, Griffin. You just had to, didn’t you?”
Blood covered Malcolm’s fists. He stared down at the mess he’d made of Raneer’s face. The man was no longer conscious. Malcolm turned, holding his fists behind his back so Borden could cuff him.
He tried to breathe through the heat still flooding his veins. He noticed his security camera. Catching Borden’s eye, he nodded at it. “Take the footage.”
The detective stared up at it, then turned back to Malcolm. He lifted his eyebrow.
Malcolm nodded. “Reggie can show you where it is. It’s got audio.”
Andrew Raneer had admitted to burning Jami’s father alive. Malcolm risked looking at Jami, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes. She shouldn’t be the one to turn Raneer in. Even if the footage proved just how ballistic Malcolm had gone.
Chapter 17
BlakewaswaitingforMalcolm when he was released. He had bailed him out a time or two before. Malcolm hated how it made him no better than Blake’s mother.
“Hey,” he said. His knuckles ached, though he’d been able to wash off the blood. Raneer had lucked out on a few of the punches. Malcolm had hit the concrete instead.
“Fuck, Mal.” Blake pulled him into a quick hug. “It’d been a while.”
“Jami?” Malcolm asked. They hadn’t said anything to each other before Detective Borden had the officer haul him off. After the ambulance had already taken Raneer.
Blake shook his head. “No one’s seen her.” He nodded over to the corner. “Not since that guy took her statement.”
Malcolm studied the detective. “Hang on a second,” he told Blake before making his way over to the detective.
Borden straightened away from the wall as Malcolm approached. “Battery was the best I could do. It was broad daylight, Griffin, with witnesses and that damn video.”
