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He blinks, and that’s when I realise no one has ever asked him before. “Erm, fine, I have an open day today.” He wipes his mouth and puts his teacup down. “Which reminds me, we need to discuss something.”
My stomach sinks, and I look around to see all their faces darken. “Going to try and kill me?” I query casually. Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past them if they thought they had to.
“Not today,” Diesel responds, toasting me with his cigarette.
“We need to talk, love,” Ryder repeats seriously, making me suck in a breath. Something is wrong, it has to be…but how does it involve me?
I haven’t beat anyone up today, so it’s not that.
* * *
RYDER
I sither down on the sofa and crouch before her, holding her hand in mine. Kenzo and Diesel bracket either side of her, and Garrett stands behind her, protecting her back like always. “Love, we have been thinking.” I share a look with the others, who nod their encouragement. “Your father—”
She narrows her eyes at the reminder, and I smile sadly and cover her lips with my hand before she can start shouting, telling us she hates us again.
“Your father, Roxy, he needs to pay for what he did to you, both in the past and recently. We might have accepted the deal, but now that we-we—”
“Love you,” Kenzo inserts confidently.
“Yes, love you.” I nod. “It means we can’t let an insult like that stand to our girl. Now, I know you hate him and he’s responsible for heinous things in your past—trust me, love, I understand that—which is why I want to know if you want us to deal with it.” I release her lips, and she licks them, looking between us.
“You mean kill him? You would do that?”
“Baby, when are you going to realise there isn’t anything we wouldn’t do for you?” Garrett snorts.
“I-I don’t know if I can face him, it’s been years,” she admits, and Diesel presses closer.
“I know, love, which is why I want you to let us do it for you,” I reassure her, but I know before she’s even decided she would never let us. This is her monster to slay, and as much as I wish we could do it for her, he’s hers to deal with. Our Roxxane would never make another deal with her issues, no, she’s too strong for that, and it only makes me love her more.
“No, no, you’re right. It’s been a long time coming. I guess I just—” She shakes her head. “Honestly, I forgot about him for a bit, but you’re right, he will never stop,” she agrees sadly, and meets my eyes. Hers are shaded with ghosts, but as strong as always. “Yes, I want to be there.”
“Just be there?” Diesel questions. “Because if you don’t want to deal with him, you know I will, Little Bird.”
She smiles, but it’s an evil one, like the one she used to give us all the time. “No, he’s my father, my responsibility. I want you there, though, this has been a long time coming and seeing him again—”
“Will bring back memories.” I nod, understanding that myself. “We have your back, always, you are our family now. Not his, never his. He will never hurt you again.”
She nods, reaching for Diesel’s and Kenzo’s hands. Garrett lays his on her shoulder, and I grip her knees as she sucks in a breath. “I guess I always knew…knew he never loved me. This needs to happen. He will always think he can control me, use me, and that also extends to you now. I can’t let him. It’s time he paid for his sins.”
She raises her eyes, and there’s no weakness there now. Just a fucking Viper flashing in those dark depths. “He dies today.”
So be it.
Chapter Sixty-Four
ROXY
The drive there is quiet, as my men are letting me prepare for what’s to come. They are right, he is a threat, not just to me, but to them now as well. They are my family, he never was. He might be my blood, but all that means is that he was my beginning, not my middle or end.
Blood doesn’t always mean family. Sometimes you find your family in friends, in father- and mother-like figures…or in lovers. I look around and smile, thinking sometimes you find that when you’re least expecting it. Our family might be messed up, hateful, powerful, and rich…but when we are together, we’re happy. We are safe, and that’s all that matters.
Now it’s my turn to keep my family safe, to protect the men who would protect me against anything, who would hunt me and anyone who hurt me or us across this world and never stop.
My father—no, I need to stop calling him that—Rob is nothing more than a threat, and to a Viper, a threat is easy to deal with. We kill them.
His blood might have saved him from me once, when I chose to run instead of fight, but he signed his death warrant when he decided he couldn’t leave me be. Now a darkness fills me, one he created, a killer he made with his fists, with his cruel words and abuse.
