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I try to lift my arms to shield my face from his assault but the fucker shifts forward and pins my arms beneath his knees. He smirks down at me before he lifts his fist and slams it into the side of my face. I feel the crack and know the fucker has shattered my cheekbone. Blow after blow lands and I feel myself begin to lose consciousness. I welcome to blackness passing out will offer, at least then I won’t be able to feel the final blow that kills me. I’m just about to surrender when suddenly the blows stop. The crowd around us is quiet, then I hear the distinct sound of a gun cocking. My right eye is swollen shut, so I crack my left one open as far as I can and everything inside me locks up as all the air in my lungs flees me. AJ raises his hands slowly whilst keeping his gaze on me. I turn from him to look up and find a pair of bright green eyes looking down at me with an unhinged look.
“You’ll pay for this, girl––”
“You touched what is mine and you will pay for that,” she sneers.
“I’ll kill you,” he grits out. She bends down so her lips are in line with his ear, but she keeps her eyes on me the whole time.
“My name is Katarina Antonov, and I’m already dead.” His eyes widen in surprise. She stands and pulls the trigger. Blood and brain matter spray all over my face before AJ’s dead body flops down onto me. Nathan and Cody are by Koby’s side in a second pushing the dead fucker off me and helping me to my feet. Koby pushes Nathan out of the way and wraps my arm around her shoulders. A groan escapes me before I can stop it. She pins me with a disapproving scowl as we make our way to the edge of the ring. I look around and that’s when I see my brothers standing near the entrance and all our guys are stationed around the ring with their guns pointed.
Nathan and Cody help me from the ring, then Koby is back at my side helping me toward my brothers. I can feel everyone’s gaze on me but I ignore them as I focus on putting one foot in front of the other and ignoring the pain I’m in. Everything inside me fucking aches. If it wasn’t for the girl beside me, I would be feeling nothing right now except for dead. As we draw near, Gage steps forward and takes Cody’s place on my other side. We walk past Bishop and King, leaving them to deal with the aftermath that will ensue because of what Koby has done.
* * *
No one has a single word the whole ride. Gage, Koby and I left before Bish and King. We pull into the driveway and come to a stop at the bottom of the stairs. I sigh when I see Kiara and Ally sitting there waiting for us. I push my door open to climb out, but Gage is there waiting to help me. I eye him for a beat before nodding. He grips my arm and wraps it around his shoulders before wrapping an arm around my waist and leading me past the girls to head inside.
“What the fuck happened?” Kiara demands from behind us.
“Bishop and the others will be here in a few, he can fill you in,” Gage calls out without stopping. Once inside he leads me to the living room and helps me sit. I groan as I lay my head back against the couch. “You look like shit.” I snort at Gage’s attempt to lighten the mood.
“I feel like it,” I say as I close my eyes and try to breathe through the pain. My ribs are burning, my kidneys are fucking sore, and my head feels like there is a jackhammer going off inside it. I can barely see out of my left eye—I think my fucking nose is broken as well. I know for sure my cheek is broken or fractured. I feel exhaustion weighing on me and I’m about to give into it when the sound of raised voices in the entryway garners my attention. I don’t even bother to open my eye when they shout my name.
Koby
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Bishop shouts right in my face. I don’t cower. I stand my ground and hold his judgmental gaze as I reply.
“I was thinking I was saving your brother’s fucking life!” He scrubs a hand down his face, then rips his tie from around his neck. Kiara steps in front of him to try calm him but he isn’t having any of it. His gaze spears me.
“They want you as payment and Knight is going to fucking kill them for that! I don’t need another fucking war, Koby!” he shouts.
“Knight!” King shouts but I ignore him, focusing only on Bishop.
“Then I’ll kill them all. I’m not like the others, Bishop. I can hold my fucking own!” I shout back. He slams his eyes closed and drops his head back taking in a few calming breaths to try reign in his temper.
“It was you, wasn’t it?” I swing my gaze to King. Whatever he sees in my gaze has his eyes widening. “You were the one that alerted us to the trap, you hacked their building?” I bite my lip and nod.
“How did you know? Luka couldn’t get access and he is the fucking best we have.” I can hear the anger in Bishop’s tone but he isn’t angry at me, he’s pissed they were caught off guard.
“It was simple. Once I saw it empty, I knew it had to be rigged to blow. King gave me the feed of Knight’s fight and when I saw AJ jump into the ring, I knew something was wrong. I sent you both an SOS.”
“How did you get there?” King asks. I dart my gaze to Allison, who is looking at her shoes. King rolls his eyes and groans. Ally throws her hands in the air and pins her fiancé with a don’t you start look.
“When she explained it to us, I knew it was bad and she said Knight needed her, so I gave her the keys to your car!” Bishop looks to King, they both share a loaded look. I decide to extend an olive branch of sorts and try to help in the only way I know how.
“I hacked your hacker and he’s been blocked by someone else.” Both guys pin me with a look but I push on before they can interrupt me. “I believe you have a snitch in your midst. Luka is good but he’s been blocked and I’m not sure if it’s because he isn’t as good as you think or he is the snitch.” Bishop moves to close the space between us but then Gage is there to push him back a step. They stand chest to chest with their gazes locked in a dick measuring contest.
“Back the fuck off,” Bishop snarls.
“I will, but we need the doctor for Knight. He’s passed out and had a few blows to the head.” Bishop curses and then pulls his phone from his pocket to call the doc. Gage shoots me a look over his shoulder, and I nod my thanks. He did that to save me from wearing the brunt of Bishop’s anger.
* * *
I’ve been up all night watching Knight. The doc patched him up and said he has a fractured cheek bone and bruised ribs. He re-set his broken nose and put some butterfly stitches on his face. He looks like shit but at least he isn’t dead. I know I fucked up last night but I couldn’t stand by and watch him die. Bishop has a rat in his organization and he needs to find out who it is before someone does die next time. I startle when a cup of coffee is placed in front of me. Frowning, I look up to see Bishop standing above me.
“I can’t––”
“It’s decaf.” I nod my thanks and grip the cup between my hands as Bishop sits on the other single seater, with his gaze on his brother who is still asleep on the couch. “You saved his life.” I don’t bother to answer him, there’s no point. The silence stretches between us a for a while before he speaks again. “Do you love him?” I keep my gaze on Knight as I answer.
“I wouldn’t have outed myself to a room full of connected people if I didn’t.” I watch him nod from the corner of my eyes, the sun is slowly rising and with that the others will too.
