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My breath is calm. My eyes are hard. My expression is cold. Nothing gives away the raging volcano erupting inside my chest.
I drop the hammer on the table and grab the knife. It’s the same one that was lying on the floor next to Makenna when I found her. At least Franco had the decency to clean her blood off it before bringing it here.
I press the tip against his groin, in the same place I have a scar, the same place he hurt Makenna. His skin gives way to the blade. It slides in with a single shove. His blood rushes over my fist. More tears pour down his face. His screams push against the gag and tape. I dig the knife in deeper.
The steel doors open, metal hinges groaning. I crane my head, wondering who had the balls to walk in on me, then freezing when I see Franco holding Jaxon by the arm.
“What is he doing here?” A heartbeat passes in silence. “I said, what the fuck is he doing here?”
Franco sighs. “When I got to the restaurant, he was behind the bar, slinging back shots of tequila. Said some pretty interesting things.”
The moment Jaxon finds Sylvester’s mutilated body in the dimly lit space, he doubles over and vomits all over the floor. He falls to his knees, sitting back on his haunches. His face is pale.
“Tell him what you told me.”
Jaxon sucks in deep breath after deep breath as he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.
Franco takes a step forward, then kicks him in the stomach. “Tell him!”
Jaxon leans to the side and pukes again.
What the fuck is going on?
I leave Sylvester, knife and all, and walk over to them. “Jesus, Franco, you’re making a goddamn mess.” I crouch in front of Jaxon, tipping his chin up with the tip of my finger. “What’s he talking about?” He’s obviously upset about Makenna. We all are. But if he’s talking shit about her—or any feelings he might have for her—to my men, I’ll rip his fucking tongue out of his mouth.
Panic flares in his eyes, like a mouse caught by the tail underneath a lion’s paw. “He wasn’t supposed to hurt her.” He glares at Sylvester and yells. “That wasn’t part of the deal.”
The fuck did he just say?There’s no way I heard him right. My ears ring. My body vibrates, like a lightning bolt struck my chest.
I clench my teeth. “What deal?”
He grinds his jaw, refusing to answer.
I get in his face, nose-to-nose. “What fucking deal, Jaxon?”
“I got him access to your containers. He was supposed to come in, clean you out, and leave you powerless. She was never supposed to get involved.” His words die in his throat. He chokes over them.
“All this time, it’s been you?” I reel backward, my ass falling on my calves. Every breath feels like gravity weighing me down, pulling me into the darkness, blurring my vision. Erasing years—fucking years—of trust. “You’re working withhim?” I jab a finger at Morano, then look back at Jaxon. “I treated you like a brother! I brought you in. I was about to make you one of us.”
Memories pour through me.I trusted him.
How the fuck did I let this happen?
My intuition failed me. I never saw this coming. He saved my life. I let my guard down. We welcomed him into our world, opened the door to our secrets, all while he was plotting my downfall. My father knew it. He called it from the beginning, accused me of bringing home a stray. I defended Jaxon because he’d stood up to Don’s men. He’d saved my life. But he didn’t barge into that office to help me. He was there to helpthem. Then, he took one look around and figured out who the winning team was. He only saved me so that he could ruin me.
He grits his teeth. “You took everything from me. So, I wanted to take from you.”Makenna.She was a game for him. A fucking trophy to prove he’d outplayed me.
Acid drips over his next words. “I should be a fucking king right now. But you destroyed that.” Hatred flashes in his eyes, stabbing straight to my heart.
“Itookfrom you?” I stand, towering over him, looking down at him. My pulse hammers through my veins, a raging river of fury and betrayal flowing through me. “I saved you.”I cared about you.
“No,Donsaved me.”Don Julio?That motherfucker couldn’t save a dollar, much less a life. “I was a ten-year old boy in a shitty home with shittier parents. Until he walked through the front door and put a bullet between their eyes. He raised me. He molded me.” That explains why he never backs down from a fight, why he always puts on a brave face, why he never questions anything. He was trained to be invincible.Just like me.“I was going to take over his empire when I turned twenty-five.” Holy shit. It all makes sense now. “I wanted you to feel that pain. I wanted you to know what it was like to have your entire future taken away. But I never meant for Makenna to get hurt. She had no part in this.”
“She had no part in this?” I rake my hands through my hair. “Jesus, Jaxon, you were there. You saw what they did to my mother. You think she wasn’t innocent? You think she deserved what she got? WhatDondid to her?”
FUUUUUCK!My mind screams. My fucking chest caves in on me.Why the fuck did it have to be him? Goddammit!My heart cracks, shatters, the broken pieces slicing me open as they flow through my bloodstream.I let him in.I showed him my humanity.
I made a mistake.
