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Ink glanced at me. “You saw her, didn’t you?” I frowned at him. “Helena,” he clarified.
I nodded, my throat thick with tears despite how happy I was that I would soon be calling Cannon my fiancée. “Yeah,” I rasped. “Pretty sure it was for the last time, too.”
He reached over and gently squeezed my forearm before putting both hands back on the wheel so he didn’t lose control of the van in a particularly sandy spot.
* * *
Ink pulledto a stop in front of an old, abandoned shack that was mostly taken over by trees and vines. Some of the boards that made up the walls had fallen and rotted away, the tin roof was collapsing, and a large, gaping hole sat in what was once the porch.
“How are we doing this?” I asked Joey as Vern jacked the Benz up so he could get underneath it.
“Cutting the brake lines,” Joey told me. I smirked. “And there will be a small leak from the gas tank. Simple match will get that line he leaves behind lit, and he’ll go up in flames. Nothing but a charred mess for the cops to find in the morning.”
I grinned, and Joey chuckled, shaking his head at me. “That’s what I’m fucking talking about. I just hope he loses control while he’s going stupid fast. That accident will be—” I made a gesture like a chef’s kiss, making Ink snicker beside me.
Joey clapped me on the back. “It’s really good to have you back, brother. And I don’t just mean at home. Cannon has been good for you.”
I shrugged, my smile falling away. “She gave me the strength to move on,” I said quietly.
Joey squeezed my shoulder. “Good. Don’t lose sight of what’s important, you hear me? And learn to lean on her when you need to. A woman like that can handle supporting you.”
Ink opened the back door to the van, and without a word, I moved over and helped him wrestle the fucker out. Vern was already off the ground, and unless Paul had overheard us talking, there was no way for him to know that we were setting him up for failure.
“I’m giving you the opportunity to get the fuck out of town, sign Cannon’s divorce papers, and never eventhinkabout her again,” I told him, lying to his face, but he didn’t know that.
His face was pale, his breaths sawing heavily in and out of his lungs. “Okay. Anything,” he pleaded when I untied the bandana gagging him. “Just please don’t kill me.”
I began to untie his arms. “I have eyes and ears everywhere, Paul. I’ll know if you make a wrong move. I can be thousands of miles away from you and still be breathing down your neck. Don’t fucking forget it.”
He jerkily nodded his head. “I won’t. I swear, I won’t.”
I pulled the divorce papers out of the manila envelope and handed him a pen. He quickly scrawled his name where needed, and only after he’d done what he was supposed to did Ink untie his ankles. We stepped back, and Vern tossed him his car keys. “Happy travels,” Vern cheerfully told him. I rolled my lips into my mouth to hide my laugh.
He was going to have happy travels alright.
Straight to Hell.
We moved to the side of the road as Paul quickly started up his car and threw it into drive. He spun in the dirt for a moment before taking off, his car quickly gaining speed. And when he hit the first curve, he fishtailed, his car unable to slow down. The stench of gasoline reached my nostrils, and I stepped out into the middle of the road, a grin tilting my lips when I heard his brief horrified scream right before he completely lost control of the expensive car.
He spun in a circle before the driver’s side of the car slammed into a massive pine on the side of the road. His head slumped forward onto the steering wheel—knocked out. Whistling a light tune under my breath, I caught the matches Ink tossed me before I lit one and dropped it to the line of gasoline a few feet in front of me.
Foomph.
The gasoline lit up, and the flame quickly followed the path to the car. I crossed my arms over my chest, silently watching as the flames began to lick at the undercarriage. And by the time Paul woke up, it was already too late. The flames were already licking at his clothes.
I waved at him as he stared at me and screamed.
Let it be a message to anyone in the universe who eventhoughtabout coming after my woman.
* * *
Cannon wasasleep when I walked through the door of my apartment around three A.M. that morning. She was half on my side of the bed and half on hers, and it made me smile.
I sort of hated that I didn’t already have a ring for her; otherwise, I would have slipped it on her finger right then so she could find it in the morning and have a mini freak-out. Just picturing it in my mind made me grin.
Sighing, I quietly stripped out of my clothes before padding naked to the bathroom to get a fast shower. I was tired and ready to crawl into bed, curl around my woman, and sleep for a few hours before I had to get up for church and get orders from Joey on what to do next.
I leaned my head back under the spray of water, jerking in surprise when soft hands settled over my flat stomach. I looked down, smiling at the sight of Cannon in front of me on her knees.
