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“Never,” she repeats and spits in his direction.
Oh, this fucking girl. Everything she does makes my dick hard, but now is not the time for her to get heroic. I need to get her out of here — through four men, a knife, and fuck knows what else. Are there more thugs waiting outside? Where the fuck is Loosh when I need him?
Fucking Jack.
I’ll kill him.
My brain clings to the idea.
Without Jack around, to give orders, the others will fold, so I only need to kill him. The world will thank me for it. If I can pay off whatever goons he keeps on retainer to avenge him, the worst that can happen is that I’ll go to prison and never have a chance to be with Kira, but she’ll be safe, and that’s more important. I’ll kill him. Sons kill their abusive fathers all the time. Maybe I’ll get a lesser sentence with an insanity plea when they find out the psychological torture he’s put us through.
Mind made up, I nod to myself.
Jack chuckles again. “Aww,cute. The prisoner has a plan,” he says, grinning like I’m entertainment. “I love that look they get when they think they’ve found a way out,” he says to the paid muscle at his side. “Show him your gun.”
The guy points the dangerous end at me. It’s muzzled with a silencer, and Jack throws me a wink. “You don’t want to get too many wise ideas, Quintus.”
I give him a bored look. “I’m a big guy, and nobody tied my hands,” I say, waving them at him. “Pretty sure I can take you out before a shot kills me.”
Jack adjusts the arm of the man holding the gun, to aim it at Kira, instead. “What about before it kills her?” he asks. “Youmightend me, but she’d still be dead, and you want to keep her little virgin pussy around, so you can fuck it. It’s probably getting wet for you right now, with this wholeheroact you’re trying to seduce her with. Should we check?”
“Stay behind me,” I growl at her when he takes a step closer.
“So youdocare about her,” Jack says with a smile.
“I care that you’d molest or murder an innocent girl on her birthday, to control me, you sadistic fuck. She’s your friend’s daughter. Have you no fucking boundaries?”
“Oh.” Jack nods along as if he gets it. “You think this is just about you. I’m actually using her pretty ass to break your sappy little spiritandher father’s.”
My heart stutters in my chest, as hope takes another step away. “He’s yourfriend. What’s wrong with you?”
“Friend?” My father scoffs. “Sherman Grant is a pawn, nothing more. I don’t keep friends. Have I taught you nothing?” He looks at me as if I’m stupid. “A friend is an attachment, and that makes them a tool for your enemies. Friends make you weak, Number Five. You’d best discard any you have and cease collecting more.”
I stare at him. I will do the opposite, because he definitely has it wrong, and I’m going to need a shit-ton of help, to take down a beast like him, which is where my focus will be from this moment onward.
“I’m pretty sure you have no friends because nobody likes you,” I mutter, shaking my head. “Without friends, who can you trust?”
“Myself,” he says without hesitation. “I also trust the truth that inflicting pain brings me.”
I stare at him long and hard, logging away every detail about how he conducts business, so I can use it against him. “You keep playing this game, you’ll definitely die a lonely old fool, Jack.”
“Who’splaying? The business world is cutthroat, and both you and Sherman Grant need to learn what it takes, to succeed. He wants to back out of a low-hanging, multi-million-dollar deal, because it’sunethical.” Jack shakes his head, as if he pities the man for having morals. “I keep telling him most of those people are probably going to get cancer anyway, but he’s got a conscience, so what can I do? Ah, that’s right — his daughter. She’s the one stone who’ll take down two loser birds for me. Isn’t she just the prettiest little thing you ever did see? Normally, I prefer blondes, but the hips on this one… They’re made for breeding.”
I launch out of my chair and punch him with everything I have, feeling the bones of his face crunch beneath my knuckles, and then I fall on top of him, using the pain in my body to fuel my intent to pulverize anything I touch.
An odd, high-pitched sound ricochets off the brick walls, and heat bursts through my shoulder, driven by enough force to knock me off balance before I deliver my next blow.
Kira screams, but it’s stifled, as a scuffle breaks out behind me. I catch a glimpse of the gun and recall the sound that could have been the suppressed discharge of a weapon. Was she shot?
“Kira.” My heart stops in fear for her. I push to my feet and swing around to help her, only to get shoved so hard, I can’t stay upright.
My arm crumples before I can break my fall, and more pain shoots through my head and chest, as I hit the floor and stare into my father’s bloodied face.
Relief washes through me when my mind connects the dots. It was me.Itook the bullet.
I spit in the mess I’ve made of Jack’s face, and he grins, his teeth a horrific and monstrous red, as blood streams from his nose. “You’re going to regret that, boy,” he says, shoving me back down when I try to rise. “Restrain them,” he commands.
My arms refuse to work in time to prevent the restraint. They’re wrenched behind me, and a cable tie cinches them together tightly enough to cut into my wrists.
