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Fuck me. It seems we haven’t been keeping our shit in order after all. Suddenly it hits me.
“You fucking shot at me!” I scream. “You got Devon killed!”
Rage unlike I have felt in a long time courses through my veins.
“My brother’s precious whore,” Enzo says from outside. “Sadly Devon was collateral damage. I was aiming for you. Taking back my family from my inept pussy-whipped brother would have been so much easier if he was lost in mourning for his beautiful bride.”
“I don’t relish the idea of killing a family member,” Rafe says loudly. “But if you call my wife a whore again, I will cut your tongue out and preserve it as a desk ornament for her office.”
Enzo doesn’t reply but I can hear the faint sounds of a scuffle. It’s only in that moment that I realize my brother is no longer beside me. Panic grips my chest as I leave the fear for my own safety behind and rush out of my makeshift hiding place. I barrel toward the door but Rafe halts me with a muscular arm banded around my middle.
“Roman!” I scream.
I can feel Rafe stiffen behind me as he tries to keep me against his chest. “He’ll be fine.”
“You don’t know that!” I wail, my heart already breaking.
Dear God, is this what Konnor felt like? Is this what I brought on someone who once called me a friend? My heart is breaking for all of us in this moment. So much death and destruction and it’s all for nothing.
Door hinges scream as a side door opens and a younger version of my husband steps through, a blade pressed to his throat as my baby brother leads him into the cavernous warehouse. Silence reigns except for their footsteps on the bare cement. Shock courses through me as I stare at the young man I suddenly realize I don’t know. Gone is the cowering, simpering child, and in his place is someone with a mask of fury and a purpose to his step.
Who is this person? Did this happen at the boarding school or before? How did I not see this change come over him?
Rafe releases me as Roman kicks Enzo behind the knees, forcing him to kneel before us.
“Apologize to my sister.”
The words are thick, his voice deep, an odd echo rasping from his unused vocal cords. The four words grate around us in a horrific cacophony of trauma and need. The first time I have heard his voice in years and all I can think is how strange it sounds. He’s been away from me for four months and he’s changed so much. Grown. That fucking school of Rafe’s is responsible for this. It’s like I missed his first baby steps and my heart aches for the boy I know I’ve lost to the man emerging. One modeled on Rafe. That’s partly good, and a whole lot of bad because … Rafe.
Enzo shakes his head vehemently. “I don’t bow or apologize to pretty little whores!”
Roman grips his full dark head and wrenches his head back. Leaning closer he whispers something into Enzo’s ear that has the other man paling before he sputters an apology I don’t hear. Sonja enters the warehouse and places a hand on Roman’s shoulder. He nods to her before releasing Enzo and stepping away.
I don’t know the person before me. I can’t reconcile this image with the smiling, clapping boy from a half hour ago.
“All the other men are dead. What do you want to do with him?” Sonja asks, her accent more pronounced by the adrenaline.
Rafe turns to face me, clearly as shocked as I am by the scene that unfolded moments ago. He wants to know what I think. I turn my glare on Enzo.
“Does Regina know you’re here?”
By the sneer on his face I can tell he doesn’t care for his sister any more than he cares for me. I nod and smile at Rafe.
“I know you said you didn’t want to kill him, but how do you feel about him being used to pay a debt?” At my husband’s frown, I continue, “Konnor deserves justice. We could give him a brother for the one that was taken from him.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
My Enemy’s Friend
Rafe
I twiddle my thumbs along with everyone else in the warehouse while I wait on my friend-cum-enemy-cum-hopefully-friend once more.
If Konnor accepts my offering.
If he doesn’t bring an army along with him for our little playdate and blow my world to shit.
If, if, if.
