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I rip my mouth free as the men move to stand in a semi-circle, but I note belatedly that Zale and Calix stay on the opposite side of the kitchen. The same side I’m on.
“Do you think you can beat me?” Santos hisses before swinging his hand and backhanding me across the face.
My head whips to the side, but I turn back to him and grin.
“Getting weak in your old age, huh, Santos?”
I pull back and punch him in the throat. He stumbles back, and I find five guns pointed at me. He rights himself just before falling to the floor. When two more men step through the door and stare at me with zero emotion in their expressions, I harden myself against it all, reinforcing the protective wall around my heart to stop from feeling the immense pain I know will hit me later.
Rémy and Maxim.
Boy, I can sure pick’em.
Recovering, Santos looks behind him at my expression before turning back to me with an expression of pure glee.
“Did you really think I didn’t know where you were and what you were doing, who you were doing, every second of every day?”
“Honestly, I didn’t think about you at all, Santos.”
He scoffs. “Oh, Sophia, you’re such a pretty little liar. I live in your mind. You never could handle a man like me.”
“You’re just the boogeyman, and I take out men like you for a living, men who get their kicks preying on the weak. But I’m not weak anymore.”
“Really? Because from where I’m standing, you are.” He laughs hysterically before giving me an evil grin. “You fell for it over and over again. Offering up your cunt in the hopes of making a man fall in love with you. Sounds a lot like that starry-eyed girl I fucked on the floor in front of her daddy.”
I swallow down the bile, avoiding eye contact with Rémy and Maxim, who step up beside Santos. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Calix slide Zale to his feet and shove him into the laundry room, pulling the door closed behind him.
“Santos, Santos, Santos. Some things never change, do they? Always acting the like big man in front of a crowd. But only weak men rape and beat little girls.”
I look from him to Maxim, whose jaw ticks, then to Rémy, whose eyes are on the fading mark on my cheek.
“I can’t say I’m shocked to find Rémy here. He’d sell out his own mother for the right price. I’ll admit, Maxim is a surprise. You did try to have the man killed, after all.” With Rémy here, it’s not hard to figure out who ordered the hit.
“Not sure how you managed to convince your brother of your innocence after framing him for murder, but I’ll give you your dues. You always did have a silver tongue.”
Calix walks around me to stand beside Rémy.
Santos shakes his head and laughs. “My brother is too smart to fall for your lies. He knows, just like you do, that family trumps everything. Oh, wait, you don’t have any family, do you? How callous of me.” He laughs as he looks at the men at his sides, who remain silently staring at me.
“Maxim and I have come to an understanding. And since I have no use for you now, I’m thinking you’d make an excellent pack whore for his men. I’m quite looking forward to him throwing you to the dogs and watching them tear you apart.”
I grin, feeling oddly free. This is it, the end of the road. And though I’m taking a battered heart with me, I’m still about to go out on my terms.
“You keep forgetting, Santos. I’m not the same girl you used to know.”
I lift my gun and press it to my chin, keeping my eyes on his. I hear the other players in the room stirring.
“Now, now, wife—” he begins, but I cut him off.
“I’m not your wife.”
“No. She’s mine.” Calix jumps in, spinning and aiming at Santos.
A heartbeat later, the man who destroyed my life drops to the floor with a perfect circle in the center of his forehead. I stand frozen in shock as Maxim and Rémy turn and open fire on the other men until my ears are ringing, and the only people left standing are the men who screwed me over. And then saved me.
“Sugar—” Maxim says my name softly, stepping toward me.
I back up, the gun still pressed against my jaw, the wall I built around my heart disintegrating into dust. As anticlimactic as Santos’ death was, I can’t help but feel relieved that its finally over. That doesn’t mean I’m in a forgiving mood though.
