Page 112 of Liberated By Sin

“Derek.”

Eva.

“I told you to stay in the car,” I gritted out, eyes still burning through Ronan.

“Eva, dear. It’s so nice to see you again.” He returned his sinister glare my way and whispered, “I’ll be bonded out by morning.”

I clenched my teeth. As much as I wanted to tear this man apart, I didn’t know if I could follow through if she asked me not to. Evangelina held that power over me, and he knew it.

“Derek, I had to know you were okay.” She placed a hand on my shoulder. “And one more thing…” Leaning close to my ear, she set me free with three little words. “Get him, baby.”

An ear-to-ear grin split my face. “That’s my fucking girl.”

“Evangelina! I’ll have your badge. You little bi—”

Ronan made a particularly delicious noise when I shattered his other knee. “Keep fucking singing.”

“Shit…shit…” he panted, sweat beading and rolling down his face, mixing with spatters of blood.

A masterpiece in the making.

“Now, Derek, you didn’t think I’d let you have all the fun?”

Helena.

“Oh,fuck.” Ronan began dragging himself across the room, his useless legs streaking a trail of red like the slimy fuck he was. “No, not that cra—”

“Careful. You know how I feel about being called crazy. Makes me especially homicidal.” She reached behind her back and pulled out a fucking katana. “On second thought, I’d love the extra motivation since I brought my new favorite toy.”

Ronan’s breaths were heavy, his eyes wide and bloodshot as they pinned between me and Helena. I could almost taste his fear, and it was glorious.

“Eva! Evangelina, call for backup. You’re a goddamn cop. Don’t you fucking leave me here with these—”

His eyeballs bulged from their sockets when I wrapped my hand around his throat and squeezed.

“Don’t address my wife. Silas, take her upstairs.”

The door closed behind them, and my attention was once again on Ronan as he was on the verge of passing out, his face purpling.

“Derek, let that man breathe—for now.”

He dropped to the concrete floor, twitching before finally gasping for breath.

“I’m glad you finally decided to join us.”

“I would have sliced off your ball sack had you done this without me.” The grin she wore shifted to a dark scowl when her eyes moved back to Ronan. “He owes me. Isn’t that right?” she taunted, circling him.

“P-please...”

It was almost tragic to witness how far he’d fallen from the once respected head of Ares to this pathetic man groveling for his life.

He grabbed Helena’s ankle, and without a moment’s hesitation, she swiped at the extremity with her sword, severing it at the wrist. The louder he screamed, the bigger her smile.

“That was for Silas.” She took his other hand. “That one too.”

I folded my arms and watched in utter amusement as she hacked away until his feet joined the pile of severed limbs. Blood painted the walls and stretched across the floor.

While Helena and I never miss an opportunity to sling insults at one another, we had settled our differences years ago. At the end of the day, we were family. And she was like another mother to Valentina. Knowing my little girl had women like her and Amalia to look up to—well, I slept a little better at night.

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