Page 82 of King of Ruin

Rage flashes through me. “He wasalwaysmine! Since the moment he backhanded a six year old kid who thought he was Santa.”

Onyx jerks back as if I slapped her. She lifts her gun and trains it right over my heart. “You didn’t even make him suffer. He got to die with his debt unpaid, and you’ve left me withnothing.”

“You have the man who killed your parents.”

“I was owed them both!”

Dropping my gun, I scrap my hands up my face and through my hair, tugging on the ends. “Don’t do this.Please.”

“Do what?”

I blow out a large breath, my shoulder sagging as I let my hands fall. “You’re forcing this wedge between us. You’re so fucking scared of what you feel for me that you’re using this as a way to get out.”

She guffaws, lifting her free arm up and gesturing around her at the mess of bodies. “I don’t have to force anything, Kane. I was a prisoner who did what she needed to do to get out alive.”

“You’ve always been a shitty fucking liar,” I breathe.

Onyx’s eyes flare and she shakes her gun at me. “You mean nothing to me. And if I ever lay eyes on you again, it will be the last thing you have the pleasure of looking at.”

She turns on her heels and returns her grasp onto the railing, but I still can’t let her go. I take a step forward.

“Onyx–”

I hear the pop a second before I feel the intense pain. It explodes down my arm and across my chest. The shouts coming from behind me remind me that we were having our dispute amongst everyone and now, all guns are drawn on both sides.

Swallowing around the heavy knot, I lift the arm not damaged with a bullet to stop my men from any retaliation, and look at Onyx.

She’s breathing fast, her hand still wrapped around the gun she just shot me with. The determination in her gaze is clear. “You are nothing. No one. And I never want to see you again.”

Perhaps it was all just a dream.

A hopeful wish.

Because it’s clear now that, in reality, all she feels for me is disdain.

I saw my lip between my teeth as I let the truth sink in. My body deflates, and I nod, doing my best to ignore the hot burn radiating through me.

Until a bullet stops me.

“As you wish,mo bhanríon.”

My eyes flash to Shi and Maddy before I turn and leave. It isn’t until I’m inside, listening to the sounds of retreating vehicles that I finally sigh.

“I’m sorry.”

Ipeel the sticky, bloody blouse from my chest as if it’s the reason my skin is currently on fire. The fabric drops onto the jeep floor and is soon joined by my slacks. But still, I’m too hot.

Maddy tosses me a small hand towel from the front seat and I use it to scrub my face until it’s raw.

“Boss, are you alright?” Maddy asks, turning in the passenger seat to fully face me. “You got a little upset back there. Almost like you’re doing that thing you do when you hold stuff in until it explodes.”

I bare my teeth. “Do not test me, Madeline.”

A calm hand finds my knee, and I nearly lurch from my seat. Shi removes it, holding it up briefly in mock surrender. “Onyx, she’s right. You’re unraveling.”

My eyebrows draw together so hard, it hurts. “Unraveling? Tell me, Shire, have you been locked away for days, driven into delirium, before finally having your enemy hand-feed you so you don’t succumb to death?”

Her expression turns solemn, regret instantly marring her face, but I don’t stop. The words tumble one after another. “Were either of you put on a leash and had your parents' murderer inches from you with no means to kill him? Did you fuck a man who used you over andoverjust for him to turn around and take everything from you?”

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