Page 67 of Deadly Little Hearts

“You chose them,” Kai snaps, and I roll my eyes.

“Fine, I did, but I’ve always been your sister.What happened to ‘we don’t strike first’?What happened to family loyalty?”The words burn a long line down my throat.It’s a soft blow, but fuck him if he won’t accept a peace offering to avoid this war.

“Loyalty?”Kai scoffs.“You wanna talk about family loyalty?Where do you think we got these guns from?”Kai points behind me at Hazen.

Hazen’s warmth from my back is gone.He pushes past me, getting right up in Kai’s face.“The fuck you say?”he growls, and Kai steps back, grinning.

Bear moves again, knocking his fist into Lucas’s jaw.He stumbles back, completely caught off guard.Before I have a chance to react, Bear wraps an arm around my neck and pulls me back against his body.I struggle against him but eventually stop.Bear is unpredictable, at best; he likes me, but that doesn’t mean he won’t hurt me.Bear’s breath is heavy against the back of my neck.

“The fuck?”Kai growls, frowning at Bear.At least Kai still cares.

“Don’t let him do this,” I beg, and Kai’s eyes soften for a second before they turn hard again, and he shakes his head.

“We’re not getting a response from the supplier.We need leverage.Why not take something valuable to them?”Bear shrugs.

Kai studies the ground, then nods and softly says, “It’s out of my hands.”My chest squeezes.

Gage pulls out his gun at the same time as Kai and Zion, and I stand between them, placing my hand on Gage’s heart, in the middle of the train tracks, with Bear’s arm still firmly around me.

“Give her back,” Lucas growls, stepping forward, and Bear’s hand tightens around me.

“Talk to your father and give us the remainder of the weapons we paid for.Until then, she’s ours,” Kai says to Hazen before turning around.

“My father?”Hazen asks, his cheeks paler than they were a second ago.“What’s he got to do with this?”

“Catch up, dickhead.”Bear rolls his eyes dramatically.“Daddy dearest’s been sellin’ us weapons, but the last shipment was short.So we’ll take this little weapon here”—Bear shoves me in the back, and I stumble forward before he catches me—“until you can provide us with the real ones.”

“Like fuck you’re taking her,” Hazen says, his voice deep and gravelly.

“I won’t walk away from you again,” Gage says to me, and my pulse quickens.Those words hang heavily in the air, touching every single part of my heart.He won’t leave me.They won’t.

I’ve waited so long to hear those words from him—and now I have them.He loves me.He’ll do anything for me.

And I’ll do anything for him.

Which is why I have to stay.If I’m with Kai, I can convince him to stop this madness, surely.

“They won’t hurt me.Just go,” I plead, my voice coming out all raspy.

“No.Take me instead,” Lucas says, stepping over the tracks.

“No, you idiot.They’ll kill you!”

“He’s right.We’re taking him, not her,” Kai says.

Bear presses a sloppy kiss against my cheek before shoving me forward, and Hazen pulls me into his embrace.

“No!”I yell, struggling against Hazen, but he wraps his arms around my waist, not letting me go.

They can’t take Lucas.I’m safer with them because I know Kai won’t hurt me, but Lucas?He wouldn’t hesitate.Fuck.This can’t be happening.

Bear grabs Lucas, snapping cuffs around his wrists before turning and walking away, leading Lucas as he goes.Kai and Zion follow.

“Don’t you dare hurt him!”I yell, and Kai flips me off over his shoulder.

Hazen releases me and goes to follow, but I reach out, grabbing his uninjured arm and yanking him back over the tracks.

“You can’t.We need you here,” I say, and he rips his arm out of my grip and storms toward the car.

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