Page 37 of Velvet Chains
He swung again, this time with the hand holding the bottle. I caught his wrist midair. We wrestled on the ground, limbs tangled, my knee pressing into his ribs to keep him pinned.
The Molotov slipped from his grip.
It hit the pavement with a sharp crack.
Flames exploded from the broken glass, bright and fast. I jerked away instinctively, then kicked the bottle hard toward the far wall. It spun, flames trailing behind it, until it smashed again and fizzled against the bricks.
The fire was still smoldering, but I didn’t care.
I turned back to him, teeth clenched, blood pounding in my ears.
And this time, I didn’t hold back.
Because with Ruby…I would kill for her. I already had, and I would do it again.
Not only that, but I would enjoy it.
Fists, elbows, knees—I didn’t think, I didn’t hold back. I drove him into the pavement with everything I had. He tried to scramble, tried to kick me off, but I had gravity and rage and a face full of her in my head.
Her laugh. Her breath. Her skin.
“You piece of shit,” I snarled, shoving him back against the bricks. “You thought you’d get close to her? You thought you’d touch her?”
His nose broke with a sickening crack under my fist. He howled, tried to cover his face.
I didn’t stop.
“You’re fucking insane,” he wheezed, blood already spilling down his lips. “Tristan said scare her—what’s scarier than fire?”
That stopped me cold.
I had my fist twisted in his hoodie, the fabric bunched in my palm, my knuckles still buzzing from the last hit. “What did you just say?”
He spit blood into the gutter. His eyes barely focused. “Said make it look bad. Said make her nervous. Said no one’d miss a few documents if she started slipping…”
Red blurred the edges of my vision.
I grabbed both sides of his hoodie and slammed him into the wall so hard the back of his skull bounced. “Tristan sent you?”
He didn’t answer.
He didn’t have to.
I knew him now—Dominic something, used to run petty errands for Liam. But he’d never really been Liam’s. He wasTristan’s.Always had been.
And now Tristan thought he would take matters into his own hands, going right around me.
My whole body tensed with the knowledge.
“You were going to set her on fire,” I said, breath jagged, barely holding myself back.
“Just the car, man,” he coughed. “Just the fucking car.”
“She wasin the car,” I snarled. My voice cracked. “She was in the fucking car, you goddamn idiot.”
He had nothing for that. Just blood and silence.
I hit him again. His head hit the bricks with a sick thud, and this time, he slumped forward.
