Page 65 of Bittersweet Revenge
“Did what?” I need to hear him say it.
He’s bawling, his words all jumbled with his tears when he says, “I put something in her drink.”
“What?”
Snot runs down his face and into his mouth. “Roofy. I fucking roofied her, okay? I swear I won’t do it again. Just please don’t—”
I drop the knife and punch him in the face, cutting off his words. “You think you can put your hands on my fucking sister! You’re going to suffer for this. You’re going to go through so much pain, you’re going to beg me to kill you.” I kick him in the chest, and his chair falls over.
“No,” Aislin’s soft voice comes from behind me. There’s resolve to it, that don’t-fuck-with-me tone that says she means business, but there’s pain in it too.
“No what? We can’t back out now. That’s not how this works, Ash.”
“I know. I just…I want it to be done. I want it to be over. I just want to kill him.”
“Ash…” Rory starts.
“I said no!” she snaps, pushing off the wall and walking over to us. “Give me your gun.” It’s the last thing I want to do, but Ilisten to her, handing over the warm metal that fits in my hand so well. “Pick him up, Rory.”
He curses but does as she says, lifting the chair. Jensen’s eyes are wide and panicked, and he’s fighting to get out of his bondage again, but Rory is fucking good with a knot, so that’s not happening.
“The safety is on,” I tell her, not leaving her side.
Aislin takes care of it and lifts her arm. The whole thing is shaking, my sister standing there, doing her best to point it at him, but not pulling the trigger.
“Go,” I tell Rory, who walks out without a word. He and Cillian are the best, and again, I’m so fucking thankful for them…for my brothers. “You don’t have to do this,” I say softly.
“I need to.” A tear spills from her eye, running down her face, chased by another and another.
“No, you don’t. He needs to die, yes, but you don’t have to be the one to do it.” My chest aches, heart pounding as I reach for her. “Let me do this for you, Ash.”
“It should be me. I should be able to…fuck, he wanted torapeme, Tiernan.” Her voice breaks, the tears flowing freely now.
“That’s because there is a darkness inside him…not you. This doesn’t make you weak. It makes you strong…stronger than me.” I reach out and touch her arm. “I had to do this before I was ready. I don’t want that for you. You deserve better.”
Finally, she turns to look at me, her broken heart in her teary eyes. “You deserved better too.”
“Maybe.” I shrug. “We can’t go back in time, but that doesn’t mean you have to deal with the same thing. Let me bear this burden.”
Aislin gives me a slow nod, then hands me the gun.
“Do you want to be here?”
“Yes. Just…do it quickly.”
I lift the gun, turn off my brain, disconnect from this moment, and pull the trigger. The bullet goes straight through his forehead, Jensen slumps over, and that fast…he’s gone.
The moment I’ve got the safety on and the gun tucked away, Aislin is hugging me. My hold is tight around her as she cries into my throat, her whole body racked with nerves.
I did this to her. I tried to let her do this. I could have broken my sister.
Maybe I did.
“I’m sorry, Ash.”
“What? You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“I didn’t protect you.” Dean had. And then I brought her here. What is wrong with me?
