Page 34 of Pucking Unhinged
Winter’s breath hitches, but I keep my eyes locked on my father.
“You sold her,” I say, my voice low, vibrating with fury. “You offered her up like she was property.”
“Sheisproperty,” he spits. “That’s what you don’t get. Girls like her are bargaining chips. And you…” he laughs, cutting himself off. He sounds bitter and broken. “You’ve wasted your life trying to keep her. You and your brother, weak as ever, letting whores ruin you.”
I snap. The shot tears through his leg and then the other one. I don’t want him to die just yet. I’m ready to move on, but I don’t want to look back and regret not making him suffer. He deserves far worse than he’s about to get. He drops to the floor screaming,blood spreading fast across the cedar, his voice is so pathetic. Winter flinches, but she just steps closer to my side.
“On your fucking knees,” I growl at the carjacker. He stumbles down, his hands raised, babbling for mercy.
Elijah drives a boot into my father’s jaw, snarling, “Shut the fuck up.” Noah is scrolling on his phone, looking up as if to say, ‘ can we hurry this up? I’ve got things to do’. Benjamin sighs, uninterested. “It’s fucking hot in here. I’ll call the clean-up crew and make sure the barricade is still in place outside the locker room.” He disappears through the door without another word.
Winter steps forward, and I wasn’t expecting that. Her voice is colder than I’ve ever known it to be. She stares the would-be trafficker down. “Look at me. You wanted to look at me that night, didn’t you? So look at me now then.”
He doesn’t answer or comply.
“Fucking answer her!” I bark, my gun raised.
He breaks, looking up at her. He bursts into tears, which is something Winter didn’t do that night. “I—I was just doing a job! Please!”
Winter doesn’t blink. “You’ll never hurt another girl. I was lucky. Others weren’t, I’m sure.”
I lean down, cupping her face in my free hand, my thumb smoothing over her cheek. The room stinks of blood and steam, but she’s all I see. “Any last words before I finish this?” I murmur to her.
She brushes her lips against mine, soft but steady. “I don’t want to give him another thought. I don’t want to know his name. I don’t want to know his story. I just want to move on, and I don’t want him to exist anymore.”
Her words seal it. I put a bullet through my father’s skull. Another through the trafficker’s.
That’s it. It’s over, and we never have to think about this shit again. I hand the gun to Noah, my hands find their way backto where they belong. Winter. I kiss her, reverent, fierce, finally free.
“Come on,” I whisper, pressing my forehead to hers. “We need to get out of here.” The Moretti’s will take care of the rest, and Sebastian and I will owe them. And then one day, one or all of the triplets will call on us, and we’ll show up for them the way they showed up today.
And then they’ll owe us.
Winter’s eyes flick to Bianca’s limp body as Noah picks her up and throws her over his shoulder. He pulls a face like he’s annoyed that he’s the one who has to do the lifting. “Where will they put her since she saw so much?” she asks.
“She’s on the Dominion’s radar. They were a faction of The Back Crown Society decades ago. Long thought to have been eradicated for this very shit,” Elijah says like he’s annoyed, but it’s not directed at my girl. He’s just having a bad time all day every day no matter what.
“We’re duty-bound to take her back to St.Augustine. Black Crown will offer her protection. If she chooses not to accept it, she’ll be released and we’ll be absolved of any responsibility,” Noah adds on.
Before anyone can say anything else, Benjamin pops his head in the door, but doesn’t enter. “You need to wrap this mess up. I just got a text giving me a head’s up that some shit is about to pop off. Apparently two people were found with a bullet to the skull in your father’s suite.”
Of course he killed Josh and Emily when he went up to his room. I confronted him in the elevator and brought him down here, so I hadn’t thought to check where they were first.
“I’ll fucking handle it,” Elijah grumbles, pushing past us and out the door. Whoever found the bodies, and whoever they told are about to get a big pay day.
Worry flashes across Winter’s face, but I stroke her cheek with my thumb. “Everything will be okay, baby.”
I scoop her into my arms, carrying her out into the cooler air of the locker room. She curls against me like she always does, trusting me completely.
And that’s all I need.
The past is dead in that sauna. From here on out, it’s only us. I’ll rip the entire world apart to keep her safe, and I’m glad she knows that.
WINTER
The house is quiet. Everyone else was already asleep by the time we finally got home from the nightmare at Black Crown Resort. I’m actually pretty grateful for that. I love our little found family, but I’m exhausted and to be honest, I’m not ready to be around anyone except Tristan right now.
I’ve just taken a long bath in Tristan’s bathroom, trying to wash away everything we’ve been through. I was never bonded with Mr. Vale whatsoever, but finding out he only fostered me to use me as payment to Onyx Dominion is a wild feeling. The bath helped relax me a little though, and just being back in this house, in this room really, feels like utter relief.
