Page 62 of Hostile Bond
He had listened to me.
Heheardme.
Of course, my husband understands the thirst for vengeance and how that dark need can only be satisfied by the act itself. But do I have what it takes to kill a man––to execute his uncle in the same way Mammy was murdered? In cold blood.
“Bullshit. The little viper had her chance a long time ago, and couldn’t pull the trigger. Just because she’s your wife doesn’t mean she’s like us.” He glances in my direction and pins me with a malignant glower.
“Don’t look at her. Eyes back on me, Sean.”
Slowly, Sean runs his tongue under his top lip, tasting coppery blood in his mouth and looks away.
“Fuck you, Dré…” His breathless voice is harsher than a sunless winter, his arm shaking from adrenaline as he holds his gun in the air and points it at Dré. “If this is your game then I’ll get rid of you and take the bitch as my bride. I’ll enjoying fucking her while I sit on Sapori’s throne as the godfather of Sicily.”
The second those words leave his mouth; I lunge at him from the side. “I’d rather die than let you fuck me!”
Using my body weight, I bulldoze him sideways and wallop him with the poker. A bullet fires as he staggers awkwardly, its path askew and clipping the far wall, a pointless target.
Simultaneously, André fires too. Lead whizzes through the air and tunnels into Sean’s thigh. His leg gives way, and he collapses, landing hard on his elbow. His handgun skids out of reach.
The gunfire welcomes the arrival of two armed men from outside, both on high alert.
“Don’t shoot… this is between my wife and Sean.” André commands, lowering to his haunches beside his uncle. He shakes his head and slowly twists the barrel of his revolver into the seeping wound. “You lied to me, Uncle, didn’t you?”
“About what?” Sean hisses through clenched teeth.
“You didn’t look for her… because you were the one who made her run away from me. Isn’t that right?” Sean grits his teeth through the pain, his hands fisting as he tries to scramble away. Agony shoots through his leg, paralyzing him. “And you’re right, she did run away again… but that was your fault too. This day was going to arrive eventually. I just never imagined it would be you who’d pay for busting up her pretty face when she was only a kid. As for being a little viper, well, that might actually be true––but guess what––she’smylittle viper. And that’s all that matters.”
My blood bubbles and seethes. I inch closer and stare down at my enemy, quietly observing his pained struggle and the rise of fury flushing his complexion. There’s not a shred of empathy in my bones. Only an artic chill of abhorrence in its place.
“Not so cocky now, Sean?” My tone spits fire and ice in equal measure.
Sean’s menacing gaze clashes with mine like sharpened hunting daggers in battle. “The funny thing about this situation is how you think you can fuck with me.” He smirks. “I shot yer ma in the head, little viper. Shame I never got to fuck her again, but maybe––” His jaw clenches when André’s gun burrows deeper into his wound. “Motherfucker!”
“Enough!” André leans in closer to him. “Do not speak to her.”
“Or what?”
“I’ll cut up your lying tongue and choke you with it.”
Sean forces out a menacing chuckle. “And Conal will gouge out her eyes before he lets her go in the forest. You know our family’s estate, where traitors run for their lives and Conal hunts them for sport?” Dré visibly stiffens. “That’s her fate, nephew––and yours. The Hennessys will finish this bullshit once and for all, you psycho fuck.” His smug smile fades as he throws a foot out to kick me. André’s protective instincts take over immediately and he forcibly swats it back down. However, that was Sean’s plan to distract him. In the mere seconds his focus switches to protect me, Sean launches the front of his head at André’s nose. “Conal will only get to you if I don’t fuck you up first.”
The sound of bone cracking is followed by a river of blood. It streams from André’s nostrils. The assault temporarily stunning him. Sean seizes the moment and wraps both of his hands around the gun, fighting to take control of it. Testing their well-matched strength, their muscles straining as the aim moves like a pendulum between them.
I won’t lose André too.
I can’t.
This is it.
The pivotal moment in my life when I choose my husband over my conscience. When I’m free of secrets and ready to earn my seat in Hell beside him.
Whether it’s the sight of crimson blood pouring from his fractured nose, the very real threat of him dying, or the painful memory of Sean murdering my mother, I snap—turning feral. Absolutely animalistic.
My instincts become lethal.
Single-minded.
Wild.
