Page 68 of Silent as Sin
We went down hard. The gun went wide. My fist found his jaw, his ribs, his throat, every strike fueled by every scream I imagined Wren had given over the years. Bones buckled but clawed back, a savage animal, his teeth bared as he caught my arm and tried to twist me off.
We hit the wall with a crash that rattled steel. My knuckles split on his cheekbone, pain sharp and grounding. He grabbed for the gun, fingers brushing metal, but Scyth’s boot kicked it out of reach. Behind us I heard Wren cry out, the brothers shouting, the chaos of it all, but I didn’t stop. Not until the fight bled out of him.
Bones dropped, chest heaving, blood streaking his mouth. Breath ragged, body broken, I pressed the barrel of his own gun to his temple. My voice was a growl from somewhere deep. “You don’t touch what’s mine.”
I pulled the trigger. Bones dropped, lifeless, the grin finally gone.
And then it was over.
The silence that followed was thick, broken only by Wren’s sob and the wet rattle of Dusty’s breath. I turned. He lay crumpled, blood blooming fast across his cut. Wren was already on her knees beside him, her hands pressed desperate to the wound, whispering his name, whispering please.
Dusty’s eyes found mine through the haze, glassy but sharp with regret. “Tell… tell my kids…” He coughed, blood catching in his throat, his hand twitching against Wren’s. “I love ‘em. Always.”
Wren’s tears fell silent onto his chest. My hand closed over hers, holding, steadying, because she was shaking too hard. Dusty’s chest rose once more, then stilled. His eyes went empty.
Gone.
For a long breath, no one spoke. The room was heavy with grief, sweat, blood, and the weight of too many choices. Maul swore low under his breath. Rex lowered his gun. Scyth muttered something that might have been a prayer.
I pulled Wren into me, my arms locking around her as if I could keep the whole damn world out. She buried her face against my chest, fists knotted in my cut, and I whispered intoher hair, fierce and raw, “You’re safe. I’ve got you. He’ll never touch you again.”
The others stood silent, heads bowed, not for Bones, but for Dusty. A brother who’d been lost, broken, and at the end had given everything he had left to make it right.
And I swore to myself, as I held the woman who was my whole damn world, that I’d never waste the second chance Dusty had bought us with his last breath.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
THE WORLD HADbeen loud, gunfire, shouting,the roar of rage and fear. But now, weeks later, it was quiet in a way I hadn’t thought possible.
The clubhouse was alive around me, laughter and voices spilling through the walls, but none of it felt threatening. It was safe here.I was safe here.
I sat at the window of Ashen’s room, sunlight warming my face, my fingers turning a simple piece of paper into a bird. My hands didn’t shake anymore.
Sometimes I thought of Dusty, the way he’d looked in those last moments, broken but brave, determined to make it right.He’d chosen me over his own fear. I whispered thank you into the night when no one else could hear. His sacrifice lived inside me, a reminder that even the most damaged hearts could find a way to choose love at the end.
I thought of who I’d been before, silent, small, trained to be nothing more than a shadow. And then of who I was now. I spoke when I wanted. I laughed when something was funny. I reached out and touched Ashen without hesitation. I wasn’t afraid of being heard anymore.
And sometimes, when I closed my eyes, I went back to that night, the warehouse, the gun pressed cold against my skin. For so long, silence had been my shield. But when the world threatened to end, I didn’t hide behind it. I broke it. I called out. I called for him.
Ashen.
The first word I chose to shout, and the only one that mattered.
A soft knock pulled me back. The door eased open and his shadow filled the room, long and familiar, steady as the man himself. Ashen. My green-eyed savior. My protector. My love.
He crossed the room in a few strides, his rough hands covering mine, the bird caught between us. His eyes softened when they found mine, the way they always did.
“You already took flight,” he murmured. “And I’ll never let you fall.”
When his lips brushed mine, warm and certain, I knew the truth of it in my bones. I wasn’t just surviving anymore. I was living.
With him. Forever.
My silence had once been my prison. Now it was mine to wield. A choice. A strength. And with Ashen beside me, I would never be caged again.
Silent as sin, only this time, it meant freedom.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
