Chapter 25 #2
“I didn’t create anything!” He’s screaming now, definitely on the edge.
Close to making a very big error in judgment.
“Her father ran. Disappeared. Left me holding nothing but my dick while my deadline got closer and closer. And there I was, watching you play house with the one piece of leverage I had left.”
“So you took her.”
“I had no choice.” His voice drops. “Cinco wants blood. Mine or someone else’s. And I decided it wasn’t going to be mine.”
I take another step.
“Stay back. I’ll shoot her. Her brains will be all over you and your fucking brother.”
“Nope.” I shake my head. “You already said you need her alive.”
“I just need her alive. I don’t need her comfortable.” With his other hand, he grabs her hair and yanks her head back. Then he pulls a knife from his waistband and holds it to her throat. “One cut. Not deep enough to kill, but bad enough to make you think twice about coming any closer.”
“Declan.” Molly’s voice is steady. Calm. “I’m okay.”
“Shut up.” Leon pierces her throat, and a spot of blood appears on her skin. I grit my teeth.
“She’s right,” I say. “She is okay. Because you’re not going to hurt her.”
“You think you can stop me?”
“You bet your ass.” I nod. “And I think you’re already dead. You just don’t know it yet.”
At that second, Molly twists in Leon’s grip and drops, driving her elbow right into his junk. It shocks and knocks him off balance. Fuck, her hands were free the whole time. Her wrists are raw and bloody. I don’t know how the hell she managed to get free, but she did.
That’s my fucking girl.
He slashes at her with the knife but misses her throat. It catches her shoulder instead. She screams.
I fire a shot, but because I can’t risk hitting her, it goes too wide and misses him.
Leon tries to grab her again, the gun in his flailing hand, knife in the other. Molly scrambles away. He fires a shot that ricochets against the cinderblock wall. He’s a fucking horrible shot, thank fuck.
Another bullet cracks and Leon screams, dropping the gun. His hand was blown apart by the shot my brother just fired. His eyes blaze with rage as he lunges for me with the knife.
I catch his wrist. We go down hard, crashing into palettes. My gun skitters across the concrete floor.
He’s stronger than he looks. Desperate. The knife slashes toward my face and I barely twist away. The blade catches my cheek. Hot blood runs down my jaw.
No bullets are fired. We’re too close for Cal to get a clean shot.
“You should have stayed in Ireland, you punk bastard,” Leon snarls, pressing down on me with all his weight. “And I should have let her die in that truckyard.”
I lean forward and headbutt him. His nose crunches. Blood sprays out of his nostrils.
But he doesn’t let go of the knife. He drives it down toward my chest and I catch his wrist again, this time with both hands, straining to keep the blade away from me.
“I’m going to kill you,” he yells, pushing harder. “Then I’m going to kill her. And your fucking brother. Then I’m going to disappear like her father, and no one will ever fucking find me.”
“You talk too much,” I rasp. Then I twist his wrist. Something snaps. He screams and the knife falls from his hand.
I grab it and drive it into his shoulder. He screams again, louder.
“That’s for Molly.”
I rip the knife out. Blood spurts.
“That’s for Lola.”
I drive it into his other shoulder.
“And that’s for making me chase you across this fucking city.”
Leon’s screaming now, writhing on the floor. I leave the knife in him and stumble to my feet, looking for my gun.
Molly’s got it.
She stands over Leon, hands shaking, blood running down the side of her neck from where he cut her. The gun is pointed at his head.
“Molly—”
“He was going to kill you.” Her voice is steady and cold. “He was going to trade you to the cartel and let them torture you to death.”
“I know.”
“He set me up in Queens. He used that stalker to terrorize me for months. He drugged me and tied me up and—” Her voice cracks. “He used me, Declan. Made me trust him. Made me defend him to you.”
“I know.” I move toward her slowly. “Give me the gun, Molly.”
“He deserves to die.”
“He does.” I’m close enough to touch her now. “But not by your hand. Not like this.”
Her finger tightens on the trigger. Leon whimpers on the ground, trying to crawl away.
“Please,” he gasps. “Please, I’ll disappear, I’ll never—”
“Molly.” I put my hand over her trembling one. “Look at me.”
She does. Her copper eyes are full of fury and fear.
“Let me do this. Let me carry it so you don’t have to.”
For a long moment, she doesn’t move. Then she lets me take the gun.
I turn to Leon. He’s still trying to crawl, leaving a trail of blood.
“You ruined everything,” he wheezes. “I was gonna be somebody.”
“Wrong. You were always destined to be nobody.” I raise the gun. “You just didn’t know it.”
I shoot him in the head.
A second shot shatters the air. Cal, from the doorway.
Two holes. Close together.
I pull Molly into my arms.
She’s shaking. Covered in blood…hers, mine, his. But she’s alive. She’s here.
“I’ve got you,” I say. “I’ve got you, Molly girl.”
She buries her face in my chest. Her whole body trembles.
“He was supposed to be my friend,” she whispers. “I trusted him.”
“I know.”
“I defended him to you. Over and over. And the whole time—”
“It’s not your fault.” I hold her tighter. “He fooled everyone. That’s what people like him do.”
“I should have seen it.”
“You couldn’t have predicted this.” I pull back and look at her face. There’s blood on her cheek. Tears cutting through the streaks. “But it’s over now. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
“Cops are on the way,” Cal says. “We need to move.”
“She’s hurt.”
“I’m fine.” Molly tries to stand on her own. Her legs buckle.
I catch her. “You’re not fine. You were drugged, tied up, and cut with a knife. We’re getting you to a doctor.”
“Declan—”
“Don’t argue with me.” I scoop her up, ignoring her protests. “Just let me take care of you.”
She’s quiet for a moment. Then she loops her arms around my neck and leans her head against my shoulder.
“Okay,” she says softly.
Cal leads the way out. Torin covers our backs. We move through the building and out into the night air.
The car’s waiting. I slide into the back with Molly still in my arms.
“Is Lola okay?” she asks. It’s the first real question she asks since we left the warehouse.
“Seamus took him to the vet. He’s going to be okay.”
She lets out a shaky breath. “And Raffy?”
“Fine. Arnold and Clawzy held him back. The scratch on his hand is nothing.”
“Good.” She closes her eyes.
I hold her as Cal starts the car. We pull away from the warehouse after leaving Leon’s body behind.
It’s over. The threats are gone. Her father’s been found. Leon’s dead.
She’s safe.
So why does my chest feel like it’s full of broken glass?
Because I know what comes next. I know what I have to do.
I let out a shuddering sigh and stroke Molly’s hair.
And it’s going to destroy us both.