Chapter 33 – Mari
The tackle was off-kilter because my head was fucking killing me, but it did the job. Cash flew off his brother, my weight taking him to the floor. It wouldn’t have worked if he hadn’t been distracted, but it didn’t matter. Nate’s pained gasp was music to my ears even as my skin scraped against the rocks.
Peering over, I saw him blink, saw him try to focus, and told myself that was enough for the moment. He’s alive. Now, get to work.
Pushing through every ounce of pain, I fought to get to my knees at the same time Cash struggled to his. A moment of stillness lingered as we looked each other over—weary and bleeding—and I knew we had the same thought.
Only one of us would leave this room. Only one could survive.
And I knew exactly who it would be.
I threw myself at him, knowing that I had to make him unsteady if I had a chance. He was weak without the coke, and he’d obviously hit his head at some point. If I could wear him out before I got too tired to fight, it was over.
All I had to do was finish him first.
My fist glanced off his jaw, and he threw another punch at me that clipped my injured shoulder. But I was already dipping, already shoving the bottom of my foot into his knee. It crumpled, but he kept his feet.
Lucky bastard.
“Come on, queenie. Show me what you’ve got.” His lips tipped to one side, even as his leg tried to give out on him, and I almost laughed in his face at how fucking pathetic he was, trying to play the big man right now.
Men like Cash were so cocky. They thought brute strength would get them what they wanted, but longevity was the real key. He could beat my ass into the ground, but I could outlast him in the ring. And that was exactly what I’d do.
We circled each other, but he never made the first move. It was always me taking a swipe before retreating. Me who forced him to use his energy.
Almost like he wasn’t sure he could handle me anymore.
I liked that.
“What’s wrong?” I taunted. “Struggling to know what to do when I’m not tied up like a fucking present?”
Cash’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t like when I talked back. Didn’t like when I made him feel like less than a man.
Well, joke was on him because he was less than a man. Anyone who preyed on kids and attacked innocents was nothing more than scum. An infestation I was all too happy to wipe out.
When he still didn’t move first, I laughed. “You’re fucking pathetic, Cash. Can’t handle a woman if she’s not unconscious first. Can’t run a business without snorting half of it. Can’t be the leader of your family without your little brother messing things up. You’re a fucking waste. An old man too focused on power to realize what you stole was never yours to begin with.”
Red muddied his face even below the dripping blood, and the vein in his forehead pulsed heavily. “You fucking bitch.”
“Wow, so creative,” I deadpanned. “Try harder next time, yeah? A third grader could insult me better.”
“I’m going to keep you alive just so I can fuck you in front of your weak little boyfriends, and then I’m going to pass you around to my men. Doubt you’ll be talking so much when they’re done with you.”
“So your men are the real threat. Good to know.” His jaw popped and he clenched his teeth, but I didn’t let up. “As for my men, are you sure you want me to compare you to Nate? Because he’s been fucking me so good, I’m not sure you can compete. I certainly haven’t heard good things. Having trouble lately?”
Egotistical men were hard to hurt. In their minds, they were too big to damage. Too powerful to injure. But their pride? That shit was an Achilles’ heel. Find the right button, and they went down.
Fun fact, prolonged cocaine use caused sexual dysfunction. It had only taken Nate one call to confirm with one of the girls the Aces passed around.
Cash couldn’t get it up.
I could admit it was a low blow, but if exploiting Cash’s impotence got him to show me his neck, I’d do it every goddamn time. Whatever it took to slay the dragon.
Also, he fucking started it.
Cash’s chest heaved, eyes wild with anger at just the mention of his little problem. When I lifted a hand and made my little pinkie wilt like a dying daisy? That was the final straw.
His roar echoed around us as he charged, throwing punch after punch. I dodged most until he finally landed one straight to my jaw. He’d put his whole weight into it, and the force of the collision of his fist to my face tossed him backward. He tried to correct himself, but he was still wobbling when I saw my move and took it.
Bending my knees, I bolted for him, dropping my uninjured shoulder just in time to take Cash off his feet. His head cracked against the rock, and he groaned, struggling to right himself. To come back up for more.
He was mistaken. There would be no getting up for him again.
Pouncing on him, I knew this was it. My moment, my second of divine retribution. All I had to do was take it.
And take it, I did.
Using Cash’s disorientation to my advantage, I trapped him the same way he’d trapped Nate—arms clenched between my thighs—and let myself go. My knuckles were already split, so the blood pooling on his face was a mixture of us both, but I didn’t stop, grateful I’d been taught to fight with both hands.
“You thought you beat us. You thought you won, and here you are, sniveling under me like the coward you are.” The next punch hit him in the throat, and the sound of Cash gasping was so satisfying I wanted to do it again.
Go slow. Make it hurt. Do it for everyone you’ve hurt.
Crack. Crack. Crack. “That’s for Mama Ophelia. Kosas’s family. Sabine.”
Crack. Crack.“For Aislynn and Shara, whom you’ve terrorized.” Crack.
The last punch threw me off-balance, and I nearly unseated myself. My hand landed on a wedge of rock that fit perfectly in my palm. A sign from the gods.
Nate called for me as I hefted it above my head.
It was time to end this, once and for all.
“This is for your brother, who spent his entire life being tortured by you.” My muscles bunched as I threw myself into the hit, cracking Cash’s cheek. Smash.
“For Greyson and Dominic, whom you nearly killed.” Smash.
“For Antoni and Rey, whom you did kill.” Smash.
I held the rock above his barely breathing form while my own chest heaved. “And this? This is for me. Rot in hell, you fucking asshole.”
The sound of the rock taking the last bit of Cash’s life would forever be ingrained in my memory. I could live to be a thousand and never forget. It was the sound of the restraints he’d shackled me in breaking, the sound of my city getting its freedom back.
It was the sound of living.
I dropped the rock to the side, sitting back on my haunches and just breathing. Blood speckled my body, making my skin tight as it dried, and my arms felt this close to giving out. But my heart? That was lighter than a fucking feather. Nate scrambled to my side, hauling me closer and checking over every square inch of me for injuries. I wasn’t sure he even saw Cash anymore, he was so focused on me.
“Fuck, I thought I lost you.”
“I’m okay.”
He didn’t answer, his big hands cradling my head as he took in what had to be a nasty cut. The backhanded blow had rocked me, but it had really been just a glance. “Where else are you hurt?
“Nate.”
He couldn’t hear me, too focused on pulling at my shirt so he could check my sides, my arms, my hands. “I have to see where you’re hurt, angel. Is it your arm?”
Pretty sure he’s in shock. I tried again. “Nate.”
He shook his head, reaching for my buckle without a thought beyond making sure I was okay. “The others are coming soon. They’ll get us out of here?—”
“Nate.” He finally looked at me then, and I clutched his hand. “He’s dead. Cash is dead.”
“What?” He turned to the corpse beside us and stared at it in confusion. People often thought the nightmare ended when the demon died, but it was more difficult to recognize the end when you’d been trying so hard to survive the middle. The closing of a chapter felt as impossible as flying to the moon in a hot-air balloon.
But when it hit, it was euphoric.
It took Nate touching Cash, feeling for himself that he had no heartbeat, for him to realize it was truly over.
“Cash is dead.” Those three words preceded the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen. A laugh crept between Nate’s lips, and he didn’t even try to stifle it. “He’s dead. He’s dead!”
Even with his voice raspy, eyes bloodshot, and a ring of purple creeping around his neck, Nate looked lighter than I’d ever seen him. It was as if his brother’s death had stolen back the weight that hadn’t been his to carry. He looked relieved and resolved and…free.
Nate looked free.
He hauled me into his arms and kissed me until we were both panting for air. “You did it.”
“We did it,” I corrected. “How does it feel?”
“Like I’m a new man.” He nuzzled my nose with his. “Your man.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“Good, because I’ve decided I much prefer being a Marcosa to being a Black. You’re stuck with me.” He didn’t let me respond before he wrapped a hand around my neck and took my mouth again.
My body hurt and Nate looked like he was barely upright, but clearly, neither of us cared because we did it again. We smiled and laughed and kissed, and when the frantic calls of our names got louder, I wanted to cry because there they were. My other men. Probably bruised, maybe even broken, but they were alive.
We were alive.
I couldn’t say the same for everyone else, but my family had survived, and that meant everything to me.
“What are we going to do now?” Nate whispered, and I grinned.
The war was over. We’d won.
Now, it was time to live.