Chapter 28 #2
"Convince someone you love them, and they'll give you everything: loyalty, secrets, even their life. I mean… love is the reason Honor killed your brother, Navy."
My gaze settled on Honor. "You did it on purpose… for him?"
"I did," Honor answered coldly. "It was him or you, and I'm always gonna choose you."
"Ah!" Lucian beamed with delight. "I'm so happy you said that."
Lucian snapped his fingers, and a server appeared instantly, carrying a tray with a silver lid. When he reached Lucian, he lifted the lid. Lucian grabbed the gun resting on the tray and stood, then slowly walked around the table until he was standing behind Choyce and me.
"Before I can give you everything I worked so hard for. I need to know you're capable of making the hard choices."
Honor's brows furrowed. "What the fuck is this?" he gritted.
Lucian smiled. "Choose."
He gestured toward us. "Choyce… or Navy."
Choose.
The word echoed in my head like it had been shouted in an empty house.
Was he serious?
The thought felt laughable because Lucian rarely joked about anything. My heart started beating so loudly I was sure everyone could hear it. I glanced toward Choyce as tears glistened in her eyes.
"Remember what you promised me, Honor," she whispered.
"This is not happening," Chosyn stated, eyeing her sister. The two had never looked more alike than they did right now. The same wounded stare lived in both of their eyes, but behind Chosyn's brown ones burned a fire that Choyce didn't have.
"That's where you're wrong, Chosyn," Lucian interjected. "This is happening, and Honor must choose."
"You think you can toy with people because your name holds weight?"
Chosyn's gaze stayed locked on Lucian, but her hand drifted slowly toward the knife resting beside her plate.
Lucian chuckled. "I think I can toy with people because I hold the power that determines whether they live or die."
"Not today." Chosyn's eyes dropped for half a second. When they came back up, the knife was already in her hand. Her chair scraped back, as she lunged for Lucian.
"Chosyn!" Wolfe barked, but it was too late.
She made it behind Choyce, arm raised, knife slicing through the air, before two broad arms wrapped around her from behind.
So much happened at once that no one noticed Wolfe already moving toward his wife, gun raised and aimed at the man restraining her.
Crown stood next, with his gun aimed at Lucian.
Rize followed suit. The only ones still seated were the women and Honor.
River looked frightened while the twins held murderous glares.
"Twins, take Four outta here!" Crown barked.
"I'm not—"
"Get the fuck outta here, River," he snapped, using her name, which he rarely did.
"Fine! But I swear to God if that one—" she jabbed a finger at Crown, "doesn't make it home tonight, you better pray these niggas kill you before I get my hands on you."
Lucian chuckled smugly. "Another feisty one. I see the Gravehart men have a type."
River opened her mouth to say more, but Crown cut her off. "Go."
River nodded, then looked toward the twins. "Grab that pan of Ziti and the garlic bread. My babies are hungry."
Kyree grabbed everything River wanted. Then Crown added, "Kysre, grab that shrimp scampi too."
"Are y'all fucking serious?" I snapped.
Guns were drawn.
Death loomed in the room.
And they were worried about fucking food.
"Niggas still gotta eat, Navy." Crown shrugged.
I shook my head and let my gaze fall on Honor. For twenty-plus years, I watched him make impossible decisions, fight battles no one else understood, protect those he might've betrayed in the name of his love for me, but never have I seen him hesitate to choose me.
"Honor," I murmured. I needed him to say something because his expression was unreadable, like he was calculating his next move while the rest of us were trapped inside a nightmare.
My hands started to sweat as I glanced around the room.
Something wasn't right. Lucian's security wasn't anywhere in sight.
That alone was strange, considering guns were pointed in every direction.
Then I saw the brief flicker of confusion on Lucian's face through my plate when he realized the same.
He chuckled behind me, pretending none of it mattered.
"Take your time," he said lazily. "After all, this decision determines who lives and who dies."
"Chosyn, I love you," Choyce cried, tears streaming down her face.
"No!" Chosyn screamed. "No! This isn't happening like this!"
She twisted violently in the man's grip, her arm whipping backward as the knife sliced across his forearm.
He cursed, loosening his hold for half a second as blood spilled down his sleeve.
That half second was all Wolfe needed. The crack of a gunshot exploded through the dining room.
The man's head snapped back, and his body collapsed to the floor.
Wolfe grabbed Chosyn before she could move again and dragged her against his chest while she fought to stab Lucian.
"Take her out of here," Honor grimly instructed.
"Nigga, what?" Wolfe frowned, tightening his hold around his wife as she fought against him.
"Take her outside," Crown repeated.
Wolfe's eyes moved between his brothers, confusion flashing across his face as he tried to understand what he'd missed.
"Now!" Honor ordered, his voice firmer.
Chosyn thrashed the knife harder.
"Wolfe, please," she cried as he lifted her off the ground. "Don't let them do this! Don't let them kill my sister! I just got her back. I just got her back!" Her voice cracked as Wolfe carried her toward the door. "Choyce, I love you! Navy, I love you!"
Her screams faded down the hallway, but the desperation in them clung to the room like smoke. Lucian didn't move or flinch, not even glancing at the body bleeding out on his dining room floor. Instead, a slow, amused smile curled across his face.
"Such passion," he murmured, grabbing his glass of champagne, swirling it around like this was all for his entertainment. His eyes slid back to Honor.
"Well?"
The gun shifted slightly behind my head.
"Your time is running out."
The entire room felt as if it were holding its breath. The candle flames flickered against the walls, the only movement in a space that had gone unnervingly still.
Wolfe was gone. River was gone. The twins were gone.
The lone security guard laid motionless on the floor, blood slowly spreading beneath him.
Even the servers had disappeared. What had once looked like a lavish family dinner now felt like a stage set up for something darker, and Lucian seemed to be the only one who hadn't realized it yet.
"Honor, make your choice," Lucian eerily said. "If I have to make it for you, there'll be more than one body leaving this house tonight."
Across the table, Honor hadn't moved. His eyes drifted to Choyce first. Her head was bowed, shoulders trembling as quiet sobs slipped past her lips.
He then looked at me. For twenty years, I'd known that man's face better than my own reflection.
I'd watched every emotion cross it. Love, rage, devotion, jealousy — I've seen it all.
But right now, I couldn't read him. I searched his face for something, anything I could cling to, but all I saw was distance.
A part of me wanted to scream, to remind him of every promise we'd ever made, to tell him to kill Choyce because she wasn't a part of us.
However, those words were trapped in my throat because the choice was his.
So instead of begging, instead of crying, I just watched him, waiting to see if twenty years of loving each other meant anything at all.
"Time's up," Lucian declared, cocking the gun. The faint click cut through the room like Chosyn swinging the knife.
Choyce's sobs grew louder.
Mine stayed silent.
Honor inhaled slowly. "Choyce."
My heart dropped into my stomach. Every fucking feeling I had for him disappeared all at once like his choice flipped the switch in my chest. Then the cold metal of the gun pressed against the back of my head. I closed my eyes, unable to look at the man who'd just betrayed me.
Betrayed us.
Years of loving him collapsed in a single moment, crumbling into ashes I'd thought we'd never see.
Behind me, Lucian exhaled slowly. Then I heard it.
The faint creak of his finger tightening around the trigger.
For a split second, the world quieted enough for me to hear my own heartbeat pounding in my ears.
And then…