Chapter 32 – Nate
One second, we were watching Dominic haul Greyson out of the hole, and the next, we were flying.
Or, more accurately, falling.
“I wasn’t aware there was a trap door in the bar,” I groaned.
The sounds of men screaming and random pops of gunfire above us would hide our yells, so no way the others could hear us down here. Wherever the hell here was.
“There isn’t one,” Mari said.
“What?”
“We don’t have a trap door in the bar.”
“A serious oversight on your part.”
We both jerked at Cash’s voice, though Mari was quicker to get on her feet than I was. She had her gun up and pointed at him before I registered she’d moved at all.
Cash clicked his tongue like a disapproving father. “Better put that down. Wouldn’t want the whole place to blow.”
He tipped his head back, that manic fire that preceded his worst plans obvious, and my eyes widened. He’d taped a fuck-ton of explosives to the far wall, more than enough to level not just the building but the entire street.
“Are you fucking stupid?” Hauling myself to my feet, I kept my body between him and Mari.
“One stray bullet and we’re all dead.” Mari shook her head.
Obviously, I’d forgotten that my brother hadn’t been a rational person in a long time. All he did was shrug. “I’m ready to die today. Are you?”
Not a chance, but with bullets flying around upstairs, we needed to get this done and get the fuck out of the club before it blew.
Mari stared at the wall before carefully handing her gun to me then stripping off the rest and laying them at my feet. After that, she moved to the knives.
I looked between her and my brother, finding him doing the same with his own cache of weapons. “What the hell are you doing? Put those back on.”
Cash had spent most of his adult life strung out, but he was still bigger than Mari in every way. Her training meant she could take him, but it wouldn’t be pretty. Far easier just to shoot the fucker and move on.
“I’m ending this.”
“Not like this,” I begged. “Just shoot him and be done.”
“I’m not blowing us all up.”
Cash had positioned himself right in front of the explosive wall, and I had no doubt he’d do his best to stay near it throughout the fight. Mari was right; one stray bullet and we were all done.
“You too, little brother. Weapons off. I promise it’ll be a fair fight.”
Not a fucking chance.
Mari didn’t even glance at me. “Do it, Nate.”
“This is a bad idea.” I still did it, even when my stomach was screaming at me. Who was I to decide how Mari got her revenge? Who was I to take this away from her? If she wanted to inflict pain for all she’d suffered, that was her right.
I didn’t fucking like it, though.
“I’ll let you keep one knife each,” Cash said, kicking his own pile away.
“Deal.” Leaning into me, she whispered, “Trust me.”
I did. It was Cash I didn’t trust, and for good reason.
We all checked one another for weapons, making sure no one had more than the one allotted knife before I took my place at the wall. It felt wrong to watch, knowing Cash was going to hit Mari. Wrong to stand aside and let her take the hits I knew she needed to feel.
This was her atonement, and even if I didn’t think she needed it, it was obvious she felt she did.
They circled each other, both testing the waters, trying to find the other’s weaknesses.
Finally, Cash grinned. “Fuck it.”
His first punch grazed her temple, throwing her off-balance just as much as his body weight did, but she kept her feet. Shoving at him, she went hard, trying to get at any soft spots she could find.
Eyes, neck, diaphragm, balls. Whatever she could reach, she went for.
Mari unleashed on my brother, but his eyes were glittering. He enjoyed having her in front of him. Enjoyed seeing how much he’d pissed her off. That rage fueled him as much as the madness did. It made him cocky.
Too cocky.
A solid kick to his wrist knocked the knife out of his hand, sending it careening into the shadows. Cash lunged for the pile, and Mari followed. She blocked him from the other weapons, slowly backing him into a corner that was too small for his big frame. It limited his movements to defense only, while Mari had the freedom to attack as she saw fit.
And she did.
She snapped his head back with a punch to the neck, following it with one to the throat. While he was bent over gasping, she sent her knee to his ribs until they cracked too.
Over and over, she beat him until he was down on one knee with an eye swelling shut and no way out.
Mari had Cash trapped, and he knew it.
Which was why he raised a gun he must have hidden somewhere and shot at me.
Instinct had me on the floor before the sound ricocheted around us, and the bullet dug into the wall close to where I’d stood.
Thank fuck it’s not the wall with explosives.
I tried to call out to Mari that I was okay, but she was already whipping around, my name on her lips.
I got a firsthand look as Cash jumped on her, watching in horror as he took her down.
They rolled, Mari trying to get the upper hand before a loud crack stopped her. Her voice was tight with pain when he wrenched her knife away from her now-limp arm. It too went into the shadows, and then it was just the two of them. But while Mari had done some damage, Cash still had the use of both his hands. She didn’t.
She fought to get some space between them, fought to have some breathing room, but it wasn’t working.
Go to her. Help her. Kill him. But she didn’t want my help. My desire to keep her safe warred with her desire to free herself from Cash’s demons, and I wasn’t sure what the best decision was.
He had to die, but it had to be the right way.
Somehow, Mari got the space she wanted and rolled out from under him, getting to her feet on wobbly knees. She was breathing heavily, obviously hurting and down a fully functioning arm. She needed a fucking weapon.
“Don’t,” she croaked, seeing me reach for the pile. “Let me finish this.”
He stalked her steps, punching every which way. He cracked her in the head again, and she was disoriented and stumbling on her feet. I could see her blinking hard, trying to remember what was around so she could decide where to go.
That’s it.
I only had the one knife on me, and I wasn’t going to let it go to waste.
Throwing was out since they were moving too fast and I didn’t want to hit Mari, so I crept up behind them, blade at the ready, and waited. My body swayed as I lightly followed Cash’s movements until I found my moment.
When he dodged one of Mari’s punches, I sank the knife deep into his shoulder.
He roared, twisting until he could shove a blade of his own into my leg. The pain stole my breath, then expanded when he ripped it out and did it again. Blood poured down my leg, and I wondered if he’d hit the artery, but I doubted it. He could’ve, but it was more than obvious Cash preferred to play with his food. “You should’ve stayed out of it, little brother. Now I’m tired of playing.”
Mari was weaving on her feet when he backhanded her into the cement wall, her good hand too slow to protect her head. The crack echoed through the room, sliding into my bones in a way I knew I’d never be able to unhear.
Mari’s body wobbled, then dropped to the floor with a thump.
She didn’t get back up.
Oh God. Please, no.
“Mari?” I whispered, coughing as the dust from the wall got into my mouth.
“Mari,” Cash mocked. “Your girl’s dead. Good riddance, too. The bitch made this fucking impossible.”
I didn’t listen to him, didn’t look at him. I couldn’t turn away from Mari.
How still she was.
The blood pooling beside her head.
Was her back even rising?
You can’t be dead. You can’t leave me.
“You shouldn’t worry about her, brother. Her death was quick. Yours is going to be a lot more painful.”
He came at me, hands flying and mind fully engaged. That was the thing about Cash. He could be manic at times, but he was determined. If he set his sights on something—taking the city, killing Mari, destroying me—it would require a force of nature to stop him. His hyperfocus was unmatched when he wanted it to be.
Right now, his hyperfocus was on removing me from the playing field.
Which was good, because mine was the same.
We battled each other with heavy blows and harsh kicks. Cash threw taunting words too, picking at wounds he knew would hurt any other day.
Today, I was numb.
Mari still hadn’t moved.
I threw myself into the action, dodging a kick to the ribs and delivering my own to the dick. Fighting dirty probably wouldn’t get me much respect right now, but I didn’t really care.
He’d hurt my Mari.
My angel.
She was on the floor bleeding because of him.
She’d lost her brother, her cousins, her family because of him.
I wasn’t going to let this moment go to waste.
She’d have her vengeance, even if it came through me.
“You’re going to regret that,” I said carefully.
“I doubt it, but let’s see what you can do, little brother.” He rushed my legs, hauling me into the air and dropping me hard. Something popped, and I wheezed with the effort of drawing air. Ribs. He fractured my ribs.
Probably worse than that, but I wouldn’t know until I got an X-ray.
Blinking hard, I tried to force my lungs to suck in a breath, but he’d knocked the wind out of me.
No matter, breath would come eventually. I just had to stay alive until then. Mari needed me to finish this.
Cash didn’t have the same idea. He pulled my head up and smashed it back down on the floor below us. I groaned, feeling skin split and blood pour. Head wounds were notoriously heavy bleeders, so I couldn’t be sure he’d done lasting damage.
Feet planted on the floor, I rolled us, tossing hard blows to his ribs as I went. For every injury he gave me, I’d give him one back. Cash landed on his back much softer than I had, already on the offensive. He slid his knees up to keep me from pinning him and swung an elbow at my nose. The crack made my eyes water, but I doubled down, punching every exposed area I could. Finally, he got his legs in a place where he could kick my chest, shoving me off him long enough to get to his feet.
“You were always weak,” he taunted. “Too weak to lead, too weak to live.”
“Yet here I am, alive.” My leg lifted into a roundhouse before I’d even consciously thought it, taking Cash straight in the jaw.
“For now.” He grinned, blood dripping from his mouth. “Not for long, though.”
Being a merc had taught me a lot about defeating my opponents. How to watch their bodies for what they’d do next, how to get in their heads and throw them off their game. How to hunt down my prey.
This was the culmination. Cash’s death would come from the monster he’d made.
How fitting.
We battled until we were both sweating and exhausted. Every move I made, Cash blocked. Every punch he threw, I swerved. Despite my training and the age gap between us, we were too similar. But Cash had one thing on me.
Unpredictability.
Just as he was swinging a serious left hook, he dropped to his knees and sent it toward my legs instead. His punch landed square at the bend of my knee, and it took me out. I wasn’t on my back for a second before he sprang and laid into me.
Every punch had a different reminder.
“Poor little Nate with his fucked-up mom and his dead girlfriend. I’m so sad. Everyone around me dies. You could’ve been a hero. You could’ve ruled this fucking city at my side, but instead, you chose her. Was it worth betraying your brother?”
“Yes,” I hissed.
His eyes tightened, and he moved, trapping my arms between his legs and my own body so I couldn’t get them out. Couldn’t defend myself as he wrapped his hands around my neck and squeezed.
This wasn’t the gentle choke of two brothers horsing around; this was stealing the breath from my lungs. Killing me slowly and painfully.
There was no mercy in suffocation. No mercy in the panic that came when air wouldn’t.
This was Cash’s final torture. “I always knew you weren’t fit to be my brother, and you’ve proven me right time and time again. But this is too far. She is too far.” He shook my head, hands tightening their grip. “You’re a pathetic excuse for a Beckstrom.”
“Good thing I’m not a Beckstrom,” I spat. “I’m a Marcosa.”
That was the ultimate sin to my brother. Giving up my name, my birthright, for her.
He couldn’t allow me to survive the disrespect.
Cash bore down on my neck with nothing but rage and death in his eyes. That was fine. My reason for living was gone anyway.
Black spots danced in my vision, slowly crowding the world until all I could see was darkness. I tried to extricate my hands, tried to shift so I could get him off my chest, but there was no freeing myself. I was going to die with him in front of me.
Fuck that.
I tried to turn my head just a little. I didn’t want to die with my brother’s face in front of me. I wanted to see Mari.
My girl.
My angel.
The love of my fucking life.
I wanted to look at her as the world went black and acknowledge that I had been a lucky bastard to have her in my life.
To hold her. Kiss her. Comfort her.
To get her back when she could’ve walked away for good at any time.
To die wearing her ring, carrying her name—which was more than I’d ever thought I’d have.
So, I fought Cash’s grip enough to twist my head so I could leave this world with her face in my mind.
Only, she wasn’t there.
Before I had a chance to wonder where the hell she’d gone, someone appeared behind Cash.
Blood dripping down her face, skin exposed in all the spots her clothes were torn, and a look of pure rage on her face, she’d never been more beautiful.
My Mari.
My angel of vengeance had come to take her pound of flesh.