MALACHI “I’m sorry we had to keep things away from you. We thought we could start something new, build something different with you. We were fools. We lied to ourselves. I would never be sorry for any life I’ve taken, any man, woman, or child I have brought down to have my way. I am not sorry I trampled on people to have everything I have today. And I would do it again and again to keep everything I’ve built, because that’s how the world works, Sarah Wellspring. Kill or be killed. Hunt or be hunted. You are either predator or prey. We picked a side a long time ago. It’s time for you to do the same.” I raise a brow at him. “What the hell does that even mean?” She takes the words out of my mouth. Really. What is he trying to say? “In six hours, there will be a gun in your hand pointed at the bastard who has you tied up,” His scowl deepens. “We would give you a choice to put a bullet in his throat. You can accept it or refuse it. But no matter what you pick, we would kill him.” “Are you insane? Six hours? She would certainly be dead before then.” Luke laughs out loud. Ronan isn’t bluffing. I do not know his plan, but he means every word. “You can decide to hurt her if you want to, Luke. Keeping her alive would guarantee you a swift, painless death. I cannot promise you anything but cruel pain if there’s a single scratch on her. Do with this information what you will.” “You’re monsters,” her voice is low, seething. “Take this phone out of my face. I never want to see or speak to any of them again.” And when her image vanishes from the screen, and Luke’s smug face takes its place, he finally lets go. We all do. Ronan pushes the phone to Jaxon who takes it in unsteady hands. “Turn it off,” I mutter to Jaxon. My voice scrapes low. “Turn the fucking screen off.” Ronan doesn’t move. He’s still staring like maybe if he waits long enough, she’ll say something else. But she won’t. Not anymore. Because the only thing left in her chest for us now is hate. And she’s right to feel it.“She meant it,” Jaxon whispers, like it physically hurts him to say it. “She did,” I answer. I turn away, walking toward the edge of the room. My fingers curl into fists at my sides once again. I feel it bubbling—that thing inside me. The thing I stupidly tried to cage for her. For her, I tried to be soft. For her, I thought I could be human. But it was a lie. A pretty little fucking fantasy I let myself live in because her smile made me believe in heaven, all things pretty and pure. Now I know better. “She called us monsters,” I whisper. Kevin shifts behind me. “Mal…” “No.” I spin on my heel to face them both, jaw clenched, voice venomous. “She’s right. We are monsters. And we should’ve stayed that way.” He opens his mouth, but I don’t let him speak. “Look where pretending to be men got us. Look at what loving her did.” My voice cracks at the end, and that’s the only weakness I allow myself. “You guys really loved her, didn’t you?” It’s not a question, at least one directed to us. He says it like he knows the answer already. As his gaze shifts from me, to Jaxon, and to Ronan, the realization slowly sets. “Sarah is the only thing we’ve ever wanted more than our lives.” Ronan slowly replies. “I’m…” Kevin lowers his gaze. “I’m sorry.” Jaxon shrugs and taps his left shoulder. “You don’t need to be. You were right about everything. Loving her only put her in trouble. We know our place now, Kev. And it’s not beside her.” “Maybe we should let her be the judge of that.” “Didn’t you hear what she fucking said?!” I can’t help but scream at him. I’m tired, so tired it hurts to even breathe. “I’m done pretending, and I’m so done hoping. She hates us for everything that we’ve ever been, everything that we are! There’s no coming back from that. And the sooner we realize it, the fucking better. We fucking fell off, guys! If we weren’t so busy trying to be good men, we would have killed Luke on sight. He wouldn’t have been alive to take Sarah away from us. But we fell in love, tried to be different, and we let that motherfucker breathe one second longer than he was supposed to. Look where that fucking got us.” A long, tense silence follows. “Now,” I hold my right thumb up to my lip and press my eyelids together. It’s all I can do to stop the tears in my eyes from flowing. “I don’t know about you, but I have less than six hours to send a man to hell. Are we moving or not?” And then Ronan nods. Jaxon lowers his head. We’re all in agreement. Luke HawkThorne is dead. ~•~ The gates of Langford estate open for us. I cannot say I’m not nervous about meeting our uncle again after all these years. “He’s in his lounge.” The steward, Albert Barnes, tells us with a bow. Ronan smiles at the old man. “Was he happy to hear we were coming?” Barnes looks up at my brother with a wry smile. “Very happy.” We all look ahead in silence. I know what that means. Just as Barnes said, uncle Abel is in the lounge of his mansion. He’s in a black silk shirt, sleeves rolled up to reveal a snake tattoo coiled up his forearm. His bright silver hair is slicked back. We stand at the door, watching him lean forward to take a closer look at the man on his knees before him. His hands are bound together by a tight rope around his wrist, and placed on display on the table. “How many of your fingers touched her?” Uncle Abel asks in a dangerously calm tone. He caresses the top of every finger with a small pocket knife. I, for one, am surprised to know that there is a “her”. Jaxon leans into my ear to whisper. “When did he get out of prison again?” Ronan chuckles. It’s good to know we’re all wondering the same thing. Uncle Abel tilts his head to the right. “Answer me. Don’t make me pick.” The man whimpers, shaking violently as he begs. “I’m sorry, sir. I beg you. I didn’t mean…” Snap. With a speed unlike anything I’ve ever seen, uncle Abel slices cleanly through the man’s pinky finger like it’s a ribbon. The man throws his head back and screams. Uncle picks the bleeding finger up and examines it closely. Then, with that same fucking calm, he drops it into his drink, stirs it, and takes a slow sip. His eyes cut to us as he sets the glass down. An evil grin appears on his lean face.