“You are noble, but the bloodlust, it runs through your veins. And that’s the sort of man I want on my side. You just needed to see that.”
“Hold up, yer tellin’ me you set me up?” I ask, needing a minute.
“This was a test of strength and will. This was my test to see how far you’d go to protect the ones you love. I wanted to see how you’d act in war, and I’m impressed. Not only are you brave but you’re also clever. And oh-so brutal. What you did to Liam…” Alek brings his thumb and forefinger together and kisses them before separating them again in a chef’s kiss.
From the first moment we met, Alek was testing me.
“What do you run, a school for villains?”
Alek’s laughter rumbles loudly. “I run a very successful business with men I can trust, and I trust you, Puck Kelly.”
“Well, I sure as shite don’t trust you,” I counter because we’re not cool. He threw me under the bus, putting Shay’s life at risk in hopes I would pass his wee test. “My son could have been killed.”
“I wouldn’t have allowed it. We saw Sean’s only ally, Grady, give your son the vest. We knew he’d be protected.”
“You knew Sean had surrendered, yet ya didn’t say a word?” Alek had the power to save Sean, but he chose not to.
“That wasn’t my choice to make. It was yours. You’re far braver than me. I let my mother, who betrayed me as your father did to you, live. So even though this ending seems rather anticlimactic, it did end in bloodshed.
“Your father never saw you coming. He underestimated you. The greatest plot twist of all.”
“Whose side are ya on?”
“My own,” Alek replies. “I didn’t know you. But I saw potential. I needed you to prove yourself. And you have. I want you to be the leader we both know you can be. I won’t intervene, but I want to do business.
“In return, I promise you protection, and men you can trust.”
“Why don’t you do it?”
“Because I believe in honor. You are the rightful king of Belfast. No one else. This isn’t my fight. It is yours.”
I look at Cami because this decision affects her as much as me. I wanted out as I was afraid for her safety, but now, I have someone who is offering me a choice. I can do what Connor, Sean, and Brody all failed to do—I can be a true leader. I can honor the Kelly name.
“But it seems you won’t be satisfied until you have your war,” Alek says, smirking.
I have no idea what he means until I hear car tires screech outside, followed by footsteps pounding on the concrete.
I glare at Alek, who raises his hands in mock surrender. “Don’t look at me. They aren’t my men.”
Cian instantly reaches for his gun, armed and ready.
I stand in front of Cami, protecting her with my body. “I thought this was over?” she cries, her distress clear.
As I look at Sean’s cooling corpse in the middle of the room, I realize things have just begun.
The factory erupts into gunfire as men who I recognize were loyal to Liam come streaming in. They’re here to avenge their queen.
Sean did say Annette had men waiting in the wings, and it seems he was right. There are about twenty, hardly an army, but enough.
I frantically drag Cami behind a pallet stacked high with aluminum. Using it for cover, I poke my head around it and fire at anything that moves. I knew this would end with blood…and I am fucking happy for it.
This is the final fight because I will claim what is mine. But first, I need to kill every last association with the Doyles.
Cami stays behind me, holding my shirt as I fire at the enemy. It’s only Cian and me as Alek, it seems, is a man of his word and doesn’t fight. This is my fight, he said. And the bastard is right.
He did all this, secretly rooting for me, hoping I would prove him right. I can see why he’s one of the most powerful men in the world. The arsehole mind-fucked me and fucked me good.
“There are too many of them!” Cami cries, and she’s right.
I wanted bloodshed. I wanted a big climax. And now that I’ve got it…I feel at home.
“Cian, cover me!”
Cami screams at me to stop, but Alek is right—the first man into battle is usually the hungriest for victory. This is my country, and I will protect it, even if I have to give my life.
I shoot at two fuckers, who drop to the ground with a thud, but three more take their place. Cian shoots at them, but they swarm us, and soon we are surrounded.
“Now would be a good time for that fucker to intervene,” Cian shouts as we shoot anything that comes at us.
“Where’s the fun in that?” I mock, shooting a cunt in the leg. “I’m sorry, Cian. You were right. I should have never given up. I thought I was doin’ the right thing. I wanted to tell ya that…just in case we don’t make it out of here alive.”
“Don’tcha say that. We will. We haven’t come this far to give up. We do this for our fathers. We do this for Amber.”
We dive behind a stack of barrels, but we can’t fight them all. This is what I knew would happen. The enemy will never stop coming. There will always be someone who’s ready to take their place, and that someone comes in the form of some ballbag who comes at me from the right, shooting me in the shoulder.
Cian shoots him dead before I can.
“Are ye all right?”
“Aye, just a scratch.” Blood pours from the wound, but I ignore it because when I hear Cami scream, nothing else matters.
Jumping up, I desperately search for where she is. Some arsehole has her by the hair, dragging her toward the door. She’s fighting him desperately, but she won’t win.
She’s been kidnapped once already. It won’t happen again.
Cian covers me as I run and shoot at the man, and just as I raise my gun, ready to shoot, he drops to the ground with a thud. Cami’s face is slathered in blood, and as she blinks in shock, I turn to see who shot the cunt.
“Yeo!” I scream when I see Ethan holding the smoking gun.
“Ya didn’t think I’d let ya have all the fun,” he quips, covering me as I make a run for Cami.
My men soon spill in, and it’s on.
“Oh my God!” she cries, trying to look at my shoulder. “You’ve been shot.”
“I’m fine,” I assure her, checking her over for injuries. Thankfully, she’s okay. “I made a promise to ya.”
“Yes, you did. Now go kill those fuckers so we can go home.”
“I love it when ya talk dirty.” I deliver a frantic kiss to her lips, a promise of things to come because now…it’s game on.
The factory is covered in a blanket of smoke, and as my boots slide in the spilled blood, I holler in exhilaration. Sean is dead, as are the remaining men who were loyal to the Doyles. All that’s left is us.
The gunfire ceases, and the sight of pure carnality gets me fucking hard.
This is my home. The violence and bloodshed are a part of me, just as my painted face will forever be.
My men slap one another on the back because we’ve won this war for now, but there will be more—there will always be more. No matter if I want out, there isn’t an out for me. And I don’t want there to be.