The idiot is so confident in his own power, he never imagined I’d be strong enough to exert my own.
I take the opportunity of him being so close, biting his lip to draw blood. My knee lifts at the same time, slamming into his tiny fucking balls.
He drops me, hand grabbing his crotch as he roars in pain.
A second later his gun is pointed in my direction, fury like fire in his eyes.
“Too scared to fight a girl?” I taunt, throwing gasoline on the flames of his ego.
“That piece of shit Shay poisoned you.”
I laugh in his face. “Rocco Shay breathed life into me. He woke the fucking fighter within me.”
Licking the blood from his lip, a wretched grin spreads over his face. “Better hope he comes to your rescue, bitch.”
“I don’t need a hero to save me. I’m my own fucking savior.”
“Your savior is gonna let you die.”
I shrug, a smile on my face. “At least I’ll do it with my fucking dignity intact. Unlike you, having to shoot me because you’re afraid I could kill you.”
Pulling his arm out of aim, he looks at his gun before dropping it to the ground. Eyes on me, he kicks it as far away as possible.
I watch it slide across the floor, coming to an abrupt stop at my mother’s lifeless body.
“I’m gonna kill you,” he promises. “But before I do, I’m gonna stare into your eyes as I bury my cock inside you, knowing the last thing you felt wasn’t just physical pain, but the death of your fucking soul.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Rocco
I run into the loft, my heart pounding like a fist against a maize bag.
Jesse stands in my kitchen, a bag of frozen peas against his eye, dried blood decorating his face.
An open briefcase lays on my counter, copious hundred dollar bills mocking me.
You need to come home. The text that alerted me to the fact that something was going hideously wrong.
I move toward my son, trying to hide my panic.
Fuck. It doesn’t even look that bad. I’ve been bruised up much worse in my time. But he’s my boy, and no one is allowed to touch my fucking boy.
“Explain.”
“It was me.” Blake’s hesitant voice sounds from my living room and I glance away from Jesse’s face, staring at her tear-filled eyes in confusion.
“What was you?”
“This,” she whispers.
“You hit him?”
Jesse grunts out an unamused laugh.
“I made a deal, Rocco,” Blake confesses. “With Sarah Rein. For you and Camryn.”
Boom. Out here like a grenade explosion no one was ready for.
Talk about ripping a bandaid off. No prelude. No lube.
Just a simple, hey, guess what… I fucked you.
My gaze turns back to the briefcase.
“I tried to back out,” she tells me, pulling my attention once again.
“When? Is that why you came into my life? To offer me up to Sarah on a silver platter? Was that the plan all along?” Bile rushes up my throat, wanting to escape.
“No,” Jesse answers for her, moving away from me and toward his sister. “We never even knew we’d meet you. We came to thank Dominic for removing a threat from our lives.”
“You were both in on this?”
They’re expecting my anger.
Hell, I’m fucking expecting it.
But it doesn’t come.
“No,” Blake declares. “This was all me. Sarah approached me. Five hundred grand is a new life for us,” she explains unnecessarily. “I was trying to give us something we never even dreamed of.”
“I get it.” My voice is hauntingly quiet. “Five hundred grand for turning on a stranger, one you never wanted to meet.”
They both stare at me, unsure on what to say, on what to do.
Truth is, I don’t know what to say, I don’t know what to do.
Massaging her hand, Blake’s eyes never leave mine. She’s scared. Hell, that’s not even the right word. She’s petrified. Of me.
“I texted her and told her I wasn’t interested, that the deal was off.” She steps forward, thinking better of it and stepping back.
“Is this it?” I ask, overcome with grief. “You have your cash.” I gesture to the bag. “Which means you held up your end of the bargain.” My eyes skate over my loft, searching for the bullet aimed at my heart.
Her head shakes in denial. “Jonathan,” she starts.
“Who the fuck is Jonathan?”
Teeth to her lips, she can’t bring herself to speak.
“Camryn’s ex,” Jesse explains.
My blood runs cold. “Sarah is workin’ with Camryn’s psychotic ex?” I can’t hide the roar in my voice.
A bullet aimed for me I can handle. One in search of Camryn, not a fucking chance.
“Yes,” Blake admits regretfully. “Jonathan tried to meet with me but Jesse went in my place, told him we weren’t interested.”
“They didn’t take that well.” I gesture to my son’s face. “Do you need a hospital?”
“Nah. Nothing a little Tylenol and frozen peas can’t fix.”
“So if you haven’t handed me over? Why the cash and where’s Camryn?”
It’s then that Blake’s face breaks open. Her tears falling with full force. Throwing herself at me, she wraps her arms around me, desperation clawing out of her. “Please don’t hate me.”
“Hate you?” I hug her back.
“She was here. I told her everything. She went… to save Jesse.”
My arms fall away. “She went where?”
“To Sarah,” Jesse answers, knowing his sister wouldn’t be able to articulate the words.
My feet stumble backward and I keep the momentum, moving into my gym to lose myself. To give myself a second of reprieve from the walls closing in.
Fists clenched, I scream into the small space that has always offered me sanctuary. I can see myself in the floor to ceiling mirror. I don’t even recognize the man staring back at me. Not anymore. Energy bursting through me, I slam my fists against the lone bag hanging from the ceiling. I hit it again and again and again. Until my body gives out and I fall against it, hugging it to keep me upright.
She went, willingly, to a mother that won’t protect her, into the arms of a man that is hellbent on hurting her. For what? Me?
“She loves you.”
I startle at Jesse’s voice, brushing at the tears that had escaped during my meltdown.
“She wanted to do it.”
“She didn’t need to.” My voice sounds like scrapped metal.
“That’s not the point,” Jesse argues.
I move toward him, thumb rubbing over the swell of his eye socket. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Absolutely,” he assures me. “Sarah would’ve come for her eventually, Rocco. All she wants in this world is to cause Dominic heartache.”
“Come here.” I call out to Blake, who’s standing just outside the space, unsure of her welcome.
She steps toward me tentatively. I pull her into my body, hugging her tightly. Hoping like hell I’m reassuring her that I’m not mad. That I understand. That I don’t blame them for any of this.