Page 92 of Dirty Behavior

And as the haze around me lifted, I was standing over Remo holding a gun. I didn't remember how it got in my hands, I couldn't see the memory of picking it up. His eyes were huge, scared, afraid of the monster he had unleashed.

For the first time ever. . .He feared me.

“Ivy, don't, don't do this.”

“I hate you, I hate everything you stand for.”

His hands were up, palms out, his white flag waving strongly in the air. And I didn't give a shit.

My finger was on the trigger, my arm firmly out with no shaking or trembles. I felt the cold curve of the metal, I could hear the gun breathing in my hand.

“You don't want to do this, killing a man changes you.” Remo's face was gentle, his soft side was trying to manipulate my thoughts.

It wasn't going to work. Nothing he could say would change my mind.

He was a soundless disease that lurked deep in your bones, waiting until you were at your weakest to strike.

I wasn't weak and I never would be.

I was a fighter.

“I know it does.” Calmly, I let my head lean a hair, just enough to cause a quick splash of uncertainty in his eyes.

He didn't know if I was going to do it, he wasn't sure if I had the balls to tear him from this earth.

But he thought wrong.

I knew he wanted me to question what I was about to do, but I wouldn't. I had waited for this, patiently I'd sat back and waited for this very moment.

Pushing up on his elbows, his lip had started to puff up, teeth covered in bright red. “You can't do it, you won't kill me. If you had it in you, you would have by now. You're nothing but weak.”

“You're wrong.” My thumb drew circles on the handle of the gun, my gaze steadying on his. “I just thought you should know. . .” Pausing, I took a step in, lowering the muzzle closer to his face. “Not only did Dante steal my virginity from you—I'm having his baby.”

His eyes flooded with anger, brows veering in. “You fucking whore!”

Bang!

A small plume of smoke wafted up, circling around my hand, and I just stood there staring down at him. I had wondered before what it would be like to kill him, what it would feel like to see him die.

My imagination didn't have shit on the real thing.

I wasn't shaking, I didn't throw the gun away like it was a pile of hot coals singeing my palm. There was a rush, this icy tarnish that coated my veins in cold liquid metal.

And I embraced it, caressing the object that helped me destroy the only true evil to ever enter my world. The power I felt wasn't about taking his life, it had nothing to do with holding someone's soul in my hand.

I didn't feel it. . .I was it.

I was everything a woman should be; strong, smart and beautiful. The scars wouldn't be a daily reminder of what I had been. Not anymore.

They would be a reminder of who I was.

I was power.

Ivy had just taken in her first breath.

I was back.