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Vane was barely able to block the barrage of Jackson’s punches. The president wrenched the knife out of Vane’s thigh and wielded it against him. Vane might be the mercenary built like a battering ram—but this was Jackson Black going full tilt.
And with his MC, his girl, and his unborn baby on the line…
He didn’t miss.
Or let up until Vane landed a lucky punch that sent Jackson stumbling back.
Knox filled the empty space.
My stomach flipped over. “No!”
Knox and Vane went at it like two boxers. Knox wasn’t the same fighter as Jackson, but Vane had taken some real damage, so Knox held his own almost better than Jameson. Maybe it was in my honor.
But then my Knox took a brutal hit and dropped to his knees, dazed.
I didn’t think—I ran.
I launched myself at Vane with nails outstretched and vengeance flooding my veins. I slashed—claw marks raked across Vane’s face. Blood blinded his eyes, but before I could twist away, he caught my waist and lifted me off my feet. I felt him fumble for another knife.
I kicked and writhed like a ten-headed cat, twisting free just enough to fall to the floor. My gun fell out of my pocket, sliding across the cement floor.
Fuck.
Vane unsheathed a knife with a grating shing! and slashed it at my face. I rolled and miraculously dodged being sliced.
My gun.
I grabbed it and lifted my gun to his head.
If I aimed right, he was going to get shot point blank.
There was no fear, no mercy, in his eyes—no sanity.
The Devils were shouting, Knox was trying to grab me, but I knew in my bones that this was the moment. The moment Vane got what he deserved. The moment I earned closure. The moment I saved anyone else from his monstrosity. The moment I reclaimed me.
Everything seemed to go into slo-mo. I saw Vane pull back his arm to swing, his body leaning forward. He was hindered by the thigh knife wound.
I closed one eye—not entirely a good idea—and aimed the barrel at Vane’s forehead.
Knox screamed my name.
I pulled the trigger.
The recoil sent me back as Vane’s knife sailed through the air where my face had been a millisecond ago.
His knife clattered to the concrete—and then his body.
Unmoving. Bleeding out. Dying.
Dead as a fucking doornail.
CHAPTER 35
KNOX
I had never been more terrified in my entire life than when Caroline approached Vane fearlessly. It was like watching her walk straight to her death sentence.
There was nothing I could do. If I tried to intervene, it would only get us both hurt.