Page 49 of Beautiful Scars: Unshakeable (The Beautiful Scars Duet #2)

Chapter Forty-Three

Zane

The tension in the room crackles like live wires. Levi's gun remains trained on Garrett's chest, but something shifts in his expression—a flash of triumph that sets my nerves on edge.

"Careful now," Garrett lifts his left hand, showing off a small black device tucked inside his curled fingers. "One wrong move and this whole place goes up. I've had a lot of time to prepare. You really think I didn't plan for this?"

Sunny's sharp intake of breath draws my attention. She's pressed against Ty's back, fingers twisted in his shirt. The blood seeping through my teammate's jacket is getting worse.

"Tell them, Angel," Garrett's voice takes on that sickening gentle tone. "What's our number one rule?"

Sunny's face goes blank with that thousand-yard stare I've seen too many times. Her voice comes out mechanical, rehearsed, "I'm yours or I'm dead."

The emotionless way she says it is about to push Levi over the edge. I watch his trigger finger twitch, see the muscle in his jaw jump.

"This could have been different," Garrett continues, almost conversational as his gaze locks on to Levi. "If you'd just been satisfied with everything else you took from me, little brother. But no, you had to have her too."

The room goes deadly still. Levi's expression shifts from rage to confusion. "What did you just say? What did you just call me?"

"Oh, don't tell me that daddy never told you about me?" Garrett's laugh turns razor-sharp. "Figures. You and I may have different mothers, but we both got stuck with the same worthless father. Alexander Reeves loved his secrets."

My mind races, cataloging details I would never have noticed before now. The height, the build, the same green eyes. They all echo Levi's own.

"You're lying," Levi says, but there's uncertainty in his voice now.

"Am I? You knew him. Knew he would never let anyone close to him—he'd never trust anyone but family to run the biggest part of his business."

Garrett's fingers tighten on the detonator. "You stole my life. When he left my mom for yours and they had you, suddenly I wasn’t good enough."

He pauses, shaking his head. "I had to earn every damn thing that man ever gave me. I had to beg for scraps. You? You just had to exist."

I watch Sunny's eyes dart between the brothers—one she loves, one who's tortured her for years. Devastation is written on her face.

"He really never told you about me?" Garrett continues, venom dripping from every word.

"Never mentioned your kind older brother who did all the dirty work so you could go to your private schools and spend time at those fancy summer homes?

That's a shame because I know everything about you. His precious little Levi."

The emergency lights cast harsh shadows across both their faces, highlighting similarities that seem so obvious now.

"So this," Garrett gestures to the shrine-like room with his gun, "this is justice. Everything you love, everything you think is yours—it was all mine first. The only reason you have any of it is because of me."

His laugh is cold, predatory as he continues.

"I mean, you didn't think moving to Easton Creek was your mom's choice, did you?

That big house right behind our precious Sunny?

Like our father would let his precious golden boy just disappear without someone keeping an eye on him.

What a way to keep things in the family, huh? "

Levi's face goes ashen, his gun hand trembling slightly as the full scope of the manipulation hits him.

"And now..." His thumb caresses the detonator. "Now, it's time for you to make a sacrifice. Choose. Walk away or we all die."

I watch everything unfold with growing dread. Out of the corner of my eye I can see that Sunny's posture has changed—too rigid, too controlled. Her eyes dart between Garrett and the detonator, carrying an expression I can't read.

I keep my weapon steady, watching for any opening, any weakness. But with the detonator in play, one wrong move could kill us all. And from the look in Garrett's eyes, he's fully prepared for this to go either way.

"Now you understand, don't you Princess?

" Garrett's voice drops to that sickening gentle tone.

"Why you mean so much to me. All these years, everything I did.

.. it was love. The purest kind of love.

You were a gift, Sunny. The only good thing my father ever gave to me. I could never just give you up."

Sunny slips out from behind Ty and takes a small step forward. My finger tightens on the trigger. But something in Sunny's expression makes me pause.

"I do understand." She whispers the words, and my blood runs cold at how broken she sounds. "You protected me. You watched over me, even when I didn't know. You knew what was best for me."

"I never let anything bad happen to you," Garrett's attention shifts, his voice soft.

Sunny takes a tentative step towards Garrett. "You love me so much because I was your special gift. Your special girl that was all for you."

I can feel the rage and confusion radiating off Levi.

"That's right Princess. Tell them how much I love you. How much you want to stay with me."

Sunny comes to stand beside Garrett, looking up at him with an expression of pure adoration. "I do. More than anything I want to stay here with you."

Levi's voice is anguished when he speaks. "No, Angel… "

Sunny's voice pitches up, edging on almost desperate. "Please don't let them take me away. I belong here. I’m yours. Only yours."

Garrett's smile widens as he pulls Sunny close to his side.

When Sunny turns to face us, her eyes fall to the floor. Her expression is unreadable, but her tone is certain. "You all need to leave. I don't want you here. This is my home. This is where I belong. Garrett loves me. I'm safe here—I wasn't when I was with you."

“No… you don’t mean that.” Levi’s voice is barely a whisper. “Angel, please.”

I watch in horror as Garrett wraps his arm around Sunny, pressing a possessive kiss to the top of her head. She looks up at him with a simpering smile plastered on her face and nuzzles even closer. My trigger finger itches, but with the detonator still in his other hand, I can't risk it.

"Looks like she made your choice for you," he sneers, eyes locked on Levi.

Sunny clings to Garrett, her fingers twisting in his shirt as she presses close and rests her cheek on his chest. Her other hand snakes around his waist, and something in that movement catches my attention.

It's too... deliberate. Too precise.

My mind races, analyzing every detail. The way she positioned herself. The careful placement of her hands. The slight tremor in her shoulders that doesn't match her earlier fury. Something isn't adding up.

Levi starts forward, raw pain etched across his features, but I grab his arm. Hard. Because I've seen that look in Sunny's eyes before—not the glazed dissociation of a flashback, but the razor-sharp focus she gets when she's training on the mats downstairs.

"Stay still," I murmur, low enough that only he can hear.

Garrett's attention shifts between us, triumph written across his face as he holds Sunny against him. But he doesn't see what I see—the way her fingers flex against his side, testing. Searching.

Through my earpiece, I hear Wolf's steady breathing. Chase's quiet confirmation that the perimeter is still secure. They're waiting for my signal, but I hold position. Watching.

"I told you she'd choose me," Garrett gloats, pressing another kiss to her hair. "Didn't I tell you they'd never understand, Princess?"

Sunny nods against his chest, but her eyes... her eyes are anything but submissive. There's a cold calculation there that I recognize. One I’ve seen in my own reflection.

"Z," Ty's voice comes through my comm, barely a whisper. "Her hand..."

"Always mine," Garrett continues, lost in his own fantasy. "From the very beginning. And now—"

I watch as Sunny's fingers continue their careful exploration of his waist, and I realize with sudden clarity what she's looking for. What she knows is there, because she's probably seen it before.

I keep my weapon trained on Garrett's chest, but my focus is entirely on Sunny now. On the spark of fire in her eyes that tells me she's done being a victim.

"You've always been there," she murmurs, pressing closer to Garrett. "Even when I thought I was alone."

Levi trembles beside me, and I tighten my grip on his arm.

I watch, every muscle coiled tight as Sunny's voice takes on the flat, expressionless quality I've heard too many times in people pushed past their breaking point.

But something's different. Her focus doesn't match the emptiness of her words.

Wait , I will him silently.

"You only hurt me to make me better," Sunny continues, her fingers trailing along Garrett's side with deliberate purpose. "To make me stronger."

Garrett's smile is triumphant as he strokes her hair. "That's right, Princess. Everything I do is for you."

Every instinct screams to put a bullet in him, but I force myself to stay still.

Her hand finds what she's been searching for.

When she moves, it's so subtle, so practiced, that if I hadn't spent months watching her train, I might have missed it.

"Tell them who you belong to." Garrett demands, drunk on his perceived victory. "They need to hear you say it."

Sunny's eyes meet mine for a fraction of a second. In them, there's no trace of the broken girl Garrett thinks he's created. All I see is the fighter who's somehow survived it all and hasn't given up.

"I belong..." she starts, and then everything happens at once.

In one fluid motion—the same one she's practiced countless times with Chase and Ty—Sunny draws the knife free and slashes upward. The blade opens Garrett's arm in a spray of red, the detonator falling from his suddenly nerveless fingers.

Before he can react, she hooks her leg behind his and uses his own weight against him to throw him off balance. Just like she was taught.

The execution is perfect—Garrett stumbles backward, eyes wide with shock as his control of the situation disappears.

I'm already moving.

My sweet girl has given us the opening we needed, and I'll be damned if I waste it.