Page 218 of Broken Bonds

“Oh, you think you are, do you?”

Mal scoffs. “You’re something else, you know that? I don’t know what broke inside you. You’re evil. You made Mom get abortions, you poisoned Brynnella and killed her baby—you are the definition of evil.”

“There isn’t a rock far or dark enough for you two to hide under,” he growls.

Freya laughs. “Look at that, the big bad wolf pretending he’s still got teeth. I hope your whore enjoys your tiny cock because the only time I ever came was with a vibrator when you weren’t home.”

Mal’s gaze widens as he stares at his mom. I again have to stifle my laughter. Mal opens his mouth to speak, but Freya’s comment has apparently knocked him speechless.

“Randolph, enjoy your ‘empire’ while you have it,” Freya continues, smiling at Mal. “You come after us? You’ll lose everything.”

“Dad, just go fuck yourself or fuck your secretary or fuck anyone. Maybe you’re doing it wrong to be such a miserable bastard all the time. Being nice is free, but you are just absolutely a shithead.”

“I will cut that baby out of you and kill it in front of you before I kill you, Malcolm,” he growls.

I force myself to stay silent despite the rage engulfing me.

But Mal laughs. “My mate’s ten times the man you are. He could kick your ass with one hand tied behind his back. But you do you. We’ll live our happily ever after. You can go fuck right off. You did your best to destroy me and, once again, I outsmarted you and my idiot brothers. Too bad you picked the three stupid ones to nurture, instead of the empirically smarter one. Or maybe you just didn’t want them to be smarter than you, so you could control them.” Mal sits back, nodding to me.

“Part of me hopes you try coming after us,” Freya taunts. “I would love to see you cut down so I can kick you in your tiny balls. But you aren’t my concern any longer. Mal and I plan on enjoying our lives. As for you?” Her voice drops to a growl. “I hope you get everything you deserve, and more. Including a long, slow, painful death after being exposed to the world as a murderous, lying coward.” She reaches over and ends the call.

Mal trembles. I hurry around the coffee table, sit next to him, and pull him into my arms. Freya hugs him from behind.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” she says. “He can’t hurt us anymore.”

“Do you really have a thumb drive?” I ask.

She grins. “No. Why not kick that anthill and distract him even more? Between ordering people to come after us and now probably interrogating everyone at the office, that’ll keep him busy. Morning said he wanted us to enrage him. That’s the best way I could think to do it.”

Mal holds up a hand for a high-five, and she returns it.

Watching them together makes me smile because I clearly see where Mal inherited his spirit, even if Sterling did his best to grind it out of both of them.

“What happens next?” Mal asks, his face buried against my chest.

I rub my chin along the top of his head. “Now we wait.”

Chapter Eighty-One

Jax

Showdown

My talk with Todd before I leave means one less worry on my plate while I’m gone. I know he’ll step in and help in the unlikely event we fall under attack.

It’s not exactly a chilly sendoff Shawn gives me, but I understand why he angry-kisses me and holds me for a long hug without talking.

“Love you, Asshole,” he whispers.

I kiss him, laying a hand on his belly. “Love you, too, mate. I’ll be back soon.”

“You’d better.”

I hate that he’s upset I’m leaving him behind—upset I volunteered to go fight in the first place—but it’s a matter of logistics, and not because he’s pregnant.

I mean, not only because he’s pregnant. Maybe it makes me old-fashioned, but like hell do I want him in this battle when I have plenty of others willing and able to fight beside me, with far more of a grudge to settle than us.

Shawn is a fighter and knows our land inside and out. I swore to Marchman that we’d protect the refugees, so I need Shawn to stay behind to help Pops, Dad, Todd, and the others in the unlikely event we’re attacked. My brother Edward is also staying behind, while my brother Kevin joins me. We asked Owen to remain in Montana with Elliot and Bobby. We don’t want either of them anywhere near this when we don’t need Owen’s brawn in the fight.