Page 36

“There’s a light on over there and the door is partially open.

” I pointed. “We should move in close. Maverick, stay behind and let the guys know what’s going on.

” I walked away before either of my brothers could talk me out of it because there was no fucking way I’d leave Sinclair alone with that asshole another minute.

“Wait up, brother,” Hawk grunted, climbing the fence behind me but jumping down before I found the ground. “I get it, man, you love her, but you’re no good to her or me dead. Slow the fuck down. I got your back.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but, ultimately, I nodded. “Of course.” We moved in silence towards the open hangar door and slipped inside unnoticed. I pointed to the small Cessna with its engines running and a pilot conducting pre-flight checks.

“This is your fucking fault. If you’d never been born, he would have come back!” His voice sounded far away and crazed.

“How old are you?” Sinclair’s voice was calmer. Quieter. “Seven or eight years older than me? He had plenty of time to go back before I was born, yet he didn’t.”

That’s my girl.

She was scared, every syllable she uttered was shaky and thready, but still she fought back.

“Shut the fuck up!”

“Just like Dad, you don’t like hearing the truth.”

I crept forward, keeping my form hidden behind boxes and shelves that supplied the private flights that went in and out of this place.

Finally, I saw them. She was sitting on a box beside one of the planes and he was pacing in front of her.

My gaze landed on her tear-streaked face, on the lump that formed on the middle of her forehead, on the plastic ties that kept her arms bound behind her.

Motherfucker!

“You know what, Nicholas?” She sniffed back more tears as she shook her head, a sad smile on her beautiful face.

“I wish he’d gone back to find you too. I wish he’d gone back to you and your mom after my mom died.

I lost her too, but I didn’t get to grieve, I didn’t get a normal childhood, I didn’t get anything but leftovers.

It should’ve been you carrying the burden. It should have been you!”

Nicholas stepped closer and leaned down until he was right in her face, the look of pure hatred turned his face red and pinched his lips. “Lying about him won’t save you.”

Sinclair didn’t blink. “I’m not lying, but if you need to think our father was a saint to make you feel good about what you’re about to do, I can’t do anything about that. I’m sure your mother would be proud. Very fucking proud.”

His nostrils flared and then his hands were on Sinclair, gripping the back of her neck in a firm hold as he dragged her off the box towards the waiting plane.

“The pilot’s on board,” Hawk whispered, pulling my attention from Sinclair. “We have to act. Now.”

“We’re here,” Rocky whispered. “Diesel and a few others are on the other side of the hangar. We got you covered, brother. Get your woman.”

That was all I needed to hear before I took off. Nicholas had her halfway up the stairs of the jet when I pulled out my gun and shouted, “Stop!”

He stopped, but not before he hooked an arm around Sinclair’s throat and pulled her flush against him, the perfect shield against my bullets. “You just don’t know when to fucking give up. What is it about her, does her pussy taste like whipped cream?” His laugh was dark, almost threatening.

“Wouldn’t you like to know, you little shit?”

“You’ve gotten the last taste you’ll ever have,” he snarled. “She’s mine now, and soon, she’ll be gone.”

I shook my head. “That’s where you’re wrong. She’s mine , and there’s nothing I won’t do to keep her safe.”

My gaze slid to Sinclair’s tear-stained face, boring into her so she knew exactly what I was saying.

“A little late, don’t you think?” He laughed and squeezed tighter around her throat, a move that threw them both off-center. “I could put a bullet in her head right here. Right now.”

“You could, but you’d die before you could even savor the fact that she’s dead.”

Sinclair let out a terrified gasp, eyes wide as she fought against Nicholas’ hold. “Just go, Dagger, I don’t want you to get hurt on my behalf.”

My heart seized at her words. “Sinclair I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you.”

She closed her eyes slowly and one tear slid down her cheek.

“Oh, isn’t that so fucking sweet.” He gripped Sinclair tighter. “Another thing you get to have that I didn’t.”

“Cry me a fucking river,” I snarled. “What kind of man holds a woman responsible for the actions of another grown ass man?”

He disgusted me, but I couldn’t be rash about this, not with Sinclair so close. Hawk appeared directly across from me with a nod, a sign he had a clear shot. “You want to get out of this in one piece? Let her go.”

“Not on your fucking life,” he snarled as one gunshot rang out, jerking him forward. He let out a pained cry and stumbled, pushing Sinclair down the stairs with the weight of his body.

I rushed to help her, getting her on her feet before I moved her away. Nicholas was in arm’s reach. I pulled back one leg and let it go against his back. “Stalking piece of shit.” I didn’t give a damn that he was shot, didn’t care that I had him at a disadvantage. “Get up. Now!”

Nicholas did what I said, getting to his feet slowly with a menacing smile. “You want to fight for her honor? Don’t worry, the bitch has none.”

Punching that smug fucking smile felt so good, I did it again. And again. “You talk too fucking much.”

“Aw, you got a soft spot for her. Fucking pathetic.” He spat the words out and sneered.

“What’s pathetic,” I growled, and punched him again as I got on top of him, digging my knees into his shoulders, “is a man your age with daddy issues.” One fist rained down and then the other, again and again in a hypnotic rhythm that I couldn’t stop under threat of death.

I hit him until my knuckles split open and burned.

Blow after blow landed until my arms grew tired and my breathing was jagged.

Eventually, he stopped fighting back, probably long before I noticed that he’d stopped fighting back, but Nicholas wasn’t dead. Not yet. I pushed through the pain to pound that motherfucker even more.

“Dagger, enough!” Diesel’s voice echoed in the hangar a second before his hand landed on my shoulder. “That’s enough. He’s not going to be a problem for Sinclair or us any longer. Even if he makes it out of the hangar before freezing to death tonight.”

I stared at Nicholas for a long minute. He was a sad and broken man, and if he hadn’t turned that anger and venom onto Sinclair, I might’ve felt sorry for him.

As it stood now, I wanted to wrap my hands around his throat and watch the life as it slowly bled out of eyes.

“You’re a lucky asshole, you know that?”

He coughed and spit out a mouthful of blood along with a tooth, trying to sit up, but he couldn’t.

He didn’t say a fucking word, not that there was anything to say when his eyes were swollen shut and his lip was split down the middle.

He deserved every fucking scar, every ache, and every goddamn ounce of pain that came his way for what he did to Sinclair.

Sinclair.

I turned to her, and just like that I felt settled.

The anger was still there but it wasn’t as intense, there was something else there now.

White hot and visceral. Longing. Desire.

Rightness. Turning back to Nicholas, I sighed and rolled off him, getting to my feet quickly.

Diesel was right, he wasn’t worth it. His life was shit and would continue to be shit.

For however long it lasted.

I closed the gap between me and Sinclair, heart thudding as I reach out to her, unsure if she would accept it or reject it. “Hey,” I said softly, and squatted down so we were face to face.

“Hey,” she said, her voice shaky and small.

“Are you okay?” It was a dumb fucking question and I knew it, but I didn’t know what else to say. There was too much to say yet I couldn’t push any other words past my lips.

Sinclair nodded at first, then she shook her head. “I…” she began, but nothing else came out before she launched herself at me and let out a loud, gut-wrenching sob.