Page 32

BLAISE

“ O h! Mother fucker!”

My shoulder blazes with white-hot pain, but I force myself to keep moving, pushing through the thick foliage, making sure to stay between Jenna and the threats behind us.

Jenna slows, probably in response to my yelling out.

“Don’t stop, Jenna. Run!” If I have to carry her, I won't let them get to her.

Branches whip at my face as we crash through the underbrush. The car is just ahead. I can see its outline through the trees.

As we exit the woods, a figure steps from behind the car with a gun. Jenna stops short with a gasp of fear.

I couldn’t stop in time if I wanted to. So I barrel into her, wrapping my arms around her and lifting her.

“No!” She cries out, and I realize she must think I’m kidnapping her.

“That’s Phoenix,” I say as I continue to run as best I can with a hole in my shoulder and carrying Jenna. "It's okay. He's my brother."

Phoenix keeps his weapon trained on the woods behind us, his stance alert and ready. “Hurry.”

"The car. Now." I guide her to the SUV, pushing her into the backseat, ignoring the searing pain that rips through my shoulder as I dive in behind her.

Gunfire erupts behind us as Phoenix opens fire into the woods.

"Stay down," I order, pushing her head below the window line as bullets ping off the car's exterior.

Phoenix jumps in the driver’s seat. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.

” He slams the accelerator, tires spinning before finding purchase.

The car lurches forward just as our pursuers break through the tree line behind us.

I twist in my seat, returning fire through the back window as we speed away into the night.

Phoenix tenses, raising his weapon. "We've got company."

The car approaching from the front of us is coming on fast. Too fast. My heart pounds as I consider our options. There are no side roads to this one.

“Get your belt on, Jenna.” I reach across her for the seat belt, hoping that if we hit head on, those fuckers ahead will die and she and our child will live.

Her fingers shake, but she gets buckled in.

The approaching headlights grow brighter, filling the cabin with harsh white light. I squint against the glare.

A flash of movement catches my eye behind the approaching vehicle. It’s gaining on it. Is that another Kean guard?

The vehicle reaches the one barreling down on us, maneuvering to the other lane. Then it turns in, hitting the car’s back bumper and sending the car spinning off the road, metal screeching against metal.

“Way to go, Ash!” Phoenix whoops.

Relief floods through me as Ash's sleek black car slows and makes a U-turn, then stops until we drive past.

I turn to look out the back window, watching as Ash's car pulls out and maintains a protective position behind us. The adrenaline begins to fade, making the pain in my shoulder more pronounced.

"Who were they?" Ash's voice comes through Phoenix's speaker.

"Kean's men," Phoenix replies. "Looks like they’ve sent a fucking army after Blaise.”

“Takes more than an army to kill Blaise,” Ash replies.

I glance at Jenna. Now that the immediate danger is over, I need to check on her.

She sits rigid in her seat. Her face is pale. The sight of her like this, terrified and hurt, guts me. This is my fault. I did this to her. God, I’m such a fucking asshole.

"Are you hurt?" My voice comes out rough. When she doesn't respond, I try again. "Jenna. I need to know if you're okay."

She lets out a shaky breath. "Okay? How can I possibly be okay? You killed people. Like it was nothing.”

"I know." I want to reach for her, to offer some comfort, but I'm not sure I have that right anymore. "I'm sorry you had to see that. But I'm not sorry for protecting you."

"Protecting me?" She laughs, but it's a hollow sound. "After spending months lying to me? Using me?"

I wish I could deny it, but I can’t. "Yes. I started this wanting revenge. But somewhere along the way, everything changed.”

She turns to look at me then, really look at me, and she doesn’t know me. That’s how she looks at me. Like I’m a complete stranger.

“Ronan would have killed you,” I say lamely, as if that will make up for all I’ve done.

"Stop saying that like it makes it okay!" She presses her hands to her face.

"If it makes you feel any better, one of them got me pretty good." I try to inject some levity into my voice despite the burning pain in my shoulder. "So maybe that's Karma catching up with me."

Jenna's eyes flash with anger. "You think this is funny? That getting shot somehow makes up for lying to me? For using me? For making me fall in love with you when it was all just some sick game of revenge?"

The venom in her words hurts more than my bullet wound.

“You got hit?” Phoenix glances at me through the rearview mirror.

“Shoulder. Hurts like a mother fucker, but I don’t think it’s fatal.” I look over to Jenna, wondering if she wishes it were fatal.

She turns away from me, staring out the window into the darkness. The silence that follows is deafening. Even Phoenix stays quiet as he drives.

I’ve succeeded in my mission. I’ve killed Ronan. I’ve destroyed the woman who helped him kill our parents. But I feel like the biggest piece of shit on the planet. It gets worse each time I hear Jenna’s breath hitch with suppressed sobs.

"I understand if you can never forgive me," I say softly. "But please believe that keeping you safe is all that matters to me now."

She doesn't respond, just curls further into herself.

The ride is quiet until we reach the safehouse we’d hidden Lucy in when she was in danger from the Keans and their minions.

“Let me see that wound,” Phoenix insists once we’re safe inside. He goes to get the first aid kit, but my attention is on Jenna, who’s huddled on the couch looking so small and lost. And there’s nothing I can do to fix it.

Phoenix works efficiently, pressing gauze against both entry and exit wounds before wrapping the bandage tight around my shoulder. The pressure sends fresh spikes of pain through my body, but I endure it silently.

“Lucky for you, the bullet went through,” he says.

“What about Jenna’s mother?”

“Flint’s with her.”

Jenna's head snaps up at the mention of her mother.

"Flint won't let anything happen to her,” I try to assure her. “Once she’s better and can leave, we'll move both of you somewhere safe. Somewhere the Keans can't find either of you."

She falls silent again. It gives me hope that she at least believes that I want her and her mother safe, even if she can't trust anything else about me right now.

"Well, well." Ash's voice cuts through the room as he strides in. "Looks like someone forgot the first rule of infiltration—don't get shot."

"Funny. I was a little busy trying not to get Jenna killed."

“What I want," Ash says, crossing his arms, "is to understand how my most calculating brother managed to blow his cover, failed to eliminate the target, and ended up shot, all while trying to save the very person he set out to destroy."

"Not now, Ash." The words come out as a growl, but I know I messed up. “Look, I know I fucked up. In the end, Ronan is dead. The real problem is they know it was an Ifrinn.”

"This actually works in our favor," Phoenix says, pouring a stiff drink and handing it to me. "Let them know the Ifrinns are back. Let them feel the fear of knowing that we’ve returned for revenge."

"Please." Jenna's voice breaks through, small but desperate.

"You can't hurt everyone at the estate. Most of them are just workers, like me. They don't know anything about what happened to your family. I mean, Debbie, she never worked for the Ifrinns. And Brigit, the Keans’ goddaughter, is only nine.”

"We're not going to hurt the staff," I say firmly, meeting Phoenix's gaze. "This isn't about terrorizing innocent people."

"We go after the ones responsible. Hampton Kean. His inner circle. The ones who actually had a hand in killing our parents. No one else," Phoenix says with the authority that has led us to where we are now.

"Your friends will be safe. I promise,” I say, although she has no reason to believe me.

“The Keans didn’t give a shit about who they killed when they burned our house down.” Ash’s dark gaze is hard as he looks over at Jenna. “Some of those people you knew. Your mother worked with them. And you helped the Keans murder them.”

I bolt up, blocking Ash’s view to Jenna. "That's enough." My voice comes out rough, dangerous.

"Is it?" Ash's eyes narrow. "Our parents burned alive because she showed Ronan that passage."

Behind me, I hear Jenna's broken sob. The sound tears at something deep in my chest.

"She was thirteen," I growl, "a child who had no idea what the Keans were capable of. Just like I had no idea what I was capable of when I set out to hurt her." The admission costs me, but it's true. "We were all innocent once. Before the Keans poisoned everything they touched."

"Innocent?" Ash scoffs. "Her crush got our parents killed."

"And my revenge nearly got her killed tonight." I step forward, not sure what I plan to do. Ash is my brother. I love him. And he’s not wrong. It’s the same thinking I had when I infiltrated the Kean estate.

"If you want to blame someone, blame me.

I'm the one who failed the mission. I'm the one who fell—” I cut myself off. My feelings don’t matter here.

"Fell what, brother?" Ash's voice is deadly quiet. "In love with our enemy?"

I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that’s exactly what I did.

"She’s just as much a victim of the Keans as we were." I meet his gaze steadily. "And I won't let you hurt her for their crimes."