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No. He couldn’t have done it. She was going to be his wife! She did everything he’d asked her to! Why would he ? —

“Are you wondering, Sydney, why I would kill her? What did she do that was so wrong that made me remove her pitiful existence from this planet?” he whispered, his words as cold as the icy water soaking through my clothes to my skin.

My mind was racing, my body trembled, my lungs struggled for air as I listened to him speak while the world closed in around us.

“Raven was a beautiful woman. Smart. From a family with status. She was a good choice for a wife to produce the heir my family demands. Except she was obstinate, speaking about things she shouldn’t have involved herself with.

She made an effort to undermine me at every turn.

So, naturally, when I found out about her little secret, I had to take care of the flower that had grown thorns.

” His eyes traveled to my side and the tattoo that adorned it.

Secret? What secret?

Then it slammed into me like I’d been hit with a blow to the stomach. AJ. He had found out about her affair. And he had killed her over it.

“What did you do to her?” I whispered, my hands trembling.

He said nothing, only smirked at me.

“You bastard! What did you do to my sister?!” I cried as I crawled into the car, finally revealing the gun by my side as I held it at his face.

He stilled, leaning away from me as his eyes widened in surprise at the gun aimed at him.

“Well now, this is surprising. Where did such a good girl get such a bad toy?” he said, his voice slick with contempt.

“Shut up! I’m doing the talking now! You tell me what you did to her!” I said as I jammed the gun toward him, shoving the barrel under his chin.

He stared at me with those dark eyes, full of arrogance and fury.

“You’re adorable when you think you’re in charge.

Don’t you know you can’t believe everything the news tells you, Sydney?

You and your sister, always acting like you’re warriors.

She also tried to fight me before the end.

Ahhh …” He looked out the window like he was lost in thought, a smile flashing on his face.

“I still remember how she begged for her life as she crawled away from me. The look in her eyes as I stabbed the life from her, and seeing her die, drowning in her despair as I promised her I would take out my displeasure at her actions on the rest of her family. Watching the life leave her eyes as my hands were covered in her blood is one of my greatest joys I’ve ever experienced,” he said as he leaned into the barrel and brought his face inches from mine.

Tears built in the corners of my eyes. He did it. He murdered my sister.

His admission shook me. I’d assumed he had played a part in her death, but to know he had caused it and hear him describe how she had died in such detail … It was too much.

“Will you cry out as beautifully as she did as you realize your life is ending? Will your blood pouring around your body excite me as much as hers did? I can’t wait to find out,” he whispered.

That was it. I snapped. Pushed over the edge and never coming back. Tears poured down my face as I screamed and slammed him back against his seat. I yanked the gun from under his chin, shoved it against his chest, and pulled the trigger.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

One for Regan, for him making her uncomfortable each time he put his hands on her. One for Raven, for stealing her home, happiness, and finally her life. And one for me, for trying to take away every person I held dear in this life.

He lurched and screamed in pain with every bullet burying itself in his wretched body. He coughed, his body writhing against the seat.

I felt liberated while I watched his face as the realization that I had shot him sank in. I was relieved, knowing that my sister’s murderer would not be walking around any longer.

I’d never seen a man die before. It wasn’t a pleasant experience.

His body twitched, and the sounds he made, struggling to breathe while he drowned in his own blood, would haunt me.

But I stayed in that car until the very end.

Watching as his life faded from his eyes and his body slumped back in the seat.

Kaito Yamazaki, head of one of the most powerful yakuza families in the city, was dead.

I leaned back. I could hardly believe it. He was dead, and I’d killed him. But as that reality set in, the smell of gunpowder, blood, and gasoline settled in my nose, I felt sick. I rushed to get out of the car, leaning against the side as I gasped for fresh air.

That was when I heard a low rumble, and my eyes shot down the street. My heart pounded as I prepared for a cop to drive up because I was sure someone had heard something by now.

But it wasn’t an officer. It was a man on a sports bike. The bike’s lights were off, and it was completely blacked out.

I froze as he slowed to a stop right past me and glanced inside the car. Where the interior light illuminated Kaito’s body. I clenched my fingers around the gun.

If I had to kill one more person tonight, I would.

But as the biker glanced back at me, I knew I would not have to dirty my hands a second time.

After doing another quick check of what the biker was wearing, I had no doubt this was Koroshi, Kaito’s fighter. He looked forward, revved his bike, and took off into the darkness.

There was no more time to waste, standing here in the rain, next to a dead body. I needed to get out of here before someone else came along and saw me.

I ran over to AJ’s car and slid in, tossing the gun onto the floor of the passenger seat. I pulled away, not even giving Kaito a second glance in the rearview.

I had one more thing I needed to do tonight. And I had to do it fast.