Page 49

Kai

The roaring in my head has nothing to do with the half-mile sprint I made in less than three minutes. Nothing to do with the full-body impact against the heavy door that sent it splintering off half its hinges or the throb in my side.

It has everything to do with the horror of epic proportions in front of me.

Nothing in my entire life could have prepared me for this.

David staggers backward, blood blooming across his chest, a letter opener buried hilt-deep in the right side.

But even that pales in comparison to Nicole.

She’s sprawled limp on the desk.

Her beautiful legs are bare, spread at awkward angles. Her shirt is shredded. Her head lolls weakly to the side. Her skin is pale, her lip split, and a thin line of blood drips from her temple.

And David’s fly is down.

His cock is out.

Hard.

Something inside me tears clean in half, and a terrifying sound claws its way out of me.

I lunge.

“Kai, wait—!” David’s voice is ragged, panicked, but it’s too late.

I grab the hilt of the letter opener and rip it free, relishing the warm spray of blood that hits me. His scream of agony is cut off when I ram his face into the wall.

Once. His nose caves in with a satisfying pop.

Twice. Blood spatters the drywall in fat, wet stripes.

His hands scrabble at mine, useless against my grip, slippery with his own blood.

I drive him forward again, his bulk weightless against the fog of insanity clouding my mind.

Crunch. Bone cracks.

Still not enough.

I pull him back—and slam him again. His skull hits again with a hollow thud. The wall’s painted red now.

His body starts to go limp. his weight sags, heavy in my grip—but I haul him back one more time and—

“KAI!”

Vin’s shout cuts through the haze, but I’m gone, lost in it.

David chokes on blood, his breath rattling wet in his throat.

I slam him again. The wall gives this time—plaster cracks, dust clouds in the air.

“ENOUGH!”

Vin’s boot connects with my ribs. Pain ricochets through me, sharp and hot, knocking something loose in my head.

I step back and release my hold. David slides to the ground in a heap of torn flesh and blood.

Then I hear it over my roaring pulse. A soft, choking gasp.

Nicole. Shit.

I spin and find her cradled against Vin.

I stagger over and rip her from his arms. She’s breathing noisily through her bruised throat. Her eyes flutter open—glassy, unfocused.

“Kai,” she mouths. Unable to push her voice through her swollen larynx.

I can’t speak either. I can’t form words. It’s as if every higher function has shut down, leaving only the raw, primal part of me—one that still wants to kill.

I cradle her against my chest, her fragile body trembling in my arms. My heart twists with inky black rage when I see the deep red marks circling her throat, the split in her lip. But it’s the sight of her thighs—bare, bruised, and scarred—that shatters me completely.

I carry her to the couch at the far end of the office, lay her down as gently as I can, and crouch beside her, my hands moving uselessly over her—searching for breaks, for blood, for anything worse.

A ragged breath leaves me when I see that her panties are intact. That asshole didn’t . . .

But it doesn’t fix anything. Doesn’t erase the horror of what almost happened. That if I'd been ten seconds later she might have died. She might have been violated.

She trusted me. And I let it happen.

I should have overridden her will. I should have known better. Should have put Vin and his men right next to this office instead of by the fucking pool.

I should have known David would change his M.O. the moment he realized Nicole was on to him. He would have lashed out in desperation.

I’m pulled from the spiral by Vin’s voice, steady and cold as he speaks into his phone in low tones. “Attempted rape and murder. Self-defense. Yeah, he pretty much lost it. Multiple blunt force trauma.”

A beat of silence. Then, “It’s messy. Get someone from the precinct down here for cleanup.”

His words to my legal team float over me, far away. I can’t focus on them.

All I see is Nicole's face, the split in her lip, the way her usual rosy complexion has drained to a sickly pale that makes her blue eyes seem too large. Her hair is tangled and matted with sweat where it clings to her neck.

My gaze drops lower, to the angry red marks blooming across her throat, then lower still—to the purple fingerprints marring her inner thighs.

The sight of those marks on those scars I worship, scars that tell the story of her survival—makes something primal rear up inside me.

They’re sacred. Mine.

And that bastard dared to put his hands there.

My throat burns and my vision blurs.

Nicole lifts a trembling hand to my cheek, and her look of confusion is mirrored in mine when her fingers come away wet.

“Kai. Are you . . . crying?” Her voice is a scratchy whisper.

Fuck. I want to find David's body and destroy it all over again. I press a fist to my mouth.

"I'm so fucking sorry, love. It’s killing me right now—” The words tangle and die as her hand wraps around my wrist, her grip surprisingly strong. Her fingers dig into my pulse point - the same way I ground her when she's spiraling.

The same pressure. The same anchor.

"I'm here, Kai,” she rasps, the words barely a whisper through her bruised throat. "I'm right here. It's over."

I press my forehead to hers, breathing in the familiar scent of her skin beneath the copper tang of blood soaking my shirt. "I can't do that again."

"I know,” she groans. Her other hand comes up to cup my jaw. "I'm sorry I pushed you beyond your limit."

"Love . . .” My voice cracks. I turn my face into her palm, press my lips there. Her skin is cool - too cool. I should get her covered, get her warm, get her to a hospital. I should be doing a thousand things right now. But I can't pull away from her touch, from convincing myself she's really here. Really alive.

Her thumb strokes over my cheekbone. A gentle back and forth that slowly begins to pull me back from the edge of that dark pit I'd fallen into.

"We need to get you checked out,” I manage finally, though I still can't lift my head from her hand.

She makes a soft sound - not quite agreement, not quite protest. Then her fingers tighten on my wrist again, that grounding pressure. "Stay with me?"

"Always.” The word comes instantly, raw and honest. "I'm never letting you out of my sight again."

A ghost of a smile touches her lips, though it clearly pains her. "That's not very practical."

"Fuck practical.” But there's no heat in it. Just bone-deep exhaustion and the first hint of relief starting to seep in.

I find the strength to tilt my head vaguely toward where Vin paces the room. "I need a medic at the house.” I bark.

Vin pauses his conversation long enough to shoot me a look. “Already on their way. Give Ash five more minutes to clear the floor, then we’ll move her.” Then he returns to his call. “Yes, he’s dead.”

Nicole stiffens as she catches Vin’s words. Her fingers falter along my jaw. “Is—Is he . . . Kai, did I kill him?” she whispers.

I shake my head slowly, but it doesn’t stop the cracks forming in her composure

“I think I tried to jab him with a pen—” She coughs hard, the effort pulling at her bruised throat.

“Don’t try to speak.” I press my forehead harder to hers.

“Kai . . . tell me the truth, did I stab him?”

“Yes,” I say gently, “Only it wasn’t a pen you stabbed him with—it was a letter opener.”

Her eyes widen. “What!?”

Before the panic can take hold, I cup her face. “Listen. You wounded him but you didn’t kill him. I did.”

The shift is instant.

Her fingers, still curled around my wrist, loosen their grip. Her entire body tenses against mine, a ripple of withdrawal so faint it’s almost imperceptible. But I feel it like a knife to my heart.

She’s afraid of me. What I’m capable of.

That’s it—the thing I’ve dreaded since the moment I realized how deeply I’d fallen for her.

And then—her thumb brushes over my knuckles. Her gaze meets mine—hesitant and terrified.

The dark, twisted thing inside me rears up anyway—hungry, possessive, raw. “Don’t you dare run, Nicole.”

I don’t care if it scares her.

She’s in too deep and I’m never letting her go.