Page 112 of The Fates We Tame

When I push the door open and step inside, there’s a dead man lying on the floor in front of me.

King has a blood-covered Niro’s head in his grip, forehead to forehead. Saying something in hushed tones that the rest of us can’t hear.

Because Catalina being shot has sent him spinning off into another universe.

What I wanted to do was be a part of this. To ensure the men who had attempted to take my wife got what they deserved. Butmy training kicked in. It was as the doctor had said, that part of my memory was like a muscle that remembered exactly what it was supposed to do.

The moment I saw Sophia was alive and unharmed and Catalina was in pain, nothing else was more important than making sure I could treat Cat, who had refused a trip to the hospital. She had been reluctant to go, not because she was worried about the cost or trying to explain to them what happened but because she had wanted to stay by Niro’s side.

And I understood that desire to put other people first. It made me think that my need to be a medic was something more than a decision. It was a calling, something I had always been unable to resist.

I only hoped my wife would see it the same way, considering that I chose to care for our friend before I sought out revenge.

But now that I’ve done that, there’s a rising compulsion to teach these fucks a lesson.

Leo and Luca are both suspended by their hands, which are tied to a beam that runs through the center of the shed. Luca is unconscious. Blood pours from a wound on the side of his head. It drips silently onto the concrete floor and forms a puddle by his feet.

Leo glares out of the one eye that remained open. “You may think you have gotten away with this, but you’re going to die for it.”

I walk straight up to the motherfucker and punch him in the stomach.

Hard.

Hard enough to rearrange his internal organs.

I jump back just in time as he pukes.

“She’s your fucking sister. She’s told you she doesn’t want to come back to you. And yet you try to pull some shit on us at the docks as a distraction. Why the fuck can’t you let this go?”

Leo huffs. “Like you don’t have club rules and club politics. She’s promised to another family.”

I get close to him. “Yeah. Well, she’s my fucking family now. And we have a rock-solid case to get your father’s guardianship over her removed.”

“And what? You gonna take it over and control her to control us?”

I shake my head. “Don’t need manipulation to keep you fuckers in line. The fact you’re in my clubhouse—” I look up at the ropes eating into his wrists “—tied to my beams, your brother unconscious and not receiving any medical help, proves that.”

“Proves shit,” Leo says.

Vex comes into the shed holding a phone he offers to King. “Theirfamigliais on their way.”

King is still focused on Niro. “Go to her.” Those three words snap Niro out of whatever mist descended over him.

“Fuck, Cat,” he mutters, as if he just woke up and remembered something important. “Where did you take her?”

“She’s in the medical room getting some sleep,” I say.

“She good?” he asks me hoarsely as he walks by.

“She will be.” I look down at his hands. “Wash those cuts with the disinfectant I left on the sink.”

“You sure you want to do this?” King asks me as he comes to stand by my side.

“I am. Don’t want Sophia’s immediate family’s death on my hands.” I glance at the body on the floor. “The rest of them, do whatever you want.”

Leo looks at me. “You think you can get away with?—”

I pull my arm back and punch him hard, knocking him unconscious.