Page 79 of The One Night Match

I carefully lift her from the car, clutching her to my chest like she’s the only thing keeping me from losing my mind.

Which, to be fair, she is.

I’m as close to losing my mind as I’ve ever been, but feeling her steady weight in my arms helps to steady my heartbeat.

“Kitten?” I murmur, trying to rouse her, but she’s dead to the world, which only makes me angrier.

Timothy has a fucking lot to answer for, and he’ll be doing so with his life.

But not tonight.

Not when we might be able to use him to lure Dennis and Vernon out.

No matter how badly I want to slit his throat for hurting my wife, I need to keep him alive for the moment.

“Can you take her for a second?” I ask Colten.

He nods, albeit confused, and I transfer her weight into his arms.

I tug my knife from its holster and cross to where Ben has Timothy pinned to the ground.

“Turn him over,” I demand, and he doesn’t hesitate to do as I say until our captive is squirming and kicking out like he has any chance of escaping.

Even if he gets free of Ben’s hold, there’s no way he’s getting past me and Colten.

I drop into a crouch beside him, forcing him to look up at me. “Did you think you’d live after taking my wife from me?” I growl.

“You won’t be alive for long enough to do shit to me,” he spits.

I chuckle. “Because your daddy and his friend escaped? You think they’ll be able to take me down?”

“I know they will. You’re nothing, De Luca. Nothing but a weak little boy who got the jump on your dad. You never would have been able to kill him otherwise.”

He manages to tug one of his hands from Ben, but I catch it, pinning it to the pavement beneath us. It’s damp from the rain that’s barely stopped, but it’s about to be stained with something other than water.

“You’re just as delusional as your father,” I say calmly, inspecting my blade where he can see the weapon clearly. “And although I have to wait to kill you, I can’t allow you to keep your hands when you used them to hurt my wife.”

Without hesitation, I bring the knife to his wrist and don’t hesitate to cut into his skin.

His screams and blood fill the night, his body jerking violently as pain takes him over, but I don’t stop until his hand is severed from his arm and he passes out from the pain.

“What do you want me to do with him, boss?” Ben asks.

“Take him to the family doctor, make sure he doesn’t die, and then once he’s out of the woods, lock him up in the cellar.”

I shove myself to my feet and stalk to where Colten is still holding Riley.

He hands me a napkin he’s produced from somewhere, and I promptly wipe my hands so I don’t get any of that asshole’s blood on my wife.

Once I’ve cleared what I can, he passes Riley to me, and I feel settled once again.

I wonder if I can run my empire with her in my arms. I should definitely give it a try.

“You keeping this, boss?” Ben asks, kicking the severed hand closer to me.

I turn to Colten and nod. “Can you bring that with you when you come back to the house?”

“Please don’t tell me you’re going to gift that to your wife,” he deadpans.