Page 128 of Undeniably Corrupt

“Just keep your eyes closed,” I murmur to her.

“Vander, what the fuck just happened? How are we on the ground and how did my father not shoot you, and how is Shien here?”

“I texted Shien behind your back. I got him here. I saw him enter the garage through the side exit. And when your father lifted the gun, I reacted. I took you down as fast as I could and covered you with me. I just knew I couldn’t let you get hit, either by your father or accidentally by Shien.”

“You saved us. Oh my god, Vander, you saved our lives. He was going to kill you.” She moves to sit up and pushes me off her so she can look at the scene.

“Your father had his gun hand shot off, baby. And that isn’t something you should see.”

“Fuck that. I’m going to be a nurse.” She shoves me off her with superhuman strength and rolls on the ground to look at him. And for the longest moment, that’s all she does. Agent Shien is in the background on the phone now, likely calling in the event to whoever the FBI calls these things in to. I have no clue about that.

She pushes herself up and slowly walks over to him before she crouches down. He’s writhing on the floor, gasping and grunting while holding his bloody stump of a hand. She tilts her head as she takes him in, and he glances up, covered in sweat and fear. Then she punches him. Hard. Right across the bridge of his nose. And does it again and again, hitting his face repeatedly while screaming and yelling at him.

She stands and goes to kick him when I wrap my arms around her and pull her back.

“No! I want to break his ribs. I want to make him bleed internally the way he made my mother bleed. I want to break his neck and his bones the way he broke Cassian’s. I want him tohurt.”

I can’t deny her that. I want that for him too, but she’s earned it. I meet Shien’s gaze across the lot, and he doesn’t give me an indication either way. Until he turns his back on us. Works for me. I release Liora, and she unleashes herself. She kicks him in the face and the ribs and anywhere she can. He’s caused her and the people she loves a world of pain and anguish. He deserves it. He deserves worse.

Even Shien is sort of standing in the background, not stopping her.

“I hate you!” she screams for the last time before she breaks down into sobs, and I pull her into my arms and hold her. “He was going to kill you.”

“But he didn’t. I’m okay, and so are you. So is Hazel. And he can’t hurt us again.”

“That’s right. Hazel.” She tears from me, rears back, and wallops him in the face with the hardest punch I’ve ever seen. “That’s for threatening my kid, you motherfucker.” It knocks him unconscious, his body bloody and bruised and swollen.

I’m insanely jealous. I want to strangle him with my bare hands and listen as he chokes and gurgles for life, only to have me take it from him.

But this moment isn’t mine to steal, and when Liora breaks down into soul-wrenching sobs, I pick her up. There are sirens in the background drawing close.

“Can I take her home? She’s in no place to make a statement tonight, and you’re not detaining her.” That last part isn’t a question. He’s not fucking detaining her.

“You can go, but we’ll need to talk tomorrow.”

I nod, cover Liora in a leather jacket, place a helmet on her head and her body on my bike, and drive us out of here. The FBI doesn’t need us at this point. They have everything they need on him, and my cameras don’t have audio. All they’ll see on the cameras is the back and forth, and then her father pointing his gun at me. I’ll make sure I have the part where Liora beats the shit out of him wiped.

Twenty minutes later, I pull into my driveway, and Liora wordlessly climbs off the bike and removes her helmet, her expression dazed. “It’s done, right? My father’s reign of terror is over?”

“Yes. I think this is the end of James Corbin. There’s more to come though with this, but for now, we’re safe and so is your mom and that’s all that matters.”

She shakes her head in disbelief. “Speaking of, I need to call my mom.”

“Do you want to do that now?”

She considers this and then says, “No. I’m not sure how she’ll take this, and I want my father in prison first.”

“He’ll go to the hospital first.”

“Down one hand.” She shrugs. “I felt some ribs and his jaw and nose crack too.”

“You got him good.”

I take her into my arms and hold her against me. “I hope he’s in agony, but it’s nothing compared to what he’s done.”

“You’re going to have to learn to live with that. There’s no retributive justice that will make you whole and satisfied after all you’ve lived through and lost.”

“But for now, he can’t hurt us. How did you do that?”