Fear is an unbreakable chain.
ANGEL
She thought leaving me meant she’d go on with her life, raising her son, and working dead-end jobs she couldn’t keep long enough to keep them fed. It was dangerous and rash, but I decided to show her just how fucked life would be without me.
Little Mian Ross did things to me I wasn’t proud of, but she had a way of making me not care. I didn’t know what came over me when I finally had her in my hands on the brink of release. The words spilled from my lips and just like that, I lost her.
“You sure it’s a good idea taking her with us?” Lucas grilled for the fifth fucking time.
“She needs to see for herself what she’s up against,” I answered the same as before.
“She could get hurt.”
“She’ll be killed if she’s not convinced leaving isn’t in her best interest.”
He was silent, but I knew it wouldn’t last. “What if you’re just looking for a reason to keep her around?”
My jaw worked, and I forced my response—the only response—through my teeth. “I don’t need to.” Why did I need a reason to keep someone who was already mine?
I had clothes sent up to Mian with the order to show her face in five minutes, or I’d drag her down naked. She came down mere seconds before the five-minute mark. She didn’t question or bother to look me in the eye.
* * *
When we arrived , the guards at the gate were reluctant to allow us entry but a few guns to their heads and the promise to visit their families while they slept in their beds changed their minds. I had my entire security team flanking us as we made our way inside. Mian remained silent through it all, and Z guided her inside by her arm. We were shown to the senator’s office after forcing submission from the rest of his security team. They would all be out of a job by morning anyway, so all they had left to lose was their life.
“Knight,” the senator greeted after I pushed my way inside and closed the door. “Your visit is unexpected.”
“I’m not the type to make an appointment.”
“Or wait for an invitation for that matter.” I shrugged and took a seat without him offering, and his eyes narrowed at the slight. “What brings you by?”
“The job’s not going to happen.”
“But you took the money.”
“And I intend to give it to your grandson for child support. It’s not enough for what your punk ass son did by abandoning him before he was even born, but it will do.”
“You’ll do no such thing. We don’t even know if that baby is really his.”
“You and I both know if he wasn’t your son’s kid, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.”
“What makes you think I’ll just let you take my money and give it to her bastard?”
Most of my control evaporated, but I managed to keep my fists tight around the arms of the chair rather than pummeling them into his face. “Call him a bastard again, and you won’t live to see me take all your money and give it to Caylen .” He looked confused, and it dawned on me that he didn’t even know his grandson’s name. “Your illegitimate grandson’s name is Caylen. Now, be a good boy and say his name so I’ll know you get me.”
He hesitated, so I pulled my gun and sat it on my lap. I wasn’t the least bit concerned about the guards standing on the other side of the door.
His faced paled as he looked from me to the gun. I didn’t remove my finger from the trigger until he said his name. I told myself it was guilt for what I had done to his mother that made me want to protect him so fiercely. No one knew that I spent the nights sitting with him to make sure he slept well. They didn’t know I talked to him when no one was around. I told him stories of how she’d been a pain in the ass since she was ten years old. If I had a heart, I’m sure he would have stolen a place in it. But since I didn’t, taking down the senator was merely restitution.
“So we are in agreement then.” He was smart enough to know I wasn’t asking and kept his mouth shut. “I’ll give her the money you’ve already paid me, and she stays away forever. With the amount of money you paid to off them, she won’t need to bother you again.” My lips curled as I stared down the senator. It would have been cheaper for him to simply pay her off, but the pussy had zero honor.
Mian wasn’t money hungry.
She had no aspirations of wealth or prestige and would have been content just being able to give Caylen a healthy life. She’s sacrificed her entire life to give him one, and she would have continued to do so long after he was old enough to take the wheel.
“We have an arrangement,” he agreed slowly.
“Good. Now where’s your son? There’s someone you should meet.” The senator’s sat stoic. His refusal to answer didn’t deter me, however, from going to the door and opening it. Mian stood between Lucas and Z with our guard surrounding them. Her wide-eyed gaze met mine and in them were questions she was about to get the answers to. I crooked my finger and for the first time she came without coercion. “Bring his son to me,” I directed to Lucas and Z before hauling her in and shutting the door.
Not long after, I heard shouting and then the door was ripped open. A struggling Aaron was thrown inside the room and landed on his stomach. Lucas and Z entered and closed the door behind them while the senator stood from his chair and slammed his fists on the desk.
“What is this?” he shouted.
I saw Mian tense in my peripheral, so I used my body to shield her from the senator’s anger. Aaron was righting his clothes and had yet to see her, but I knew the moment Mian recognized him. She gasped and something inside my chest shifted when she moved closer to me. I wasn’t naive enough to believe she trusted me to protect her. I was just the lesser of two evils… in her book.
Aaron finally noticed me standing in the corner but then his attention shifted behind me, and he leaned over to try to get a better look. “Is that…” The room fell silent as we waited for the other shoe to fall. “Mian?”
“This is preposterous,” the senator blubbered. “Why is that lying harlot in my home?”
Mian made another sound, but this one was filled with pain. My finger moved back to the trigger, though my gun remained at my side. Lucas and Z were staring down the senator looking only seconds away from ending him.
“Senator,” I called to get his attention. He was busy trying to glare a hole through me to reach the innocent girl who’d asked for none of this. “I would say the same rule applies to her, but I don’t want to taint her name by letting you speak it. You don’t talk to her, and you for damn sure won’t talk at her.”
“What makes you think you can come into my house and give orders?”
“The bullet I can put into your son’s skull before your security team can even have a chance to pull their head from their asses. Shall we continue?”
Wisely, he reclaimed his seat, so I reached behind me and pulled Mian to my front. She fought me, but like always, I won. Her gaze was fixed on Aaron as I brought her back against my chest to share my strength. He was already leering at her, and I seriously wanted to pull my blade and carve his eyes out.
“Why did you bring her here,” the senator asked more cordially.
Because I need to scare her from leaving me. “So your son can tell her in person why he shunned his responsibilities.” The truth was I had no interest in why he was a prick, and I doubt Mian would ever have the courage to confront him if her trembling was anything to go by. It made me wonder what happened between them. I expected anger, not fear.
“She spread her legs and got herself in trouble, so she screams rape and my son is just supposed to pay?” As soon as the last word left the senator’s lips, his son spat blood onto the carpet and regarded Mian with disgust. It wasn’t just the way he was looking at her that made me want to rip his heart out and make his father eat it, but what his father had said.
I must have done something because all eyes were suddenly on me, but I only had eyes for one person. One look in his eyes told me the truth.
That motherfucker raped her.
I didn’t think after that.
I just reacted.
I lifted my gun and aimed it between his eyes. My finger squeezed the trigger without hesitation or remorse. He should have been dead, but my aim was compromised when my hand had been knocked away at the last moment. The bullet killed the wall and not the bitch I was aiming for. Enraged, I turned on the fucker who dared and stared into frightened green eyes while the senator’s men tried to break the door down.
My fury only heightened when I found the culprit was Mian. Was she actually protecting that cunt?
I sent her my most menacing expression, but she didn’t flinch. In fact, there was no emotion in her eyes to be found. Anger turned into worry , and suddenly, we were the only two people in the room. After a few tense moments, she finally spoke, but it wasn’t the words I wanted to hear.
“You can’t kill him.”
“And why is that?” Did she love him?
I’ll kill them both and bury them in the same hole where they could be together.
Forever.
“Because he’s the son of a senator.”
I was not moved.
“I can always kill the good senator, too.” Both of those bitches gasped like women making my trigger finger itch to put them out of their misery for good. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t.”
She started to speak but immediately snapped her mouth close.
Like I thought.
“You have something you want to say to me?”
She gripped my shirt under her fingers, and finally, there was life staring back at me. “I don’t want anything from him. Not even his blood.”
“Well, that’s too bad.”
Her frown deepened. “The senator has agreed that you and your son deserve more.” I looked up to meet the senator’s gaze. “Isn’t that right, Senator?” Her head turned in the senator’s direction, and her body tightened even more.
“That’s right. One hundred and fifty grand in cash to you and Caylen.”
“I—I don’t know what to say.”
“The senator doesn’t deserve your gratitude.” She looked uncertain and ready to thank that asshole anyway until I promised death with a glare.
“I assure you it’s not necessary,” he rushed to agree. He slid his gaze back to me. “You have your money now leave my home.”
I almost put a bullet in his skull just because.