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I swung my leg, kicking the coffee table and shattering it to pieces.
Jeremiah jumped in surprise, and so did Vince. I had the upper hand for just a moment, and then Vince was on his feet.
"I knew you were double-crossing me, Fee. You have no interest in taking down that son of a bitch Andro. You're one of them now, aren't you?" He launched forward, fists swinging. He caught my jaw, but I dodged to the left and sucker-punched him in the gut.
Vince doubled over but recovered quickly. He opened his mouth to yell for the guards, but Cord was there.
He had grabbed a piece of the broken table and cracked Vince over the shoulder.
"I'll bar the door. If his personal guards get in here, we’re dead. Unless we kill him first," Cord said. "If you're going to kill him, do it now."
I had not woken up this day thinking I was going to murder my own brother. Yet, here I was, about to do just that. When I’d chosen my weapons for the day, I’d only picked a handgun and a knife. They were mostly meant for show. I didn’t ever intend to use them, but I wouldn’t hesitate to now, not if it meant getting Jeremiah free.
I didn’t know what consequences would come after taking out Vince, but when he came up ready to swing again, I grabbed him by the throat. I was always the one who had taken our fighting lessons to heart. He had been too blinded by his arrogance to think an enemy would ever get so close.
But I knew it was a possibility. A probability. Even though I wasn’t usually a fighter, all I had to think about was the scared, terrified look on my mate's face to properly motivate me. He probably got covered in Trev’s blood while trying to save the man’s life.
So much pain and violence because Vince was a sadistic fuck.
What should have been a joyous day—the day we found out we were expecting—turned into something that would traumatize my mate for the rest of his life. Mine too.
"Yield," I said to Vince in the deepest alpha voice I’d ever used. "Let Cord take over, and you can live."
"Never." His eyes stayed locked on mine, not expressing an ounce of remorse for what he’d done or was planning to do.
There was no hesitation as I pulled the knife I kept on my side and stabbed it under his ribs, burying the six-inch blade as deep as it would go.
Blood gurgled from Vince's mouth before he fell to the floor.
17
FELIK
“What now?” Jeremiah asked.
He was in my lap on the couch in his suite. Our suite, now, I supposed.
As soon as we confirmed Vince was dead, I got Jeremiah far from there. Andro and Orsino showed up just as we were leaving. I left them to talk with Cord about what the next steps would be.
Once I got Jeremiah home, I brought him straight to the shower and removed his bloody clothes. I held him as he cried over Trev because we hadn’t yet heard if he would survive his wounds. And as he allowed me to scrub him clean, he finally ran out of tears.
“I don’t know what happens next.” I held him tighter, never wanting to let him go. “Except that we’ll be together. Cord will likely fill the void Vince left with my family business, and with any luck, an alliance will form between our two families.”
“I’d like that.” The rise and fall of Jeremiah’s chest was soothing. Just that morning I’d held him with such joy and optimism, yet it felt like a lifetime ago.
“You’ll graduate soon. After that, I assume you’d like to live near your brothers or perhaps here at the house.”
I felt him smile against my chest. “I love my family, but I would rather have a place of our own. One we could raise our children in…” He lifted his head and looked at me. His eyes were red-rimmed and tired, but there was a sparkle of joy there.
I grinned. “Do you have something to tell me, Jer?”
He slapped my chest. “You already know!”
“Trev had the ultrasound picture on him. Andro told me. I’m sorry you weren’t the one to tell me that you’re going to have my child.”
“Children.”
I cocked my head, trying to catch his meaning. “What?”
