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Against this fucking disease.
Against my father.
Against everything that would dare hurt her or our future.
He goes to bring down the knife, and as he does, I grab a fist-size rock and roll out of his way. I’m on my feet within seconds, and he seems amused by the movement. I begin to see red as I let that wild, wounded animal to the surface. I scan all the vital points where I can strike.
Dead.
I want him dead.
“Or maybe I came back for your mother,” he says as he strikes with the knife again. It’s close to my throat as I twist out of its way. I slam the rock into his kneecap and bounce back out of his reach. He grunts and tries to grab my shoulder, but I slip out of the hold and barely miss being struck in the chest.
I’m behind him now, and it’s the opening I need as I strike the pointed edge of the rock into the back of his head. He keels forward, blood immediately seeping down his back. He’s sluggish but still turns to face me with a crazed smile.
“Or maybe I came here to teach you how to be a real man,” he says as he touches the wound on the back of his head and pulls back red. His men pull out guns at the same time as the Hounds, but The Lion raises his hands. “No, this stays between us.”
Layla is trying to usher Elanee back into the car but she defiantly remains in place, her face twisted in anguish. I permitted her to come, but I wish now that I’d ignored her request.
My left arm feels like pins and needles from numbness, and I cling to the rock in my right, furious with my body.
The sunlight is too blinding as it splits my head in two with another of the constant migraines I’ve had these past few months, but I only have sights for one thing.
Blood.
There has to be more.
He must pay.
“Looks like I underestimated you. There’s a killer in there yet,” The Lion says with a smile. “You know you could’ve come back to me. I thought maybe you were only brains. But with a fighting spirit like that, you’d do well in the Bratva.”
I spit blood toward his bare feet. “I’d rather die.”
He doesn’t seem impressed by the gesture but says through a smile. “I thought you might say that.” He throws the knife, and I’m too slow to dodge it as it embeds into my left shoulder, propelling me back. The rock drops to the ground as The Lion pounces on me, but I’m quick to rip the blade out with a grimace and slash across his stomach.
He momentarily stumbles back, hand to stomach, as I strike lower and go for his thigh, aiming for his femoral artery, but the knife slips out of my grip with momentum. Blood squirts, and finally he’s forced to stumble, and drop to his knee.
I grab the rock again as I pounce on him and slam it into his head. He wrestles me, and we roll in the dirt. He’s able to kick me off, but I slide from the momentum along the dirt and pounce again like a predator on top of a wounded animal. And he is wounded, bleeding out even.
“You thought it was funny when you hurt her!” I seethe. I see nothing but red as I claw back on top of him. He tries to push me away, but I strike again. This time, when he kicks me off, I go for his feet. All I can see is Elanee’s face and the graphic mutilated detail of her feet. “You thought you could take her spring?”
I slam the rock down on his big toe edge down. Red stains the rock, and blood squirts as he kicks me off with the other foot, and I briefly glance at the detached toe.
“You tormented my mother and made her a shell!” I scream and lunge again. In and out. Everything’s a blur as rage grips me like a noose. I sever the big toe from his other foot. His stomach, face, and thigh are a bloody mess.
But he’s smiling. Wildly. Unrelentingly. Which only makes me more livid.
I hit and hit and hit, all together forgetting about the knife on the ground and willing all my strength to hit him over and over again.
Bang.
A gunshot rings out, and I’m stunned. Multiple gunshots go off afterward, and I realize with a cold realization as I look down that I’ve been shot in the chest. It’s slow for the realization to catch on, and I briefly glance in the direction of the cars as I notice The Lion’s men fall. I also see how one of his men has his gun pointed in my direction as he slides down the car. I stumble forward to strike at The Lion again, but when I look at him. Actually, look at him, I realize he’s barely conscious.
I fall to my knees beside him in shock. Everything goes still and quiet as I hear Elanee screaming out my name in the distance. I stare at my father in disbelief, his gaze unwavering from mine. “I—” He coughs up blood. “I’m—” More blood. He looks as if he’s trying to reach out to me. “Proud.”
What.
The.
