Page 152 of Split You Open

“If you would just let me explain, you’ll see that you’re taking this all the wrong way.”

Blair shakes her head. “I don’t want to hear it. What I want right now is for you to go back to wherever you’re bunkered down. Just looking at you is making me sick.”

Anchor flinches. With a deep breath, he tries to soothe her.

“Blair Bear, you walked into a conversation you weren’t supposed to hear. You’ve misinterpreted everything.” He gives her a smile but Blair isn’t moved by it and he sees it. “Let’s talk, just you and I.”

Her gun goes off again, this time nearly hitting his other shoe.

Anchor swears before taking two quick steps backward.

Blair takes a step forward and mirrors his eerie smile back at him.

“Tomorrow, you’ll come back here for breakfast and we’ll make plans on how to handle Dixie that doesn’t involve me disappearing with you,” she continues, ignoring his offer to chat. “Got it?”

Anchor stares at his daughter as if just now seeing her for the first time. His eyes travel over her face—hardened with anger—and then they fall to the gun in her hand.

“You wouldn’t shoot me.”

“Want to put money on it?” she counters with a cold smirk. “Ledger probably thought I wouldn’t draw his blood, too. He learned the hard way, want to do the same?”

Anchor shoots a curious glance in my direction.

“I’ll show you the damage in the morning,” I offer with a strained chuckle. “If you don’t shoot me.”

His expression goes blank before he turns back to Blair.

“Fine, clearly you need to cool down before we can have a real conversation,” he concedes. After a moment, he adds a little more gently. “Don’t overthink this, Blair Bear. You know I gave you all the tools to succeed in life. Each brush with death only made you stronger.”

A snarl of rage echoes around us. Wes steps forward, his brows knitted together and his lips peeled back so that his teeth are bared. “Get the fuck out of here, now! Your daughter clearly has more self-control than I do. Stay any longer and I’ll kill you myself.”

Santi saunters up to Blair’s other side, lacking a smile that typically adorns his face. Rhett falls in beside Santi, looking just as murderous as ever.

Anchor eyes the crowd that’s gathered around his daughter for a long moment before he nods and takes a step back.

“I’ll be here tomorrow,” he promises.

Blair waves her gun, gesturing for him to keep moving.

Anchor continues to walk backward until he vanishes into the darkness.

I stare at where I last saw him, gaping in surprise.

This was the first time I’ve ever known Anchor, the world’s most infamous hitman, to retreat.

Thirty-Two

Blair

“Blair!”

Ledger calls for me but I can’t stomach looking at him right now as I stomp back toward the cabin. There are dishes still to be done and a grill that needs to be cleaned but it’s all forgotten as I head for the back door.

“Baby girl!”

“Cariño!”

“Blair!”