Page 52 of Vengeance

“The journal,” Dante shouted.

Marcus nodded toward the cabin. “Burning.” Vengeance looked behind him as flames licked the curtains inside Doc’s living room. The fire spread quickly across the old wooden walls, and Savage’s journal was still in there along with the letter and box that he had left Vengeance.

“No.” Vengeance pushed himself upright.

Dante laughed. “You attach too much meaning to dead men’s possessions.” His anger nearly blinded him again. Savage’s Colt lay several feet away in the dirt. Dante had shot it from his hand inside the cabin when Vengeance tried to stop him from tearing pages from the journal. The bullet had struck the barrel and sent the weapon spinning away. Vengeance dove for it and Marcus fired. The bullet struck the dirt beside his hand as gunfire from the Royal Bastards answered from the trees.

Marcus ducked behind the SUV, and Vengeance seized the Colt and rolled behind the porch foundation. The weapon’s barrel was damaged, and the gun was useless, but he held it anyway.

A voice rose above the gunfire. “Manzo!” Bowie stepped into the clearing. He didn’t hide behind a tree and didn’t crouch behind one of the motorcycles. He walked forward with a rifle held against his shoulder and murder in his eyes.

Dante turned toward him, and for the first time that night, his expression lost its amusement. “Bowie.”

“You killed my husband,” Bowie shouted

“His heart killed him,” Dante corrected.

“You hunted our daughter,” Bowie continued.

“She belongs to a debt Savage refused to pay.” Bowie fired, and Dante threw himself behind the SUV as the round shattered the rear window.

“You come near her again,” Bowie shouted, “and I will tear your empire apart one man at a time.”

Dante answered from behind the vehicle. “You don’t have enough men.”

“Try me,” Bowie spat. The SUV’s engine roared, and Marcus fired repeatedly through the shattered rear window while the driver accelerated. The vehicle lurched backward, turned sharply, and sped toward the narrow road. Spider and two other brothers opened fire. Bullets struck the tires and rear panel, but the SUV continued down the mountain with the second vehicle following. Within seconds, both disappeared beyond the trees.

The Royal Bastards swept the property, checking the shed, the cabin, and the surrounding woods for anyone Dante had left behind. Vengeance barely noticed them because his attention remained fixed on Chloe. She knelt beside Doc with her hands covered in blood. Bowie crouched near her, speaking softly, but she didn’t seem to hear him.

Vengeance forced himself to stand. His ribs screamed, and blood ran down his side and dripped from his injured palm. He took one step, then another. The distance between them feltendless. Chloe looked up, and the devastation on her face nearly broke him.

“He’s gone,” she whispered. Vengeance stopped because he already knew. Still, hearing her say it made the truth final. He looked at Doc. The old man’s eyes were closed, and his expression was strangely peaceful—as though death had come after a long day, and he’d decided he was too tired to argue.

Vengeance sank to his knees beside him. “No.” His voice sounded small—like the frightened sixteen-year-old Doc had once found bleeding behind his clinic. He touched two fingers to the side of Doc’s neck and felt no pulse.

“I’m sorry.” Chloe covered his hand with hers. “He saved me.”

Vengeance stared down at their joined hands. Her fingers were slick with Doc’s blood. “He always saved people.”

“He told me to tell you something,” Chloe breathed.

Vengeance couldn’t look at her. “What?”

“He said that Savage was right,” she said.

A broken laugh escaped him. “About a lot of things.”

“You get to choose who you become,” she continued. Vengeance closed his eyes. Doc had repeated those words every time Vengeance believed Dante’s blood had already decided his future. Apparently, the old man had wanted the final word. “He also said there was more evidence,” Chloe continued.

His eyes opened. “What evidence?”

“Beneath the floor of his old clinic. Room seven.” Vengeance looked at Doc again. “He said it would be the end of Dante Manzo.”

Bowie joined them. “We’ll find it,” he said.

Vengeance shook his head. “Dante knew about the journal. He’ll know there are copies. It’s not safe for either of you to go after the rest of the evidence.”

“Sure it is,” Bowie said. “We’ll just have to move faster than Dante does.”