Page 77 of The Villain

I lifted my gun and aimed straight at the windshield. Then I fired.

But not before Paul yanked the wheel hard to the left, sending the SUV into a spin. The gun in Joseph Russo’s hand, pointed out the passenger side window, was aimed right at me. I fired at the car again. And then my fucking gun jammed. I stared down the barrel of the gun, and the world seemed to slow. Joseph grinned a bloody smile, and his arm flexed as he prepared to fire a shot between my eyes.

I thought I’d feel peace. This was what I’d wanted, right? For it all to be over? At least this death would be for something better than myself. For Cian. But that goddamn flame in my chest flickered. Protested. I closed my eyes and pictured Cian’s face. I pictured the future I’d let myself imagine in my weakest moments. Lazy mornings in bed. Late nights eating greasy food at O’Shea’s. Watching the new orca documentary the Nature Channel had been teasing.

I didn’t deserve any of those things. I didn’t deserve anything I’d been given, either. Ihadto be okay with this.

I waited for the sound of the shot, but it never came. Then a few things happened all at once. A loud crack. Then another. Glass shattering. I opened my eyes to see the Range Rover spinning out of control as it hit the edge of a steep bank. The tires caught, and the vehicle launched into the air before slamming back down on its windshield with a sickening crunch. Then came a nasty hiss. Something sparked. and flames erupted from the smashed hood.

Jace and Rhys crouched over a big, unmoving lump on the gravel, and horror slammed into me when I realized it was Cian. As I stumbled toward them, the lump finally moved. Cian pushed up onto all fours with a groan. Blood coated the side of his face, and he shook his head to clear it as the other two helped him to his feet. “Dev,” he murmured. “Where’s Devlin?”

I stopped moving. Jace spotted me first, scanning me from head to toe before replying. “Yourboyfriendappears unharmed. You’re the dumbass who threw yourself in front of a fucking Range Rover driven by twin assassins who wanted you dead.”

Men swarmed the burning vehicle as smoke and flames billowed from the hood.

“We can’t get to them!” someone hollered.

“No way they survived that, even in a Rover!” another man yelled.

Cian swayed on his feet, and I saw red. I marched straight up to him and jammed a finger into his chest. “What thefuckwas that? We needed them alive!”

Cian glared at me. “He was going to fucking shoot you.”

Blood streamed down his face, and seeing his injuries only fueled my wrath. “So?” I threw up my hands, my face flaming with fury. “That was stupid. You could have been killed.”

“I knew what I was doing, and I had it under control.Youcould have been killed,” he snapped back at me.

“Oh. Youhad it under control,” I mocked. “That was a stupid fucking risk. I don’t have a brother who loves me, or a crew to lead.Youdo. They can’t replace you, Cian.”

He surged forward, face like thunder. Gripping my shirt in his bloody fist, he hauled me against his body. “You’re irreplaceable to me. Don’t you get it? You’re irre-fucking-placeable.”

He shoved me away, and I stumbled back only to fall on my ass. He leaned over me with a snarl. “Pull shit like that again, and I’ll tighten your leash until you can’t breathe without me.”

He stalked away, and I remained on the ground with my fingers curled into the wet grass. Flames from the burning car heated my face. But they had nothing on the raging inferno in my chest. The hope that just wouldn’t extinguish.

TWENTY-ONE

Cian

Devlin didn’t speak for the next few hours. Not one word. And I didn’t fucking care. I didn’t want to hear anything out of his mouth, because I already knew what he was going to say.

My side burned where the gravel had scraped my skin raw, and I was tired of dragging around dead bodies. I wanted to get the fuck out of here so I could deal with Devlin in private. He wanted to throw himself in front of a fucking Range Rover spitting gravel at seventy-five miles an hour? Fine. So could I. He could be pissed at me all he wanted, but he was going to learn how things were from now on. His education in belonging to me had been put on hold while he healed, but class was back in session. Effective immediately.

We handled the initial cleanup of the cabin before Hack told us through our earpieces that the disposal crew had arrived. By morning, the cabin, the bodies, and the Range Rover would all be ash. Hack had already paid off the area’s fire chief.

The Russo twins were dead. That wasn’t the outcome I’d wanted, but I was prepared for it. We’d been able to recover allof their devices, which Hack would begin analyzing immediately. I was confident the Bianchis were behind the hit on me—now I just needed confirmation.

I assessed my men’s injuries. Tyson had been stabbed in the arm, but the wound was superficial. Utz had rolled an ankle. Welk had a minor bullet graze on his side. I finally breathed a sigh of relief when all my men were alive and accounted for.

By four in the morning, we were back at our cars. I threw our bulletproof vests in the back next to another large duffel, then I nodded to Rhys, who steered a confused Jace away from our SUV and into another vehicle. Devlin watched them go with a frown.

He spoke for the first time in hours. “Why aren’t they riding back with us?”

And just like that, I was pissed. “Get in the car.”

Devlin stiffened, giving in to his first instinct to resist me. “Why?”

I shoved him against the side of the car and jabbed a finger in his face. “Get in thefuckingcar or I’ll tie you up and throw you in the back.”