Page 162 of Where Sinners Repent

Kaleb

She came back. Fuck, she came back!

And now, I wish she didn’t.

She was right to leave. To run as far as her fucking legs could take her. To get away from Havenport Harbour until it was nothing but a bad memory. Even though my selfish heart roars at seeing her, she shouldn’t have come.

Because now I’m going to watch her die. And I can do absolutely nothing to stop it. Jacob has a knife to her throat. But that’s not what scares me the most. It’s the unhinged look in his eyes. He knows he is about to lose. The noise outside isn’t just a drive-by. It’s mayhem that smells and sounds and tastes like the Devils.

His brother is lying dead. No. More than dead. Fucking ruined, on the ground next to them. And he is going to use her as a bargaining chip.

“Step back from her,” I growl, yanking at the chains behind my back.

They don’t budge and panic claws up my throat. Of course, Isaac doesn’t listen. His attention is on the body at his feet, lip twisting in an ugly snarl.

I’m so fucking proud of her. She walked into this room with her chin held high, and nobody deserved the kill more than she did.

And fuck did she do it well.

If we weren’t about to die, then my cock would be rock fucking hard. Seeing that was... fucking perfection.

One of the monsters from her childhood, gone forever. But one remains. And that scares the shit out of me.

My eyes bore into her, soaking her in. Ethan’s blood is splattered over her clothes and her face, and her chest heaves with the effort it took to kill a man with a wooden stick. She swallows, and the knife digs into her, just enough to split the skin. A small drop of blood forms around the knife before disappearing down her shirt.

But she doesn’t look scared.

Her eyes soak me in, and her bottom lip trembles.

“I’m sorry, Kaleb,” she whimpers.

Echoing gunshots drown out her words. But I see it. I fight harder against the restraints, desperate to get to her. To hold her and feel her pulse under my fingers. To make this right.

Throwing myself forward, the restraints snap tight around my wrists and blaring agony screams in my shoulder. It’s nothing compared to my need to get to her.

Kai is here. I know it with every fibre of my being.

Just as I knew he would come.

He’s going to see her die. And I’m going to have failed him. Again.

If we get out of this, he’ll never be the same.

The small piece of humanity that Roxy brings out in him will be smothered before it even got a chance to breathe. She waltzed into our lives and ignited parts of Kai that I thought were dead.

She made him laugh.

Made him care. Made him love.

Growling through my teeth, I fight like a rabid animal, tugging and tearing and pulling. Nothing is budging. Warmth drips down my hand as I twist and pull and fucking fight against everything holding me here.

Just like I used to do.

“Fuck!” I roar, putting my whole body into the next pull.

It’s useless, but I don’t stop. I can’t fucking stop. Not while that blade is against her throat.

She keeps pleading her apologies. Useless fucking apologies that I don’t care about.