I’ve made a life of being an enforcer for one of the most feared clubs around. You don’t do that by losing your cool. I’ve always locked myself down. I attack and in battle I’m deadly cold. Hearing Blade talk about Hayden as his, brings those emotions to a boil, but I have a handle on it. I do. I’ve got it contained, and I won’t let him get me rattled. Until he has the balls to refer to Maggie as a “split-tail.” I know the saying. It’s something used often back home. An offensive term to call a girl, as if they are somehow below a man. I’ve never had respect for the fuck in front of me, but if that’s how he can even think about his own daughter, he deserves to die and it’s in that moment I lose sight of being level-headed in battle. All I can think about is ripping out his tongue and letting Hayden feed it to him. I want to end the son of a bitch so he never gets his hands on Hayden or Maggie. This fuck doesn’t deserve them. He never did.

I charge at Blade with a growl, and I guess that was the last thing he was expecting, because the motherfucker’s eyes go round, and he stops advancing towards me. It doesn’t matter, I’ve had it with him. He scrambles to throw a punch, but he wasn’t prepared soon enough. My hand goes around his neck, and I squeeze the shit out of it, picking him up off the ground with just my hold. I push forward, despite him clawing at my hand and kicking me. I stop only when I’ve slammed him against the wall.

He’s clawing harder at my hands, but I’m bigger, and I can’t remember a time when I’ve had this much anger coursing through me. It’s beating inside of me like a living thing. When I tried to save Annabelle the largest emotion I could grasp was fear. It consumed me, roared through me and fucking suffocated me from the inside out. Anger is much more preferable, so I let it have free reign.

“You don’t touch them,” I growl, my voice sounding otherworldly, like a demon possessed and maybe I am. I’ve lived in Hell so long, it would make sense. “You don’t lay one fucking finger on them.”

“They’re mine,” he manages to gurgle out, and I tighten my hold on him even more, satisfied when his face starts losing color, only to slowly be replaced by a darkening hue. I want the asshole blue. I want his last breath finished. I couldn’t save Annabelle, but I can make sure this fucker never touches Hayden or Maggie ever again.

“That’s where you’re wrong asshole. Hayden and Maggie are under the protection of the Devil’s Blaze, but more importantly they’re under my protection. They’re my property, and no one touches what’s mine and gets to breathe air.”

I increase the pressure on my hand. The fucker is getting zero air now and that’s what he deserves. I can feel his tendons curved against my hand, the solidness of the bone. It will be easy to snap his neck and that’s my goal. Even when I hear the door to the diner open and the sound of boots on the tiled floor. I know Blade’s men are there to have his back, and I’ve made the mistake of leaving mine unprotected. It doesn’t matter. I don’t give two shits that I’m about to die. I’ve been wanting death for as long as I care to remember, the only difference is that now, before I go, I can make sure I take Blade with me.

My body jerks as the retort of a shotgun blast rings out. Leave it to these motherfuckers to bring a fucking shotgun to the party. I wait for the white-hot, searing pain of a gunshot to rip through me. I’m surprised when it doesn’t, but I don’t take my eyes off of Blade. I take pleasure in the fact that I can see a blood vessel pick that exact moment to burst in his eye. Any second now…

“I won’t have you damn cockroaches in my diner. You don’t move,” Charlie cries out, and they must have not listened because she shoots again. “The next one won’t be a warning shot. You’ll lose your nuts and berries if you take one more step,” she tells them, and I can hear Blade’s men in the background, but I don’t give a fuck. Blade’s going to die here. “Michael, let the asshole go,” I hear Charlie tell me, and I can’t believe it. I don’t respond but I give her a grunt. “I mean it, Michael. Let him go and let them leave. Hayden doesn’t need more violence, and you’re worth more to her here, than on the inside of a jail cell. She’s in bad shape right now,” she says, and her words kind of reach me, but I’m lost in a thirst for blood.

I want him dead. This should be the one thing I can do. You don’t leave the head on a wounded snake. That just gives him more time to strike.

“Michael. Hayden needs you. Now.” Charlie yells, and I concentrate on those words and turn to find Hayden.

She’s standing in the corner with an old man standing beside her, but she doesn’t see him. Her body is shaking and though it doesn’t look as severe as the other day, I know she’s lost in another attack. I know she’s back inside of her own hell, and I can’t leave her there. I take my hand from Blade and back away from him a couple of steps. He immediately drops to his knees, starts coughing and gasping for breath. The disappointment I feel is immense, as the color starts slowly leeching back into his face.

“This…ain’t…over,” Blade gasps, his voice is so hoarse it’s hard to make out. “I’ll end you,” he vows, as he makes toward the door. His men have to help him to stand and at least that gives me satisfaction.

“Bring it motherfucker. I’ve taken worse than you down without blinking,” I tell him truthfully, already turning away and walking to Hayden. I have to get her out of her head. I have to bring her back to me.

“You’ll pay for interfering, old woman,” one of the men growls from behind me, and I hear another gunshot go off and the cry of a man. I hope she killed him, I think, only to feel disappointment when I hear Charlie.

“Drag his ass out of here and get him patched up while he’s still breathing. Any of you set foot in my place again, I won’t be as forgiving, and you can bet that Victor Torasani will hear about the shit you pulled today,” Charlie warns them.

I file away the knowledge that she seems to know the head of the Torasani family as I finally make it to Hayden.