The gun slipped from my grasp so unceremoniously I almost felt disappointed. I had expected something more dramatic than the muffled sound of its weight on the duvet and pillows, where it lay still as the fresh corpse that it had made only a moment before. I thought that something so deadly deserved much more pomp and circumstance, especially after witnessing its handiwork… my handiwork. I’d shot Delfino square in his chest, straight through his heart and right back out the other side, the sizable bullet hole in the wall behind him serving as proof of the clean shot I had made.

I’d done it, and there was no turning back.

I stared down at my former guardian’s lifeless body, a pool of blood beginning to accumulate beneath him. Oddly, my first thought was of how all of that blood would seep through the floor and ruin the ceiling beneath it, a strange thing to consider since I’d just committed murder. But then, I’d read that people often chose irrational ways to deal with stress. Maybe this was mine.

I didn’t feel like I was stressed, though. I felt… distant. Numb. Like I was somewhere far away observing everything that was happening, but not actually being involved in it.

You’re dissociating, I told myself. It was a term I’d learned of in one of the countless books I’d read over the years, a term that meant that in order to save myself from the emotional trauma of a situation, my brain had decided to pretend that it wasn’t actually happening to me, and instead was making it seem like I was just some bystander, someone who happened to have flipped through the channels on their TV to watch someone get shot by whoever was holding the camera.

It all felt so surreal, especially knowing, logically, that it really was me who’d shot Delfino, and yet feeling nothing. Nothing except a certain sense of righteousness—of justice—in what I’d done. Delfino had turned my life into a living hell, had held me captive for years, and forced me to live a life of servitude as something only slightly more precious than a pet. This was what he deserved.

But the moment I caught a glimpse of his eyes… that was when my fragile state of calm began to crumble around me. The weight of what I’d done, what I’d taken from another human being, crashed into and through me like the outer bands of a tornado.

I had just killed a man.

My knees hit the floor before my brain even realized that they’d given out from under me. Stinging tears welled in my eyes, then went streaming down my face as my chest seized, lungs paralyzed by the impact of the scene around me. A million thoughts and questions raced through my head, most of them involving how I could have done something like this.

I sat there, hardly noticing as Leo came closer to me, wrapping his arms around me in order to bring me back into some kind of fit state to stand and walk out of the room. The room where both the man Delfino had called Jackal, and Delfino himself, now lay motionless. It all felt so surreal, like so many other nightmares I’d had in this room. Two men dead. In my bedroom. I felt like I was going to throw up.

I focused on the facts, instead.

I knew that, had it really come down to it, Delfino would have made sure I went down with the ship. He would have kept me as his slave forever, or otherwise would have ensured that when his boss came calling, he wasn’t the only one who paid the price Don Carliogne would undoubtedly exact. I had to kill him to protect myself, and no matter what, I would keep that thought close to me as my sole comfort whenever I cast my thoughts back to Delfino’s cold, dead eyes.

Though they’d been cold and dead well before that moment, too.

Leo was dragging me along, murmuring soft pleas into my hair. Urging me to shuffle out of this room, to leave behind this house for good, forever. And really, I wanted nothing more than to obey him. The problem was I felt entirely disconnected from my body. I felt like I had no control over my legs, like my brain had lapsed into stasis with only the basic systems still functioning. I could hear and see what was happening around me, but I couldn’t take my eyes away from what I’d done. All I could do was stare—quietly, desperately horrified—at the life I had taken.

I don’t know what happened, exactly, in the few moments after Leo managed to get me to my feet. One moment I was in my room, my gaze fixed onto Delfino’s corpse, and then the next I was outside, surrounded by voices and people I wasn’t familiar with.

Where once I had been kneeling, I was now sitting on the curb outside of what had been my home for the last few years, men in black leather vests all milling about, motorcycles parked in the middle of the street. Rain was pelting me, just as it was everyone else, only I couldn’t feel it. I didn’t feel anything at all, except the void where Leo was supposed to be.

“Leo?” I called, surprised that I even still had the mental faculties left to speak. I searched the crowd with my eyes, pulse pounding in my ears as I failed to find him. “Leo!”

Shakily I stood, turning back toward the house just in time to witness four men leaving through the front door, two of them hefting a long, lumpy bundle between them as they made their way toward Delfino’s prized car, keys glinting in one of their hands.

Out of instinct I wanted to protest, to demand that they stop before they get near the car, to warn them that Delfino hated people touching his baby. But then it hit me what the bundle they were holding between them was.

My voice caught in my throat, words halting before ever reaching my lips, as I watched the rough-looking men pop the trunk of the old car and dump Delfino’s body inside it. He seemed so heavy now. He’d always been light on his feet before…

It was then that I recognized one of the other two men leaving the house. Limping down the lawn. Smoldering eyes fixed solely on me.

“Lulu,” Leo whispered in my ear, and for the first time that night, I felt some semblance of warmth. After everything that had happened, Leo was still alive. I wrapped my arms tight around the only man I’d ever loved, the corners of my eyes prickling hotly, threatening another spell of tears.

He grunted, and I recalled now his broken ribs. As I loosened my grasp, his chapped, busted lips found the top of my head and kissed there. “Everything’s going to be okay, baby.”

“I thought they’d killed you,” I muttered into his wet, bloodied shirt. “When they took you away… I thought that would be the last time I’d ever see you.”

“It’s going to take a lot more than that to keep me down,” he said as I rested my head against his shoulder, content to stand there with him until our legs gave out.

The world had been placed on hold for the briefest moment, just long enough for me to bask in the glow of Leo’s embrace. For the first time n years, I felt like I was safe. Really safe. It was over, and I was glad Leo was holding me, because the enormity of that revelation would have been too much to bear had I been standing on my own.

“Hate to bust up the tender moment, cupcakes,” came a gravelly voice from behind Leo, “but I don’t think this is the best spot for a romantic interlude.”

Leo shifted just a little, putting himself beside me, and I blinked up at the man who’d been standing behind him. “Who are you?”

“Name’s Crush,” he said, lips curving like a blade. His hazel eyes sparkled beneath the shadow of his brow, lit by a streak of lightning overhead. “I’m a friend of Leo’s.”

“He’s one of the Hounds of Hell,” Leo added, turning to face Crush fully, an arm still wrapped around my waist. “And he’s probably right. God only knows if Delfino had other friends in town like Rigby.”

“I’m sure he did,” I muttered, looking toward the other houses on the block. No neighbors were coming outside to stare at us—not in this weather. But their lights were coming on. That didn’t bode well.

“Don Carliogne is expecting us,” I told both Leo and Crush. “In New Hampshire. Delfino was going to make me go—he said there was a safehouse, someplace we were supposed to meet him…”

“You’re not going any-damn-place,” Leo told me. “None of us are. Let Don Carliogne come to us.”

I swallowed. “Won’t that make him mad?”

Crush snorted. “I sure as shit hope so. Least the fucker deserves at this point is to be made a little uncomfortable.”

I watched the two other bikers get into Delfino’s car. “What about Jackal?”

Leo and Crush exchanged a look. “You just leave that to us.”

I was more than happy to do so.

The other two bikers made quick work of Delfino’s and Jackal’s bodies. I didn’t ask where, or how, because I didn’t want to know. I’d had my fill of deep, dark secrets to keep.

Of course, now it was a little different. These were Leo’s secrets, and mine. I would have borne that burden, if it had come down to it. But Leo was willing to bear it for both of us.

The Hounds of Hell spent the next few days making quite a scene. They parked all along the sides of the street and in Delfino’s driveway during the day, hanging around in the backyard and enjoying a few cookouts while Leo and I waited for the other shoe to drop. I’d been the one to make the meals at first, but apparently, Leo explained to Crush somewhere along the way what I’d been through, and after that, the boys refused to let me lift a finger where food was concerned. It was sweet, really—and not at all what I’d expected from the club Leo had told me so many terrifying things about.

“He’s exaggerating,” Crush had said when I’d mentioned it. He took a pull from his beer. “Just ‘cause he shit his pants gettin’ shot at last time we met.”

Beside me, Leo had scowled. “That’s not what happened. Although I do seem to remember getting shot at. By you.”

Crush smirked. “Lucky I missed. I’m usually a crack shot.”

“Which reminds me—you said everything was cool back at the police station. That you knew all along Jackal was to blame.”

“Correct.”

Leo sat back and stared. “So then why the hell did you shoot at me?!”

The tilt of Crush’s lips parted, turning into a grin. “I wasn’t aiming at you.”

Leo snorted. “Some crack shot.”

The neighbors stayed away, for the most part. When the boys weren’t here, they were out in town, making sure the cops in their holding cells were all fed. The townspeople were, of course, perplexed. And scared. Without Sheriff Rigby or “Father” Delfino to lead them, they had only the mayor. And there wasn’t much he could do without a police force backing him.

Nothing, except to call Don Carliogne and then lean on redial.

He showed up two days later.

Leo and I were on the front porch, sitting on the wicker sofa, when it happened. I was tending to his bruises with ice packs, and changing the dressings on some of his wounds.

“You did this for Delfino sometimes, didn’t you?” he asked.

I nodded faintly. “A little. Only sometimes, though. And only with the First Aid kit from the bathroom. He never let me do any real work on him. He always went to the hospital for that.” I taped down some gauze. “Or did it himself.”

“You’d make a damn fine nurse,” Leo murmured, watching my hands, his abs stiffening when my fingers traced along them. “You know that?”

I didn’t have time to answer.

“Crush!” came a shout from one of the bikers closest to the road. “We got a car coming!”

I felt like I was having ice-water poured on my insides, my eyes slowly traveling toward the sleek, black shape of a town car making its way down the street toward us. I grabbed Leo’s hand, watching as the car pulled up right outside the house, engine rumbling. It reminded me sickeningly of Delfino’s.

One of the back doors opened into an almost pitch-black interior, the kind of darkness I’d only experienced during my night terrors, and in fact, I half-expected some terrible monster to crawl out of that backseat, all teeth and claws. What actually emerged, though… I’m still not sure if it was any better.

His suit was pressed, clean, tailored so that it complemented every bit of his rather intimidating frame. He was by no means as tall as Crush, but the way he carried himself made him seem almost colossal in importance, if not in physical height. His hair was slicked back like he’d just come out of the shower only moments before, and his eyes—unlike Delfino’s, they glittered ominously, a fire behind them. A warning flare. This was the man that Delfino had been so terrified of.

“One of you is Mr. Richards, I presume,” the don said as he approached the walk, hands clasped in front of him. Oddly, he seemed rather unsurprised by the biker gang loitering in what could be described as his town.

“Yeah,” Leo said, his brow furrowed as the well-dressed man stopped just a few feet from the three of us. “That’s me.”

“I’ve been hearing a lot about you,” Carliogne said, his eyes roving over Leo in an appraising sense before he turned his gaze on me, lips twitching in a show of a smile, though one that couldn’t be mistaken as genuine. “And this must be Lucy. You’re even more beautiful than Delfino described you.”

I said nothing, staring in poorly hidden horror at the fact that I was standing in front of the man that had been planning my death over the phone mere days ago. How could he just walk in here as though none of that had ever happened? As though this was just some business meeting that had been on his itinerary all along?

“I presume this would be the leader of your little group?” he asked, nodding to Crush. “It’s actually you I’d like to speak to.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Crush asked, jutting his chin in Carliogne’s direction. In response to his posturing, a few of the other bikers cracked their necks and knuckles.

“My name is Don Francisco Carligone,” he said, a smirk crossing his lips. “And you, it would seem, are the president of the Hounds of Hell.”

Don Carliogne glanced around the yard, his gaze lingering on the empty space where Delfino’s car had once sat, noting its absence with a cool narrowing of his eyes.

“I don’t suppose I could speak with my friend Delfino?” the don asked, his eyebrows raised as he glanced between me, Leo, and Crush.

“Sure,” Leo said as he pulled me closer by the waist. “But you’re going to need a shovel.”

“I see,” said Carliogne, taking the news in stride just as he had everything else. He paused a moment, now raking his gaze over the quiet little suburb that had been my prison for so many years. “That’s probably for the best.”

“You’re not angry?” Leo asked, an eyebrow cocked. “We just told you that we killed one of your guys.”

“That’s right,” Don Carliogne said. “One of my best, in fact. Once upon a time. Given his recent, spectacular failures, however, I would have ended up doing it myself. Sooner, I think, rather than later.” He slipped his hands into the pockets of his expensive trousers, affording Leo a glance over his shoulder. “You know what else I think? I think that this—what you’ve done here—is much simpler. This failed experiment…” Here, he gestured to the whole of the town. “…can finally be put to rest. To tell you the truth, I’ve been waiting for this little ant farm of Delfino’s to crumble for years, and I have you all to thank for it.”

“So, what—you’re just letting us ride out of here?” Crush asked, his eyes narrowed skeptically. “No strings attached/’

“Of course not,” Carliogne said, and for a moment, I felt like I the bottom had dropped out of my stomach. “Don’t be stupid. But I’m not going to kill you, either. There are too many of you, and I can’t very well afford the kind of heat that would follow a massacre. No. I think that there are… more profitable ways we can conclude this business.”

Now Leo raised his chin, and snorted in indignant surprise. “You want to make a deal.”

“An alliance, I think, would be a much better term for it,” the don corrected. “But essentially, yes. Quid pro quo, if you will. I scratch your back…”

“We get it,” Crush grunted, glancing toward the house for a moment before turning back toward Carliogne. “Let’s talk inside. These two need a minute, I think. Especially the girl. She’s been through a lot.”

It was then that Don Carliogne turned his attention on me, this time without so much fondness in his gaze. I wished Crush hadn’t said anything. He’d meant well, but the way the don stared me down… he knew. And I knew he knew. And I hated how impressed he looked upon receiving this information. My bones threatened to squirm right out of my skin.

“Very well,” he assented. But his eyes didn’t leave mine.

Leo and I watched as Crush and the don walked into Delfino’s house together, and I couldn’t help feeling like I’d dodged a bullet. Carliogne had wanted me dead only a little while ago, and now I was being let go, pending some friendly negotiations? I wasn’t sure what scared me more: his intent to kill me, or the fact that it could be put aside so easily. Ignored in favor of more practical matters.

“Is it finally over?” I whispered to Leo, looking up at him as he pulled me into another tight hug. “Can this all just end?”

“Not yet,” he whispered, and the little comfort I had taken from his embrace began to fade. “The Hounds need me… and I’m tired of running away from the people in my life who matter.”

“So you’re staying?” I asked. The fight went out of me. My shoulders slumped. “Here?”

“I’m going where the Hounds need me,” he said at length. When he met my eyes, I saw something sparkle in them, though. Something less dangerous, more… wistful. It looked a lot like hope. “And I want you to come with.”

I felt a lump rise in my throat, and I swallowed hard to try and clear the emotion that had gotten stuck there before it could find its way out into my words. Deep down I wanted to scream, to shake him for even suggesting that I stay in this place a second longer than I had to. I had dreams, I had a life I wanted to live, and none of that involved ever setting foot in Pleasant Lakes again so long as I lived.

“I want to be with you, Leo,” I said, reaching up to touch his stubbled jaw, “but this place… I can’t stay here. Not for one more second. I want to go to school. I want to become a nurse. I can’t do that here. And you heard what Don Carliogne said.” I looked around at the sleepy suburb and shuddered. “This place is no good.

“I understand why you have to stay with the Hounds of Hell, Leo, I do… but so long as it involves Pleasant Lakes, I can’t be there with you.” It killed me to say it, but I had to be truthful, now more than ever. I’d fought so hard for my freedom. Leo had, too. And I wasn’t about to let both our sacrifices be in vain. “I’m… I’m sorry…”

“Then don’t stay here,” Leo said, running his fingers through my hair. “You don’t need to, and neither do I. The Hounds move all the time, and so long as I have you, I’ll ride as far and as long as I need to come home to you.”

“Do you really mean that?” I asked him, wetting my lips. “Don’t say it if you don’t mean it, Leo. I can’t take it. Not after…”

“I mean every word, Lulu,” Leo interrupted, leaning in to press his lips to mine in a slow, tender kiss.

It wasn’t long before Crush and Carliogne came back out of the house, both of them looking more or less pleased with their agreement. I had no idea what had been decided in that house, and honestly I didn’t want to know. All I wanted to do was get the hell out of there as fast as possible.

“You’ve got a ride, when you’re ready,” Crush said to Leo, tossing him a set of keys and then motioning to Jackal’s bike. “We’ll be waiting for you.”

“Just need to get a few things in order here,” Leo replied, slipping the keys into his pocket. “Thanks, brother.”

Crush clapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t mention it.” He turned to me. “I assume I’ll be seeing your old lady, when the time’s right?”

Old lady. Oh, we were going to have to do something about that term.

I smiled at Leo. “Anywhere he goes, you can bet I’ll be there too.”

Crush leaned in. Said to Leo at a volume he thought I couldn’t hear: “You got yourself a good one there, Richards. Don’t fuck up.”

Leo smirked and pushed him away. “Words to live by.”

We watched the Hounds of Hell pack up what little they’d brought to Delfino’s house. Leo stood with his arm around me as they pulled away, their engines roaring like thunder. Like a storm was leaving Pleasant Lakes, after all these years. Chased off by a sea of Harleys and their glinting chrome.

Or maybe it was something else that had cleared the skies. When I looked up at Leo, I was pretty sure I knew exactly what it was.

“I love you,” I said. I thought my whisper might be lost to the din of bikes in retreat, or the town car slipping near-silently down the road the other way, but Leo heard me. I could see it in his eyes that he had.

Leaning down, he pressed his forehead against mine. “I love you too, Lucy.” And he kissed me, and I kissed him back.

Maybe it would be our last kiss in Pleasant Lakes. But I doubted it. We still had miles to go before we’d sleep. Days, if not weeks, to settle Delfino’s estate before we could find new territory to settle. I was hoping for someplace uncharted. A fresh start. A clean slate. I was hoping for med school, at last. And I was hoping for the life I’d always dreamed of with Leo.

I didn’t know where we might find all that. But I knew that as long as we were together, anyplace we ended up in would feel like home.

The End, but don’t stop now! Keep turning pages because I’ve included several of my bestselling bad boy romance novels just for my most loyal readers! Get ready for a few surprises, and thank you so much for reading.

-Nikki