Chapter 37

Jack

Blood is flying from Adam's face.

He looks like a mutant, a corpse of his old self.

I've successfully made him pay for the sins of the past, but I can't help pummeling him again.

It's as if all those years of being isolated out here are finally making me come undone. Beneath my fist is the man who made all this happen. He killed my men. And he made me believe it was my fault.

By playing both sides of the deal, Adam is responsible not only for the deaths of my squad but of other squads as well—and innocent civilians to boot.

The enormity of that crime is too much for me to contemplate now. He's betrayed an entire nation.

I've spent years out here trying to escape the pain of what I thought I did. This son of a bitch ended the lives of my comrades, and I plan to make him pay.

He groans in pain, mumbling words through his swollen mouth. I don't want to hear any of it.

"Please. Help me. Take my money, take whatever you want. Just please let me go."

"Shut up," I say as my fist meets his face.

What's worse is that he threatened Avery. The thought of him touching her fills me with rage. When it comes to her, my innocent flower, I'm not willing to risk anything. I could kill this guy for what he's done.

It's all about greed and money and power. Even his marriage to her was based on these poor foundations. Here is a man that lacks all conscience—a sociopath, a psycho, a killer.

Maybe he didn't personally use the weapons but he was behind it all. Maybe he didn't get the chance to rape Avery or to kill her but he would've done it in a second. Why should I show him mercy?

This weak excuse of a man is starting to piss me off with his grumbling and groaning. I have him on the verge of death. It’s no wonder he's saying anything just to get me to spare his life.

His face is so marred and destroyed that he'll never be the same. I know he's close to death but I hold back.

I look to Avery, who’s cowering in the corner watching me, transfixed. This is a bad position to put her in. She’s not used to seeing a guy get the breath beaten out of him.

I want to kill Adam so badly, but I don't want to kill in front of Avery. It might traumatize her for life.

The fact that I'm even able to hold back this much shows how Avery is getting into my heart. Never before have I thought about a woman before my own needs.

Never before have I considered someone else's feelings like this. She's got me hooked pretty good.

Somehow, I've changed in the short while that I've known Avery. I'm not the same man that I was before I met her. I'm not sure that getting revenge on Adam is worth losing her respect.

She found me out here in the wilderness, stumbled upon my cabin, and changed my life. I thought I was a lost cause, gone forever in the abyss of painful memories. Instead, Avery pulled me back from the edge. She pulled me back into life.

Adam continues to beg. "Please! Avery, say something to him! He's out of control. Help me. For God sake, someone help me!" he screams incoherently.

As much as I don't want to, I'm going to show this bastard mercy. The only reason I'm able to do so is for Avery's sake. As much as it kills me to let him off the hook, it would be worse to show her that I can be this violent.

She's pure and innocent. I want to keep it that way.

I let up on Adam and let him bleed out on the floor. He'll probably die just trying to make his way back to civilization. It's not like I'm going to help him out of here.

But at the same time, the thought of who Adam is crosses my mind once again. He's a true criminal, a bad man.

If I don't kill him now and I let him escape, he'll probably come back for us. He might come back for Avery. That thought gives me all the ambition I need to get this deal done. He needs to die.

But still, I'm torn.

I look up at Avery and see her beautiful face staring at the scene. She doesn't look frightened. She doesn't look intimidated. Instead, I see a newfound sense of strength in her. She's witnessing it all with bravery.

Who knows? Maybe the time with me has changed her, too. Maybe her moment in the wilderness has toughened her up a little bit. I don't know.

"Avery, what do you want me to do? I can leave him like this and he has a chance of escaping, of living. Or one final punch and he could be dead. You decide," I say to her.

To my surprise, she looks me dead in the eye and says, "Do it."

I marvel for a second at the empowered woman she's become. When she landed on my doorstep, she was a scared and tragic figure, running away from something. And somehow, someway, she's found herself out here.

Nature has a way of doing that. It has a way of forcing you to reckon with yourself. Maybe Avery's been reborn as this new powerful person, effortless in her beauty and competence.

I shrug and turn back to the bastard. The bastard who got my squad and lord knows how many others killed.

The bastard who tried to rape Avery.

The bastard who kicked my damned mutt of a dog.

The bastard who tried to kill the woman who, in every way that matters, is my wife.

I don't use a gun. I don't use a knife. I use my own bare hands to crack his neck and make sure Adam's dead.

It's over.