My mind was spinning a mile a minute. Everything had happened much too fast for me to process and make sense of. I couldn’t think of a damn thing to say or do that would change the course of this shit show. I tried to reason out how long I’d been here.

At most, it had been five minutes. At the least, maybe three. Then again, I’d been preoccupied, and my sense of time might be completely warped. There was no telling how long it would take for any of my brothers to show up. I suspected Caleb would be first or maybe Ryder, but the others could be anywhere. They could be pulling in the driveway for all I knew.

Please, God, let them be pulling in the driveway.

Evelyn’s fingers were trembling in my hand. I wished I could get her the hell out of here and far away from this mess. But I couldn’t. She was bound to this as tightly as me.

Jason was still standing in the doorway, and he had the gun trained on my chest. That was the only thing giving me some sense of relief. The gun wasn’t pointed at my girl anymore. But it wasn’t good enough. If they shot me, Evelyn wouldn’t get out of here alive.

First of all, she’d be a witness.

Second of all, Isaac had a personal score to settle with her. At least, he seemed to think he did. The rage and cruelty he’d have had to possess to hold her underwater with the intention of killing her were mind-boggling. He was evil. Pure, unabashed evil.

And I hated him.

I wanted to make him suffer and make him hurt. I wanted him to feel all the pain and destruction he’d caused me. More than anything, I wanted to avenge Hyde and Evelyn. She didn’t deserve what he’d done to her. Chances were, she’d never lie in a bathtub again with a glass of wine and a good book. He’d stolen peace from her. Calm. He’d tarnished something forever for her.

But of course, none of that would matter if Jason shot us both dead right here on my bathroom floor.

Isaac moved to stand a little closer to Jason and turned to face me and Evelyn. He crossed his arms over his massive chest and smiled at us. Then, he spoke to Jason. “Well? What the fuck are you waiting for? Shoot them.”

Evelyn’s fingers tightened around mine.

I looked Jason in the eye and tried to pretend the gun wasn’t there, trembling in his grasp. He was so scared, he might pull the trigger by accident. Wouldn’t that be an epic way to go out? Because a kid was scared, and he shot me accidentally. “Jason. Evelyn is right. You don’t have to do anything right now. Nobody has to die.”

Jason whimpered. “Shut up!”

“No,” I said. “I won’t. I haven’t spent the last couple years busting my ass looking for you under every damn rock for you to shoot me like this. You and I both deserve better.”

Isaac rolled his eyes. “I’m tired of the chitchat, Jason. On with it. That’s an order.”

“Stop telling him what to do,” I said.

Isaac splayed his hands open. “Or what? You going to make me stop, tough guy?”

“He’s just a kid.”

Isaac rolled his shoulders and flexed his muscles. “He gave up that innocence a long time ago, Derek. You know that as well as I do. He walked away from you and his dear Uncle Johnny. Isn’t that right, Jason? You wanted to carve out your own name. Strike your own path. You were tired of living under Moretti’s shadow.”

“That’s not true,” I growled.

Isaac looked from me to Jason. “Isn’t that the truth, kid? Am I making shit up? By all means, correct me if I am.”

Jason’s bottom lip was trembling. He jerked his head. No.

“See?” Isaac said simply. “I’m not forcing him to do anything. I’m handing him the power to do something.”

I shook my head. “You’re trying to destroy him. I understand you. You thrive off chaos and pain and destruction. You get off watching him unravel. All this turmoil and betrayal, it’s all you’ve wanted from the beginning. This was your end game, wasn’t it? In the end, you’d have Jason point the gun in Johnny’s face. You’d make him pull the trigger. Jason would never recover, and you wouldn’t pity him.”

Isaac arched an eyebrow. “I think you’ve put a little too much thought into this.”

“So, you don’t plan on having Jason kill his own uncle?”

“Never said that.” Isaac chuckled.

I turned my attention to Jason. “Can’t you see what he’s doing to you? He’s playing you against us. He’s using you, and you’re fucking letting him!”

Jason flinched when my voice rose to a yell.

I prayed I was getting through to him and kept pushing. “If you can kill me, kid, then fucking do it already. But don’t be a fool. He’ll have you pick us off one at a time until your uncle is a hollow shell of grief, and then he’ll make you put a bullet between his eyes. And I know you, Jason, like the back of my fucking hand. You won’t be able to do it. And then, in the end, it’ll just be you and Johnny.”

Jason shook his head. A whimper left his lips, and his chin trembled.

“You’ll have taken everything from him. Everything. You think this fucker is only going to have you target Lost Breed members? He just tried to drown my woman in a fucking bathtub! He’ll do the same to all of them. All of them! And if you shoot me, it will be on your head. You hear me?”

“No,” Jason muttered.

“Yes! Now, for once in your fucking life, Jason, don’t be a damn coward!” I yelled. My voice was so loud, my throat hurt.

Jason was inching backward, and Isaac was watching him retreat with narrowed eyes. “Stand your ground, boy. Shoot him.”

Jason lifted his gaze to meet my angry stare. For the first time since seeing him at that parking lot, I saw life in them again. Fire. Courage.

I had hope. There was a chance, a very small chance, that Evelyn and I might get out of this alive. He’d heard me. I had to believe that he’d heard me, and he finally understood what was at risk here.

Everything.

Ryder would lose all of us and Dani. And we’d lose our women too. Isaac wouldn’t hold back. He was only getting started. Every single one of us would be brought down like flies until only our leader remained.

“Jason,” I said, softer this time. “Put the gun down.”

“Shoot them!” Isaac roared.

“No!” Jason cried back. He covered his ears with his hands, pressing his palms flat to the side of his head like a child. The gun was still in his right hand and pointed at the ceiling. “I can’t! I won’t! This is my family. Derek is my family. They’re all my family. I can’t k-kill them. I can’t do this to my uncle.”

“Jason,” I warned, stepping forward. He was still too close to the threat, and he didn’t have the common sense to point the gun at Isaac instead of me. He’d pointed it at the fucking ceiling. There was no danger up there.

He looked at me. I saw in him the same young kid who used to hang around on the back deck at Ryder’s house when we were grilling burgers, desperately trying to be part of the conversations. None were suitable for his young ears, of course, and Ryder’s sister Maria would always catch him and drag him back inside by the ear.

He’d somehow find a way back out to us. He was a sneaky one. And sometimes I wouldn't say anything when I knew he was listening in. I’d let him hover around, a silent guest, listening to us talk about the boring shit. Crunching numbers and discussing plans of bringing in new members when we were a smaller club. I’d always thought he’d join us one day and be Ryder’s right-hand man.

Maria would have killed him, of course, but this was just the way of life for us.

We were family. We stuck together.

All of that flashed in my mind over the seconds it took for Isaac to reach out and pluck the gun from Jason’s shaking fingers.

Jason looked startled, and he opened his mouth and looked to me to say something. Maybe “I’m sorry,” but the words never made it out.

Isaac pulled the trigger. The shot rang out and hurt my ears.

And Jason crumpled to the floor.

He landed face-first in the inch of water at his feet. His blood leaked out of him, turning a bright pink as it diluted in the water.

Alarm bells went off in my brain.

This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be. It simply couldn’t. Ryder’s nephew was dead at my feet, and there wasn’t a single fucking thing I could do about it.

It was then I realized Evelyn was screaming. She’d let go of my hand to press herself up against my back. Her fingers were tightening in my shirt as she hid her face between my shoulders and sobbed against me.

There wasn’t a single thing I could say to offer her any comfort. Nothing. My tongue was weak and useless in my mouth, and all I could think was “how the hell am I going to tell Ryder?”

It was a useless thing to think, really, because I wasn’t going to get the chance to tell him anything. Ryder would show up minutes after his nephew had been shot dead, and he’d find my and Evelyn’s bodies splayed out on the ground beside Jason’s.

I hoped Caleb got here first to spare Ryder the sight.

I swallowed and lifted my gaze to Isaac. He was looking down at Jason, and there was a smirk playing on his lips. He spat on him. Actually spat on him. Rage boiled inside me.

He looked up at me. “Well. This didn’t go as I expected. I didn’t think the kid would ever grow balls big enough to say no to me. Good pep talk, Derek. Real smooth. Look what it did.” He pointed the gun at Jason’s lifeless body.

“I didn’t do that. You did that,” I said. My voice was shaking.

Isaac shrugged. “Sure, I pulled the trigger, but if you hadn’t given him your Independence Day speech, things would have gone a little differently. Jason would still be alive, and you and your sweet little thing would be dead. Now, all three of you have to pay the price. A pity. I had big plans for the kid.”

“Go to hell,” I snarled.

Isaac laughed and raised the gun to point it at my chest. “Why does everyone always say that to me?”