I step out onto the porch, the vest giving me a little more confidence. Syd could still shoot me, and I could bleed to death out here, but the chances are smaller with this protection.
I see the wicked gleam in Syd’s eyes as he spots me moving onto the sandstone steps. He’s even more disgusting than I remember. The last six years haven’t done him any favors. What’s left of his greasy hair is slicked back into a low ponytail, and I can’t help but cringe at the sight of his brightly colored floral shirt, with its tropical birds and palm trees. It brings back memories I thought I would never have to face again.
As I take the steps down to the jetty, I feel all sets of eyes on me, the boys’ filled with disappointment that I didn’t listen to their commands. I mouth sorry to Onyx, hoping to God he doesn’t hate me for doing this, but the truth is, what choice did I have? I was never going to hide out in that house to save myself when their lives are at risk. They all mean way too much to me.
As I approach him, one of my hands rests on the gun at my back, the other tapping the knife in my pocket. “Here I am, Syd, what the fuck can I do for you?” I say with the bitchiest edge I can muster. I won’t let this fucker reduce me to some whimpering mess. If he’s going to kill me, I’ll go out fighting.
He shakes his head. “You smug little bitch.”
“Syd, remember what you’re here to do,” Emilio says from behind him. But I can’t look his way, my focus on Syd.
“What are you here for?” I ask.
Syd’s eyes shift around the place, glancing quickly over his shoulder toward Emilio then at the boys and back to me. They settle on me, cold and distant, but that’s nothing new. He never showed me any warmth, no matter how the rest of the family included me. “You’re a greedy little bitch, aren’t you. Couldn’t stop with my wife and sons. No, you had to steal my club and turn it into that feminist bullshit club it is now.”
I shake my head and huff out a bitter laugh. “You ran your piece-of-shit club into the ground, nothing to do with me. What you see now is a profitable business that gives back to the women who work so damn hard to make it the success it is. The patrons are happier, the women are happier, the only fucker who is complaining is you.” I stalk closer to him, even though I can feel one of the boys’ hands wrapping around my arm, trying to stop me from going any closer.
When I see him in the flesh like this, I’m not scared of him. I can see him for who he really is—a pathetic piece of shit. “You lost your sons because you’re a slimy piece of shit who almost got them killed by your own stupidity. One fuck-up too many, that’s what Jagger said, wasn’t it? I still don’t know why he didn’t kill you when he had the chance.”
His beady eyes bore into mine, and I see how much he hates me, but for the first time in my life, I don’t care. “He didn’t kill me because I’m his fucking blood, which is more than I can say for you, little girl. Fucking around playing biker chick when we all know who you are.”
A grin stretches across my face. He’s trying to hurt me, but he can’t, because I know who his sons think are their family, and it’s not him. “I’m Slone fucking Stryker, and I will be the Queen of the Iron Strykers long after you’re dead and buried. In a singleact of selfless bravery, your beautiful wife saved my life. And I intend to make sure her impact will be felt for generations to come, a legacy etched in the hearts and minds of the whole town. Erasing any memory of you in the process.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, my girl. You got to live a lie for a while.” He grins at me like a fucking psycho. “But things are about to change, and I, for one, can’t wait to see you suffer as everything you love is ripped away from you. Starting with your men.” He aims his gun at Romeo’s back.
I dive to intercept and get in between them, but he quickly moves, aiming over his shoulder at Onyx. The pop of his gun echoes in my ears, a sharp, deafening sound that makes my head ring in fear as I hear Onyx groan in pain. “Fucking traitor,” Syd calls after him.
As Onyx sprawls over the edge of the jetty, water splashes up.
“Noooo!” A scream of pure terror rips through me as I sprint to the edge of the jetty after him. Dropping down to my knees, heavy sobs wrack through my chest, a pain I have only ever felt once before coming over me. I can’t live without Onyx. I won’t.
I search the water below for him, blinking back in disbelief when I find him not floating in the water, but clinging to the pier. He clutches his chest, his face contorted in pain as he sucks in deep breaths, but he’s not bleeding out into the ocean like I thought. Luckily, the vest must have saved him from the impact. His dark eyes meet with mine, and he presses his finger to his lips to silence me. With another sob, I spin back toward Syd, pulling my gun from behind me and aiming it at him. My hands are shaking so damn hard, I can’t get my finger to pull the trigger.
“I think you’ve had your fun now, Syd,” growls Emilio, his voice like ice. Two men in dark suits appear behind him. They’re built like brick walls and look just as scary as Onyx. One of them moves his hand into his pocket, showing his gun as he does, andI know he wants me to know he’s ready to attack at any moment. But I think his threat is more for Syd than me.
Syd leers at me, unaffected by my weapon aimed in his direction, his lips in a crazy grin that stretches right across his face. “I’m just getting started, my girl. See that pain in her pretty face? That’s what I live for.” He bellows out a cruel laugh that vibrates all the way through me and pushes me further over the edge.
With a shaky-as-fuck finger, I squeeze and my gun fires, the shot echoing in my ears violently as I get out three shots directly at him. Jagger couldn’t get the job done, but I sure as shit wasn’t waiting around to see what he did next.
The look of shock on Syd’s slimy face is obvious, he had no idea I had it in me, but it’s been a long time since the two of us came face to face, and I have changed a hell of a lot since then. He stumbles forward, dropping to his knees, clutching his chest. Blood, thick and dark, pulses from the open wound in his head and chest, a steady drip onto the wood. All three shots got him.
His lifeless eyes find me, boring into mine with an intensity that makes my breath catch. “You will pay, my girl.” He splutters his last words out through a mouthful of blood before he face plants on the jetty.
As reality comes crashing back around me and I realize who is still here on this jetty with us, another sob wracks through me. I’m probably about to be next. With my heart racing in panic and relief, I lean on my elbows, staring up at the boys, wondering what on earth just happened. Did I really just kill Sydney Stryker? Their stony faces give nothing away. The twins don’t even resemble the men I have come to know; they look damaged beyond repair. And that scares me more than what their deranged papa, who has now turned his attention on me, is about to do.
Emilio stalks toward me, shoving his gun back in its holster. Even without a weapon, Romeo and Orlando don’t move to stop him. But why would he need a weapon when he has his guards backing him up? They stand back and watch their papa approaching me like they knew this was the plan all along and they are resigned to it. Neither of them seems shocked I just shot Syd right in front of him, neither of them even flinching when he reaches for me.
Like a crab, I scramble back up away from him as far as I can until I hit the end of the jetty. My fingers gripping the edge with white-knuckle force so I don’t go over.
Emilio Moretti’s imposing figure looms over me, dark and sinister like the devil himself. I have seen men just as scary as him in my lifetime, ones that could inflict more damage, but there is something about him that steals all air from my lungs and leaves me frozen to the spot. Even with the gun still in my hands. “I didn’t think you had it in you, but I can’t say I’m disappointed. Syd had overstayed his welcome in my organization. And you… You will make quite an addition.” The delighted gleam in his eyes makes me want to puke. What the fuck is he going on about? I’m not joining his fucked-up organization.
“Touch her and I will shoot you,” I hear Reef’s voice from behind him, dark and cold and scary as fuck. I see over Emilio’s shoulder he has his gun drawn, ready to attack, even with the guards watching over Emilio. My heart swells, because I know he would do anything for me. Even go head-to-head with this vile human, knowing he can’t win.
“Don’t fucking shoot him, Reef,” comes Romeo’s strained voice. It sounds like gravel and grates over my body in a way that makes me feel even more ill. He’s really hurt. He cradles his ribs as he tries to speak again. “He’s not going to hurt her. But if he dies, we’re all fucked. Including Sloane.”
His words prickle over my skin. What the hell does he mean? Now their silence makes more sense. They are not attacking him because they know something we don’t.
Reef doesn’t lower his gun. But Emilio doesn’t touch me either. He just grins at me, his figure imposing and menacing. He’s exactly how I imagined he would be. His eyes rake over me in a way that sends shivers down my spine, but I won’t let him know that. I tilt my chin up at him defiantly, the gun still in my hand hard under my fingers. I itch to use it, to shoot this motherfucker right in his fucking head like I just did to Syd. But I can’t lift my hand to do it. Not with the way he looks at me, my body just won’t let me.
