The asshole’s chest jumped beneath Brick’s boot.Fire sparked from his eyes, hot and vicious.“Yes, there’s a recording.It’s on my phone.”
“Get it.”Brick motioned for him to grab his device.
Keetan shook as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone.
“You do anything fishy and the last thing you’ll feel is that fucking phone go through your mouth and exit the back of your head,” Zain said.
Glittering beady eyes zeroed in on Zain, but the idiot kept his mouth shut as he unlocked his device.Brick leaned down to make sure he wasn’t calling anyone.In less than a minute, he had an audio file on the screen.He held out the device.“Play it.”
Brick took the phone and straightened, then hit the button.
Soft, ragged cries came through the speaker.“It was my fault, Keetan.I—I pushed her.She was so angry about us.She just came at me.I’m so sorry.”Natalie’s desperate wail brought disgust up the back of his throat.
He gripped the device as rage pixelated his vision.He wasn’t furious because Keetan had planned to use this against her.That effort was futile.She hadn’t hurt Shelby in cold blood.But goddamn, it made him violent to think Keetan had held on to this recording so long.Had used it to control Natalie.
And despite the fact Natalie had told him what she’d said, the sound of her innocent, young, and scared voice ripped his heart out.
“You sick bastard.”He curled his lip.“I bet you enjoyed listening to this, huh?Probably got off to it, you twisted fuck.”He stomped Keetan’s chest for emphasis.
The loser groaned but didn’t deny anything.
“How many times did you threaten her with it?”
Keetan grabbed at his stomach and his breath hitched.“Take it.Get the fuck out of here before I have you arrested.”
Red blazes of fury singed his vision.“Arrested?You’re the one who’s going to rot in a jail cell for kidnapping my kid.For beating my woman.Not to mention the deals you’re making with Club East.”
Keetan’s eyes widened before he schooled his expression.“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No?’Cause your friend Clyde had lots to say.”
The slimy prick’s gaze shot from Zain to Brick.Panic scrawled itself across his paling face.“They won’t turn on me.Not after you killed Leroy.They want your throat slit more than I do.”
Brick’s mouth slid into a slow smirk.“Scared?”
“No.I’ve got nothing to be scared about.”
Zain laughed.“Framing an innocent woman for murder is the least of your crimes.You’ll get at least ten years for all the shit you’ve done.”
Rage rolled through Brick.Most people wanted to see men like Keetan degenerate in a cell.But not him.He wanted Keetan’s last breath.He wanted to watch the life leak from his body so he could return to Natalie and promise her that her abuser couldn’t touch her again.“I don’t think he’s going to jail,” Brick said evenly.“I think this ends here and now.”
He brought the rifle over his shoulder to rest comfortably in his palm, the mouth of the gun pointed at Keetan’s head.
Zain’s firm grip on his shoulder stopped him.“Dude,” he breathed.The single word spoke a volume of warning.
Sweat broke out on Brick’s brow as Keetan lay frozen beneath his foot.All the moisture left his mouth as an image blipped through his mind.Bray huddled in that godforsaken crib.Covered in his own filth.Hungry.Scared.Alone.
He couldn’t let this bastard live.
Natalie’s face came forth next.The fearful, plagued look in her wild blue eyes when he found her in the parking lot that morning.
This worthless piece of shit had terrorized the two people Brick cared about most in this world.Had stolen them from him.
Then he remembered the sound of Bray laughing in the bathtub, remembered his squeals of innocent delight.He wanted to have moments like those day in and day out.He didn’t want to miss one more minute of his son’s life.God help him, he wanted to shape his son into the man he’d be one day.
And he couldn’t do that from prison.
Zain’s voice droned softly behind him, breaking through the fog clouding Brick’s senses.“He’s going down, man.I know it’s not the outcome we’d all like to see, but we’ve gotta hand over the evidence we have and let justice prevail.For Bray.”
