58. Hayden

"You"re not goingto be able to help her if you kill yourself and take us all down with you," Sawyer grits out as he braces himself with one hand on the dashboard and the other on the handle over the door.

Kingston"s in the back seat after he showed up when we were about to go drive around looking for my wife. He wanted to know why I'd asked him to stake out Roman's house all night when there was clearly no one there. Now I"m doing ninety up the I-5 freeway, weaving through traffic like a maniac while Kingston barks out directions to Saylor"s house from the back seat.

Thank fuck Lila was able to get into Saylor"s employee file or I"d be fucked. As it is, it took way too long to get what I needed after that text and I"m climbing out of my skin.

"We"ll be fine, but she won"t if we don"t hurry the fuck up." My voice is rough and raw and Sawyer looks at me like he wants to say something comforting, but knows it won"t help.

He"s right.

Nothing will until I have Cassidy back in my arms where she belongs.

Kingston leans forward between the seats as I take the offramp so fast we nearly tip over. "Take a left at the light."

I do, and he keeps giving me directions until we pull onto Saylor"s street. I slam on the brakes and park in front of her house before jumping out of the car and running toward the front door.

It"s unlocked and I shove it open, not caring that it slams against the wall behind it. I can hear Cassidy screaming from somewhere inside, and I run toward the sound. She screams again, but it"s muffled and I"m fucking terrified of what that means. I barely notice my brother and Kingston bursting through the door right on my heels.

I tear up the stairs, following my wife's tortured scream and into a bedroom. Roman"s got his hand around her throat as he presses her into the wall. She"s clawing at him and kicking, but she"s not getting anywhere. Her face is red and her eyes are wild with fear and I see fucking red.

I don"t know how Roman got a gun since I don't think he's a US citizen, but he has one pressed to her temple and she"s fighting like hell to get away.

"Don"t fucking move," Roman snarls when he sees us come around the corner. "Or I"ll put a bullet in her skull."

Cassidy"s eyes meet mine and they"re filled with tears. She"s shaking and it makes me want to rip Roman apart with my bare hands, which, unless I can get that gun from him, is what I"m going to have to do. I can"t let him walk away after this. He"s been fucking with her for too long and now that he"s hurt her, he needs to fucking die.

I"ll deal with the fallout later.

"Let her go, Roman," I say, holding up my hands as Sawyer and King flank me on either side. "She doesn"t want you."

Roman laughs as he tightens his grip on Cassidy"s throat. "So? You fucked up, Vaughn. You took everything from me, so now I"m going to take everything from you."

I glance at Cassidy and she"s still struggling against him, but it"s like he doesn"t even notice. Her body"s slumping, her eyes fluttering, and I know I only have seconds before she loses consciousness.

"You don"t need to do this, man. Just let her go and we can talk about it." I take a step toward him, hoping he"ll focus on me instead of my wife. He needs to get his fucking hands off her. "We can figure something out."

He shakes his head as he presses the gun harder into her temple. "I don't want to talk. I don't want to figure things out," he mocks. "You made sure of that when you fucked up my life. Now you"re going to watch me fuck up yours."

Cassidy"s eyes roll back and Roman looks down at her with disgust and I swear to fucking god his finger starts to tighten on the trigger. He"s done listening to anything I have to say and I feel Sawyer lunge at the same time I do. Kingston moves, too, and I have to hope that the on-ice chemistry we"ve built where we react to each other without having to say a word is in play right now as we rush Roman together.

I slam into him so hard he flies back and Cassidy drops to the floor. She"s gasping for air and Sawyer drops beside her as Roman tries to scramble away from me. I"m not letting that happen.

I grab his arm and yank it toward me, twisting it until I hear a pop that tells me it"s dislocated. He screams like a fucking baby, but he doesn"t drop the gun. He slams it into my face instead and my grip loosens on him just enough for him to kick away from me. My jaw hurts like a bitch, but I'm too pissed to let it slow me down. I trust my brother to make sure my wife"s okay, so I don"t stop to check on her. Instead, I focus on Roman, who"s trying to get up off the floor with one good arm.

I grab him by the throat and lift him to his feet before slamming him into the wall behind him. He groans and drops the gun, but I don"t let up on his neck. He needs to fucking die for what he did to Cassidy.

"Hayden," Kingston says from somewhere behind me, his voice calm and steady. He presses the gun into my free hand, and then he gives me a grim nod. I know what he"s saying, that he"ll take whatever happens here to the grave. That it"s necessary. That he understands and he"s got my back.

I nod back as I raise the gun and press it to Roman"s forehead.

He laughs through the pain, blood dripping down his chin from where I must have busted his lip when we collided. "Go ahead and do it, you pussy. You won"t be able to live with yourself if you do. I"ll haunt you for the rest of your life. You"ll never be free of—"

I don"t hesitate as I pull the trigger. The sound of the gun going off echoes through the room and Roman"s head snaps back before his body slumps to the floor in a heap. He"s dead, but I don"t feel guilty or sick. Just fucking relieved.

Kingston"s heavy hand falls onto my shoulder and he squeezes. "I"m good," I tell him, and I mean it.

I"d do anything for my wife, for the family we"re creating together, and this is the ultimate proof.

Maybe murder is my love language. Looks like my fantasy of burying Roman"s body in the woods is about to come true.

I turn to Cassidy, who"s unconscious on the floor. I drop to my knees beside her, letting the gun fall from my grip. My fingers shake as I brush her tangled hair off her forehead. She"s got bruises on her temple and when Sawyer lifts her eyelid, her eyes are red where they should be white. My fingers clench into fists and I want to kill Roman all over again for hurting her.

I should've made him fucking suffer.

"Is she—"

"She"s alive, definitely concussed. But I can"t tell much more than that until we get her to the hospital," my brother says, his voice steady with that calm doctor demeanor that comes naturally to him after all his training. He presses his fingers against the inside of her wrist. "We need to go."

"We can"t just leave him. And wasn"t there supposed to be a chick here?" Kingston asks, gesturing at Morozov"s corpse as it leaks blood onto the tile. Yeah, that"s gonna be a problem.

Fuck.

With every cell in my body, I want to go with my wife. I need to go, to hold her hand, to make sure our baby"s safe and healthy. But I know I can"t, not yet. Not if I don't want to spend the rest of my life in prison.

So I let the one person I trust more than anyone else in this world, outside of Cassidy, take care of the most precious thing in my life. "King"s right," I say to my brother. "You take her while we clean up and deal with Saylor." That bitch needs to suffer for her part in hurting my wife. "Text me when you know anything. I"ll be there as soon as I can."

"You sure?"

"I"m not going down for killing this asshole. Just make sure she"s okay, Sawyer." I know I look deranged when I growl at him, but after an entire night of not sleeping, going insane with worry over what happened to my wife, and killing a now former teammate, I have no fucks left to give.

My brother nods before scooping Cassidy into his arms and carrying her out the front door like she"s the most precious thing in the world. She is to me, and I know he understands that.

Kingston steps up beside me, his gaze on Roman. "What do we do with him?"

"We need to get rid of the body."

He nods. "Any idea how to do that?"

I eye him. "Why are you not losing your shit right now?"

He lifts his eyebrows. "Why aren"t you?"

Kingston blows out a breath. "This isn"t my first ride on this particular crazy train. Let"s just say I had an unconventional childhood and leave it at that." He shrugs as he looks down at Roman"s body. "But right now, I"m here to help, so let"s get to it."

I don"t ask him for details because I know he won"t give them. We all have secrets, and I respect that. But I"m glad he"s here with me now when I need someone to help me clean up this fucking mess. I drag my phone out of my pocket and step out of the room, hitting Romeo"s contact. It rings three times before he finally answers.

"You"re racking up quite the bill, Vaughn. Let me guess. You need my help?"

I scrub my hand down my face before realizing it"s got tiny droplets of Roman"s blood on it. I"m too tired to spar back with him, so I just go with the truth. "Yeah, I do."

"What do you need?"

"To get rid of a body."