Chapter 40

Dmitri

The concussion I’ve got is bad, but I’m not surrendering anytime soon. Not when the show has finally started.

I owe Vault and Silas for this one.

With confusion plastered on his blood-splattered face, Kaleb looks around the dead bodies who have their cells going off. Then he glances at Ace and Casey, before he digs his cell phone out of his back pocket like they have theirs. The projection screens lower down in unison and an image appears on each of them.

Daelyn clumsily stands up and laughs when the video starts playing.

My girl’s strapped to the St. Andrew’s cross at the Monarch and I’m fingering her.

“Who owns you? Say his motherfucking name.”

Daelyn’s groan is loud on the speaker system.

“Better keep me inside you,” I say. “Or I will stuff this pussy with my cock and fuck you until you taste my cum on your goddamn tongue.”

Daelyn explodes, her orgasm loud in the warehouse.

“Dmitri!” she screams as she comes undone. “His fucking name…” she sobs through the surround sound, “is… Dmitri .”

Her confession ricochets around the Scrapyard’s concrete interior.

When Daelyn mentioned this clip from the surveillance videos would be Kaleb’s downfall, I didn’t believe her. But I did trust her. And seeing the glorious shades of red Kaleb’s face has turned, I feel such pride for my girl coming up with this idea. I’m just sorry I wasn’t able to save her from the consequences like I’d planned.

She’s right about something else, too. Kaleb definitely thinks two steps ahead.

When I claimed I wanted to take everything away from him, Daelyn said I already had because I’d taken her . She wasn’t wrong.

“You wanted this,” Daelyn says, walks slowly towards him. “You asked for it. No… demanded it.”

Kaleb’s jaw ticks, his eyes are so fierce they could knock a grown man to his knees. But Daelyn’s stronger than most men. Speaking of which…

Silas appears at the front entrance and nods. I’d worked with him while Daelyn slept during our last night together to create this nightmare for Kaleb. Silas’s cooperation and expertise only cost me most of my savings. The rest of it I’d marked to go to Daelyn for her and Addie, in case I didn’t make it out of this alive, which someone at the Monarch will find in my room.

My boys will be pissed that I didn’t drag them into this Hell with me, but they can’t do shit about it after I’m dead. I just hope they forgive me and understand that I’m willing to die, protecting them, too.

Kaleb grabs Ace’s gun and shoots all four of the projector screens, like it’ll stop the show, then he aims the gun at Daelyn. “You’re out of the crew, just like you wanted, babygirl.”

“No!” I lunge to shield Daelyn and knock her to the ground. The bullet pierces my shoulder instead of her head, the pain searing as I climb to my feet and barrel into Kaleb, taking him down. Except I go off kilter thanks to my head injuries fucking with my coordination, and Kaleb manages to roll on top of me.

We go blow for blow.

All the while, the surveillance footage plays around us on the big screens.

“Who owns you? Say his motherfucking name.”

Daelyn groans.

“Better keep me inside you. Or I will stuff this pussy with my cock and fuck you until you taste my cum on your goddamn tongue.”

“Dmitri!” Daelyn screams as she comes. “His fucking name… is… Dmitri .”

The video loops again.

Kaleb’s eyes widen because there’s nowhere he can look that Daelyn won’t be.

Smashing his head with mine, I knock him off me and we tumble across the concrete floor, tearing at each other. He’s no match for my strength but makes up for it by being manic. Nothing causes him pain. He just swings, kicks, laughs, and screams.

The man’s checked out.

“Who owns you? Say his motherfucking name.”

Daelyn groans.

“Better keep me inside you. Or I will stuff this pussy with my cock and fuck you until you taste my cum on your goddamn tongue.”

“Dmitri! His fucking name…is… Dmitri .”

Kaleb clamps his ears with his hands. “Fuck!”

“Go!” I holler at her.

Daelyn doesn’t move. Neither do Ace or Casey.

“It was supposed to be us!” Kaleb screams. “ Us , Dae!”

She flinches when he screams her name.

Scrambling away from me, Kaleb bolts for her, and I tackle him to the ground once more. He’s not getting his hands on her ever again, goddamnit.

Without a cage to keep us contained, we’re like two wild animals off our leashes. And we’re both fighting for the same thing.

If I kill Kaleb, Daelyn will likely resent me forever because she loved him first.

If I die, she’ll hate Kaleb for taking away the man who showed her that love is safety, kindness, and support.

There’s no winning this fight for either of us because we both stand to lose Daelyn.

It’s hopeless.

So, I change the trajectory of my thoughts and block Daelyn out. I imagine everyone that’s abused in some way. How they feel helpless and scared. How they have to bandage and hide their wounds. How they feel like no one in the world is on their side. How they blame themselves for doing something that makes them deserve to be treated so badly. How terrible things happen to good people and it’s not fair. I think of bad people getting away with everything and that’s not fair either. I think of Miss Ashley and Ryker and Vault. I think of Sophie and Knox. Of my dad. My mom. I think of Addie. Every time my fist connects with Kaleb, it’s one more goodbye. One more door closing.

The more I swing, the better I feel. Pain sings through my body. My vision blurs. I can’t move my left arm that much, thanks to the bullet hole, but it’s okay. I still have my right arm, which works good enough.

Kaleb’s jaw opens and closes.

I should break it.

His face is a swollen, bloody mess.

I should break that too.

“Dmitri!” Silas yells. “It’s over.”

Those words warble in my ears. “It’s not fucking over,” I growl. “Not if he’s still breathing.”

I lift Kaleb’s head and see Daelyn’s name tattooed on his bloody neck. Just when I’m about to slam his skull on the ground, something sharp pierces my side.

It happens again… and again.

Kaleb laughs, his arm jerking back and forth as he stabs me a fourth time.

My knife. I’d forgotten he took my knife earlier. The mistake costs me.

Daelyn screams. The terror of that sound races down my back and I hold my side, barely able to breathe. Blood pours from the open wounds.

Fffffuuuucccck . How could I be this stupid?

I’d gotten cocky thinking I would best this motherfucker and play with him, torture him, like he had me and my father. I tried to play a psychopath’s game and I’ve lost.

“Dmitri!” Daelyn races forward, but Ace grabs and lifts her off the ground to keep her away.

I’m grateful.

My vision darkens as I fall onto my side, which gives Kaleb the upper hand. I’m cold and can’t feel most of my body anymore. I think I’m going into shock.

“Keep her back,” I slur, panting through the pain.

Daelyn fights like a maniac to escape Ace’s clutches. He ends up dropping her, and she does exactly what I taught her in a situation like this. My girl puts one leg behind his, crouches down, and straightens her back leg out, tripping Ace and knocking him down. She scrambles across the floor and heads straight towards—

Kaleb presses the blade against me again, bringing my focus back to him.

“You took everything from me,” he says, blood pouring from his mouth. “You took her.”

I hope I’m smiling, but I can’t feel my face to tell. “You… gave her… to me…”

Lashing out, I grab his throat, covering Daelyn’s name with my hand.

Kaleb slams his blade into me one last time.

Pop!

His expression stills, eyes lose focus. Blood drips down the side of his face, coating my fingers. I let go of his throat and he collapses with a bullet hole in his right temple and his brains splattered all over the left side of him. Leaning back, I fall on my ass, letting Kaleb go.

Daelyn’s next to us, holding the gun. Eyes blown wide, she pops off every bullet in the clip at him until she’s shooting blanks.

“That’s my good girl,” I say, collapsing with the blade still stuck in my side.

Daelyn’s gun clatters to the floor and she falls to her knees. Tears pour down her beautiful face as she crawls to me. “No, no, no! Dmitri, no !” She hooks her arm under my neck and lifts my head. “Help us!” she screams. “Someone help!”

The strength it takes to touch her face is more than I have.

“There she is,” I whisper as darkness consumes me.

I surrender and lose the fight.