Chapter Eleven

Over the next few days, Keres kept waiting for the guilt to settle in. Now that she wasn’t blinded with rage, she wondered if the horror of what she’d done would suck her under. She hadn’t let herself relax and reflect until it was done, but nothing manifested. Shouldn’t she feel shame or regret? Was she a sociopath if she didn’t feel anything but satisfaction?

Karma had to be on her side. What goes around comes around. There were monsters in the world, preying on innocent victims, but this time the monster lost. For a year, all she craved was destroying the men who had destroyed her world. Compton, Peterson, Seker. Davorin.

She refused to feel bad for psychos.

“Where did you go?” Darby asked softly.

She blinked, and the gym came back into focus. “Sorry. Just thinking.”

He patted her hand and gave an understanding nod. The door chimed and he glanced at it before smiling and walking away, leaving her to greet and check in the visitor. The rest of the day kept her busy, which kept her thoughts at bay. That night, once the gym closed, Darby hung around to spar with her in the ring.

She didn’t want to think about where she’d be if it hadn’t been for him. He had saved her life, in more ways than she could ever repay. He was her best friend. They only had each other and there wasn’t much she wouldn’t do for him.

“Bring your hand up more,” he instructed as they moved around each other. “You’re leaving your guard open too much.”

She adjusted her stance and he nodded.

“You keep telling me how to improve and I’m going to beat your ass one day,” she teased.

“In your dreams, shrimp.”

She chuckled just before she struck. Darby easily defended against the attack, parlaying that into a series of hits that pushed her back.

“Heel-toe alignment,” he instructed. “Yeah, good. Make sure you feel solid over both feet.”

Suddenly, the night exploded as the large front window shattered into a thousand shards. Staccato gunfire erupted. Everything in the path of destruction was torn to shreds. Keres landed on her back with Darby on top of her, as the rapid sounds reverberated through the gym. It seemed like hell on earth, and there wasn’t much she could do except wait it out and hope she and Darby survived.

Then, as quickly as it had started, it ended. The absolute sound of silence rang through her ears like static, leaving her shaken. Her heart pounded in her chest, and Darby’s weight on top of her didn’t allow her to catch a breath.

She pushed against him. “Get off, Darby.”

He didn’t move, so she tapped his arm. Nothing. Fear hit her and she struggled under his weight. No. No, no, no! Throwing her hips upward, she used her momentum to tip him off her. He rolled onto his back and that’s when she saw the blood. Lots and lots of it, covering the mats in a crimson pool.

“Darby!” she yelled, panicked. She shook him but his eyes remained closed. “Darby, please!”

The distant sound of sirens grew steady as they neared. Keres placed her fingers on his neck, trying to find a pulse but couldn’t detect it. She placed her hand over his heart, hoping in vain to feel his chest rise and fall. Tears poured down her cheeks as she came to grips with what had just happened.

Then hands were pulling her away. Helping her stand when her knees weakened. She was taken out of the bullet-ridden place and led over to an ambulance. All she could do was stare at the gym as a gurney was wheeled in, and then moments later she left with a black body bag strapped to it. She could no longer hold back her sobs. Half an hour ago, Darby was alive, teasing while training her, and now he was with Jonathan in the afterlife.

There wasn’t a doubt in her mind who was behind this. Ronin warned that Davorin would find out who had fucked with him. The Deathmen, the warehouse, and finally, his girlfriend. This was payback. The retaliation had come.