Chapter 19

The momentI walk through the door, I know something is wrong. I notice the black duffel bag first. It wasn't here when I left, and I specifically told Lux not to answer the door for anyone.

Shutting the door, I lock it, and as I'm turning toward the bedroom, I hear Lux's voice, but it's muted by the roar of the ocean. Is she out on the balcony?

Turning, I walk toward the balcony, holding the freshly made wedge fries that took twenty minutes to make, but it was either wait for a fresh batch or bring Lux a pile of stale fries that had been sitting all day. As I move closer to the open French doors, I hear another voice, a male voice, and I stiffen, my body instantly on full alert.

"You're such a fucking cunt." It's Nathan's voice, and he sounds pissed.

"Fuck," I hiss, dropping the fries, and rushing to the balcony. I see Nathan, his back to me, and he's advancing on Lux, reaching out for her. And seeing that, knowing she's in danger, something inside me snaps.

A deep, guttural sound I don't recognize erupts from my chest as I lunge forward, and grip Nathan's collar, pulling him back, and tearing him away from Lux.

I don't even know what the fuck is going on, or why he's attacking her. And honestly, seeing Nathan like this doesn't make any sense at all. But the why really doesn't matter. He touches her, and he dies. Period.

"What the…?" As Nathan turns to see who is attacking him, I punch him in the jaw, which takes him off his feet. He slams onto the tiled floor with so much force, the whole balcony vibrates.

He moans, rolling over, and clutching his back. But as he struggles to get up onto his feet, he flashes me a chilling smile. "I should have just run you both over with that car," he groans. "It would have made my life so much easier."

That was him? Why the fuck would he want to hurt Lux or me? I'm confused as hell, but I also don't give a fuck what his reasons are.

I nod as I approach him. "Yeah, you"re right. You should have. You really fucked up there."

My gaze shifts from Nathan to Lux, if only to assure myself she's okay. She's still pressed up against the railing, her eyes fixed on the ground in front of her. There's a cut just below her collarbone, but otherwise, she looks okay. I expected to see fear written all over her beautiful face, though, especially after everything she's already been through. What I see instead is white-hot anger. It's clear she wants to rip Nathan apart, and I might just give her the chance…

With a low grunt, Nathan charges me, slamming me into the exterior wall with the full force of his weight. It pushes the air out of my lungs, and I cough as I grapple with him. He's going for my throat, but I manage to push him off me.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I pant, trying to catch my breath. "I've known you since we were kids."

Nathan widens his stance and lowers his head like he's about to charge at me again. "My fight isn't with you, Roman," he says, shaking his head. "It's with your whore. First, she fucked James over and sent him to jail. Then she pussy whipped you. And now, she's taking down the Sacred Sons. I can't let her do that. I can't."

Nathan has always been freakishly devoted to my brother, that much has been true since we were kids. And when James was relocated up north, Nathan's odd loyalty needed a new outlet, so it shifted to the Sacred Sons. We all noticed it. But it was an innocent obsession, so we left it alone.

I can see now, it was something we should have confronted.

From the corner of my eye, I see Lux lunge forward, and pick something up off the tiled floor. I don't see what it is until she holds it up. It's a knife, and I'm betting it's Nathan's. And then it hits me—he threatened Lux with a fucking knife.

Pushing off the wall, I stalk toward Nathan, which forces him to take several steps back. All I see is blood right now—his blood—for fucking with my girl. I've tortured people for far, far less.

With one swing, my fist connects with Nathan's face and I hear a loud crack as he goes down, falling to his knees. Blood pours from his nose, and he looks dazed like he's struggling to stay conscious.

I grab a handful of his hair and yank his head back, so he's looking at me. He blinks rapidly, and I can already see one of his eyes swelling up. Lux walks up next to me, looking down at Nathan with disgust. "He killed Bree," she says in a voice that's completely devoid of emotion, almost like she can't allow herself to feel. "At the Preference Ceremony, she overheard you and the guys talking about your plan for me, and he killed her so she wouldn't tell me."

What the fuck? My gaze shifts to Nathan, and I yank his hair back more, forcing his head back at an awkward angle. "It was you this whole fucking time?"

He shrugs as blood continues to stream down his face. "Anything I did, I did to protect the society."

"That wasn't your fucking call to make," I spit back, nearly choking on the hate rising in my throat like bile. This fucking cunt is the reason Lux is grieving, the reason she has a gaping hole in her heart that will never heal.

Lux holds the knife to Nathan's throat, her face full of the emotion she's struggling to bite back. The tip of the blade dimples his skin, already drawing a little blood. "What were her last words?"

Instead of answering, he spreads his arms out, palms up, like a fucking martyr waiting for that final blow. "You want to kill me? Then just do it," he says, his voice calm, his gaze locked on Lux. "But I'm going to guess you don't have the balls."

Lux sucks in a deep breath and moves the blade, so it's resting just below Nathan's eye. "Her last words," she repeats slowly.

The strength it takes her to ask that question awes me, no lie. This girl is so fucking resilient, and it just makes me love her more.

Nathan opens his mouth and laughs like this is all just a fucking joke. "She begged me," he says, his eyes fluttering closed like he's conjuring up the memory. Reliving it. "She begged me to let her live. She begged me not to go after you."

Lux goes completely still, her chin trembling, tears streaming silently down her face. "Did—" Her voice catches, and she pauses to collect herself, closing her eyes briefly, before opening them again. "Did she suffer?"

"Oh, yeah," he laughs. "She kept screa—"

Grabbing him roughly, I haul him up and pull him over to the railing, cutting off his words. I won't allow him to taunt Lux with the gory details of Bree's death.

He flails, reaching out for me as I push him up against the metal railing, but I'm stronger than him, so I deflect him easily. My hand tightens in his hair. "You fucked with the wrong girl," I whisper harshly, then I shove him the rest of the way over the railing.