I’ve been trying not to look at him or feel the complicated knot of rage and betrayal that lives in my chest whenever I think about him.
But now?—
What the fuck is he doing?
As he moves toward our table, he lifts his phone up high enough for everyone to see. Even though we were all supposed to dump our phones at the door, along with any weapons.
“It’s live-streaming, Senior.” His voice cuts through the tension like a blade. “Every word you said. Every confession. It’s streaming to the FBI field office in San Antonio, to the DEA, to Texas Rangers, and to three different news stations.”
The room goes so quiet I can hear my own heartbeat thundering in my ears.
What thefuck, Z?!
“And it’s been recording for the last twenty minutes,” Z continues, his voice steady despite the fact that every King in the room is now staring at him with expressions ranging from shock to murderous fury. “Every move you make is being watched by law enforcement and the public.”
Senior’s face transforms. The predatory satisfaction drains away, replaced by something so cold and violent it makes my blood freeze.
It’s pure, distilled rage.
This is the face of a man who’s killed before without hesitation or remorse.
Oh shit.
No. Z. What have you done?
“You fuckingrat.” The words come out quiet. Deadly.
Senior stands slowly, his chair scraping against the sticky floor. “After everything I did for you. Every opportunity I gave you. I pulled you out of that shithole trailer park and gave you a family. I gave youpurpose. I made yousomebody. And this is how you repay me?”
Z doesn’t flinch. “You didn’t give me purpose. You used me to hurt the one person who ever gave a shit about me. The one person who was my real family.”
His eyes find mine for just a second, and I see everything in that look—apology. Regret. Love. And resignation.
I don’t know if he knew about them taking Silas, but he knew from the second we all stepped in the door of this dive bar that this was how it would end. He planned for it.
“Harper was always my family,” Z says, turning back to Senior. “Myrealfamily. I just—I’m sorry I forgot what that meant.”
Rage turns Senior’s eyes black.
“She’s your only family, eh? Good thing females don’t count forshitwhen it comes to the non-fratricide clause for the land.”
Senior pulls out a contraband gun from his boot and whips it in my direction.
The next thing I know, I’m blown backward as the explosive noise of the gun firing sets the bar into chaos.
THIRTY-ONE
HARPER
“Get him off her!Get himoffher!”
I’m dazed, ears ringing as Caleb’s voice echoes distantly.
And then I blink in shock as the weight on my chest that I assumed meant I’d just been shot is suddenly lifted away.
It wasn’t a bullet that hit me.
I was knocked backward by a body.