Not a reason.
And me? She’ll take me either way. As her king. Her fuckboy. Her errand dog, lapping at her table, while she uses me as a warning for all who dare to stand against her. Her crown would own me, and whatever throne or cell she kept me in would only come with the illusion of power. She’d keep a rope around my neck until she tired of the game and hang me, anyway.
Not a fucking reason.
If I said no, we would all die, but not as dogs. As men who made choices and accepted the consequences. There was dignity in that. It wasn’t pretty, but it did not come at the expense of our souls. But Daphne wouldn’t. She was in Maine, and with none of us pulling her under, she would finally be free of the dark. She’d hate it. Her heart might not survive it, but… if there was a chance, then there was my reason.
I raised my gun and shot both Andrew and Sir Fucks A Lot in the goddamn head, before moving my aim to Marianne. She was so broken that she didn’t even flinch.
“You can have Daphne and Threx,” she was quick to say, throwing her hands in the air in a show of surrender. But I knew better. I’d be dead before I made it off the driveway. “I mean it, Wolfe. We’ll get them out. I will marry you, and your club still lives.”
Liars go to hell, and I prayed she would.
I took a moment, mimicking her slow pause, as if to consider the proposal fully.
“No,” I said with a smirk. “You don’t get my club. You don’t get my girl! Or my fucking monster…” I inched in closer. “And you sure as hell don’t getme.”
She did not get to hurt anyone anymore.
“They’ll come after you. If you kill me, they’ll label you a traitor and hang you on the wall.”
“I’d rather die on my gallows than yours.”
She broke into a sad laugh, and before she could say another word, blood spilled from her mouth, dropping into the teacup in a stream of red.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
I wiped my eyes and moved to the window, where Jessie waited for me in the slant of the rain. The numbers finally madesense. It was never about what life gives you. It was about what you refuse to let it take. Me. Threx. My men. But most of all, Daphne.
I would never let it take her.
Problem solved.
thirty-eight
Threx: Lightning Crashes
The rain slanted hard, blurring my vision as I swerved down the narrow passageway to the clubhouse. Jessie had already been instructed to leave. His pissy tone told me something was wrong, but I shoved it aside. Driving to Madison Park at one in the morning would piss off anyone, and Jess was the poster boy for suffering in silence. Still, he was hiding something from me; I could tell.
My tires screeched as they came to a stop, catching in the grooves of the pavement. I hated the way the house looked when we went black, like a fucking graveyard waiting to happen. Ghosts with guns. It was a stupid way to go, really. Dying in the dark. It didn't scare me as much as the thought of leaving Daphne. And the idea of going with my dick between my legs made me sick.
Speaking of Daphne.
I checked my phone, but she had stopped shouting at me to save Wolfe hours ago. I knew she didn't love him the same way she loved me, but watching her go ballistic over the possibility of losing him put the world into perspective. It wasn't like Daphneto turn off her love. Her heart… that beautiful fucking blood pump would never make that choice. It would grow. Create room. Turn Wolfe into something new and me into forever.
Fuck. She was perfect. So goddamn perfect.
Aware that hundreds of Marianne's men might be lying in the shadows to smoke me out, I moved quickly, taking the steps two at a time to the keylock and flipped it open. I was nearly at the last number when a shot fired behind the door, my mind splitting between the sound and the silver glint starlighting in my periphery.
"What the fuck?" I mouthed, squinting at the suitcase drowning in the rain. I reached for it, recognizing the Maine flight tags, and stilled. "No," I fought against what this meant. "No!"
My eyes snapped to the door in a bloodless panic, the taste of metal flooding my mouth, sliding down into my lungs.
"She isn't supposed to be here," I raged, punching in the numbers, fucking it up, and having to start again. "Daphne?" I cried out, then clamped my lips shut before whatever was watching me took note.