“It’s the end of the road,” Lainey told him. “You see, we needed some answers, but we also need you gone. Em and Milo don’t deserve the pain of having to be the one who did it. The boys couldn’t really decide between them.”
She glanced at her watch, then lifted her chin.
“I’m afraid I took matters into my own hands,” she continued. “Sorry, Pretty Boy.”
“Nothing to be sorry about,” he told her and the hint of awe in his expression wasn’t lost on me. Yes, she continued to awe me too.
King coughed, the handkerchief to his mouth was soaked in crimson. “How—”
“Cognac?” Lainey reminded him.
“You poured both glasses from the same bottle. I watched you…”
“I poisoned the bottle.”
I snapped my head toward her and I wasn’t the only one.
“When you finished your drink, I took the antidote.” She patted her purse.
The mints.
Holy shit.
“You see, I’m very done with you, Mr. King. You won’t hurt anyone I love ever again. I am afraid, however, that the poison is going to be a rough way to die.” Not that she sounded remotely apologetic. If anything, it was coldly practical. A fact she offered him so he could get used to it now.
King’s shocked stare turned furious and he lurched forward like he had a hope in hell of getting to her. Bodhi closed the distance and got there first. One hand on his throat, he shoved him backward until he hit the wall.
Once he had him pinned to the wall, he stripped the man of his weapons. Twice, King tried to fend him off. On the second attempt, Bodhi slapped him across the face. The crack of the blow echoed in the stunned quiet of the room.
Blood from King’s face splattered on the wall. For his part, Bodhi inspected his own hands. Not even a speck of blood. The man really did have his talents.
“No easy ways out,” Bodhi informed him.
“Agreed,” Lainey said, drifting over to take a seat on a chair of her own. She leaned back with a kind of casual grace and patience. She looked ready to settle in for the day. Head tilting back, she glanced up at Milo. “I won’t tell you what to do, but neither you nor Em needs to watch this.”
“But you do?” Milo asked, the frank wonder in his voice found its match in me. Just when I thought she couldn’t get sexier or more attractive, she proved us wrong.
“Oh yes,” she murmured, one corner of her mouth curved upward and she glanced at King. “I’ve waited a long time to see justice served for you, Pretty Boy. I’m not going anywhere until his cold dead corpse is on the ground and ready for disposal.”
The words hung there, suspended in the air, and they held every ounce of the promised malice in her voice.
“We’ll have to gut the house, I’m afraid, but I didn’t think you were particularly fond of it.” She lifted one shoulder and let it drop as if, what could you do?
I suppressed a chuckle because King yanked at his tie. He fought with his shirt, like he could make the air come more easily. The struggle was real.
Milo traced his fingers down Lainey’s cheek. “Mayhem…”
“You’re welcome,” she said, her voice as low and confidential as his own. “I promise you, it was very much my pleasure to deal with him.”
I flicked a look to where Emersyn stared at the man who wanted far too late to be her father. Her grimace at the blood dripping down his face didn’t offer a shred of pity, only disgust.
“You don’t have to stay, Hellspawn,” Liam said, not quite blocking her view. They trusted her to handle it.
“I feel like… maybe I should?” Her hesitance echoed beneath the words.
“Ivy…” King choked out as he shoved his way forward. Liam snapped his arm back, his elbow catching King in the face and it knocked him on his ass.
“You don’t have to do anything,” Rome told her. “If you don’t want to see this, you don’t have to.”
A chair shrieked as Freddie dragged it over the wooden floor and out of his way before he leaned against the back of the sofa.
“They’re right, Boo-Boo, Liam will make sure he’s pushing up daisies… I’d offer to hurry it along but this all feels dramatic and kind of fancy.” Freddie flashed a grin at Lainey. “Ball Cracker’s got style.”
“Thank you,” she murmured, then switched her attention to Em. “You really don’t have to stay. I promise you, he’s a dead man. The antidote… it’s effective, but it has a narrow window.”
She shot King a smug look.
“A very narrow window.”
King could barely stand, and seemed to be leaning on the wall to keep from collapsing. Didn’t stop him from glaring at her. “It’s like my body is on fire…”
“I’ve read that’s the way junkies feel when they are going through detox. I imagine that’s how their mother felt before she died… Seemed fitting.”
Beautifully, epically, poetic.
“I’m staying,” Doc said, then looked at Milo. “Your girl is right, you and Little Bit don’t need to see this. But I will make sure he’s dead and gone. No more worries about him.”
It was the strangest sensation. No more worries about King. I’d cut ties months before, but… for the first time in a long while, I took a deep breath.
