I grabbed him by the throat and slammed his head down on the windshield he’d just smashed. It hit the shattered glass with a sickening crack. The remnants went flying inside my car, across my hood and onto the ground.
Lincoln’s hand flew up to grab my arm, trying to loosen my grip, but it only made me squeeze tighter.
Ethan came at me from behind.
I peered over my shoulder at him, rage seething from every pore in my body. “Touch me, and you’re next.”
As he backed away and the other guy watched from a distance, I lifted Lincoln from the busted glass and slammed him down on my hood. His lips were turning blue while the color slowly drained from his face. Trails of snot ran from his nose over his mouth, and tears leaked from his eyes.
I leaned down, stopping inches from his face, loosening my grip enough for him to gasp for air. “If you ever come tomyhouse again with this bullshit, I will end you. Understood?” I kept my tone calm, sounding nothing like the feral beast brewing inside me.
He clenched his teeth in defiance. I squeezed his throat in return. Finally, he nodded.
“Good.” I grabbed a piece of the broken glass and brought the sharp edge to his face, against his cheekbone, just below his eye. “But just in case you forget…” Then I applied enough pressure for the edge of the glass to break his skin, and I carved a trail along the side of his face. Nothing a decent beard wouldn’t conceal but enough to remind him who he was dealing with.
I let him go with a shove, making him stumble backward. Blood trickled down his face and dripped onto his baby blue T-shirt. He let it fall. He didn’t even try to wipe it away. He grinned and wore that shit like a badge of honor. Maybe he was as sick as I was.
He jabbed a finger in my direction and shouted. “This is far from over.”
I walked over and picked the bat up off the driveway, inspected it for a moment, then gave it a flip. I watched in silence as he climbed into his car and drove away because a wise man once said… absolutely nothing. He let the fools scream the loudest while revenge spoke for itself.
Then I went back inside and helped myself to the fruit Tatum left behind without giving her brother another thought.
At the end of the day, threats were just fantasies until someone decided to make them come true.
***
“Do you have any idea how royally you’ve fucked up?” My father was standing in his study with his hands in his pockets while he peered through a wall of windows overlooking Mom’s flower garden.
I never meant to do permanent damage to Lincoln Huntington. All I wanted to do was warn him to mind his own business. But the minute her name left his lips, I lost it.
“He got what he deserved.” I walked across the Persian rug, stopping in front of his desk. My fingertip traced the beveled edge of the dark wood. Not a speck of dust in sight.
“Maybe.” He turned around and lifted his chin then smirked, as though he enjoyed looking down on me. “But the execution was brutal.”
I stood up straight and looked him in the eye. “As opposed to tampering with his brakes and making it look like an accident when he smashed into a tree?” It was a low blow and I knew it.
Dad never got his hands dirty the way I just did, but he was nowhere near the saint he pretended to be.
His jaw tensed.Hit a nerve, I see.“He’s not going to press charges.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “Oh, should I send him athank youcard?”
He pulled his hands from his pockets as he walked over to the opposite side of his desk. I stared at the rows of bookshelves lining the wall behind him. There were mainly law books and autobiographies, but some were actual classic literature. I spent hours of my childhood in here reading while he conducted his business.
“Jesus, Caspian. This is serious.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “And to top it off, now you’re fucking his sister.”
My eyes snapped to his.
He grinned. “You think I didn’t see her leave this morning? Come on, Caspian. You have to be more careful than that if you want to pull one past me.”
I wasn’t trying topull one past him. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have hadhisbutler escort Tatum to her car, which was parked at the front fucking door. I was just aggravated that he chose this moment to bring it up.
Dad walked over to the bar cabinet and poured himself a half-full glass of scotch. “And since you made a show of bringing her home, her father knows it too.”
Fuck.
Apparently, the saying “The Chamber keeps its secrets” only applied to sharing with people outside of our circle. Anyone inside the circle was fair game.