DAHLIA ALDRIDGE
Yates darted in front of me, letting out a grunt as he pushed me to the ground.
“Yates!” A panicked scream left my throat as gunfire exploded around us. Yates was lying next to me, groaning where he had hit the ground. I knelt next to him and felt his vest, a relieved breath escaping.Thank God.I wrapped my arms around him as he sat up, and the only thing that pulled me from that was Dixon Glenn’s scream.
I turned my head and found the president of the Denim Moths, along with all the members, dead. The only one still alive was Glenn, who was being pinned up against the wall by King.
“Not yet,” Dermot warned King.
I stumbled to standing as I walked forward, feeling far more confident. “You’re Dixon Glenn?!”
His eyes were manic. “No use in keeping it a secret now, I suppose. Yes, I am Dixon Glenn.”
“Liar.” Yates seemed to be goading him. “We know what Dixon Glenn looks like, you stupid bastard.”
“You don’t have to believe me.” He grinned. “You can change a face. You can change everything. I don’t need to survive this; I have already started a problem that can’t be extinguished. Your town is going to drown in addiction, and there isn’t shit you can do about it—”
His words were cut off by a bloody gurgle as King shot him right in the chest and then in the head. I stared at Dixon’s collapsed body, wanting to feel remorse, but instead I just felt…disgusted. He went out of his way to do all this…but why? Now he was just a washed up drug dealer, no longer able to hide from his past sins. I didn’t say this often, but he deserved to die.
There was silence before a voice boomed, “Clean this shit up!”
I turned to see Callum, of all people, approaching from a dark car. Kingston offered him a nod before meeting his hand. The group of darkly clothed men that had brought the vehicles began to do just that, placing bodies into three vans that had appeared.
“Good job handling this shit,” Callum told King.
“He tried to shoot my girl.” King shrugged. “Wouldn’t have lived anyway. Hope you didn’t need him for questioning.”
“No, he confirmed his identity, that was enough,” Callum said. “When he escaped prison, we knew Dixon had gone down to Mexico for a bit, but then he disappeared. Seems like he underwent reconstructive surgery and hired Abby and Max to act like pawns and all of this shit. For some time it was willingly, but then it turned into a forced situation.”
“Why do all of this?” I demanded.
“Because our families helped put him in jail the first time,” King explained.
Nodding slowly, I turned to look towards Abby. She was curled up in a blanket next to one of the large mercenaries, his eyes on her face with concern. I approached and I saw fear fill her gaze, which almost had me pausing, not knowing how to feel about that.
“You okay?” I asked her.
She nodded. “I…” Her brow dipped. “I can’t excuse or explain what happened. It started out as a job to get out of our trailer back home, and then—”
“You don’t have to,” I promised and added, “I forgive you.”
I wouldn’t forget, but I did forgive. Abby may have started my problems, but they were my responsibility to deal with now. I couldn’t blame her for the rest of my life. Relief filled her gaze as I offered her a small smile and walked back towards where my boys stood with Callum.
Before I could reach them though, I turned my head to watch a figure step out of the dark Cadillac that Callum had come from. India Lexington. Her gaze moved towards Abby, a sneer pulling at her lips, before she nodded for me to walk over to her. I did so easily, knowing that the threat was gone for now.
Hopefully.
She leaned against the car as I joined her, her watchful gaze moving over the bodies that bloodied the land. Instead of looking like her polished, socialite self, her hair was down and she was wearing a hoodie along with several dark rings, each containing a script I couldn’t read.
“You good?”
“Honestly, yes.” I exhaled. “I have been through a lot of shit lately, so this doesn’t seem nearly as intense. It’s just a relief it’s done.”
India nodded. “You become numb to it after a while. Hopefully this type of situation won’t be a common occurrence for you—you didn’t sign up for that type of lifestyle, and it shouldn’t be forced onto you.” There was a slight bite to her tone, and I could tell this wasn’t really about me.
“I’m surprised you’re here.”
She smirked. “Callum doesn’t like loose ends, so he wanted to make sure this shit was cleaned up before we fly out. I’m considering it a date night.”