“She will have no other choice,” he grated.
I exhaled a long breath. “Are you mad at me?”
“To be honest…I am mad. Don’t know if it’s at you, though.”
“You warned me, and I didn’t listen. Now, Wrench is going to be pissed.”
His eyes, the brightness vanishing into a demonic gloom, barely looked at me as the gravel and dirt crunched beneath our feet. “You still found her.”
“And I promise, I know how to handle it here when all hell breaks loose…that is if you still trust me, of course.”
He stopped and planted a kiss on my forehead. “That will never change.”
He helped me down the stairs. Bending my leg wasn’t a breeze. That bullet, unlike the one I got in the shoulder, almost got to the bone. When we arrived at the Boiler door, he reached for the handlebar. I grabbed his hand in a flash. “I’ll take it from here.”
“I’m going in there,” he stated.
“To say goodbye?”
His jaws clenched. His eyes became fatal. “She shot at you.”
“She’s done way worse. Now, I’ll make her pay,” I said coldly. I wasn’t angry or emotional or even victorious, my brick wall a shield I wouldn’t give up yet. I was on a mission. A task I needed done. “Go back to the house and wait for my return.”
“I’m going in there,” he spat.
“You can’t touch her.”
“I won’t,” he lied. I felt it.
“She’d beg you to save her,” I warned.
“Then I’ll shut her up for good. I’m going in there, Cammie. There’s nothing you’re going to say or do to stop me.”
Shaking my head, I threw my hands in the air in surrender. “Fine.”
He pushed the handlebar and opened the door. Big Gun was standing inside, blocking the view. He moved away when we entered.
Gagged, bound and coiled up in a corner, Beth mumbled incoherent pleas through her tears. The menacing heat coming from Dusty’s body as he saw her thrashed my heart. He stalked toward her, fire shooting out of his stare.
“That’s far enough, Prez,” Big Gun said.
Dusty hushed him with one stare. Then he made him leave the room. Big Gun obeyed without a word. When he shut the door behind us, Dusty crouched down before the bitch and ripped the duct tape off her mouth in one swift move. She cried out in pain, and begged for her son’s mercy, her limbs writhing and kicking at the ropes.
He stared at her for minutes before he finally said, “You took away everything that mattered to me.”
“No, sweetheart. I’m your Mama. I love you. I’d never hurt you.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“No, you gotta believe me. I only worked with the Italians because they’d have never touched you. They wanted you here, too. It was my only condition.”
He narrowed his gaze at her. “You and Rush went behind my back and Cosimo’s and betrayed the MC, our family and our friends, why?”
“I wanted you to stay President. I didn’t want you to leave.” She shot daggers at me with her hateful stare. “She had to get out of your way. Rush was scared you’d kill him like Roar if he hurt her so he made an arrangement with the Lanzas. I was supposed to go there while they pretended they took me and then they’d demand you stay Prez to protect their business or they’d kill me if you refused or killed Rush.”
“What made them so sure I’d save you or him after what you’d done?”
He face paled, and her lips quivered.