I want him, but I don’t…want him. I want to carve the rust off my heart.
Slam. “Her.”
One final punch, and I curled my hands around his throat.
“Grayson!” Story grabbed my arm with both hands, using all her strength to keep me from ending his life. Hands still clenched around his throat, I glanced at her. Tears stained her soft hazelnut cheeks. My grip tightened.
For that alone, I could kill him.
Her raspy plea. “He’s not worth it.”
For months she’d kept saying that. She didn’t fucking get it.
Keeping
one hand pinned on his neck, I caressed the other down her cheek. “You are worth it, Story. You.”
Her glance fluttered to the side, to West starting to gain consciousness again. Blood stained her cheek where my knuckle had been. His blood. Anger rose up in my throat again, hot and choking.
“So then listen when I tell you this isn’t what I want. I want you, I want us, a future where he is a distant memory. This?” She glanced at him again, swallowing. “He’ll be in our lives forever.”
I dug my thumb into his pulsing vein.
“Please,” Story whispered. “We’ve come so far. We’re almost there.”
I yanked my hand from his neck, shaking it out because the muscles still wanted to be wrapped around his throat. Story threw her arms around my neck, nearly tackling me.
I forgot West and just hugged her, fucking hugged my wife. I pulled us off the ground, gripped her tight beneath the hollows of her shoulder blades, until her heartbeat bled into mine. Knowing she was in my arms—mine and safe.
West’s wet and bloody laugh sounded beneath us. “You still need me.”
I think Story sensed the change. Maybe my muscles tightened, maybe my breathing changed. Or maybe she just knew.
Because she whispered, “Grayson.”
I pulled back to see her walnut eyes, using her to steady myself as I spoke. “You’re done, du Lac. Done with her. Done with here. Get out before my kindness wears off.”
“You need me.” West scrambled shakily to his feet, pulling my attention back. “Lottie might not be pregnant with your kid, but you still signed that postnup and I still have everything on you. I’ll destroy you. I’ll destroy your family. I won’t stop until my name is on everything you love.”
He sounded as unhinged as he looked, and the violent waves crashing only added to it.
I carefully put Story behind my body.
“No,” I said lightly. “You won’t. You don’t have anything…not anymore.”
The password was songbird like Lottie said. It was done. We were free.
His eyes popped at that, then he scrambled to pull up his phone, eyes growing as he clearly saw the truth.
It was gone.
All of it.
His head snapped up. “When the fuck did you do this? When?”
“Does it matter?” Story hedged from behind me. “It’s over, West.”
“It’s not over, you’re still my mistress! You still need me. You still need that coin. Without me, you won’t be safe. You’ll never be able to leave me until you find it. You’ll never be able to forget me.”