Heart.
“I think it’s time my brother is taken down a notch,” he says, and I notice that his eyes are dead. There’s nothing there. Eric is a completely different person. What’s happened to this man?
“And you’re going to do that by killing me?” I ask him, lifting my chin. “By leaving my children without a mother?”
I can take Eric on in a fight. There’s no question about that. I could kill him right now, but it won’t get me out of here. Will it save Dex from his brother’s hate though? I won’t get past the men outside—there’s too many of them—and Eric hasn’t tried to physically hurt me yet. Will he?
I wish Dex were here right now, not because I need him to tell me what to do, but because at the end of the day, Eric is still his brother, and that means something. You can not talk to your family, or have a falling-out with them, or even hate them, but you still don’t want them dead, especially at your own hands. I don’t want what happens today haunting Dex. And it will. He’s human, after all; it would haunt any man or woman with a conscience.
“Not going to kill you, Faye,” he says, lip twitching. “I’m going to kill Dex.”
“I see,” I murmur, marveling over his stupidity. You can’t kill Dex without killing me, because I will hunt you down. He’s underestimating me. He’s seeing me as the girl he knew, not the warrior woman I’ve become. “And then what?”
“And then the Kings are going to have my back against any retaliation the Wind Dragons plan. It will be war,” he says proudly, like war is a good thing. The more he speaks his idiocy, the more I want to take him down myself. The Kings have obviously used him as a pawn, a secret weapon against Dex, and he’s fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. They probably made him feel important, and they have something in common—their dislike for Dex.
I hear banging noises, followed by gunshots and men yelling, and I’m instantly on alert. I push myself off the ground, my back still pressed against the wall. Eric lifts up his gun and points it at me.
“Don’t move,” he barks, standing up and crooking his finger. “Come here, Faye.”
It’s just me and him in the room, and he still thinks he has control. I have a few moments to decide what to do. I can kill him, or I can just fight and disable him until Dex walks through that door, as I know he will. I decide to go with that. I walk toward Eric, about to knock the gun out of his hands and punch him in the throat, when the door is suddenly kicked open. I freeze as Dex storms in, gun in hand. Eric grabs me by my hair and jams his gun into my ribs. I keep my eyes on my husband’s face, on his expression when he sees who is standing in the room with me.
His own brother.
That has to hurt.
Dex looks me over first, from head to toe. His jaw tightens when he sees my cut lip from where my captor slapped me. He returns his gaze to his baby brother.
“Eric?” Dex whispers, shaking his head in disbelief. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
He takes a step forward, but Eric brings the gun to my temple. Dex’s face turns to stone. “Get the gun away from my wife, Eric. Now. Don’t be stupid. Whatever they’ve promised you, it isn’t worth it. I’m your fuckin’ brother!”
“You don’t get to make demands, Dex,” Eric sneers. “You make a move toward us, and Faye is dead. Don’t think I won’t shoot her, because I will.”
“Was it you who hit her?” he asks, hands clenching to fists. “Did you lay a hand on her?”
“No,” Eric says, sounding wary, which he should be, considering the fury I can hear in Dex’s tone. “I haven’t laid a hand on her.”
“Whoever touched her is a dead man,” Dex announces through clenched teeth. “No one puts a hand on my fuckin’ wife. And if you want to live, Eric, loosen the hold you have on her hair, or I will shove my foot down your fuckin’ throat, you little bastard.”
“Empty threats, Dex,” Eric replies—but he does loosen his hold. He can pretend he isn’t scared of Dex all he wants, but he is. And he should be.
Dex’s throat works as he swallows. I can see that he’s trying to process this betrayal, the fact that his own blood is the one with a gun to my head. Dex still has his gun in his hand, but he hasn’t even raised it. Over the years, Eric has popped in and out of our lives only a few times. We hardly see or hear from him, and I know the only reason Dex saw him was because their mom asked it of them. They don’t get along, but I didn’t see this coming from Eric. He must really hate Dex with everything he has.
“You only have a gun to Faye’s head because she’s allowing it, brother,” Dex says, sneering the word.
“Really?” Eric replies, scoffing. “I’m sure that’s why she’s been waiting here for you to come and save her ass.”
Dex just shakes his head and says, “You have about fifteen men here, Eric. Even fuckin’ Xena warrior fuckin’ princess wouldn’t try and leave if she were smart. And none of these men have honor. You’ve surrounded yourself with scum. Do you know the things they could have done to Faye? Surely, somewhere in there, some part of you must care?”
My lip twitches at the Xena reference.
My man is funny—I think he’s been hanging around me for way too long now; he’s starting to make jokes at the most inopportune times. It’s great.