This motherfucker doesn’t need to be sticking his dick in anyone, so I stomp as hard as I can on his balls, causing him to howl. He clutches his balls and rolls to his side as he cries like a little bitch.

I need to get the fuck out of here. Every time I look at Ryan all I see is my dad’s face covered in crimson blood oozing from his head, drenching his clothes.

As he rolls onto his back, I place my right foot over his throat and squeeze down hard as he scratches at my black boot. His bloody face turns a shade of purple, and he gulps for air. “You call the cops on me for beating your ass, I’ll come back and skin you alive.”

I release my foot as he gasps for air. I rush outside, and I vomit over the freshly manicured lawn. I wait in the car and close my eyes as my dad’s last words play in my mind.

Pull the fucking trigger. Be a man and do it.

My phone rings and Logan’s name pops up on the screen. I answer with shaking hands.

“Have Nova file a police report when she gets there and use your connections to bury this motherfucker in jail,” I say, breathing heavy. Iron and gunpowder crawl into my nostrils, and I open the car door, empty my stomach once more onto the black asphalt with the phone glued to the side of my face.

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah. I’m good.”

He pauses for several seconds. “What did you do to him?”

“What I should’ve done nine years ago. Beat the fuck out of him.”

I hang up the phone and toss it in the passenger seat. I drive to the nearest corner store, stock up on bourbon, then head to the hotel I booked. I promised Gia I wouldn’t drink at all, but the sound of a gun going off in my ears and the way he looked before the trigger was pulled are too much for me. Victory and happiness. Even in death, he’s destroying my life.

Once I’m in my room, I lie on the bed, unscrew the bottle of bourbon, and drown in it until I black out.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Three

Gia

Gunner was gone for three days.

Three. Days.

I haven’t spoken to him since my heart bled onto his expensive loafers when I told him I was in love with him. He didn’t show up to the baking event where I sold all the cupcakes I made and the bakery got booked three weeks in advance for different parties and wedding events.

To celebrate, I went out to a Japanese steakhouse with Paris and London as they filled me in on stories about their grandchildren.