“I’ll clean it up,” Jason hastily assured her. “And I’ll replace the rug. I was just scaring Micah, roughing him up a bit to warn him away from your brother.” He glanced around at the mess. “Things got a little out of hand.”

“A little out of hand?” Caprice repeated incredulously.

“I did it for you,” Jason shot back. “Everything I do is for you.” Fucking liar. “But I’ll clean it up – make everything as good as new.”

“And are you going to make Micah as good as new?”

“He-he wasn’t just roughing me up,” Micah finally managed to speak, pleased that his words weren’t overly slurred despite the fact his tongue felt heavy in his mouth and he could taste the coppery tang of blood. “He means to kill me.” Micah wasn’t super sure Caprice would care, to be honest, so he made sure to add, “He’s going to kill your brother too. As soon as you conceive.”

“Shut up!” Jason barked at him, taking a threatening step towards where Micah was attempting to push himself up off the floor. (It would help if the walls would stop spinning.)

“H-he’s only with you for your uterus. He wants to use your baby to usurp Damon’s spot as head of the family.”

“You can’t listen to this crazy, gold-digging whore, baby. He’d say anything to turn us against each other – to turn Damon against us. He just wants us out of the picture so that he can have Damon and all his money to himself.”

Micah fought the urge to scoff. As if. He turned to Caprice, begging Damon’s sister with his eyes to believe him – someone she’d hated at first sight – over her husband. “Please, Caprice.”

“How stupid do you think I am?”

Micah’s heart sank.

But then, miraculously, she reached into her purse and pulled out her cellphone, and her eyes were pure ice as they turned and met Jason’s head-on. “Damon’s going to fucking slaughter you for making him bleed.”

Thank Christ.

Unfortunately, before Micah’s colossal gratitude even had a chance to sink in, Jason was moving. “Fucking bitch!”

He slapped the phone out of Caprice’s hand and grabbed her by the hair, tugging at the roots and yanking her head backward so that her neck was bent at an awkward angle. He dug the barrel of his gun into her head, much like he had to Micah earlier.

“Hey! Leave her alone!” Micah forced himself onto wobbly feet, his ankles still connected via zip tie.

“Stay the fuck back!” Jason shouted, cocking the gun. “Or I’ll blow her brains out.”

Micah froze.