He kneeled and injected the needle into his skin, giving him a high dose of epinephrine so he’d be forced to walk up.

His eyes opened and he came to, taking in the scene, immediately panicking. When he tried to get up, a gun was shoved in his face.

His brother Carl was taken out as well, but he was awake.

He was dropped on the ground next to his brother. Then my men backed away, letting me do the honors.

I stared down at them for a long time, my large knife held in my grip, the blade reflecting the flames and the smoke behind them. It was a summer night, but the heat from the flames made it an inferno. Only a few minutes were left before the flames torched the engines and caused an explosion that could kill us all. “Who’s first?”

They remained on their asses in front of me, looking up at me with false bravado. Their deaths were inevitable, but they still breathed in fear, still shook with the revelation of their demise.

I raised my voice. “I said, who’s first?”

Victor exchanged a final look with his brother before he got shakily to his feet.

I grabbed him with lightning speed, kicking the backs of his knees, and forced him back to the ground. My boot pressed into his back, pinning him to the ground. “Machete.”

He inhaled a deep breath when his punishment was revealed.

I was handed the large blade before I nodded to one of my guys.

His boot replaced mine.

I kneeled and looked at Victor, my blade held at the ready. “You tried to take my woman. Now I’m going to take everything from you.”

He didn’t look at me, his cheek pressed to the tarmac.

I raised my blade and slammed it down hard, severing his neck, blood squirting everywhere. “One.”

A gurgle came from his lips, blood flooding out of every orifice he possessed.

Carl closed his eyes.

It always took at least three hits to sever the head from the body, so I did it two more times. “Two. Three.” I decapitated him completely then rose to my feet. “Carl, you’re up.”

Nineteen

With All My Heart

Melanie

It was nearly morning when he came home.

The sun had just peeked over the horizon. It was a beautiful summer day, the dawn after the dark night. My things were moved into his bedroom, and the staff put everything back in place. The men had ransacked his suite, looking for me everywhere. But now, it looked exactly as it had before.

I couldn’t sleep, not until I knew he was home, not until I knew this was really over.