Page 112 of Fight for You

She whimpers, struggling in his arms.

"Let her go," I urge him, trying like hell to keep myself in check when all I want to do is blow his fucking brains out right here and now. I can't do that, though. Not with him holding a gun to January's head. Too much could go wrong.

"You took everything from me; now I'm going to take everything from you," he says.

I guess this is probably a bad time to tell him that I fucking warned him, but… "I told you to leave her alone," I say softly. "I told you to stay off the block and let her have it. I told you to stop pimping out girls. I could have killed you the night I came for you, but I didn't. You didn't uphold your end of the bargain, Kaleo."

"Fuck your bargain!" he cries. "You think you're so goddamn untouchable with that badge they gave you, but we both know the truth, Kincaid. You're a murderer." He says it like he thinks the truth is going to shock January, but my girl doesn't even flinch at his words.

"What does that make you?" I ask him. "You sunk your claws into Titan and then let him die. What happened to him and Jana, what I did to the Diablos, is your fault. Because you couldn't leave us the fuck alone."

"I wanted you!" he roars at me, spit flying from his mouth. "I would have made you a king. We would have ran this fucking city together, but all you cared about was this bitch and her fucking brother."

"Watch what the fuck you say about my girl," I growl, ignoring the part about him wanting me because we both know what he wanted was me on a leash.

"With your money and my connections, we would have owned South Central!" he yells.

What the fuck?

"How do you know about the money?"

"Your name," he says impatiently. "Saw it on a whiskey bottle one day and got curious. Didn't take much to figure out you were the heir to a fucking empire."

Well, goddamn. Maybe he's not as fucking stupid as I always thought because I never put that shit together. I never even wondered who my grandparents were. Kaleo did, though.

Having money has been making my life a living hell since before I ever even knew I had it. Funny thing, though, I'd have given him every fucking penny if he would have left us alone. All I wanted was to keep January safe so none of this shit ever touched her.

Instead, it sank its claws into her so deeply she's still bleeding.

"I would have given you the money if you would have agreed to leave January and Titan alone," I mutter, so goddamn tired of doing this same song and dance. "I never wanted to be a fucking king. I never wanted to be a millionaire. I just wanted to be left the fuck alone, but you were too stupid to get that, Kaleo. You think everyone wants the same shit you do, that we're all out to be fucking criminal masterminds. All I ever wanted was for you to get off my dick. You want the money? You can have it. Just let January go."

"Fuck the money," he snarls at me. "It won't do me any fucking good in prison. You think they're going to let me out? Once I go down, that's it, man. I'm done."

Even now, there's a certain savage sense of satisfaction in knowing I took everything from him, exactly like I swore I would.

He wanted to turn me into a king, and I guess he did. I’m the motherfucker men like him fear. I’m the motherfucker capable of dismantling empires. He’s the reason I am what I am. I’m the monster of his own goddamn making. And I burned his fucking world to the ground because of it. That’s how this story ends.

He should have read Frankenstein. Then he'd have known the monster always turns on his creator. Unlike Frankenstein, there won't be any tears shed when Kaleo dies though. Not from me. Not for him. And if he takes me with him when he leaves this world, well…at least I died saving something I love.

"Take me and let her go," I tell him, holding my gun up in surrender.

"No!" January cries out.

He's considering it. I see it in his eyes. I decide to sweeten the pot.

"You'll still go to prison, but you'll go as a goddamn legend if you take me out." I gesture at all the scars littering my body. "Motherfuckers like you have been trying to kill me for years and haven't been able to do it. You'll be a king in prison if you take me. If you kill her, all you'll be is another fucking chump."

January cries softly, sobbing in his tight grip. I don't look at her, though. I can't.

I can practically see the wheels in his mind spinning. Time seems to drag into eternity as he thinks over my suggestion, his grip on my girl not wavering once. I desperately want to look into her eyes and tell her all those things I never got to tell her, like how fucking proud I am of her and how much I love her. But I know if I do, I'll falter. I'll fail. And I can't do that. I've failed her enough already.

If one of us has to die to end this shit once and for all, it'll be me.

"Kick your gun to me," he says then, and I know I've got him. He's going to let her go.

Whatever happens after that…well, I'll die young and leave a pretty corpse like I always figured I would. But January will be safe, and that's all that really matters in the end. It's what I've wanted since the day I met her.

I crouch slowly and set my gun on the floor. Once it's out of my hands, I hold them up, not stupid enough to stand up just yet. "Aim your gun away from her, and then I'll kick mine over."