Silly them for forgetting my Spider. She was the one who owned all of us after all.
“What is the meaning of this, Niall?” Anastasia demanded, tossing her napkin down by her feet as she glared at me from her position by the wall, and I raised a wicked grin her way as I gave her my attention.
“Can I tell her?” Brooklyn asked keenly, taking a running jump and hopping up onto the dining table too, doing a little spin as she landed off balance and kicking a glass of scotch straight into Dermot’s lap, either on purpose or accidentally. Either way, it was fucking funny, especially when Brooklyn asked him if he’d pissed himself.
“Rook,” Jack growled, reminding her of why we were here, and he had a damn good point. The element of surprise was buying us this little bit of time, but soon enough one of the arseholes here would pull a weapon and we were planning on getting the fuck out of here before the bullets started flying. Well… before any more bullets started flying anyway.
Roland was still sniffling and whimpering over the bullet in his shoulder while his wife tried to stop the bleeding with a napkin on the far side of the table, but no one was really interested in his hysterics right now.
“I’m the cat who got the dream,” Brooklyn said excitedly as she hopped and pranced her way along the table, vaulting over Brutus who growled possessively over the fifth steak he’d stolen before pausing to do a pirouette right between my pa, Vlad and Anastasia’s pushed back chair.
“You have three seconds to explain why there’s a crazy woman dancing on my table, Niall,” Pa growled in warning at me and I narrowed my eyes on him.
“You won’t speak ill of her in front of me again,” I growled right back.
“You can’t call me crazy,” Brooklyn added. “I’m sanely challenged. Look it up.”
“And why are you on the table?” Anastasia demanded.
“Because of this.” Brooklyn waved her left hand in a dramatic little flourish, making the fat black diamond on her wedding ring flash in the low light of the room and grinning widely as she looked right into my ex-fiancée’s eyes. “I made a hornet man out of him.”
“Hornet?” Vlad hissed, exchanging a look with one of his men who was steadily inching his hand off of the table.
I took a knife from my belt and flung it at said hand, impaling it and halting its progress, finding myself mildly impressed as the Russian didn’t so much as squeak in pain, only glaring at me over the hilt of the knife and leaving it there while a red stain spread across the white table linen beneath it.
“See that, Connor?” I called, looking for my newly balding brother along the table and finding him in the shameful position furthest from our father right at the end. “You could take a lesson or two from this fella on how not to look like a pussy when taking a beating from your better.”
Connor looked inclined to say something, but Brooklyn whirled on him, tugging a pistol from the back of her skirt and levelling it in his direction.
“Don’t open your mouth if you like it that shape, bald man,” she warned. “I get shooty when people are rude to Hellfire.”
I chuckled darkly as I looked up at her, lust burning through me in a powerful wave while I watched her dancing on the table before a room full of enemies and wielding a gun without a flicker of fear in sight. Though in all honesty, she hadn’t had nearly enough practice with that weapon and the likelihood of her actually managing to shoot my brother from this distance was slim, so I whistled to get her attention back on track.
Brooklyn pouted at me in disappointment then whirled around to aim her gun at Anastasia instead.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” she said seriously, touching her free hand to her heart and showing off that ring again. “But you can’t have my Niall.”
“Yours?” Anastasia scoffed, her disapproving gaze roaming all over my little psycho and getting my back up in a way that was mighty likely to cause death.
“Yeah,” I agreed loudly, making everyone look my way once more. “All hers.”
“He took me up the aisle and rammed my ring and all that jazz,” Brooklyn said proudly. “And he doesn’t even like your flouncy tits.”
“What is she saying?” Pa barked, either genuinely unable to figure this out or refusing to believe it until he heard it from my own mouth.
“That beautiful creature up there,” I called loudly, pointing to Brooklyn and making certain that everyone in the room was looking at her before I went on. “Chose my unworthy self to be her creature. To serve and protect her from now until my death. So I’m sorry, glove.” I flicked half a glance at Anastasia whose eyes seemed about to bug out of her face as she realised what I was saying. “But I did tell ya I wasn’t a good match. And now it turns out I’m no match at all. You can’t marry a man who’s already married.”
I turned my attention back to my pa as Anastasia’s feral shriek lit the air and found his furious gaze locked on mine as he took in this act of defiance for what it was. The shattering of his control over me.
Brutus leapt from the table as Anastasia attempted to launch herself at my new bride and the Russians all yelled in fear as the enormous dog slammed into her, knocking her to the ground.
“Time to go!” I barked, snapping my fingers at Jack who immediately moved forward with his arms held wide for Brooklyn. She laughed excitedly then did a running jump from the table straight into them.
He turned and ran with her instantly, not needing any further instruction while everyone at the table leapt to their feet, pulling weapons and trying to escape from Brutus who dove headfirst at them, fangs bared and ripping into flesh left and right as he went.
I turned to leave as well, jerking to a halt as strong fingers wrapped around my wrist and I was forced to look back into the eyes of the man who had owned me up until this very moment.
“You know what this choice will cost you?” Liam O’Brien demanded furiously, all the worst of his demons rising up in his eyes in a way that had once terrified me beyond anything in this twisted world of ours. But I had long since become a far worse monster than he was, and it was about time he realised what he’d created in his cruelty.
“I know what it’s cost you,” I replied, nice and low, leaning in so he’d hear every word. “The feral beast you whipped and chained has finally broken free of its shackles. Question is, old man, are you gonna let me run free? Or will you be fool enough to try your luck in collaring me again? Because if you don’t back me in this then you’ll make an enemy of me. I won’t be yours a moment longer. I won’t be a part of this organisation you love so well. And worst of all, I’ll make you into my prey the next time I decide to go on the hunt.”
His face paled at those words and the truth in them, the reality of what he knew I was and how well he understood those threats as he blinked and damn near flinched out of fear of me. He saw my truth then. Understood my line and in that moment, I knew he wasn’t fool enough to try and stop me. This was done. He could deal with the Russians and call me back once they were no longer trying to capture me for their own designs too.
I gave him a shove so hard that he was sent flying back into his chair which almost upended, then fired four shots into the ceiling, sending the rest of the people in the room diving for cover.