Page 160 of Cautious Love

Her hazel eyes widen in fear, and it rips me up inside. I don’t want to leave her, but I have to. I have to do this, and I’m done waiting on process. Some things have to be handled outside the law.

“Please don’t leave me,” she whispers.

I gently clasp her face and kiss her forehead. “I’ll be right back. Let these people make sure you’re okay. Promise me you’ll stay here.”

She bites her lower lip.

“Shiloh, I need you to say the words.”

“I — okay,” she says.

“Thank you. I’ll be back.” I kiss her forehead again, brushing some of her hair back, and leave the woman I love more than anything in this world while I take care of business the way it should have been months ago.

Spotting my brother’s truck and Sterling’s right behind it. I pull in behind them and park it. We don’t need a police vehicle pulling onto the street or tipping off the target.

Locking the truck, I grab my personal firearm and a baseball bat. Shiloh left it at my house, and it feels poetic, taking me back to the place it was originally from.

I knock on Fletcher’s window, and he rolls it down. Sterling hops out with a shotgun in his hand and meets us on the sidewalk. “Are you going to clue us in here?” Fletcher asks.

They all look at me seriously, and I take a deep breath.

“You both have families. You can turn around right now if you want to. I won’t take it personally. Sterling and I can probably handle it.”

“What do you need, Ledge?” Cooper says seriously.

“He sent two men aftermy wife.I don’t know if they were there to kidnap her, kill her, or beat her to a pulp. But she was able to clip one of them and fought her way out to get away. She’s at the clinic now, getting checked out. The last thing I want is for this to fall back on my family. But I’m done with this bullshit.”

“I’ve been waiting for this,” Sterling says. “We’ve got your back.”

They all nod. Fletcher and Cooper get out of the truck, and we jog to Grey’s house. “Let me check it out to make sure he’s actually there.”

They fall back while I peek around the corner into the window.

Sure enough, the dumbass is sitting in his chair with his feet propped up, a beer in his hand, and it looks like he hasn’t shaved for quite some time.

I blink my flashlight twice, giving the guys the signal, and they meet me by the steps.

We move in sync as if we’ve done this together over and over again. We haven’t. We did get into fights over girls, but nothing like this.

The moment I kick that door down, I’m risking it all, including what’s happening tomorrow, but the only way to kill a cockroach is to make sure it can’t get back up.

I climb the stairs with my brothers behind me and kick down the door. Grey startles, reaching for the gun on his side table, and Sterling comes up behind me, shotgun pointed at his face.

“I wouldn’t,” he says.

And I grab Grey by the neck and toss him onto the floor.

He winces quickly, gathering himself, backing up towards the fireplace.

Fletcher starts tearing up the house, and Cooper stays on the front steps keeping watch.

“I should have done this a long time ago. But she asked me not to,” I mutter, swinging the bat in my hand and nailing the flat screen. It cracks from the center out, effectively ending his football game.

I stalk toward him, and Grey glances at the bat. I swing it at him, and he flinches. Chuckling, I hit everything sitting on themantle above his head. Glass and wood fall around him, but he doesn’t move a muscle.

“Honestly, I’m surprised you don't have a thing to say to me. I was expecting some catty remarks. But that's okay, you'll do plenty of screaming.”

And I swing, hitting his left kneecap. He howls like a baby, and I don't give him the chance to stop screaming before I hit the next one.