Page 32 of Vengeance

"No, it isn't."

"You just keep getting shot?" she asked.

He chuckled, then immediately regretted it. "I've made some poor career choices." That earned him the smallest laugh. It lasted barely a second, but still, he'd take it. The sound disappeared as quickly as it came.

"I keep thinking about what Lucius said,” she whispered.

His muscles tensed. "You don't need to worry about him,” he said.

"But I am worried.” She looked straight at him. "He said you're Dante's only son."

"I am,” Vengeance said.

"So—” She hesitated. "Why are you still alive?"

He blinked. "What?"

"If Dante's as evil as everyone says, why didn’t he kill you?” she asked.

He looked toward the stars. "I asked myself that for years, and I finally figured it out."

"You figured what out?” she asked.

"I wasn't really his son." He laughed bitterly. "I was his project." The words hung heavily between them. "He wanted an heir—someone exactly like him." His jaw clenched. "When I was fifteen—” He stopped talking, and he could feel his heart racing because he had never told anyone this—not even Doc or his Prez. Nobody knew. Chloe waited him out, but she didn't push him. She just waited for him to continue.

"When I was fifteen—” His voice came out rough. "Dante took me on my first trafficking run." Chloe went still beside him. "He said it was time for me to learn the family business.

Vengeance closed his eyes. "There was a girl." His hands curled into fists. "She couldn't have been more than sixteen." He could still see the girl’s face and hear her screaming. "I was supposed to load her into the truck." His stomach churned. "But I couldn't."

"What happened?" Chloe asked.

"Dante handed me a gun and told me if I wasn't strong enough to move her—” His voice cracked. "I needed to be strong enough to kill her."

Chloe's hand slowly found his, and he froze. "I refused." Her fingers tightened around his. "He and his men beat me unconscious." She inhaled sharply. "When I woke up, the girl was gone.” His eyes filled despite every effort to stop it from happening. He'd never known her name and never found out what happened to her. He'd searched for years but found nothing.

"That was the day I stopped being his son."

Chloe's thumb gently brushed across his knuckles. "And you started running,” Chloe said.

He nodded. "I stole money from him, burned one of his warehouses, and disappeared for almost ten years."

She was quiet for a long time before she whispered, "You've been fighting him ever since."

"Every chance I get,” he admitted.

She squeezed his hand again. "I'm glad you left,” she said.

He frowned. "Why?"

"Because if you hadn't walked away from him, I would've never met the man lying here." Emotion lodged in his throat. What she had just said to him meant more than she probably realized.

Headlights suddenly flashed through the trees, and Vengeance's body instantly tensed. His hand reached for his pistol and found an empty holster. He suddenly remembered dropping his gun during the firefight.

Chloe looked toward the road. "Is that Doc?" he asked.

"I hope so,” he said. The truck slowed as it approached the bridge. The headlights flashed once and then twice more, followed by three more times, and Vengeance finally relaxed.

"Is that some kind of signal?”