Page 47 of Kael

I stepped around her and crouched in front of Brook for a second, then looked back up at Bria. “She doesn’t get to walk away clean—not after what she helped him do. You take this from her the same way they took from you. Put the power back where it belongs—in your hands.”

Bria’s eyes were wide and glossy, torn between horror and something else. Something that looked a lot like want. Need. She understood this would fix something inside her. I’d seen the vengefulness in her gaze whenever she talked about them.

“I don’t… I don’t know how to be that person,” she whispered.

I rose and cupped her face, forcing her to look at me instead of the chair. “You already are. You’ve just been tooscared to use it. I’m not encouraging you to become a serial killer, or even to be like me. I’m giving you a chance to right your wrongs.”

I watched her eyes as they volleyed between me and Brook while silence stretched between us. “Remember how you felt when they bullied you at the mall?”

She nodded.

“Remember how they ridiculed you?”

She nodded again after a few long seconds.

Finally, Bria’s voice came out small. “And if I do this… what happens after?”

My thumb brushed her cheek. “Then you walk out of here different. Stronger. And you never have to wonder again who owns your life.”

I waited, watching the war play out across her face.

“Tell me what you want, Bria.”

She swallowed hard, her eyes flicking back to Brook, then to me. “I want it back,” she whispered. “All of it.”

I walked to the table against the wall and picked up the baseball bat. Solid ash. Heavy. I pressed it into her hands, stepping behind her so my chest molded to her back. My arms came around her, guiding her grip.

“Like this,” I whispered against her ear, adjusting her stance. “Shoulders relaxed, but locked. Swing from your hips. Put everything you’ve been carrying into it. Don’t hold back.”

Bria’s breathing was shallow. Her fingers flexed on the taped grip. Brook started mumbling through the gag, her eyes wide.

Bria didn’t wait for more.

The first swing cracked against Brook's ribs. The sound was wet and ugly. Brook grunted, doubling over as much as the ties allowed. Bria hit her again. Harder. Each swing grew surer,meaner. I stayed behind her the whole time, hands on her waist, feeling every twist of her body, every exhale.

“You helped him beat me,” Bria said between swings, her voice shaking but clear. “You held me down while Darius punched me until I couldn’t see straight. You laughed when he kicked me in the stomach. You told him I could take more. You watched me bleed and you did nothing.”

Crack.

“You helped him keep me high so I wouldn’t leave. You made sure the needle was ready every time I tried to get clean.”

Crack.

“You told him I was just a hole to fuck and forget. You stood there while he—”

Her voice broke, but she kept swinging. Brook’s head lolled, blood dripping from her mouth. When she finally went still, I nodded to my men in the shadows. They dragged her body out, leaving a long, wet trail across the concrete.

The warehouse fell quiet again.

Bria stood there, chest heaving, bat still gripped tight, blood on her hands and splattered across her shirt. She looked feral. Beautiful. Mine.

I walked toward her slowly, eyes locked on the wild look in her face. My dick was hard as fuck against my zipper—had been since the first swing.

“Look at you,” I said, my voice low and rough. I took the bat from her shaking hands and tossed it aside. “Standing there covered in her blood like it belongs on you. Do you have any idea what that does to me?”

I stepped in close, gripping her jaw, forcing her to meet my eyes.

“Watching you take that power back… watching you stop being the girl they broke and become something that couldbreak them instead—fuck, Bria. I’ve never been this hard in my life.”