Chapter 81: Her ass looks perfect

"But none of those deaths were my fault."

My eyes sweep across the crowd.

"I didn’t order them, I didn’t pull the triggers, I didn’t choose your enemies. I didn’t choose the family I was born into."

I place a hand against my chest.

"I am a victim in this too."

My voice catches for the briefest second but I steady it.

"I lost my father."

The courtyard is silent.

"I lost people too."

I look at them.

"So you have no right to take your anger out on me."

For the first time since I came into this house, I feel every pair of eyes on me without feeling like I need to shrink beneath them.

I straighten my shoulders.

"Yesterday, one of your men decided that my existence gave him the right to hurt me."

I look at Sebastian.

"He decided that because he hated my family, he could punish me for crimes I did not commit."

Sebastian spits onto the ground.

"You fucking deserved it!. You don’t deserve to be parading as the Dons wife. Not after everything."

Lysander’s expression darkens.

I raise my hand slightly.

"No."

I look directly at Sebastian.

"This is exactly the problem."

I take another step toward him.

"You don’t get to decide what I deserve."

Sebastian’s jaw tightens.

"I am going to make an example out of him."

I turn back toward the crowd.

"Not because I’m proud of what I’m about to do."

That’s not entirely true.

"But because I need every person standing here to understand something."

I pause.

"If you try to harm me in any way during my stay here, this is what will happen."

A murmur moves through the crowd.

I let it.

I want every man here to hear me.

"I am not to be trifled with."

My gaze moves to Lysander.

He’s watching me, his expression is unreadable.

But the gun is still in his hand.

I walk toward him, stop in front of him and hold out my hand.

He looks at it then at me.

His fingers tighten around the weapon before he places it in my palm.

The weight settles into my hand.

The murmuring immediately stops when I turn back toward Sebastian.

He is on his knees now.

His breathing is heavy. His eyes widen when he realizes what I’m holding.

"Nerissa..."

"That is Mrs. Sanchez for you Sebastian."

I walk toward him. He tries to scramble backward but one of the men steps forward and stops him.

I stop several feet away.

My heart is pounding so hard I can hear it.

For a brief moment, I think about the hands around my throat, the narrow hallway, the feeling of being lifted from the ground and the realization that nobody was coming.

That I had to save myself.

My grip tightens around the gun.

Sebastian looks at me. There is no apology in his face, no regret just hatred.

Last time I was a helpless little girl. Now anymore, I refuse to be in that situation again. Now I’m a grown ass woman and I will not have a man take from me again. Never again.

When I raise the gun. The courtyard holds its breath as one single shot tears through the silence and Sebastian’s body drops.

For several seconds, I simply stand there.

The gun is still in my hand and smoke curls faintly from the barrel.

My ears ring.

I look at Sebastian’s body.

He isn’t moving, the man who tried to hurt me yesterday will never touch me again.

I slowly lower the gun, then I turn toward the men.

Every single one of them is staring at me.

Some look shocked, some look disturbed others look impressed.

But none of them look at me the way they did before.

I take one slow breath.

"This is what happens when you try to mess with me."

Lysander’s POV.

I try very hard to hide the boner I am now spotting.

It isn’t easy.

I’ve always had a thing for strong women. Women who can stare danger in the face and refuse to fold.

But Nerissa?

She’s something else entirely.

I watch my wife standing there with my gun in her hand, surrounded by my men, as if she didn’t just put a bullet through a man’s head.

My body chooses that exact moment to become inconvenient.

I shift my weight slightly, trying to adjust myself without drawing attention to the fact that I’m as hard as a rock.

Of all the moments.

There is a dead body lying a few feet away.

Blood is already pooling around his head, dark against the ground.

My men are watching me and somehow my attention is still fixed on my wife.

Apparently, my body has absolutely no respect for timing.

Nerissa turns toward me, she walks over and holds out the gun.

I take it from her.

Our fingers brush and our eyes meet.

There is no fear in hers, no regret. Just that stubborn confidence I’ve come to recognize.

She turns away and my eyes follow her, snagging on her ass. It looks great in the dress she’s wearing today.

I shouldn’t, I know I shouldn’t. ℯ

But I watch her walk away, my gaze lingering on the way her ass moves with each step.

I force myself to look away only when she is far enough that I can’t see her anymore.

I clear my throat.

Focus.

I turn toward my men to find every single one of them is watching me.

Good.

I step forward.

"Sebastian had the guts to try to rape my own wife."

My voice hardens.

"That is unacceptable."

I look from one man to another.

"I don’t care what blood feud exists between our families. I don’t care who you’ve lost. You don’t put your hands on my wife."

My gaze sweeps across the crowd.

"She is under my protection."

I pause.

"And anyone who forgets that will answer to me."

I glance at the body on the ground.

Sebastian made his choice, now everyone knows the consequences.

"I hope the rest of you learn from this."

My eyes settle on my underboss. He immediately straightens.

"Yes, Don?"

"Have them clean this shit up."

He nods.

"Consider it done."