Beneath the Stars (Falling Stars 4)

Murderous rage.

Or maybe I was just sensin’ my own.

Way my blood curdled in contempt. Way my finger fluttered on the trigger, wondering if I could get to him faster than he could get to me.

“Told you to let them go.” The words scraped the dense, heated air. “Not sure what you think you’re doin’, but this isn’t gonna end pretty.”

He cracked a grin. “Now that you are right about, Rhys Manning. See, you should have thought twice all those years ago before you went and played the cowboy. Jumping into business where you didn’t belong. Playing a hero.”

Agitation spun, and my world was gettin’ rocked by the rustling that came from behind him as a figure stumbled out from the shadows.

Genny.

The air punched from my lungs.

Genny.

Genny who was holding a gun in her hand that trembled almost as ferociously as her chin, appearin’ disoriented, lost, and absolutely traumatized.

What the fuck?

My mind was blown to nasty smithereens. Was that what this was? Some kinda ambush? Had I been playin’ the fool all along?

“What are you doin’, Genny?” It was a plea. Disbelief.

My attention darted to Maggie. To my mama. Wanting to run for them. Throw myself on top of them.

“Genny.” I said it again, like the sound of it might talk some sense into whatever insanity this was.

“Rhys, I’m so sorry. I never wanted this to happen.”

Was she serious?

Blinking like crazy, I swung my attention to Noah. “What the hell is goin’ on? This is bullshit. Just…let them go, and I’ll give you whatever you want.”

Maggie whimpered in protest. Her arms bound and her mouth gagged and her body bleeding. Her heels dug into the dirt, girl writhing in agony.

Fuck. I was gonna come out of my skin.

Noah laughed. Hard and malicious. “You still don’t get it, do you?”

He cocked his head.

It was a taunt.

Asshole baitin’ me.

Drawing me a step closer.

“This is between you and me,” I rushed. “Isn’t it me who stole your girl? Took what you thought belonged to you and you couldn’t handle it?”

Noah laughed a mocking sound. “You have no clue what you stole.”

Genny flinched at his side.

He took a step forward, and I had to internally scream at myself to keep my cool. To hold my ground.

This fucker had been driving me to breakin’ for years. Luring me into his depravity. Driving me to snap.

This time I was sure it was the other way around.

“You had no clue what you did. What you stepped in on. Did you know we were married, Rhys, Genny and I? Did you know all those months, you were fucking my wife?”

I rocked back. Stunned by the blow. My breaths gone. Dizziness had me swaying to the left, and Genny whimpered, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

What the fuck?

She was married?

Bile sloshed from my stomach and rose in my throat. I’d trusted her. Wanted to give her somethin’ better.

“I warned you, Rhys,” she started to stammer. “I warned you that night when you asked me to leave with you that Noah would want to kill you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I loved you. I did.”

“Shut up, Genny,” Noah hissed.

“Please, Noah,” she begged, that gun still quivering at her side.

My brow twisted and my guts knotted.

A sense coming on that I didn’t want to surrender to.

So dark. So vile. So disgustin’.

“Took me a few months to track her down, to figure out who she’d run off with. Wasn’t about to let her get away with it. Stealing what was rightfully mine. My place in her family.”

“She never loved you.” Why I thought it prudent to drive that blade deeper, I didn’t know. Probably because my mind was spinnin’ so fast I was trying to play catch up, too. Tossin’ out the facts that left my tongue like bitter barbs.

Hatred and rage twisted his mouth into a sneer. “You think this was about love? This was about my position. What you stole from me.”

Confusion rocked me to the core.

“So, that’s what all this is about?” I gestured at my mom and Maggie. “You want to pay me back for sleepin’ with your wife when I didn’t know she was married? All because you want to take over a fuckin’ produce company?”

It left me like a question, and the second it was out, it crystalized. Think a part of me had always known it. Somethin’ deep inside had warned Genny hadn’t been straight. That things had gone way seedier than she’d ever admitted.

Noah scoffed a laugh. “Are you that stupid, Rhys?”

Was feeling it right about then.

He sneered. “All these years and you still don’t know. Her father owned all of Tennessee. The underground parts.” He angled forward, the man a squall of disjointed fury. “And you should have stayed out of it. Only meant to take back what was mine the night I went to your parents’ place.”