Possession by Jennifer Lyon Page A

down a mug and shoved it beneath the coffee machine. He functioned normally, but inside he could barely breathe as his guts twisted and writhed with black fury and helpless rage at the disease killing Drake. It was easier to focus on what he could do—kill the bastard who’d raped and murdered Sara. “The plan is set. Lee Foster will be one of the amateurs chosen for the Caged Thunder Pros vs. Amateurs Event.”
    Drake shook his head. “It’s not going to work.”
    “The hell it won’t.” Sloane had left nothing to chance. Including his rear naked chokehold that he’d use to kill Foster. He trained with a man renowned to be the best in a specific version of that chokehold three or four times a year in Brazil. He made sure he had business there as well to cover his tracks. “Foster is going to pay for what he did to Sara.”
    Drake’s eyes shadowed. “It won’t change anything but you. You’ll still carry the memory of finding her, still feel like you failed her, only then you’ll know you’re a murderer too. And that changes a man.”
    Sloane tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling. “I’m not you.”
    “No. You’re better than me.”
    Sloane dropped his chin. Surprise jerked him straight. “What the hell are you talking about?” Drake had begun Fighters to Mentors and ultimately had saved dozens of kids no one gave two shits about.
    Drake’s thin shoulders sagged. “You stopped. I didn’t. That day when you caught Foster running out of the house and started on him, you stopped.”
    Sloane couldn’t get his head around this. “You pulled me off him.” If Sara hadn’t invited Drake to have cake with them as a surprise for Sloane, nothing would have prevented him from killing Foster. A flash of pain branded his chest at the memory of Sara doing that for him, even though he’d have scoffed and acted like it was stupid.
    Drake leaned his arms on the counter. “Evie begged me to stop. I can still hear her screams. But after what her father had done to her…” Drake cut his eyes away, looking into his past. “He broke her hand and I lost it. Didn’t care that she was screaming. She never forgave me.” Regret dragged at the dry, loose skin of the older man’s face.
    Sloane rubbed at the spot where his nose had been broken a couple times. “You don’t regret it for the man you killed, but for his daughter.”
    “I took away her father. Yeah, he was a brutal asshole when he drank, but he was still Evie’s father. I lost the woman I loved that day.” Drake turned back to him. “Just like you’ll lose Kat if you do this.”
    That slammed him like a roundhouse kick to the chest. Kat had had enough violence. Just the thought of watching his old fights upset her. His baker girl had a soft heart. Not only that, she touched him where no other woman had. The way she’d come to him, wearing only his shirt, and coaxed him into talking about Sara.
    Jesus. How did a man resist a woman who saw him the way Kat did? He fisted his hands in an involuntary gesture—an instinct to hold on to Kat. Would this thing between the two of them burn out? How many times had his mother sworn she’d found true love with her latest Prince Fucking Charming—so sure she would even toss her own kids aside for it—only to have the whole relationship crash and burn in weeks or months?
    He had a few weeks left until the fight. Which gave him time to find a way to…what? Hide it from her?
    Don’t lie to me. Just don’t lie. I can deal with this as long as you tell me the truth.
    Kat’s words echoed in his head.
    Sara’s murder haunted him.
    Sloane shook it off. There was only one choice. He’d spent years planning, and now the plan was in motion. There was no going back.
    Foster had to die.

 

     
    Chapter Nine
     
    Wednesday afternoon Kat wiped sweat from her face and chest, then chugged the rest of her water bottle. Catching her breath, she couldn’t find the energy to grumble that Sherry Moreno didn’t