COLE'
Vex Mercer stood like a king in the sugarcane field, flanked by his dogs. Razor smirked beside him, his shoulder still bandaged from Isla’s knife. Moonlight glinted off guns and patches. My own gun felt heavy in my hand, but I kept it trained on the man who had murdered my wife and unborn child.
Raine stepped out from behind me, caught between us like a wire pulled too tight.
“Dad,” she said, voice steady even though I could feel her trembling. “This has gone far enough.”
Vex’s laugh was cold. “You’ve got some nerve, girl. Running with the man who killed his own president. The man whose wife I sent to hell years ago.” His eyes locked on mine. “You think I don’t know, Maddox? You think I forgot how you’ve been sniffing around my blood?”
The sugarcane rustled in the night breez
