“What did you say?!” He grabs me by a fistful of my hair, but without breaking a sweat, I jab my hand upward and use my elbow to break free of his hold.
“Do not put your hands on me again!” I hiss.
“Look, boys!” Freddy’s eyes are glinting with fury and humiliation. “This little w***e thinks she can tell me what to do. I run this town, you b—”
He bites his tongue at the last word, and a few of the diners snicker at the self-fulfilling prophecy he just became.
“You can run this town all you want,” I say, giving him a disgusted look. “But do it from elsewhere.”
His hand darts out and grabs my throat, slamming me against one of the pillars. “You think you can speak to me that way? You must not know who I am—”
After so many years of fighting, I know how to break an opponent’s hold on me.
