Bloody fingers and all, he pulled out the carton of cigarettes in his back pocket, tucking one behind his ear and one in his mouth. He lit it up and leaned against his bike.

His first ever smoke in three years.

He waited while Logan and Fritz were busy burying the… remainder of what was left of Prez – no, Manny – into the ground. No one had said a word, nor did they flinch when they heard Manny’s screams fouling the air around them. Remy had expected some hesitation – maybe even a tiny bit of abhorrence at him for what he’d done to their former President, but they didn’t look at him that way at all.

In fact, they… they fucking pitied him.

Frank emerged from the forest and walked straight in Remy’s direction. He owed the man gratitude. After all, he’d been the one to call Remy about the video footage. He’d been tired of men pissing on the walls of his store on their drunken strolls home. He figured a good beating was required for their lack of fucking mannerism. Never did he expect to find Manny exchanging money with a killer in the back alley of the bar.

At first doubting the possibility, Remy had demanded to see the footage. But when he saw the same man he’d killed in the bunker… That was evidence enough. He kept a close eye on Manny and was increasingly disturbed by the level of communication he was having with Finley. He knew, without a doubt, Finley had something to do with it. Then Fritz came across the information leaked from the Scorpions about an under the table deal and… well, the rest was fucking history.

Frank stopped beside Remy and stood for several long moments. Each man stared ahead, but not at anything particularly interesting.

“The satisfaction you feel now,” Frank finally spoke sombrely, “it’s going to wash away by morning.”

“How the fuck would you know?” Remy retorted, for he felt like the fucking Pope.

“Because I killed a man as revenge for the woman I loved, too.”

Remy blew out a cloud of smoke and raised his brows. “No shit.”

“He came back to destroy her… or whatever left of her there was. Tortured him for hours. Put a bullet to the back of his head. I felt like I was a god. I thought it would bring me peace because the woman I loved… she didn’t want me the way I wanted her. Yet I wanted to protect her. Joanne never knew I killed Norman.”

Remy stilled and looked at Frank in surprise. Joanne? He loved… loved Joanne? Not fucking possible… Really?

“This was before she met him,” Frank mumbled, ignoring the heat of Remy’s gaze, “We were together for a year. Then she got raped and wanted nothing more to do with me. She changed. Wouldn’t even tell me what was wrong. Then I found out she was pregnant, and I tried to help her, I really did. I told her I’d help her look after the baby. I didn’t care that it wasn’t mine. But… still. She pushed me away. So I put her in the past for as long as I could until she cleaned herself up and he came back.”

Remy didn’t say a word. What the fuck was he meant to even say?

“Don’t hate her,” Frank quietly said. “Sara, I mean. Don’t regret you ever loved her, either. Regret only the time you could have had with her. Time that was wasted on… Jackal shit.” Frank made a distasteful face at the end. “God knows I wasted time on the Jackals myself.” He looked Remy in the eye and added, “I’m glad you didn’t kill him, by the way. You did the right thing.”

Frank patted him once on the back and strode to his car.

“Frank,” Remy called.

Frank stopped and turned to him.

Remy looked at him carefully. He let a moment or two pass before he said, “She has your eyes.”

Frank let out a trembling breath of air. Then he turned and hastily made his way to the car, quicker than before.

Remy watched him disappear down the road, reflecting on his words. Then he reflected on him.

Looking at the blood on Jaxon’s shirt, Remy said, “Looks like you’ve had a shit day.”

Jaxon, standing in the middle of the street a block away from the Jackals’ clubhouse, nodded. “It’s been like that.”

Remy saw the tired look in Jaxon’s eyes. This was the man that had stolen his woman – his happiness. This was he who ripped her from his hands and let her take his heart away with her. He should have felt anger. He should have wanted to put a bullet in the man’s head.

But he didn’t.

Because Remy, too, had reached the end of the line. He’d given it all he had. What he had wasn’t enough, and it never would be. No matter what, she’d always go back to Jaxon. The fucking douche.

Besides, he’d put the guy through hell and back. He really did believe he was behind her disappearance all those years ago. He was responsible for Jaxon’s current disposition… but you’d never fucking hear him admit that.

He wanted to know if she was alright. Logan had asked Jaxon where she was, and Jaxon shook his head in defiance. “She’s been through enough the last twenty four hours. You have no idea what we just walked out of. Finley sent two men.” His words terrified Remy, and he wanted to ask if she was alright. But at the same time, he wanted to keep intact the last shred of pride he had. To show Jaxon his weakness would not only humiliate him, but kill him too.

“What happened exactly?” he asked casually as he scratched his head with the tip of his gun.

Jaxon watched the gun guardedly. “They came to rape and murder her in front of me.”

Remy’s chest constricted. Was she hurt? Had they…? He gulped back the questions and the emotional havoc he was feeling within and continued to stand stoically.

“Anyways, they got what they deserve.” Jaxon’s eyes darkened, looking down at his hands as if they told a story he couldn’t erase.

“How do you know it was Finley that sent them to you?”

“I got it out of one. He’d put a tracker on me a while ago, I guess. Plus the guys said they saw him make a call before he… disappeared.” When Remy didn’t respond, he continued. “Look, Remy, whatever you do, please, leave her out of this. You wanna kill me? Fine. Do it. Don’t touch her, though. She… She didn’t want to hurt you. She’s hurt herself. She loved you. No… she loves you.”

Remy kept up his silence for some time. It felt as though his body had been through the presser. The air around him disappeared and for a few seconds he didn’t know how to breathe. He couldn’t… He wouldn’t feel for her. No, she didn’t deserve his love.