CHAPTER 221: SEND HIM TO HIS PARTNER

The man’s body jerked, then slumped forward, lifeless. Ivy’s scream died somewhere in her throat.

Ivy instantly went numb—not because she believed the man didn’t deserve it. She knew what he had done, what he had been part of. But the sight of Winn—her Winn—executing someone in cold blood... that turned her world inside out.

He just shot a man.

A living, breathing, unarmed, defenseless man.

And he didn’t even blink.

Winn handed the gun back to Luca with an eerie coldness. "Send him to his partner. I need him afraid and to know he is next."

Luca chuckled—low, impressed. "I didn’t think you had it in you, Mr Kane."

Winn simply turned and walked back toward Ivy.

She was still frozen where she stood, her hands trembling, eyes wide and glassy.

"Come on," Winn said softly. "I’ll drive you home."

She didn’t say a word.

She moved like a robot, one step after another, her limbs mechanical, her mind somewhere else entirely. She barely felt the touch of Winn’s hand guiding her through the hallway. The underground lights blurred. The smell of blood clung to her. Her ears rang as if she were underwater.

When they reached the garage, Winn stopped and turned her to face him.

He cupped her cheeks gently, his thumbs brushing her cold skin. Ivy stared at him blankly, unable to process the duality standing in front of her—the man who kissed her breathless hours ago and the man who executed someone minutes ago.

Winn’s eyes searched hers, frustration and hurt flickering behind the steel. "What did you think I was going to do to the people who hurt you, Ivy?"

He wasn’t asking because he needed an answer.

He was asking because he didn’t understand why she didn’t understand.

Because to him, this had never been a question.

Not since the day he found out what had been done to her.

"Did you really think," he whispered, "that I was ever going to let them walk away?"

Ivy had no words. None. Her mind replayed the gunshot over and over. She couldn’t look at Winn. Couldn’t look at anything without seeing blood.

Winn didn’t seem to care that she couldn’t speak. Fury still pulsed through him.

"I don’t care who it is," he said quietly. "It doesn’t matter who it is. I don’t give a shit who is involved. I’m going to kill them. All of them. And this is just the beginning."

"You can hate me," Winn continued, as if her silence were a blade cutting into him. "But maybe your nightmares will ease up."

He opened her door, and helped her into the car with careful hands.

Winn drove her home.

By the time they reached Everest Estate, it was almost noon.

Sundays in the Everest household were practically sacred. Family day. Big breakfasts, loud conversations,

Winn walked beside her to the door. She still stared ahead blankly. She could still smell the blood. She could still see the spatter, the shock freezing on the man’s face before he crumpled. She could still feel Winn’s rage vibrating through the room even now.

"Ivy..." Winn called softly when she reached the front steps.

She didn’t turn.

She didn’t dare.

If she looked at him, she would fall apart.

She had locked him out.

Completely.

She opened the front door and stepped through.

Evans was holding a mug of tea. Irene was sprawled on the couch with Theresa on her lap. Sam was in his armchair.

All of them saw it at the same time.

They saw the shell of Ivy.

The absence in her eyes.

The way she didn’t even realize her hands were shaking.

Evans put his mug down. Irene stood instantly, her face shifting from laughter to panic. Sam straightened, alert, old eyes sharp.

"Baby?" Sam was the first to speak. He’d seen Ivy break before but he had never seen this. This hollowed-out, soulless stare.

"Ivy?" Evans’ voice was gentle.

Ivy lifted her gaze to him slowly, as if surfacing from underwater.

"He found one of the men that attacked me."

Evans froze, shock sliding over his features first... followed by impressed disbelief. "Winn did?"

"He shot him," Ivy said. "He shot him, Evans. There was blood everywhere! How could he do such a thing?" Her hands flew to her face as another wave of tremors racked through her.

Evans’ entire expression shifted. Shock. Rage. "That damned son of a bitch!!!"

He didn’t even put on his shoes. He lunged toward the door instantly, every step pounding.

"Evans!" Irene yelled after her husband, nearly stumbling as she sprang from the couch. "Damnit!" She put Theresa down—who promptly wailed—and Irene sprinted after him.

He spotted Winn just as he was reaching his car.

"In front of her?!" Evans roared.

Winn turned, shoulders squared. He knew this was coming. He braced himself, feet planted firmly on the driveway tiles. "In front of her, you cock-sucking asshole!!!" Evans was already closing the distance.

Winn barely had time to inhale before Evans’ fist connected with his jaw—hard. The crack echoed sharply across the estate courtyard. Winn’s head snapped to the side with the impact. A string of blood trickled from his mouth as he readjusted, hand touching his lip with a grimace.

He didn’t swing back.

He didn’t even lift a hand in defense.

He took it—because in his mind, he deserved it.

"I gave her a choice," Winn said, spitting blood onto the driveway, crimson staining the perfect grey brick. "She chose to stay."

"Do you think? Do you reason at all? Did you even think there could be another way to handle this?"

Evans’ chest heaved as he spoke, face flushed.

Winn didn’t back down. His eyes—stormy, bloodshot narrowed. The vein in his temple twitched. "There was only going to be one way! One fucking way! Damn the consequences! I don’t care!" he snarled, stepping so close their noses almost brushed. "I will root out every single person who hurt her. And the man who touched her, I will cut off his dick and feed it to him. That... is the only way this is going to end."