Paxton's Promise (Gloves Off #3)(56)

“What are you doing?” I spat, tears blurring my vision. “I have to watch him get up. He needs to get up.” Fighting against my restraints, my skin burned with my struggles and I didn’t care. I had to get out of there.

Red jumped to his feet and grabbed the tape, ripping off a piece and slapping it over my mouth. “You just don’t know when to shut up, do you? Now f*cking be quiet. Someone’s here.” Quietly, he crept out of the room and disappeared.

Please tell me it’s Mason. I tried to stay quiet so I could listen, but nothing could prepare me for what I heard next. The gunshot was so loud my ears rang, followed by the loud thud of a body hitting the floor.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I shivered and broke into tears. A warm hand gently pulled the tape away from my mouth and tried to sooth me in a hushed voice. “Gabby, it’s over. I’m getting you out of here.”

The voice sounded so familiar and I thought I would never hear it again. Opening my eyes, I gasped as my savior’s face came into view. “Oh my God . . . you’re alive?”





I WAS HURTING and I was in pain, but I wasn’t going to let anyone take me down. As I was lying on the mat waiting for the right time to strike, the sound of shouting and gunfire filled the underground dungeon.

Mason had finally come.

Scar opened the gate and shouted for his fighters to get out, but before they could escape, I jumped to my feet and tackled one of them to the ground. Scar glared at me with a murderous gleam and all I could do was smile when he turned around and landed face first into Camden’s fist.

Ripping the chain from the fighter’s hand, I wrapped it around his neck and pulled. He choked and gurgled, but I didn’t care. I kept pulling. The room swarmed with officers and even Mason came into view and rushed over to Camden who grappled with Scar.

Bending over, I hissed in the fighter’s ear and tightened the chain. “I would give anything to hear your bones crack right now, to watch your life slip away in a matter of seconds. You don’t deserve any mercy.”

“Paxton, let him go,” Mason called. Out of the corner of my eye, he slowly walked up the steps and into the cage with his arms spread out wide. My hands shook with the need to pull tighter, but thinking about Gabriella made me release him.

“You got lucky, shithead.” Roughly, I let him go and got to my feet, kicking him in the face when I passed. Now he was out cold.

Rushing out, I found Scar on the ground with Camden holding his arms behind his back. “You’re going to pay for this Striker. I don’t like traitors,” Scar warned.

Camden pulled Scar to his feet and roughly pushed him toward one of the officers. “You can pay me back all you want. I don’t have anything to lose.”

Once he was taken away, Mason holstered his gun and looked down at his watch. “Some people got away, but there’s nothing we can do about that now. All we really need is this f*cker,” he said, glaring at Scar, “and Rage. But we have to go. Gabriella is in a house down the street and I just got word she’s not alone anymore. My guys are surrounding the house.”

I was already heading for the exit. “Then let’s get the f*ck out of here.” I was covered in blood and my body ached, but nothing was going to stop me from killing that motherf*cker if he’d so much as laid a finger on her.





CLIFF WAS ALIVE. But now I needed to make sure Paxton was okay. “Cliff, I need you to open the laptop,” I demanded. “I have to make sure Paxton’s okay.”

Looking at the computer, he sighed and opened it. When the live feed came to life, there was a body in the ring and I gasped. It was all blurry and I couldn’t tell who it was. “Please tell me that doesn’t look like Paxton,” I pleaded. The guy had tattoos on his arms, but they didn’t exactly look like Paxton’s. Or did they? I couldn’t rub my eyes to clear the tears away.

Cliff narrowed his gaze and focused on the screen. “I’m sorry, Gabby, but it doesn’t look good.” As soon as he said it, he shut the lid and I sobbed. How could it be possible? There was no way Mason would let that happen. I needed a better look. Putting his arms around my shoulders, Cliff held me tight. “Shh . . . stop crying. We need to get away from here. If Scar finds us, we’re both dead. We have to leave town.”

I was in a daze, no longer here or there. If Scar wanted to find me, I wasn’t going down without a fight. I refused to believe Paxton was gone. As soon as Cliff undid my hands, I rubbed my eyes. “I’m not going anywhere. Turn the video back on. I need to see if that was really Paxton.”

Cliff shook his head and his gaze hardened. “You’re coming with me, Gabby, end of story. And Paxton’s dead. It’s time to move on.”

The way he looked and sounded, chilled me to the bone. It was cold, angry. I’d never seen him like that before. My instincts went on hyper alert, in fact they were screaming. Danger was nearby. “I thought you were dead,” I whispered. “Where have you been?”

“Here,” he answered. “Scar kept me here and made me fight for him. It was either that or die. I chose to live.”

“Did you kill Red?” I asked.

“Red?”

“Malice. I never knew his name, so I called him Red.”

Cliff cleared his throat and averted his gaze. His fingers lightly grazed my calves before slipping the knife against the tie, cutting it off. “I didn’t know what else to do, Gabby. He left his gun on the counter, so I picked it up and shot him.” His knuckles were torn open and raw, and it made me wonder . . .