His to Win (Carmel Springs Book 5)

Prologue

Supposedly, violence was never the answer, but was that really true? I mean, violence was useful when used for good, right? War was a perfect example of that. If you asked me, acting violently when defending what was yours or protecting those that couldn't protect themselves wasn't a bad thing. When talking didn't work, when mediation didn't work, when the legal system didn't work...well, then...yeah, some people did deserve a good old fashion ass kicking.

Like now, for instance.

I glanced around the office that I had called home for three years, and no matter how sentimental it all felt, I still wanted to take a match and burn the entire building down. Hopefully, with Calvin Wesley inside it.

Strapped to a chair.

Duct tape over his mouth.

Bleeding from the bitch slaps.

Letting out a deep sigh, I shook my head, ridding it of the premeditated murder by arson images. While I had nothing against a little hand-to-hand combat, I wasn't a killer. I didn't wish evil on people, nor did I think that I could ever really kill someone. Sure, if it were some sort of my-life-or-your-life situation, then, yeah, I could see myself killing someone. However, self-defense was way different than kidnapping someone to set them on fire.

Still, even though I didn't really want to see Calvin dead, all this anger that I was feeling needed to go somewhere before it destroyed me. It wasn't right when the wicked won, and Calvin Wesley was as wicked as they came. A thief in every sense of the word, he deserved to be punished for what he'd done to me and my dreams. He deserved to pay for damaging my ability to trust people, and if the sonofabitch deserved an ass kicking, it'd definitely be for that.

Looking around one last time, it felt like the bare walls were mocking me for my stupidity. While I knew in my heart that I'd done nothing wrong, I still felt stupid. I felt like my picture should be next to the word naïve in the dictionary. A part of me even felt like I deserved this for being such a goddamn idiot.

For three years, Adaptations had been my life. I had dedicated every free moment of my time to getting the place up and running, making it a place where nothing mattered but a healthier body. With no college degree, but a ton of business experience under my belt, a bank had taken a chance on me, and Adaptations had been given life. Even though I knew that the loan had been secured because of Calvin's connections, I still hadn't let that stop me from sacrificing everything that I'd had for the place.

Now, three years later, it all belonged to Calvin because I'd been too idealistic to ever believe that Calvin would stab me in the back. I had trusted him as both my friend and business partner, and all this time, he'd been neither. He had put his greed above any kind of human decency, and when his deceit had shown itself, I'd had no legal recourse to stop him from taking everything that I had built.

I shook my head, still...stunned by how trusting I had been. I had signed every scrap of paper that had required my signature, not once reading it thoroughly to see exactly what I'd been putting my signature to. I had skimmed the pages, satisfied and confident that Calvin had known what he was doing, and he really had been. He'd known enough to take complete control of Adaptations, leaving me with nothing.

After the fourth lawyer had told me the same thing that the other three before him had told me, there'd been nothing left to do but bow out gracefully.

However, that's not what I'd done.

I had immediately gotten on all our social media accounts and had told all the business. Now, while that wasn't anything that I'd normally do, all I could think about were the innocent people that might cross Calvin's path in the future, and I'd felt the need to warn them. So, I'd gone onto the internet and had said my goodbyes to all my clients, telling them exactly why I no longer worked at Adaptations. Of course, Calvin had immediately blocked my access to the site afterwards, but the damage had already been done, and I could only hope that karma came back around for Calvin painfully.

So, with the last of my things packed, there was only one thing left to do, and that was to start my new life in Carmel Springs. An old friend had followed the love of his life there, and he swore that the town was exactly what I needed to start fresh and get rid of all those murderous impulses, and I could only hope that he was right.

If not, I was coming back for Calvin Wesley, the goddamn prick.