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“No, Papa.” My voice is low, thick with tears. I keep tugging and pulling, but my fingers can’t work magic against the plastic zip ties.
Max has Remy backed against a wall, pounding the shit out of him with his fists, but Remy pushes him off and kicks Max clear across the room where he lands hard against the opposite wall, groaning and clutching his side. Remy grabs his gun off the floor and darts out of the room with Rocco on his heels.
The sirens get closer still, and I struggle to break my father free, sobs wracking my body. Strong hands cover mine and I look up to see Nico’s face. “How the hell—?”
“Yeah, thanks for leaving me out there to rot,” he says, taking the pocket knife from me and going to work on the ties.
“I don’t understand. You weren’t moving. Not breathing. I checked! It’s not possible…”
He smirks at me. “Then consider me your guardian angel. Now get the fuck out there and stop that asshole who shot me from getting away.” He nods over at Max. “Pull yourself together and get that shithead off the floor. We’re gonna see how he likes being zip tied to a chair and then explaining to the cops why he’s sitting here with mountains of heroin around him.” Nico winks at Alexi who is groaning on the floor. “Looks like intent to sell in my opinion.”
“Fuck you,” Alexi grunts.
Nico presses a gun into my hand, and I run past Alexi, giving him a swift kick in the head for good measure. “I’d say I hope you get ass-rammed so hard in prison that you have dicks coming out of your mouth on the daily, but there’s something else I’d rather say first.” I lean in close. “Fuck you, asshole.” I point the gun and fire at his balls. Once, twice, three times. The screams reverberate between the walls, and I smile. “That felt good. But this is gonna feel even better. For me.” I fire off two more shots to the head…the one sitting on his shoulders.
Well, at least it used to sit there. Now it’s kind of all over the place.
“Get my father out of here,” I bark at Nico and Max. “I’m going for Remy.”
I race around a corner, looking left and right. I see nothing. Hear nothing.
I edge around a wall, my arm pointed straight out in front of me. Time is short, and I need to find Rocco and bust the hell out of here before the cops show up. There is a shit ton of heroin here, and if we stay, we’re screwed.
I kick open a door and swallow a gasp.
The dim light in the dingy room casts a shadow over Remy’s face, making him look even more menacing, if that’s possible. His lips curl into a sadistic smirk. “Tell me, Princess. Does he fuck you as good as I used to? Are you gonna be sad when I put a bullet in his brain? Because when he fucked with Cinque, he fucked with me, and that means he’s a dead man.” He cocks the gun in his hand, the one pressed against Rocco’s head.
Rocco’s breathing is labored because Remy’s other hand is tight around his neck. His fingers flex at his sides., his eyes wild, darting left and right. “Kat, get out of here,” he rasps. “Get the guys and your dad out of here. It’s okay.”
My pulse throbs against my neck, fingertips numb and cold as they grip the gun tight. “This ends now, Remy.”
“You’re right about that, Princess. And let me tell you how it’s gonna happen. I’m gonna shoot your boyfriend here in the head while you watch. And then when you fall apart, just like you did the first time, I’m gonna do what I should have done eight years ago and finish the job!”
He yanks Rocco’s head to the side, and I meet his gaze. “Go,” he mouths. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I whisper. “And I’m sorry. So, so sorry!”
Bang! Pop! Crack!
Remy flies backward, firing shots into the air as he crashes against the concrete. His head slams against the wall, blood oozing from the corners of his mouth as I pump bullets into his worthless, soulless body. Rocco crumbles to the floor next to him in a heap, a large, dark red stain seeping into the fabric of his shirt.
I pull the trigger over and over, emptying the clip into Remy, my first love and my worst nightmare. Every bullet that tears through his flesh erases more and more of the pain that I’ve carried around for all of these years until I’m finally empty.
Hollow.
Numb.
Blissfully so.
I’ve waited a long time to feel this way.
Revenge.
So bittersweet.
I thought it would heal me. I believed that it would fix what had long since been broken.
It didn’t.