Page 16 of Broken
His lips parted in surprise, but he quickly wiped all emotion off his face. “Do you really want to know about my first kill?” He stepped forward so we were only inches apart.
I kept my eyes on his. “Yes.”
“One of the new members of the Rosa Nera changed his mind about joining and decided to betray us. I was tasked with hunting him downand ending him. One of the men who went with me to ensure I didn’t fail was Walter.” He gave me a long look. “I didn’t fail. The kid was begging and crying. He was only sixteen. I pointed my gun at his head and pulled the trigger. The kid’s brother jumped out at us with a gun, but Walter moved so fast and cut his throat before he could fire.”
“Is that supposed to scare me or something?”
Theo simply pulled out one of his guns and placed it on the table next to him. A few seconds later, he drew another one and started raising it toward me. I dived to the side, rolling over, and hopped up to grab the gun he’d left on the table. I pointed it at him, just as he aimed at me.
“See?” I said. “I can do this.” I took a step back.
He lunged toward me so fast that I barely hadenough time to get out of his way. My gun fell to the floor as he caught my arm, shoving me back until I collided with the wall. My breath left me in a whoosh as he pressed his gun against my stomach.
I tipped my head forward, my lips only a breath away from his. But instead of kissing him, I caught his wrist and shoved his hand and the gun aside, then punched him in the stomach, not toohard but enough to hurt. He stumbled back, holding his hand over the place where he’d been shot. I hoped I hadn’t reopened the wound.
“You okay?” I asked as he winced.
He nodded. “It’s nothing.”
“You’re still healing, and you’re not at your best. You need backup.” I picked up the gun I’d dropped and checked if it was actually loaded. To my surprise, it was. “I’m going to keep this,and now you don’t have a choice but to let me come with you.”
“I can always get that gun from you.”
“You can try, but I might end up shooting you. And then you’d have to stay here, and I’d have to go after Walter myself.”
He sighed. “Alright. You can come with me.”
“So where are we going? Where’s Walter hiding? I could call the Cobras for help.”
“Call them only if you wantto get them in trouble with the Spiders.”
I cringed. “With who?”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t hear about the Spiders. They’re a small gang on the outskirts of the city, and Walter seems to have made friends with their boss.” He tucked his gun back into his holster.
“And the Spiders are protecting him? Just like that?” My brow furrowed. “But why? Were they friends with Ingrid too? I mean,with the Rosa Nera?” I’d thought all the gangs who’d allied with the Rosa Nera had been defeated too or driven out of the city, so either no one had known about the Spiders being their ally or they’d decided to help out Walter for some other reason.
“Yes, the Spiders are usually with him, or at least the traffic camera footage shows them together. I don’t know what he’s up to, but it’s possiblethe Spiders see him as the best candidate for the leadership and they believe they’re going to benefit from an alliance. The other possibility is that he’s doing something for them in return for their protection.”
“I wonder what that could be.” It had better not be something that would start another war between gangs because this city so wasn’t ready for more conflicts.
“He could be spyingor helping them to get rid of their enemies. Prisoner interrogation is also one of his specialties.”
“Ah.” I didn’t like the sound of any of that. It would’ve been much easier to catch Walter if he didn’t have friends helping him. “Then the Spiders could be looking for me too. Wait, how does Ingrid’s will work? Can anyone who kills me inherit what was hers or do they have to be a Rosa Neramember too?” If anyone could do it, then I’d never be free, because I was sure there’d always be someone crazy enough to want to take control of the Rosa Nera.
“No, it has to be a member. Otherwise, even one of the Rosa Nera’s enemies could become the leader, and Ingrid would’ve never wanted that to happen.”
“Does it bother you that she didn’t simply leave everything to you? I mean, youwere her second, and she couldn’t have known I’d be the one to...”
“Why would it bother me? Only someone worthy of being a leader should become one.”
“Right. Let’s focus back on Walter. If he has protection, how are we going to find him and get to him? You know what area he’s in and who’s with him, but he won’t stay in one place forever and wait for us.”
“No, he won’t, but we havea starting point where we should search for him, and then we can follow him and wait for our opportunity.”
“Okay. I’ll text Vix and see if the Cobras can provide us with some info. Even if they can’t go into the Spiders’ territory, they might have spies over there.”
“If they did, they would’ve already found him,” Theo said. “And since they didn’t call you, it looks like they’re clueless.”