Page 58 of Gambler’s Ruin (Calamity City Mafia #3)

THIRTY-THREE

SEVEN

“I’m sorry,” Lori whispers, over and over. She keeps sobbing, making little sounds that will make Abigail angry and have her bring the whip out all over again.

This time, I won’t be able to protect her.

I’m not sure how much time has passed since the whipping. Maybe an hour? Not anywhere near long enough for the wounds to heal, but enough that the pain is a single, massive burning sensation instead of individual sharp cuts of agony.

“You need to stop crying,” I tell Lori again, but my voice is strangely distant.

I don’t feel like I’m floating, not like I do when Caleb whips me.

I feel numb inside, though every time I shift, I feel the blood oozing down my back.

The muscles move, making it impossible to keep soft noises at bay, but I don’t cry.

She hates it when I cry.

“I’m trying,” Lori says, still sobbing. “I’m trying, I swear, but I can’t.”

“You have to,” I say more emphatically, blinking, trying to focus on her. “If she comes back and you’re crying…” It’ll be even worse for both of us.

Hearing Lori cry is bad enough, hard enough, and I don’t think I can handle hearing her scream as one more thing is taken away from her.

I want to protect her, but I can’t. Not like this. I had my chance to fight back, but I hadn’t taken it.

Everyone is going to be so disappointed in me.

Lori sniffs loudly, and after that her sobbing is quieter, contained to small gasps and hiccups.

“We should… We should… your back.” Lori stumbles over whatever she’s trying to say. “You’re bleeding.”

I shake my head. “She’ll bandage it later,” I tell her. We have no supplies. We have no weapons. I can barely move.

The situation has gone from bad to worse, and as the locks click and the door opens, I do my best to brace myself. I don’t think she’ll follow through on her threat to have Lori learn with me, not with me in this condition, but it’s not much of a comfort.

“Don’t cry,” I hiss at her.

“Take the girl,” Abigail says to somebody. “You, grab Rory.”

Abigail is carrying a gun.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen her carrying a gun. The only weapon she ever wielded was the whip.

My throat goes dry.

Whatever’s going on, it has Abigail scared.

A man I don’t recognize comes in, heading straight for us, and from the grim expression on his face, I know something has gone wrong.

Maybe, just maybe, that means something’s about to go right for us.

Maybe it means they’re coming for us.

I can’t hope, though. Not yet, not even as he unchains me and pulls me to my feet. I have to bite back a scream as pain races down my back like a live wire, and I make a strangled sound instead.

I can’t cry, either.

The other one unhooks the chain from the collar around Lori’s throat, grabbing her and yanking her harshly. Lori shrieks and starts kicking. “Let go of me!”

Abigail makes a frustrated sound. “You will shut your trap, girl, or Rory’s punishment will look like a dream vacation when I’m through with you.”

Lori whimpers as Abigail shoves the gun against her side, but she mercifully falls silent.

“We’ll take the basement route to the garage,” the third guard says. “Oliver’s getting the car ready.”

My heart is racing, and the fear and panic threaten to overwhelm me. I can’t let them take us out of here. If they do, Caleb will still be able to track me, but I don’t think I can protect Lori.

If something really is happening — if they really have come to rescue us — Abigail has every reason to hurt Lori and no reason at all to hold back.

The guard at my side tugs at me, and this time, I can’t help but scream as the muscles of my back ripple and move.

It’s been a long time since it hurt this much.

I hate it. I hate that it’s nearly incapacitating, I hate that I didn’t fight sooner when I still had mobility. Now I’m surrounded by three men who outweigh me by at least half, and while I wouldn’t have had a chance before, I could’ve at least tried.

And accomplished what, exactly? my own mind taunts me.

“Then let’s move,” Abigail says. The men drag us out, and we head down a different path than I’d arrived in.

“What’s happening?” I ask Abigail, trying to keep my voice steady.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it, baby,” Abigail answers while she checks her phone.

Those words make me want to cower, to go placid and submit.

But I’m more than that. I’ve been learning, I’ve been becoming something new, something she can’t touch.

Instead, I stumble on purpose, even though it makes everything hurt even more. I have to stall, even a little. I have to give them a chance to find us, or none of this was worth it.

Abigail almost trips into me, and she makes a disgusted sound. “What is wrong with you, Rory? Stop acting out and keep moving.” She looks down at her dress. “If you got blood on me, Rory, you’re going to regret it.”

She’s already going to do worse than this to me. I know that with everything I have. If I could purposely get blood on her, I would, just to make her have to stop and discipline me — because I know that even if things are bad, she won’t be able to keep herself from doing it.

I’m not the only one who acts out. She might be a grown woman, but she still can’t stop herself from lashing out when things don’t go her way.

Abigail steps away from me and taps on her phone. “Finally! Emily, you need to?—”

A masculine voice on the other end interrupts her.

“It’s not too late for you to get out of this alive,” Vortex says. “Leave Seven and Lori, and you won’t end up like the rest of your despicable family.”

The sound of his voice sends a ripple of hope through me. They have to be close.

Abigail ends the call immediately and tosses the phone behind her. “Double time,” she says to the guards. “Rory, stop dragging your feet and move! ”

“I can’t,” I say, and I’m only half-lying. I don’t think I could move any faster even if I wanted to — and I don’t want to. If Vortex is here, if he’s done something to Emily and my father, I need to make sure she can’t get us out of here.

“I don’t want to hear your stupid excuses!” Abigail grabs my hair and pulls my head back harshly. “I am not in the mood for the back talk.”

“Stop! Don’t hurt him!” Lori shouts. “Can’t you see he’s bleeding?”

“She doesn’t care,” I say, gritting my teeth against the pain. “She never has.”

The words hurt to say, but they’re true. I ignore the emotional pain, the physical pain. They don’t matter.

I just have to stall.

“Ma’am, we have to—” the guard holding me says.

“I know!” Abigail walks faster, one guard ahead of her and the other two dragging me and Lori.

I need a new plan. I need to at least give Lori a chance to escape. Maybe when we’re by the car, if I cause enough of a commotion, she can run and find Vortex.

The guard ahead of us opens the door out to the garage.

A loud gunshot rings out, and blood splatters out and hits Abigail. A few drops land on me.

Lori screams, but I look up, and my breath catches in my throat.

Trent and Caleb are standing on the other side. They both have their guns out.

Abigail ducks next to the door before they can shoot again.

“Let them go, Abigail,” Caleb says.

“Give me the girl,” Abigail hisses to the guard. “You can use Rory as a shield.”

The guard holding me pushes me in front of him, arm hooked around my neck. My back burns as it brushes against his rough clothes.

“Dad! Dad, help!” Lori shouts.

I feel something hard against my hip, and it only takes me a second to realize it’s a holstered gun.

My heart hammers in my chest. If I can get it out… I’m not an expert marksman, but at this range, I don’t have to be.

“Just hold on, sweetheart,” Trent says. “Abigail, you’ve got three seconds to let her go.”

“You wouldn’t dare shoot,” Abigail taunts. The guard passes Lori to her, and Lori cries and struggles, but she’s only a twelve-year-old girl. “You wouldn’t want to accidentally shoot your daughter.”

I’m frozen, terrified of seeing Lori’s blood splatter out of her head.

“Let go of me, you decrepit old hag!” Lori shouts, and despite the gun Abigail is holding, Lori bites down hard on Abigail’s arm.

Abigail cries out before she slams the butt of the gun against Lori’s head. “Learn your place, you little monster!”

Lori sobs and shakes her head, but I can see she’s dazed.

“Lori! Lori, just stay still,” Trent orders. “Abigail, if you hurt her?—”

“I’m going to destroy your daughter if you don’t move out of the way right now,” Abigail says. “This is all your fault, Caleb Spade. You could have just given Rory back to me, and your niece would be safe and you wouldn’t have had to deal with any of this.”

“Seven wouldn’t have been safe,” Caleb answers calmly. “And unlike you, I care about him.”

“Stop calling him that! Seven is the stupidest fucking name I’ve ever heard!” Abigail shouts back. She twists her fingers in Lori’s hair, and Lori cries out in pain again.

It’s not stupid.

It’s mine.

I can’t just stand here and let this happen. I can’t.

I have to do something .

I ignore the pain as I twist slightly, grabbing the other gun from my captor’s holster.

Vortex had been clear about several things, but a few come back quickly. Check the safety, don’t aim unless you’re willing to shoot, and don’t let it be taken away from you.

I click off the safety, then put the muzzle of the gun against the guard’s abdomen before he can react and pull the trigger.

The guard shouts and stumbles back. He looks at me wide-eyed. His next gasping breath makes blood bubble out of his mouth and drip down his chin.

I use the training Havoc had given me to trip the guard and send him falling backward.

My back screams with agony, but the adrenaline is enough to make me focus despite the pain.

One more guard, and Abigail.

“Rory! What do you think you’re doing?” Abigail yells. “Put that down before you hurt yourself!”

“Don’t do it, Seven!” Lori cries out. “You have to?—”

There’s another gunshot, and this time, the third guard drops.

Caleb is standing closer. I have never seen his eyes so focused, so dark before.

I have never been so sure someone cares about me, truly cares, in my life.

My hand is shaking, and I’m not willing to put Lori at risk. It’s the only reason I don’t try to shoot Abigail, and she knows it.

Caleb’s eyes meet my gaze. “There’s a thing I always say, Abigail.”

“And what’s that? Life is like roulette? Some other trite gambling cliche?” Abigail has to struggle to keep Lori in her grasp.

“Always negotiate from a position of power,” Caleb answers. “That was your mistake. You thought you could get power by buying it. But Calamity City doesn’t want you here. Taking Lori? That’s not power. That’s cowardice.”

It’s cowardice, because Abigail is a coward.

And she’s so focused on Caleb that she’s not paying attention to me. I edge closer, little by little, biting my bottom lip hard against the need to let out a whimper. If I can get close enough, I can maneuver around Lori.

I can get to her .

“You think this is about power? No. It’s revenge,” Abigail snaps back. “You took my baby. I’m not going to let some backwater, second rate?—”

I ignore her ranting, letting Caleb keep her distracted. When I’m only a foot away, I lunge forward.

Please don’t let me shoot Lori .

I slam into Abigail. Her gun clatters to the floor.

My back explodes with blinding pain, and I cry out.

I can feel the blood trickling down and clinging to my shirt.

Abigail shouts and loosens her hold as she stumbles, and I kick the gun away.

That’s all Lori needs to escape. She runs past Caleb, and I hear her calling out, “Dad!”

“Rory!” Abigail struggles against me. I ignore the pain—and I have years of experience doing that, thanks to Abigail—and wrestle her down to the ground.

Just like Havoc taught me. Use her weight against her, and absolutely do not let the enemy get me into a grapple.

I push my weight down on top of her and drive the gun into the underside of her jaw.

She freezes and looks at me with a dirty sneer. “Baby, you don’t know what you’re doing.”

I know exactly what I’m doing, what I’m thinking.

I want to love her.

I want her to love me .

Even now, I feel like a scared little boy who wants his mother’s approval.

“Why do you hate me so much?” I demand through sobbing breaths. “What did I do that you chose to torture me my entire life?”

“Torture?” Abigail scoffs. “I love you, baby. I taught you how to work. How to make money. How to be good.”

“No!” I shout. “That isn’t love! I kept… I kept pouring all my emotions and effort and life into pleasing you, but I was never going to win because the game was rigged against me and there is no winning card with you! I wasn’t even playing against the house. I was playing against a cheater.”

“Baby, you’re mixing your metaphors. That’s so trite—” She gasps when I press the gun harder against her jaw.

“What’s trite is that I ever thought I could come out on top!” I blink to disperse the tears. “But I’m the house now. It’s your turn to lose.”

I pull the trigger.

Her brain splatters out the back of her skull, right up against the wall. More blood lands on me.

I’ve smelled blood before, but this is different. Stronger, overwhelming. It’s the only thing I can perceive anymore, the red and the copper and how slick my hand feels.

I think she’d have screamed if she’d had a chance.

I wish she had.

I wish she’d suffered, and I don’t know what that says about me.

“Hey, Seven,” a deep voice says. Tan hands cover mine and slowly lower the gun. “Let go of that. Vortex will take care of it.”

Havoc. Havoc and Vortex are here. Havoc puts his hands on my shoulders, and Vortex pries my fingers off the gun.

I try to say something, but there are no words.

Havoc forces me to turn around, to not look at my mother’s bloodied face. Caleb is standing opposite of me.

“Good job, pet,” he says softly. “I’m proud of you.”

The pain has started to rush back in, and I sway on my feet. Havoc is there to steady me, like he always is, and Vortex is on my other side to make sure I don’t stagger too much.

I burst into tears.

It’s not because I’m sad about her death, or that I regret it.

I don’t.

But being surrounded by them — by people who care about me enough to follow me into hell — is enough to undo me.

“It’s okay, beautiful,” Vortex murmurs. “Let it out.”

“You’re so fucking strong,” Havoc adds, kissing the top of my head.

For once, I don’t argue with him.

Caleb leans down to kiss my lips softly. “Let’s go home.”

Home . The word conjures up images of the desert, of a casino, of bright shining lights.

“Please,” I answer, tears streaming down my face.

For the first time ever, the word home doesn’t fill me with dread.

It’s at the Roi de Pique, where reminders of them are everywhere.

It’s even here, where Havoc and Vortex and Caleb are around me.

It’s where I know I’ll always be wanted, and safe, and loved.