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CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Mya

“He’s going to kill you,” I spat out as Nico pushed me into the house.

“Don’t touch her again,” Dario growled.

Where was Joseph? I hoped he was okay. How had Nico found us? I stared at him.

He was the reason I was in this situation. He’d started the chain of events that led to all of this. Why? What kind of monster was he?

The worst kind. The kind who took no accountability for their actions.

I stared at him, looking at his greasy, messy brown hair. As usual, he looked nervous, his brown eyes darting from me to Dario.

He pointed the gun at Dario, placing his weight on one foot and then the other, as if trying to decide whether to move.

He was wearing dark pants and a football jersey from a local college that looked like it hadn’t been washed in a few days.

I didn’t know what to say or do about what was happening in front of me. I was scared shitless because I knew how easily Nico could kill.

He took Jason’s life. Would he now take my own?

“Put down the gun.”

“Nope. Not until we brainstorm a way to get everything off that flash drive that you just tossed into the river.”

“It’s all gone, Nico. I don’t have a backup.”

“That’s bullshit. Everything backs up to the cloud or whatever the fuck they call it.” He suddenly looked confident saying, “I know…hand me your phone. I bet it’s all there, isn’t it?”

“There’s nothing on my phone. I deleted everything. Contacts. Numbers. All of it.”

He aimed a gun at Dario’s head and I sucked in a breath. “No.”

“Shut up,” he said to me, and then something about me caught his attention.

He then gave a weird little chuckle and said, “So you’re Jason’s little widow, huh? Thought you’d be hotter.”

I wanted to punch him in his throat and push him into the river. Now I regretted not killing him when I had the chance.

“Maybe when I take care of my brother, we can get to know each other better,” he said taunting Dario.

He sent a lascivious look toward me, and I couldn’t help myself. I punched him in the face.

For a moment, he was stunned, and that was the only moment Dario needed. He lunged for Nico, but Nico had youth on his side. He shot Dario in the same shoulder that the fence wire had pierced, and Dario stumbled back, sliding down the wood-paneled walls.

“No, no, no, no,” I said, throwing myself onto the floor next to Dario. I felt sick as I placed my hand over the wound. “It’s okay, you’re going to be okay, Dario.”

“Damn, bro. You don’t look too good. Come on Mya, it’s time to go.”

He attempted to pull me up, but I couldn’t leave Dario like this, bleeding to death on the floor.

But Nico was too strong. I fought him as best I could. I didn’t know what else to do.

Where was Joseph?

I screamed, hitting Nico, trying my best to escape, but he grabbed me forcefully by the hair and struck me in the face with the gun.

I felt my mouth fill with blood.

“I should have killed you when I had the chance,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Yeah, you should have.”

He wrenched me forward and dragged me through the woods. I hadn’t known how close we were to the road. A single car waited there, and inside the car was Matteo. He gave me a little wave.

“How’s it going, sweetheart?”

I wanted to shoot him between the eyes. I wanted to make him bleed. All I could see in my mind’s eye was Dario on the floor bleeding to death.

I needed to get him help. I needed to stop this. But how?

I had to buy myself some time. I knew their plan now. I was sure they were going to kill me next. I had to stall.

“I know where the flash drive is.”

Nico shot me a look of incredulity. “She’s lying. I watched Dario throw it into the river.”

“You’re wrong. There’s another copy.”

“Damn, I didn’t think Jason’s widow was a lying bitch. He threw it into the river after they had their little heart-to-heart. You should have heard them, Matteo. He was all vulnerable and shit…talking about how he was going to give it all up.”

“Stupid,” Matteo spit out shaking his head.

“That’s what I said,” Nico said turning the gun on me. “You know how much Dario is worth? The fucker made millions from our father’s business?—”

“It was his father, too. And clearly, he didn’t want you two incompetent assholes running anything, otherwise, he would have set everything up for you two to take over. What happened? Did your precious daddy like Dario more than you two? How sad. Did you guys sit around plotting how you would get back at Dario while crying into your cereal in the mornings?”

“Oh, she’s sassy,” Nico said, but I could see I had hit a nerve.

“You must have felt like a big man, killing Jason. You’re just a punk with a gun. I grew up in foster care with your type. You’re dead inside, trying to feel important by hurting others. Why don’t you put the gun down and let’s see how much of a man you are without it?”

“I bet you would like that, wouldn’t you?” he growled. He looked lasciviously at my body again, making my skin crawl. “I’ve never fucked a pregnant woman but I’m not opposed.”

“Shut up, you sick fucker,” Matteo said. He stared at me and shook his head. “You know, you kind of remind me of her.”

“Who?”

“Doesn’t matter. I got rid of her?—”

“By accident,” Nico said with a giggle. “She was in his car. Big mistake. Yikes.”

“And now he’s going to lose you, too. Too bad he’s not around to see it. What a waste. I would love to see the look in his eyes. Goodbye, Mya. Nico, take care of her.”

Nico smiled. He was a psychopath. “Say goodbye, Mya. It’s been fun meeting you. Too bad you won’t be around for the next family reunion. Dario has the worst luck, first Vicky, and now you.”

Who was Vicky? His mother? I would die before I ever found out. I closed my eyes, as Nico aimed the gun at me.

I heard a gurgling sound and opened my eyes. Nico was standing there, his eyes unfocused, as blood pooled in his mouth.

His eyes were confused as he dropped the gun and crumbled to the ground, his eyes staring up at nothing.

He was dead.

I looked up and saw a man with a gun in his hand, but my vision was blurry.

“Well, that’s that,” said the man, tucking the gun into the waistband of his pants.

“You killed him, you son of a bitch!” Matteo was screaming. At least, I thought it was Matteo, and then suddenly everything went silent. Chaos was all around me, but yet I couldn’t hear a thing.

And I felt all the blood rush from my head. I started to fall. Strong arms caught me.

And I thought I saw Dario as I fell. That couldn’t be right , was my last thought.