Page 130 of The Cruelest Chaos

And I’m not shot I don’t think…but my father is laughing.

I squeeze my arms tighter around Ella, rest my chin on her head as I glare up at him.

“For such a smart boy, you are so incredibly stupid sometimes.” He’s got the gun back where it was, clasped in front of him. “So, so stupid.”

I narrow my eyes. “What—”

He jerks his chin toward Ella. “You ran to her.”

I open my mouth to snarl something at him when I realize what he’s getting at. My eyes go to Ria, who has her head buried in her hands, her body trembling. My mouth goes dry all over again, and my father laughs as he sees me take his words in.

“Getting it now?”

Ella goes still in my arms. She picks her head up. Pushes me away.

“Ella, no—”

She turns to glare at me, fire in her green eyes. I hesitate, but she yanks away and…I let her go. I won’t be Lucifer. I won’t be my father. I won’t be every man in the fucking 6.

If my girl wants to do something, she’s gonna fucking do it.

And she does.

She stands to her feet, even though I see her knees trembling, the way her skirt moves, the way she’s a little unsteady. But she’s still standing. She picks her head up, her hair tumbling down her white shirt, like blood against the starch fabric.

“Go to hell,” she snarls with conviction, and despite all of this, despite the fact my father might actually shoot her in the fucking face, my dick swells at those words.

Before my father can respond, another shot goes off.

But I’m looking right at him and he didn’t raise his gun.

In fact, he didn’t raise shit, because he goes down on one knee, the gun falling to the floor with a clatter.

My ears are ringing all over again, but Ella and Ria both look past me, and I spin around with the image of my father sinking to his knees burned into my brain.

But I don’t want to look.

I don’t want to see how badly he’s hurt.

I don’t want to watch him die.

If I don’t look, he’s still alive.

If I don’t look, we can fix this.

So instead, I look at Sid.

She’s holding the gun in her hands, a black 9mm, her arms shaking as she stares right at me.

And she’s not alone.

Still, I can’t take my eyes off of her. She just shot my father.Our father.Ria darts past me, a sob escaping her throat. She runs, and the person beside Sid catches her. She flings herself into his arms, burying her head as she claws at his chest.

Someone touches my back.

I flinch, breaking my stare with Sid as I turn around.

Ella threads her fingers through mine. “Maverick,” she says calmly, “your father is going to die if you don’t help him.” She speaks so clearly, as if I’m a child. And in the moment, I am.