by C. Hallman
“Shhh, you’re fine,” Eli soothes, his voice suddenly comforting. What the fuck is this? Does he have multiple personalities or something?
He pulls my panties and pants back up before turning me around.
“You okay?” he asks, studying my face.
I shake my head. I’m not okay. None of this shit is okay.
“You will be, though, just trust me.” I want to laugh. Did he seriously just ask me to trust him, after he admitted to basically double-crossing us?
“Mack knows… he told you to text Enzo. You’re setting a trap…”
“Just trust me,” he repeats as if him saying it twice will suddenly make me believe him. Turning away from him, I curl up on my side, trying to get warm.
That’s when I feel it. As I pull up my legs, I feel the stiff metal pressed up against my calf. Fuck... the knife. I still have the knife in my boot. How the hell did I forget about the fucking weapon I have on me?
Cursing myself silently, I contemplate on what to do next. I could pull the knife out right now, threaten Eli to let me go, or at least let me call Enzo, but the chances are he would overpower me. Plus, he technically hasn’t hurt me. He only pretended to, that doesn’t mean he won’t, he already said so.
Damn, why can’t he just pick a side? How am I supposed to trust him?
I finally decide to keep the knife hidden for now. Hopefully, I get a chance to use it on Mack. At least I’ll have the element of surprise.
Minutes pass, maybe even hours, and slowly but surely, my eyelids grow heavier. For a while I keep myself busy by fighting sleep, but when Eli moves, my eyes fly open, and I feel wide awake for a moment.
I’m shocked when he lies down next to me. He doesn’t touch me, leaving a few inches of space between us, but it’s enough to feel his body heat warming my skin.
“Go to sleep. If he comes in, I’ll make up some lie,” he mumbles, placing his head against the mattress. I catch genuine concern in his eyes, and I know he is telling me the truth. At least in this instant, I trust he’ll watch out for me.
I nod and close my eyes, giving them what they’ve been begging for. In a moment’s time, my mind heads to a place where neither pain nor death can touch me.
Lorenzo King’s arms.
19
Enzo
“They have her, Enzo.” Jared rushes into the house, his voice full of panic. I stand there in the middle of the room, staring and doing nothing, letting the guilt eat at me. I should’ve fucking told her. I should’ve warned her.
“I know,” I murmur. I hate myself more than anything right now. Jared and James’s eyes both turn to me, fire burning in both of them.
“What do you mean, you know? You knew this whole fucking time, and you never told one of us? You never thought it was a good idea she knew there was a change?” Jared screams. He is angry, and he has every right to be. I’ve put Amara in danger on purpose. And for what? The element of surprise.
“It needed to happen this way. If I had let you know, you would’ve acted strangely.” There is nothing more I can say to make them understand. I had to do it this way, and it killed me. It will kill me, even more, to go in there and see all she has endured because of me.
“Needed? You’re fucking crazy…” Jared’s arms fly into the air. “I should’ve known. I should’ve known you never fucking loved her. She is nothing but a pawn to you. Nothing but an inn—” He can be mad all he wants, but I can’t listen to him saying things about me that are false.
Picking him up by the front of his shirt, I shove him against the wall, getting right in his face. I don’t care that we’ve been friends forever or that he’s Amara’s brother.
“Never. I mean, never accuse me of not caring about her. Never accuse me of anything less than being in love with her. I would bleed for her, take a bullet for her, and give my own fucking life just so she could take one last breath if I had to. Never tell me I don’t care.”
I release him with a shove, watching the anger slowly seep away from his face. Yeah, that’s right, fucker, I love her. And I’ll do anything in my fucking power to keep her alive. Even if it means I have to put her life in the hands of someone else.
“You—you should’ve told us, Lorenzo,” James mutters. I’m certain he’s shocked as shit.
“Oh, really. Told you what? How I was feeding Amara to the monster? Or if she dies, it will be her blood on my hands. Fuck no. I didn’t need any more judgment for having to do it than I already have.” I’m fueling my own rage by speaking the words I’ve kept hidden all day.
Amara knew something was wrong. She knew I wasn’t being me.
“We’re not judging you, Lorenzo. Nothing of what we have said is judgment.” James is trying to cool me down, but it’s not working, nothing will work. Not until Amara is back in my arms.
“I allowed my mother to die, and I will not be the reason Amara dies,” I growl, my teeth clenching so hard my jaw might snap in two.
“Amara is strong. She can handle this,” Jared adds, but concern is etched into his features.
“She shouldn’t have to, Jared. That’s the fucking point. It’s why when all this is over, we’re going to go away, so she never has to face any of this again.”
The shock on his face equals my own when I made the decision.
“You’re going to leave the mafia behind?” Jared asks.
“Yes. I’m leaving. I don’t want it anymore.” I throw the words out there.
“You know you’ll spend the rest of your life on the run?” Jared comments, like I don’t already know that.
“Running will still be safer than staying. This life… death is always knocking on the door. I’ve lost everyone I ever loved, but I won’t lose her. I don’t care who chases me or if I have to run to the end of the world. I’m Lorenzo fucking King. I make my own choices. I don’t need anyone telling me what I’m going to do. Stand in my way, and you’ll die.” My voice is deadly, leaving no room for doubt.
“What now? Where do we go from here?” James asks.
I turn to look at him. There’s no way I’m bringing him into all of this. Amara has already lost one father… She won’t lose this one.
“You aren’t going unless it’s to drive the vehicle...”
My phone chimes, and I reach into my pocket, retrieving it. Sliding my finger over the screen, I read the message.
Eli: She’s asleep. A bump on her head, but other than that, unharmed. Mack’s getting antsy.
“We go now,” I command. I have a gun strapped to my side, one to my leg, and one at my back. Two knives are hidden where I can easily grab them. I’m ready to take his heart and rip it the fuck out.
“Then let’s go. I’m ready.”
I want to tell Jared he can’t come either, but I need someone else. I need backup, and someone to take her and get the fuck out if shit goes bad.
James slips into his coat and out the door. For a second, I want to breathe in the air inside the house. Her scent surrounds me and invades every part of my body. She isn’t just mine; she’s a part of me, and I won’t survive without her.
This has to end with Amara alive. No matter if I make it, she has to.
Pulling up to the abandoned factory, I sigh. There is not a single car in sight. We’re miles off a beaten path. Good, I think to myself. When Mack is screaming for me to stop breaking his bones over and over again, no one will hear him.
“Ready for this?” Jared asks, but I don’t feel the need to answer. Of course, I am.
Gripping my gun tightly in my hand, I open the car door and step out.
“Drive around, James, but stay close,” I order before shutting the door.
I creep to the nearest door and bust into the place like I own it. My heart is racing, and my palms are sweaty. I’m not sure what I’m about to discover—in what state I’m going to find Amara.
As I push through the door, my eyes take in all the metal beams surrounding us. Machinery is pushed out of the way and littered throug
hout the building. In the center of the room is a small body lying on the floor. Even from this distance, I can see its Amara.
Every fiber in my body urges me to run to her, pick her up and wrap her in my arms, telling her I’ll never let her go again.
“Nice of you to join us.” Mack’s sickening voice fills the large room as he steps out of the shadows. I stand perfectly still, forcing my limbs to stay frozen as I watch him walk over to her.
Leaning down, he grabs her by the back of the neck and pulls her up. She cries out in pain and tries to fight him off, but he just shakes her like a rag doll.
She goes silent, and then our eyes meet across the room. Terror fills her features, and I almost slip. I almost let the mask fall from my face, but I manage to keep it in place, knowing that this will end badly if I don’t.
Forcing my gaze to stay uninterested, I take her in. Her hair looks messy, and her body is shaking. Her shirt is ripped, hanging in pieces off her slender body. Her pants are undone and slightly pulled down, her underwear peeking out.
Mack pulls out a gun and points it at her head. She doesn’t move. Doesn’t even flinch or make a single sound. Her eyes never leave mine, and I know exactly what she is thinking.
This is the end.
20
Amara
Sounds drag me from my sleep, but my mind is too hazy to make sense of them. My head feels like it’s been stuffed with cotton, and I’m unable to form a coherent thought.
Out of nowhere, Mack appears in front of me, yanking me up by my neck. I feebly attempt to fight him off before he shakes me so hard, I think I’ll pass out again.
When the shaking stops, my eyes focus on the figure standing across from me. It takes everything inside of me not to cry out in happiness as I see Enzo standing there. Then our eyes connect, and all the joy drains from my body. His eyes are void of all emotion. A cold, hard stare is all I see, spiking my fear more than Mack’s tightening hold on my neck.
Enzo says nothing to Mack’s welcoming, simply stares in silence.
“Come to collect your whore?” Mack’s voice booms in my ear as he cocks the gun against my head.
“My whore?” Enzo’s face turns business-like as he raises an eyebrow up in questioning.
“Yes, this one right here, the one with a bullet cocked and loaded for her. Eli fucked her—you know that, right? The question is, do you know how much she enjoyed it? I heard her scream in pleasure all the way from across the factory… or maybe those were cries of pain,” he shrugs, “you know it’s hard to tell sometimes.”
Time stands still as Enzo covers the distance between us casually, seemingly completely unaffected by what Mack just said. Enzo’s eyes stay on Mack—even though I want nothing more than for him to look at me.
I don’t dare move. I know Mack isn’t fucking around. He’ll shoot me just to make a fucking point.
“Did he enjoy her tight pussy?” he asks, smirking. My own heartbeat speeds up as what he just said sinks in. This has to be a joke. He has to be playing or something.
“Well, not the reaction I was expecting, but why don’t you ask him yourself,” Mack says, gesturing to the hallway behind us.
On cue, Eli appears, entering the space. His pants are still undone, but he buckles them now as if to emphasize the fact that he fucked me.
“I did actually… enjoy her, that is. Thanks for breaking her in for me, old friend.”
I look intently at Enzo, waiting for something to show on his face. Anger or rage, but there is nothing.
Am I in the twilight zone?
“See…” Enzo pauses, looking down at me then to Mack. “She means nothing to me. Though her cunt is one of my favorites, she’s not worth actually keeping around for a long time.”
What? I’m stunned… and hurt, so fucking hurt. My knees are going to give out soon and my chest is shaking with every breath.
“She means nothing to you?” Mack asks like he is as surprised as I am. This has to be a trick. My mind slips back to the shower. The words he said…
“Remember, no matter what, I love you, Amara. I always have, I always will. Okay?”
He wanted to make sure I knew, even when he hurt me, he still loved me. That has to be it. It has to be...
“Nope. Not a fucking thing. Now let’s settle this like men,” Enzo says as he dismisses me and the entire conversation. “We need to figure this shit out. The FBI will be hunting us both down if we don’t figure out how to work together. There is a whole empire falling apart, and we can take it back. Together. Side by side. Partners instead of rivals.”
“You’re bluffing,” Mack snaps, and I can hear the smile in his voice as he pushes me forward and to the ground. My knees hit against the concrete so hard my teeth rattle. Fresh tears spring from my eyes and run down my cheeks.
“Bluffing? I think you of all people would know if I were bluffing Mack.”
“That’s just it. I know you. You are. I know it because I watched you. I know the look in your eyes because it’s one I had in mine not too long ago.”
“Move on from it, Mack. I didn’t know you were together. It didn’t matter anyway. She had to die.” She had to die? Who was she?
“You made me kill her, Lorenzo. You made me kill the woman I loved. I pleaded with you to let her live, and you still made me pull the trigger,” Mack screams, and I feel the gun at the back of my head again as he pushes it against my scalp hard.
For a small moment, I allow myself to feel sorry for him, I let myself see a man he used to be, and a tiny shred of me understands his pain. Understands the pain Enzo caused him. Mack wants revenge just like the rest of us, but instead of going for the man who caused it, he came for me, someone who’s never done anything to him.
We all have a path to choose. He chose the wrong one.
“Love is weakness, Mack. You and I both know it,” Enzo spits.
“If that’s true, then kill her. If she means nothing to you, kill her. An eye for an eye, as you always say.” Mack quotes Enzo as if he memorized the very saying. I look up at the man before me, the dark shell of who he truly is on full display.
Dark whiskey-colored eyes connect with my own as his gun comes into view. He isn’t really going to kill me, is he? His eyes say he is sorry, but his body says he isn’t. Killing me is a duty that needs to be done.
“I guess you’re right.” Enzo shrugs. “I’ll kill her, and then we can finally go back to business as usual?”
While he is talking, I slowly inch my hand to my boot, sliding my fingertips into the side and grab the blade. I pull it out ever so slowly, hoping, praying that Mack is too distracted to notice. It’s heavy, and if I land it perfectly, it will kill him.
One chance, that’s all I have. A small smile plays across my lips as I wait for Mack to speak.
“Business, yes. As usual? No. You have everything I ever wanted, and you refuse to pay respect to those who helped you get where you are. I want my piece of the pie. I did what I could. Then this bitch got in the way and fucked everything up. You say love is weakness, but when I watched you look at her, I saw the same look I used to give Delilah in your eyes.”
The words leaving his mouth are both vile and full of anger. I hate Mack just as much as Enzo does, but right now, listening to those words, I feel for him. I know what happened between him and Delilah was tragic. I know it turned him into a monster the same way the death of Enzo’s mother did for Enzo. The only difference is Enzo has me. I can save him, but there is no saving Mack. He’s broken beyond repair.
You can only be broken for so long before it gets to you—before the hate and guilt you carry around eats away at you. You couldn’t care less about being alone for the rest of your life because nothing matters to you. That’s what happened to him, and I could feel it happening to me.
Blood pumps through my veins rapidly, echoing in my ears. Everything around me becomes white noise. The only thing I can hear is my own shallow breathing. My hands feel like they are being weighed down
by bricks as a thin layer of sweat forms on them.
This isn’t fear. No, it’s preparation for war. For death. I’m anxious but also ready. Ready to deliver the monster behind me to a place where maybe he can find his own peace.
My teeth clench together as I ready myself for the final blow—the savage desire to kill pushing me to madness. The need for blood is overwhelming, erasing the fear of the gun pointed at the back of my head.
Everything happens in slow motion. I clench my fist, my nails digging into the soft flesh. With precision I didn’t even know I possessed, I spin around and land my fist hard on his balls. A rush of air leaves his chest as he bends over, the creases of his face filling with rage.
Without even thinking, I plunge the knife upward. My muscles tense as I jam the blade into his left eye. His scream makes my ears ring, and I already know I will never forget the sound… so full of pain and suffering.
A gun goes off. The deafening sound ringing out in the warehouse. A second shot follows then a third. Gunfire surrounds us, but all I can feel, see, and think about is the blade in my hand.
“Cover her!” I hear Enzo yell, followed by heavy footfalls.
Blood squirts out, landing across my face as I yank the knife out and scurry backward.
I watch Mack fall to his knees, his hands covering his eye as if he is trying to stop the blood from pouring out. I look at him, and my mind goes back to all the times he hurt me.
He needs to pay, and I’m going to collect that payment today. I find myself scooting closer to him, the blade still in my hold.
“Do you remember all the times you threatened to slit my throat—after you fucked me, of course?” I can barely recognize my voice as my own.
A rumble sounds in his chest as I hear him mumbling the word bitch, which only fuels the roaring fire inside me. “Bitch? Hmm... I guess Enzo taught you something, after all, huh? Die with honor, it is.” Those are the last words I say to Mack as I roughly plunge the blade into his neck and drag it across, cutting his throat.