by Rebel Hart
“Mariana, please,” she said. “You have an opportunity to undo your mistakes. See reason.”
“I didn’t make any mistakes,” I said. “I stand by all the choices I’ve made.”
She pushed my father back a little and then walked up to me. She crouched down in front of me like I was some little kid that she had to negotiate with to avoid a temper tantrum. “I know the truth, Mariana. I visited Nique.” My throat clenched up a little bit and my mom smiled. “Yes. I’ve spoken with your cousin; I know how close you are. I told her that I would never kill my daughter, and do you know what she told me to ensure that it was true?” She looked back over her shoulder at my father. “She told me I was going to be a grandmother.”
My father carried his gaze from my mother up to me. “You’re pregnant?”
“No,” I said immediately. “I don’t know what she’s talking about.”
Looking up at me, my mother frowned. “Well, she showed me the pregnancy tests, Mari. Two of them, both reading a bright, LED positive.”
“They must have been her tests and she told you they were mine to try and protect me,” I said. “I’m not pregnant. Time-wise, it wouldn’t work.”
“Oh I don’t know. I figure you first slept with Bryce on his boat, when… five weeks ago? Six?”
Anger burned through my body. “How would you know that?”
“Well I know everything you did,” she said. “You don’t think we trusted you to just act on your own, do you? You always carried a level of disdain for your father. Honestly, we’ve always feared this day would come. As soon as you told us you were going on that date with Bryce, we had a feeling it was only a matter of time.”
“What did I ever do to cost you faith in me?” I growled. “Everything I’ve done has been for this stupid, fucking family. I haven’t lived a life because I’ve been busy doing whatever I can for you!”
“Oh my dear,” my mother said. “Honestly, you were never going to perform the way your brothers were. Stuffing you into board meetings and office jobs was our way of keeping you out of our way.”
“Your work has never benefitted us much.” My father agreed.
That couldn’t possibly be true with them trying to get me to fix the deal. They were leaving fake parental pride and love and moving to torturing me mentally instead. They believed they could wear me down and eventually get me to fix MasCat.
I’d die happy knowing they lost that deal.
“Are we done here?” I said. “I’ve got a date with Michael Jackson and Ruth Bader Ginsberg and I really don’t wanna be late.”
“Have you always had this irritating grit?” my mother asked. “We could have used it.”
“You could have, but you didn’t,” I said.
“Are you pregnant or not?” my father asked.
There was a part of me, however small, that thought my parents just might keep me alive if they thought I had a child. Why else would they care? The thing was, I’d rather die and take my baby with me than leave it behind for my family to torment. Hopefully it would forgive me posthumously for cutting its life short.
“No,” I said, “but it was kind of you both to get a jump start on looking like grandparents.”
“I told Nique if she was lying to me it would be the end of her,” my mom said. “You take care of this loud mouth. I’ll go take care of that one.”
She stood up to walk away as tears of frustration filled my eyes. “No, wait!”
My mom looked back at me. “Yes?”
I’m sorry, little baby. “I am pregnant.”
She turned and put her hands on her hips. “Now why would I believe you?”
“You can go get another test if you want to be sure,” I said. “Please. Nique’s innocent. She has nothing to do with this. Don’t hurt her. It doesn’t matter anyway. You’re killing me, so who cares if I’m pregnant.”
“Well it changes things,” my father said, then he turned around and walked back out of sight, returning with a saw. “I’m looking forward to knocking all of that unearned arrogance out of your body.” He leaned down over me and his eyes went wide and manic. “And presenting Bryce Misterro with the fetus of his dead child sounds like a load of fun.”
23
Bryce
Thanks to the tap I’d taken from Mari’s phone back when I first met her, my mother had long since worked out how to track each additional member of that family. Once we were able to hear where they were and what their plans were on any given day, all it took was for my father to accidentally bump into them individually, and we had ways to know where they were if we needed to find them in a pinch. Even though I had Mari’s phone on me personally, thanks to my mom’s tracker, we were able to see that the remaining Westuns were all situated around the same place.
The suite of theirs that I’d found in the tower.
TJ and Marcos were roaming the halls, compared to Antonio and Shelly Westun who were more stationary, but I suspected that was because the parents were dealing with Mari while the brothers kept watch. About forty minutes had passed since Nique first told me that Mari was in trouble—travel time from my parents’ estate outside the city sucked—so I had to just pray that she was using that slick mouth of hers to keep herself safe until I got there.
My parents weren’t the shoot-’em-up type and stayed back to aid us technologically from my mom’s office, but Baylor had geared himself up all too excitedly and came along with me to deal with the situation. I was beginning to see a little more of what my mom was talking about when she said his temper was almost as bad as mine. Maybe he could hide it better, but he had the attitude, and he was a little too ready to come with me and raise some hell with the Westuns.
“What’s the plan?” Baylor said. “We’re probably going to be stopped out front. The brothers will probably be banking on us not wanting to involve the public.”
“Yeah, no offense to any innocents,” I said, “but I don’t give a flying fuck about the public. Mari is in there and so is my baby. I’m gonna save them however I gotta do it.”
“You can’t linger outside,” Baylor said. “Regardless of what we come up against, you need to keep moving and get to Mari. Her dad is certifiable; if he hasn’t hurt her already, he will soon.”
“You can’t take on both those brothers and whatever army they bring with them all by yourself.”
“Don’t worry about me,” he said. “You just worry about Mari.”
I pressed the button on my phone that connected Baylor and me to my mom and dad in an instant. It was an encrypted line that connected to ear pieces we placed in before we left my mom’s office. “Can you hear us?”
“We’re with you. We can see that stretch of the strip and there are twelve bodies just hovering near the entrance. I imagine those are Westun grunts, so be careful. We’ve got some distractions incoming.”
“We’re not trying to take the Westuns down; we’re trying to distract them enough so that Bryce can get inside to Mari. Getting her out safely is a priority right now.”
“I’m concerned that twelve on one is a little excessive,” Bryce said. “I want to save Mari more than anyone, but if my brother gets killed in the process, it isn’t worth it.”
“Don’t you worry about that,” my mom said. “I’ve been working on a prototype weapon. It’s a little futuristic, but this is the perfect situation to use it, because whether it goes well or goes wrong, it should affect the targets. Your father and I will support Baylor from here. He’s right, you need to get inside before the Westuns have a chance to kill Mari.”
“Okay. Thank you,” I said.
“This is what we do. We support each other. Now let’s go.”
I parked the car that we were driving in a lot and Baylor and I made our way out onto the strip. Upon discovering that the Westuns were holed up in their base on the strip, we knew that we’d be walking into a sticky situation.
“What do you think this futuristic, prototype weapon is?” Baylor asked.
>
“I don’t know. She’s never even mentioned manufacturing weapons to us, but if it’s something she can trigger from where she is, can you imagine how much it’ll sell for?” I said. “We just need to be sure we stay back. It seems like the kind of thing that could take an unwitting victim.”
“Right.”
As we approached the front of the hotel, as expected, several individuals stopped the touristy things they were pretending to do and started paying attention to us. Several of them were already reaching for their weapons, and when we looked ahead, TJ and Marcos Westun were walking through the front doors. A handful of very observant people sensed that things were about to go wrong and got the hell out of there, but most of the crowd was totally unaware of the danger they were in.
If Mari and my unborn child weren’t inside and in serious danger, I might actually feel bad.
Slowly, both the brothers and all of their men started to close in on Baylor and me. Unsurprisingly, some of the men started to close in on us from behind.
“Hey Ma,” I said out loud, knowing my phone was still connected to my mother. “If you have some way to help us, now would be a good time to deploy that help.”
“Loud and clear, boys,” my dad replied in place of my mom. “Gina. Go ahead.”
“Do your best to count for me, Baylor. I’m deploying twelve now.”
“Twelve what?” Baylor asked.
We didn’t need to wait too long for our answer. A few quiet beeps filled the silence around us that slowly started to beep faster and faster. About eight of the twelve men reached into their pockets and pulled out their cell phones, the source of the beep.
“What the fuck is that?” TJ asked, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and held it up to his ear. “What’s that beeping?”
Moments later, he learned as we did. The phones in the hands of the eight men that had pulled them out all detonated, exploding into shrapnel of plastic and fiberglass. After all those stories that ran about phones getting too hot and blowing up, my mom had weaponized the idea. Six of the eight men had their phones near their faces, which subsequently took high octane damage from the detonation, including TJ Westun, while the remaining two had their hands blown off.
Screaming erupted in the area as both the pedestrians passing by started to run and the injured grunts fell to the ground in agony. Those who were on the ground, on top of their injuries, were now being trampled by the sea of people trying to get out of the area. At least one of the men was catatonic on the ground, potentially dead. Marcos dropped to the ground and looked down at his brother. The entire right half of his face was destroyed. I tried not to look right at it, but it was such a mess of blood and flesh that I wouldn’t have been able to make much out anyway.
Though I could see exposed bone.
While the remaining four grunts immediately started rushing to the aid of those who had been injured, Marcos looked up at us, enraged. “What the hell did you do!?”
Rather than answer, Baylor lifted his gun and fired. He wasn’t such an impulsive man, so I wasn’t expecting it, but as Marcos dragged TJ out of the way, Baylor grabbed me and yanked me behind a nearby pillar. He looked at me and nodded, glancing around the corner to make sure we were still safe.
“You gotta go,” he said.
Part of me wanted to argue, but I knew my parents and Baylor had worked hard to get me the opening and I didn’t want to waste it. We’d started a war anyway with the damage TJ took. Sticking around would only spit in the face of the sacrifice my entire family was making to help me save a woman they didn’t know nor trust.
Tapping Baylor on his shoulder, I nodded. “Thank you.”
“How many did I get?” my mom asked.
Baylor let out a scoff. “Nine. Seven heads including TJ Westun, two hands, and it looks like one guy is dead.”
“Weapons of Mass Destruction, baby,” my dad said. “Congrats.”
I’d have to deal with the weight of that information later. Baylor led the way and I followed behind him, firing at the Westun brothers and running through the fray to get into the hotel. I took one last look at Baylor, who I was still concerned may be too outnumbered to handle himself, but I needed to have faith.
That was the only thing that was going to save our and Mari’s lives.
“Dad,” I said. “Can you activate this elevator?”
“Yep, gimme a second.” I waited and then a few seconds later, it dinged. “You’re in.”
The doors slid open and I walked on, my heart pounding through my chest.
“I can’t see the top of that tower, Bryce. It’s a Faraday Cage. Once you’re up there, you’re gonna lose connection with us. Be safe.”
“I will. Thank you guys.”
Not long after that, the elevator reached a certain height, and I heard the line click off. I should have expected that Antonio Westun would have his bunker shielded against electromagnetic waves to prevent things like outside taps, but not being able to be connected to my parents was problematic. It meant I was officially on my own. Two-on-one at least, if both Westun parents were there, but possibly more if they had backup.
I took a deep breath as the elevator reached the top and let out a ding, perfectly announcing my arrival. Hoping that the Westuns thought I was their sons coming back up to report on a job well done, but knowing they were aware of exactly who was stepping out, I lifted my gun and walked off the elevator.
24
Mari
The only thing I could hear was the sound of my own ragged breathing. Whatever took place outside, even if it terrified me, was enough to take my parents from the room, if only briefly, to check on what was happening. In her panic, my mom admitted that she lost contact with my brothers, and we’d heard a series of explosions from the street below. I wanted to believe that no one brought knives to a gunfight, but rocket launchers seemed a bit excessive.
In the distance, I could hear the shrill of police sirens, and knew that I was likely in the center bedroom of my dad’s tower suite. It was one of only three rooms in the entire 3,000 square feet that didn’t have access to a window, and the other two rooms were both bathrooms, which I clearly wasn’t in. This room was totally empty, and from what I could tell, it had padded walls. The light hanging above me was placed there specifically to give whoever was sitting in the chair a poor view of the room’s far reaches.
A single light beating down on the person in the chair. I wonder where he got that idea.
Several things were running across my brain rapid fire. One, I didn’t know if Nique was safe. It was so incredibly stupid of me to hide out at her place knowing that if someone wanted to find me, that was the first place they would check. Despite my best attempts to make Nique understand the seriousness of my family and my life, she still saw things through rose-colored glasses. If my mom went there with a fake smile and concern in her eyes, it wouldn’t be difficult for her to convince my cousin that she was just a loving mother looking out for her daughter.
Still, it was dumb to try and blame the pregnancy on her.
Once my parents returned to the room, I had to try and figure out a way to at least confirm that Nique was okay or absolve her of all responsibility in this matter. I wished I’d told Bryce more about her; he might have thought to protect her on my behalf if so.
The second thing on my mind was my baby. I’d been taking deep breaths and trying my hardest to keep myself calm because I didn’t want to risk hurting it. They say that everyone figures out how to be a parent when the time arrives, but I’d been forced through hyper-speed to figure it out. Whereas twenty minutes ago I was ready to give up, all of a sudden I had a will to fight, and it was all for the little life growing inside of me. It didn’t ask to be created. It didn’t ask to be related to a psychotic family where its maternal grandparents didn’t care if it lived or died.
I wanted desperately to protect my baby and give it the life it always deserved. One I was denied. One full of love and support.
> Something told me the Misterros would give it that love.
Even if they wanted to kill me after I gave birth, I wanted to survive long enough to bring it into this world and let it meet its father. Then I would trust him with its life and leave the rest of my life up to fate. I very rarely came out and asked for things, but if I could have anything in this world, it would be that. A happy, healthy life for my child.
Rounding out the list of things on my mind was Bryce. The things I never got to say to him that I wished I had. His feelings, maybe they were real. Maybe it was what my gut was telling me and the only reason he took my phone was to seal the MasCat deal without killing me, which was what his mom wanted.
I wanted so badly to believe that, but there was also the chance that he took my phone because he’d played me one last time back before I killed him. He was good with his words and his body, there was no doubt of that. Perhaps he’d used his special skill to his advantage one last time in order to get the very last thing he needed out of me before he threw me away. I wouldn’t entirely blame him if that was what he’d done, but I just had to know.
Even if he then put a bullet between my eyes, I wanted to look him in the eyes, tell him I loved him, and see what he had to say back. If he told me I meant nothing to him, I’d accept that. I’d beg enough patience for me to bring our child into the world and then I’d let him do whatever he wanted with me, even if it meant ending my life.
But those explosions. They weren’t my brothers or any of our lower men or women. Assuming it wasn’t just random passersby that set off a few pipe bombs for the hell of it, that meant someone came to duke it out with my family, and from the timing of it, I had to believe it was Bryce. If he was here, what other reason could it be than to save me?
Wouldn’t that mean he had the same feelings as I did.
“You.” I looked over and my mom was charging back into the room, a fierce expression on her face, and molten lava in her voice. She lifted a hand and smacked me hard across the face. “What happened?! What did you do?!”