by Ella Miles
“I love you, too,” I say, expelling all of my air as I speak. I have nothing left.
His heated eyes stare down to my belly and then back to my eyes, telling me to take care of our baby.
I nod, I will.
Then Liesel takes my other hand, and she’s pulling me away.
My eyes go to where Enzo and my’s hands still cling to each other. I watch as our hands are slowly pulled apart, until only our fingertips are touching. And then the connection breaks.
Enzo puts his hands in the pockets of his jeans as Liesel continues to pull me away.
I don’t pay attention to where we are walking; my gaze is still on his—soaking up every last drop of him.
Until we turn a corner.
And Enzo is gone.
“Come on, babe. You got this. Enzo and Langston are going to be fine,” Liesel says.
But she’s clearly trying to reassure herself as much as she’s trying to reassure me.
I nod, though.
Our plan is simple. Liesel and I are getting as far the hell away from here. We are going to hide somewhere. The boys don’t even know where we are going. Liesel and I haven’t even discussed a location.
But in two days, we are going to call Enzo’s phone from a payphone, and if the threat is over, we will return. And if no one answers, then we will keep running and hiding, forever.
If Enzo and Langston are alive, they will come find us. And if they are dead, then at least Liesel and I will be safe. The baby will be safe.
We both climb into the SUV at the back of the property, an Escalade with bulletproof windows. It would take a tank to stop this car, Enzo said.
Liesel drives.
We are headed to a helicopter Enzo arranged to take us to an airport in Atlanta. From there, we can buy tickets anywhere. We have new identities. And lots of cash. No one will be able to find us unless we want them to.
Please find us soon, Enzo.
Liesel steps on the gas, driving through a back road off the property.
Only then when the house starts getting small in the rearview mirror do I let the tears fall. But I’m not the only one. Liesel is crying too. Because we are both driving away from the men we love. I’m not sure who Liesel is crying for—Enzo or Langston. I know she loves Enzo. I hope she loves Langston. But it doesn’t matter; the heartbreak is the same.
I reach over and grip her hand. We can do this, together.
We both take a deep breath.
It’s going to be okay.
But it’s never okay.
Danger follows me everywhere I go.
And the explosion ringing in my ears, the smoke billowing all around, and the fire burning as the SUV rolls over and over all remind me I will never be safe.
25
ENZO
I’VE SPENT the last few hours debating whether to implant every tracking device imaginable into Kai and Liesel’s phones, clothing, car, everything. I need to know where they are. I need to know they are safe.
But I decided against it.
Because if I can’t find them, then neither can Felix.
“It’s going to be okay,” Langston says as soon as Kai and Liesel are gone.
I glare at him. “Don’t say that. I hate that saying. You don’t know everything is going to be okay.”
“I know,” he frowns.
“Then, why the fuck did you say it?” I ask as I load my guns and make sure I have plenty of ammo.
He shrugs. “Because this is hard for me, too.”
I roll my eyes. “You are just infatuated with Liesel; she will never like you back. Get over it, man.”
Langston looks like he’s about to kill me. “Why? Because you like her still hung up on you?”
“No, I want her happy. And you aren’t the settling down kind.”
“Whatever, let’s just kill this bastard and everyone else on his side. Then we can argue about whether or not I’d make a good boyfriend,” he says.
I hold out my hand, and he grasps it. “Deal.”
Before we can move, explosions start erupting.
Fuck, I hate Felix Black.
He can’t even fight like a man; he has to resort to using explosives—ones I’m sure my company made.
Langston and I dive down, covering our heads as my home begins to crumble around us.
“The girls…” Langston’s voice breaks.
“They got out okay.”
He frowns. “Now, who is bullshitting for no reason?”
“We don’t have time to argue now.” I grab his hand and pull him up after I stand.
And then we break apart, barking orders and pulling up the security feed to see where Felix is.
I spot him, standing smugly at the entrance—waiting for me.
He wants a fight—one on one.
I smile; it’s exactly what I want.
He may have won our last fight. But that was before I found out I’m going to be a father.
Kai is away. There will be no distractions.
I no longer care that Felix is my brother. I don’t feel guiltly for killing our brother. I want this fight. I want to kill Felix myself.
I walk outside with my gun pointed at Felix. I’m not going to wait for an invitation to fight this time; I start pulling the trigger—aiming at Felix as he dives behind a car.
Several of his men are standing around, expecting to watch a show. But they won’t get to spectate. I shoot them all, killing them one by one. The traitorous bastards. They all used to work for me. Fight by my side. I protected them endless times fighting battles by myself, only involving them in the fight when I had to, and this is how they repay me.
“Come out and fight,” I say, when the smoke clears.
Felix is still hiding behind the car, but I hear his chuckles. Everything is a joke with this guy.
I hear the bullets flying before I see them, and I dive down as I fire back.
We continue to exchange bullets. For hours. Both of us ducking behind bulletproof cars as we try to fire at the other. And I know eventually, we will run out of bullets.
I could text Langston to meet me with more bullets, but he’s busy fighting off the rest of Felix’s team.
No, I want to kill Felix by myself.
I look at the dozen bullets I have left. I can’t keep shooting at a car. I need to attack.
I move silently, ducking behind cars, making it impossible for Felix to know where I am. He doesn’t know which side I’m attacking from or how close I am, but since I’m no longer firing bullets at him, he knows I’m close. He knows I’m about to attack.
I pull a knife from my pocket, ready for hand to hand combat.
And then I jump over the car Felix is hiding behind. Father may have taught him many things, but he’s not as skilled as I am at hiding or moving silently. Felix's heavy breathing told me exactly where he was at all times.
I get one good slice in before he attacks back. I knock the gun from his hand as I punch him in the face.
Fighting isn’t supposed to be personal. You aren’t supposed to let any emotions in. That’s what father used to say. The winner only wins because he can separate his emotions from the fight.
I disagree.
Each punch is personal.
It’s retaliation for threatening Kai’s life.
For threatening to take our love away.
For threatening my son’s life.
And the more I let my emotions in, the harder I fight.
I’m winning.
I know it.
Felix knows it.
And there are none of his men here to save him. Not this time. This time I win.
But the thing about fighting in real life, unlike the boxing ring, it doesn’t matter if you’ve been winning the entire time. You don’t get points for throwing better punches. You don’t win because you are the better fighter. In real life, one punch is all it takes. One slice of the blade. One shot of the gun.
But none of those is Felix’s style
. No, he prefers to attack with his brain rather than his fists. And he knows exactly where to get me—my heart.
“We have Kai,” he says, as he listens to a voice in his ear.
I have him in a headlock. I’ve won. Just a little more pressure around his neck and he’ll pass out.
“We have Kai,” he repeats.
“Liar.”
He chuckles. “Take the earpiece out and listen for yourself.”
I do.
I listen.
And the voice says he has Kai.
“Prove it,” I say.
And then I hear the most beautiful, tortured sound—Kai’s breath.
It’s heavy and pained.
She’s alive, but barely.
But I know it’s her breath.
Felix has her.
I lost.
“Make a trade. Me for her,” I say with too much desperation.
Felix thinks for a moment. “Why would I want you? When I have so many more uses for Kai…”
I tighten my grip. “If you want to live, you’ll make the trade.”
He smirks.
“What are your terms?” he asks.
“You get me. And you release her. You don’t touch her. You don’t hurt her. You provide her protection. You ensure she lives a long and happy life wherever she wants. You don’t let her die.”
“Deal.”
I release Felix.
It may not make sense to most, but I know he’s a man of his word. This is what he’s wanted all along—me.
He can pretend he wants Kai, like Milo did. But she isn’t his target. I am.
Felix has hated me since I killed his brother.
Felix had a heart before me, and I obliterated it when I killed Pietro.
Kai just pushed Felix over the edge when she killed Milo.
Felix pulls his gun out and aims it at me.
I don’t move.
He could easily kill me.
But that’s not what he wants.
He plans on torturing me.
He doesn’t realize the only thing that could truly torture me is Kai. He can do whatever he wants with my body.
“Get in the car,” he says, pointing to a Range Rover.
I climb into the back seat. Felix climbs into the seat next to me, while his men get in the front.
We start driving.
And I pray Kai is okay. That she will forgive me for trading my life for her’s and our son’s. But she had to know this was always how our story ends. And if I am going to die, I always wanted it to be for her.
I glance in the rearview mirror as we start driving away from my house engulfed in flames—burning slowly to the ground. I don’t know how many of my men survived. Did Langston? Liesel? Clifton? Any of them?
It doesn’t matter now. I can’t protect them, not anymore. All I could save was Kai.
Another explosion erupts, and my house is burning.
The beautiful beach—gone.
It’s all gone.
We drive for an hour, maybe two. Time no longer matters.
“I want proof Kai is safe,” I say.
“Of course,” Felix says, with a smug grin.
Alarm bells go off at his gesture.
He pulls his cell phone out. “But first, I thought you might want to see how your side faired.”
He hands me security footage of my house.
And the nightmare unfolds.
Langston getting shot and falling to the ground.
Liesel hitting her head with a deep gash as the car crashes into a tree.
And numerous shots of my men evaporating into nothing with each explosion.
There is a pit in my stomach. Langston and Liesel are dead. I know it as the security footage shows me my house is burning. Anyone still left lying on the ground, gasping for their last breaths, will perish. If the smoke inhalation doesn’t get them, the fire will.
“I’m going to kill you for what you did.”
Felix shakes his head. “That isn’t what you are going to kill me for.”
He swipes the phone.
And my heart is gone.
It’s an image of Kai, lying face down on the ground, blood spilling out of her head. She’s not breathing. Any rational person would say she’s dead.
She can’t be.
But I feel the emptiness.
My heart is gone—with her.
I jump out of the car. It’s not the smartest move I’ve made, but then I’ve made too many mistakes to count.
I should stay and kill Felix, but if Kai is truly gone, it doesn’t matter if I kill him today or tomorrow. I don’t have to protect her from him, so there is no rush.
I start running back toward my house. I run a mile before I realize how idiotic it is to run. I hijack a car, and then I fly. We drove at least an hour away from my house, but I arrive in under thirty minutes.
What remains of my house is still burning, but it’s mostly soot at this point. A few of my men are standing around staring, like they can’t believe what happened.
“Langston?” I ask the first man I see.
He shakes his head in despair.
He didn’t make it.
I run through the remains of the house. To the kitchen where the security footage showed Langston fall.
There is nothing left of my kitchen except the burned remains of my fridge and oven. No Langston.
I choke on my tears. He can’t be gone.
I run down the road. I see the Escalade. Well, what little is left of it. Mostly tires and frame. No Liesel.
She’s gone.
And then I see the spot on the ground. The spot where Kai was face down on the ground bleeding out.
No Kai.
She’s gone.
I fall to my knees on the spot. My hands slam against the ground. There is so much soot and burned grass. The fire spread here. If her body was still here, she burned to ash too.
Tears fall. Hard, fast. Slow and unyielding.
My body shakes.
Trembles.
And then collapses.
Kai is gone.
My son—gone.
And I will be gone soon, too. I have nothing left to live for. Felix took it all. My own men killed the love of my life.
My hands dig into the ground, trying to hold onto what is left of her. I grasp the dirty ash, the remains of Kai, and then I feel it. The damn scrunchie with the little wooden heart I carved for her attached.
It’s covered in her blood.
It’s all I have left of her.
I failed.
Again.
But I won’t fail in avenging her death.
26
KAI
I PICK UP THE PAYPHONE, and I dial Enzo’s number. It’s been two days. The battle is surely over.
It rings.
And rings.
And rings.
And then clicks over to his voicemail. I stay on the phone, waiting for the beep. But I don’t speak. I just breathe into the phone, letting Enzo know I’m alive if he is. But I can’t give him any other information. If he’s dead and Felix is still alive, I don’t want to give him any clues about where I am. Felix can’t find me.
Slowly, I hang up the phone with tears in my eyes. Enzo can’t be dead. He can’t be gone.
I’m sure he was just busy cleaning up after the battle. He just didn’t have his cell phone on him. That’s it.
But I know it doesn’t make any sense.
Enzo would have his phone on him every second waiting for my call.
But I can’t face reality. He can’t be dead.
I have to hold onto hope.
I climb into the rented Jeep and drive to a small fishing village in Alaska, about as far away from Miami as I could get. No one will find me here unless I want them to.
Enzo, please come find me.
I wipe the tears away as I drive. I have to focus on the road.
The road takes me up a curved road into the mountains. I’m afraid I got t
he address wrong, but then I see the house at the end of the road and pull into the drive.
I don’t know why I’m here. This should be the last place I went. But it’s also the last place anyone would ever think to look for me.
I park the car and step out, the beep of the car horn locking, alerting the man inside to my presence.
He stands at the door as I walk up the gravel sidewalk.
“What are you doing here?” he asks.
“I need answers. I need somewhere safe to go. And for some stupid reason, I thought my father might be able to help me,” I say, with a glare.
He stands at the door, and for a moment, I don’t think he’s going to let me inside. But then he steps aside, holding the door open for me as I step inside the small mountain home.
My father walks into the kitchen and pours two cups of coffee. He hands one to me and then walks out onto the back porch. I follow. There are two rocking chairs looking out at the mountains.
It seems like I did my father a favor by firing him. He has a nicer home and life here than he did in Miami.
“I’m sorry for what I did to you, Kai. You have no idea how sorry. At the time, I thought I was preparing you for this life. I couldn’t spend every day of your childhood abusing and torturing you like Enzo’s father did, but I could prepare you once you were adult. So that’s what I did,” he says, and I see genuine tears in his eyes.
It should move me, but it doesn’t. I’m stone. His tears mean nothing to me.
“I didn’t come here for an apology,” I say coldly.
He nods. “You came here for answers.”
I nod.
“He’s alive.”
“What?” I sit up in my chair.
“Enzo’s alive.”
“How do you know that?”
“Clifton—he and I were friends before you fired me. He’s kept me up to date. Enzo is alive.”
I exhale and sob into my hands. He’s alive.
“But that doesn’t mean you are.”
“What do you mean? Of course, I’m alive. I’m not a ghost,” I say, not understanding.
“Enzo thinks you’re dead. And I haven’t corrected Clifton.”
“Why not? Tell him I’m alive!”
“No.”
I growl. I’ve been pissed at my father before, but nothing like how I feel now. “Do you understand what kind of pain Enzo must be in, thinking I’m dead? Call Clifton right now and tell him to tell Enzo I’m alive!”