I realize he isn’t talking to me when Rocco answers on my behalf. “Macy Machini.” He sucks in a sharp breath before breathing it out with a gargled denial, “No fucking way.”
I’m about to ask what’s going on, but thankfully, Smith chimes back in. “I cracked into India’s phone. One of India’s surrogates has the last name Machini. Kendall was abducted four and a half years ago from Miami. Her sister, Macy, has been searching for her ever since.”
Goosebumps break across my skin as the final pieces of the puzzle slot into place. Agent Machini taking the wrap for Agent Moses’s death, and her desperation to bring India in alive was because she knew she’d never find her sister if India were dead. India would take Kendall’s location to the grave. She was in a lose-lose situation. She either risked losing India or her sister.
That’s all done with now. India can be sentenced for her crimes because Smith’s confession advises he’s hacked into India’s phone. Her victims have been identified. They’ll be home by the end of the week, and my return maybe even sooner than that.
As a video montage of my years with Demi rolls through my head, I lock my eyes with the woman who took away the one thing that would have tied us together for eternity, then speak three little words. “Dimitri says hello.”
I wait for the video montage to reach the final smile Demi gave me before I compress the trigger on my assault rifle.
I feel no guilt when a bullet pierces through a crinkle in India’s forehead.
No euphoria.
No victory.
Yet, I do feel at peace.
Agent Machini’s warning about a mafia war rings through my ears when the slumping of India’s body onto the stained concrete floor is quickly chased by Trey aiming his gun at me. I killed his enemy, but Smith was right, my unborn child tied me to the Petrettis for life, so it’s only fair Trey sees me as one.
“I couldn’t lure India out of hiding without offering up an incentive.” I could rat Rocco and Smith out with me, but why would I? Their help has pushed me one step closer to Demi. I can’t fling shit at them now.
Trey’s words are hostile when he snaps out, “Admitting you brutalized my woman won’t do you any favors.”
“What would you rather, Trey? Your girl tied up and safe, or lying lifeless in a ditch with her stomach barren of your child?” He doesn’t need to answer me. The expression on his face tells which way his pendulum swung. It went in my favor for once. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Some may call me a fool for lowering my gun, but they’d only be the people who believe death is scary. “If it weren’t for Dimitri and me, she would be dead in four months.” I motion my head at K partway through my reply. “Why do you think India wanted her brought in alive?”
Trey curls his finger around the trigger of his gun when I dig a sale document out of my pocket. It isn’t for K. It’s for Dimitri’s first wife, Audrey.
“Who’s Audrey?” Trey asks after taking in the name of the documentation I dumped on the table between us.
His eyes rocket to mine when I confess, “Dimitri’s wife. Well, she washis wife beforethatpiece of shit tested your theory that blood isn’t thicker than water.” The way I murmur ‘that’ leaves no doubt as to who I’m referencing. “Up until twenty minutes ago, Dimitri wasn’t your enemy. I guess only time will tell where we go from here. Things get hostile when a mutual nemesis is eradicated.” I inwardly curse my stupidity. I wasn’t meant to say ‘we.’ I know where I’m going. I’m reasonably sure neither Dimitri nor Nikolai want to come with me.
Needing to leave before I instigate a mafia war instead of defusing one, I flash Trey a final smirk before spinning on my heels and walking away. He could shoot me in the back, but as I said earlier, death doesn’t scare me. How could it when I’ve lived in hell for over five years?
Partway down the corridor, I disband my assault weapon before replacing it with a standard Glock. I’m not exactly sure how I am moving. My head is as hazy as fuck, and I’m shaking like I have the plague, but I continue putting one foot in front of the other until I’m outside the compound.
Some of the adrenaline keeping me moving disperses when I break through the dense bushland bordering the property. A sprinkling of rain has made the air extra fresh, but no matter how hard I try to fill my lungs with air, I can’t. I’ve reached the end of the road, tired both mentally and physically, but instead of being granted the right to end things my way on my terms, I have to do it in front of a federal agent who doesn’t know how to quit even while sporting a bullet wound.
Agent Machini stands a few feet away from me. One of her hands is aiming her gun at my head. The other is clutching her silky blouse that’s now more red than white. She doesn’t need to ask what happened to India. She can see the truth in my eyes. They have the same bleak, despondent haze they had when we crossed paths in the hallway at Wallens Ridge.
Furthermore, she sees me for who I truly am—a murderer.
“Get on your knees and put your hands behind your back.”
Her anger propels her two steps forward when I shake my head. “I can’t go back there. I won’t survive it without her.” I barely survived lock-up when Demi was at my side, supporting me. There’s no way I could last decades there without her. I’d rather die. I just have one last matter I need to attend to first. “It isn’t as you’re thinking. Your sis—”
“Get on your fucking knees and put your hands behind your back!” Her anger is blinding her judgment as much as my grief is blinding me. We’re both out of control. I’m just aware of it. Agent Machini isn’t. “Don’t make me shoot you, Maddox.Please.” Her last word is more a plea than a demand. It’s as shaky as the hold she has on her gun while muttering, “I told you to stop. Why didn’t you listen to me? She’ll never be found now.”
“She will be,” I reply, my voice honest. “Kendall will be home by the end of the week. We found them, Macy. They’re coming home.”
She doesn’t want to believe me. Years of disappointments have lowered her trust as much as it has mine, but there’s an honesty in my eyes that will never dampen no matter how many people I kill. “You found her?”
“Yes,” I reply with a gentle nod of my head before I fall to my knees, too exhausted to remain standing.
I’m so fucking tired.
So fucking empty.
