“I said,get to Taylor!” He looks at me, and the eyes that I look into are cold. They’re not my husband’s eyes. Not my Daddy’s. It’s like a light has been turned off, just like when the man tried to take me from the theater and Law hurt him.
This version of him always scares me, but I know it’s necessary. In a cruel world it’s the wolf that keeps you safe, not the shepherd. “Now, goddamn it!”
I move when he yells but I almost stop again when I see my father force himself up, a knife in his hand that he brings forward in an arc that lodges in Law’s shoulder. “Law!”
“Run!” He growls at me and turns back to face my father, ripping the knife out as Zeus rolls away from him and gets to his feet. I have to listen to him. I know this. He took his attention off of Zeus and that's how he ended up with a knife in his shoulder. I can’t distract him. I turn to run, but I don’t know where to go. It’s chaos all around me and I narrowly dodge a man falling off the dais when I try to run. I look up and my heart leaps into my throat when I see Connie. She’s standing, or trying to, a gun in her hand and pointed at the man she just shot.
“Connie!” I sprint for the stairs to get to her even while she waves me off.
“Get to Taylor,” she groans, but when she falls to a knee with her hand pressed to her bloodied side, I ignore her.
“Shut up and come with me.” I throw one of her arms over my shoulder and help her stand. “We have to get out of here.”
“He fucking shot me,” she wheezes and shakes her head. “That fucker. I’m going to kill him.”
There’s a thud and I look to the side to see Law and my father fighting. They both have knives, the glint of metal slicing through the air faster than my eye can track, but I see the dark spots on their suits. Both of them are bleeding. When they bring their knives forward, red splatters on the floor and fear grips me.
What if Law doesn’t make it out of this? What if we both don’t?
“Come on,” Connie stumbles forward and I go with her. “Where the fuck is that man?”
“Taylor?” I scan the room and see him, he’s not far from Law but he’s closer to the entrance I know leads outside. “There,” I say, pointing to him and Connie nods, before she starts hobbling in that direction. I help her as best as I can and we somehow make it across the room even with the carnage taking place around us. I see Marco and Peter and I worry when Peter goes down but Marco helps him up a second later. Fear spikes my belly for more than just Law and myself.
There’s so many people wrapped up in all of this. What if they die? They’re hurt already because of a lie Zeus told himself. The farm was lost through so many missteps and one shitty thing after another, like Charlaine said. It wasn’t Law that took it from my family, but it doesn’t matter to Zeus. He's so focused on his revenge he was willing to kill me.
His heir.
He’d said the most important thing in the world was family but he never meant me. He’s so twisted that he would kill me just to watch Law suffer. I thought the real monster was my mom, but it was him all along.
We’re almost to Taylor when I look at Law. I can’t help it. My eyes go to him automatically, my fear so pungent that I almost vomit from it. He moves, catching Zeus’ wrist and brings him close with a violent jerk that has my father’s wrist hanging at an unnatural angle and falling back with a howl. He stumbles, clutching his wrist just as one of his guards takes a swing at Law. My husband dodges it but when he does, he gives his back to Zeus.
“Oh no,” Connie whispers, because she sees what I see. Zeus reaching down with his good hand to his ankle. He pulls a pistol out and I shake my head.
“No!” I scream at what I’m seeing. Taylor’s too far away to help and Law is trading blows with the asshole that rushed him. By the time he sees the gun it’ll be too late. The knife Connie gave me isn’t going to do anything so I nearly weep when she presses her bloodied gun into my hands.
She says something but it sounds like white noise because I snatch the gun and sprint for Law and Zeus. “Get away from him!” I fire off a shot and it goes wide, but it catches Zeus’ attention. He looks my way with surprise, that’s the only way to describe the wide-eyed look on his face. I savor knowing I put that look on his fucking face.
I don’t think, I just keep firing and somehow the next shot hits Zeus. His arms pinwheel as he falls and he hits the ground. I almost weep with relief knowing he can’t hurt Law, but I can’t look away from Zeus. There’s blood, so much fucking blood and I hold the gun tighter and tighter until someone tugs it from my hand. I look up to see Taylor and he picks me up just as my knees give out and carries me out of the room. The gunshots don’t stop and I clap my hands over my ears trying to muffle the sound. Everything feels too bright and too loud. Adrenaline thumps through my body and every last one of my nerves feels like it’s a live wire.
“I shot him,” I gasp when Taylor finally stops running. We’re outside. It’s dark and the pale yellow streetlights don’t do much against the night. Taylor sets me on my feet and scans the alleyway.
“You did what you had to,” he says.
“But I shot him.” I wrap my arms around myself. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I’ve never wanted to hurt anyone. But somehow that’s what I’ve done. I had to, like Taylor says, but I can’t stop my hands from shaking.
I look back at the open doorway. “Go help, Law.”
Taylor shakes his head. “He has Marco. I’m on you.”
“But Connie.”
“She’s not important. You are.” Taylor isn’t budging. I know that from the way he moves in front of me with his gun drawn. We wait and one second moves into the next. I don’t know if it’s only a minute or twenty but when there’s movement at the door I nearly sprint for it.
In my mind, it’s Law. It has to be. He wouldn’t let anyone else come out first. He would be the one coming to me. He will be the first one out of the club. I know it.
Taylor sweeps an arm in front of me, stopping me when I try to run. “It’s him! I know it’s him” I struggle but Taylor holds me back. He lets me go a second later when the face I knew was coming appears.
“Law!” I scream as I break free and sprint towards him. He barely has time to clear the door before I launch myself at him. He catches my body with a grunt. “I- I was so scared it wasn’t you. I almost lost you,” I weep, burying my face in his chest as I squeeze him to me. He groans and I loosen my hold just enough to look up at him.
