“You climbed the ladder.”
A faint smirk crosses his face. It’s the first real thing I’ve seen from him since I woke up.
“Someone had to clean up your mess.”
There it is, that familiar and easy rhythm we always had.
But different now.
He’s not my partner anymore.
He’s the one calling the shots.
And I just agreed to go back under.
As someone else entirely.
Into the heart of the cartel that almost killed me.
For Riley.
For all of them.
God.
***
The car idles a street away from the cemetery.
Close enough to see everything.
Far enough to disappear.
I haven’t moved since we pulled up. I don’t think I can.
My eyes stay fixed ahead. Men are dressed in black, leather cuts marked with the Blood Brothers’ patch. That symbol used to mean everything to me.
It still does.
And I’m watching them bury me.
My coffin sits at the front.
Closed.
It has to be.
“This is where you say goodbye,” Sam’s voice comes quietly from the driver’s seat.
I don’t answer.
I’m not saying goodbye.
I’m sitting here breathing, watching my own funeral, and somehow that feels worse than the fire ever did. Worse than the bullet.
My eyes scan the crowd.
Faces I know.
