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Leo shuffled into the basement. “Tox screen is in.”
I knew right away from the grave tone in his voice that Jimmy didn’t have any drugs in his system. The whore hadn’t dosed his drink. I felt like I was grasping at thin air, hopeful for any excuse to not pull the damn trigger.
Leo’s eyes creased with worry as he watched me. “I’ll do it, Hawk.”
I shook my head. It had to be me.
My organization.
My decision.
My responsibility.
The new me would have let Jimmy go and exiled him to another country where he would be allowed to live. But I had to finally admit that my way wasn’t working anymore. My father had been right.
Leo put his hand on my shoulder. “You have more important things to deal with right now, like planning your retaliation on the Devil’s Eyes.”
Was he mocking me? If I let him do it, he’d call my pop and tell him what a coward and failure I’d been. Then again, Leo’s voice seemed to be genuinely concerned, like he was trying to help me. It didn’t matter. I was the one who had to do it.
If only my runners hadn’t died in the fourth ambush when the bomb shredded the Humvee to bits, along with three of my men. All we could find were body parts scattered among the metal debris. And ashes. We couldn’t tell whether they were from the burned flesh or the disintegrated money.
My crew needed revenge. A reckoning was critical. Not only for the enemy but for the traitor within.
This was my life. There was no point in fighting it anymore. The moment I accepted the fate my father had laid out for me, my hand steadied. Once I realized I’d never be anything but a ruthless killer, my heart rate slowed.
I wrapped my finger around the trigger, the caress familiar. As I slowly squeezed halfway, the trigger obeyed and eased into place like a receptive lover.
“Your family will be cared for, Jimmy.” My gift to you for not lying to my face when I questioned you. And for facing death like a man.
“Thanks, bo—”
BANG.
His blood splattered on my face. I did not flinch.
Darkness coiled through me like a snake of death eating away at my soul, slithering in every crevice of my being until it found all the things that kept my humanity intact. It constricted around the memories I cherished—the laughter with my buddies, the goofy Rambo with his lopsided tongue, Lila’s sweet smile and her big round chocolate eyes—and choked them all until a frost spread through my body, replacing any warmth I had clung to.
Jimmy’s head, what was left of it, hung limp. I stared blankly, waiting for the guilt to take over.
It did not come.
