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My mother’s body hits the floor, the thud a powerful blow. So much so, it knocks the breath from my lungs. JJ inches closer, and Zach’s face pales as his eyes drop to mine. I slide my gaze back to my mom who still isn’t moving, the bullet wound still there. I’m not fucking dreaming. Launching up to my feet, I shove my shoulder into JJ and run past him. My feet pound the metal walkway, knowing he’s close behind, but not close or fast enough. Flying down the stairs, I misjudge the last step and crash forward. Rolling onto my side, I’m back up before JJ can reach me, and I run to my mom.
Cradling her head in his hands, my dad begs, “Please, baby, open your eyes.”
The rational part of me knows she’s never going to wake up again, but it doesn’t stop the part of me that has some fucked-up hope that she’ll somehow wake up.
The voices around me are a muffled buzz. I squeeze my mom’s hand so hard, she’d have cried out if she were alive to do so. But she’s not, and her hand hangs lifeless in my hold.
This is all my fault. She wouldn’t even be here if I had just gone to college like she wanted. I lied to her time and time again, telling her I was travelling the world, when really, I was in the middle of her worst nightmare. A nightmare she survived herself many years before I was born.
“I lost over twenty years because of you, and now, watching you suffer over her dead body, pleases me greatly. But not as much as this will.”
At Bert’s words, I look up to see his own gun aimed straight at my dad. Like it’s all happening in slow motion, I lurch forward just as he fires off a shot.
Before I can shield my dad, before I can tell him I’m sorry for dragging them into my mess, and before I can even tell him I love him, his body slumps over my mom’s chest, blood pumping from his head.
“Noooo!”
Shots fire off all around me, but all I see are my parents, dead before me. They were all I had, and now they’re gone.
I start to heave next their bodies. Being that I haven’t eaten in the last two days, only bile comes out.
Using the sleeve of my hoodie, I wipe mouth with my bound hands, a reminder that I’m a dead man walking. With my parents gone, I have nothing left to lose.
Jumping up to my feet, I lurch toward the old man, only to make it three feet before arms wrap around me and slam me to the floor.
“Oh, no, he’s ours.”
Looming over me, Mason digs his foot into my chest. Relaxing into the floor, I don’t bother trying to fight against him as I let the first tear fall. All I can think of is the night my father fell through the door, beaten and stabbed, trying to do the right thing by ridding the streets of bad guys, and now he’s dead from trying to save me.
Cas crouches beside me and grips my chin, forcing me to look at him. I don’t expect to see pity, but I fully expected the dirty smirk he wears.
“Looks like our deal with your parents for your life is null and void.”
Shoving my chin away, he rises to his feet and holds his arms wide, staring at Bert.
“This is what you wanted, a face-off with me, and now you’ve got it.”
Bert’s voice fades as I close my eyes. I don’t care about dying—not now. I can’t live in a world where my parents don’t. Since the day I was born, it was always the three of us. It wasn’t always conventional, moving every couple of years when my dad got a new case, but we made it work.
The Lost Souls will no doubt have plans for me, but nothing will hurt as much as this.
Chapter Twenty-One
Cas
What a fucking shitshow this turned out to be. Anger runs through me so strongly, I can taste it as I bite down on my tongue. We needed Grace and Aaron to clean up the fed mess before we took them out, not this old fuck with a two-decade old grudge to bear.
“You stand here alone, old man. If you had a death wish, why not just walk into our clubhouse and leave out the time wasted in between?”
His laugh agitates me further, and I nearly pierce my front teeth through my tongue.
“Where’s the fun in that? This way, I’ve got much more than I came here looking for. I took out old enemies, and when you take out your rat infestation, their bloodline will cease to exist. Anyway, who says this is my death wish? I choose how I go out, and I’ll go out by bullet, not by the fucking cancer that riddles my body. But, like I said, I won’t be alone.”
Moving slowly, I stop in front of him, blocking most of my brothers from his view, and smile.
“You don’t fear death, but neither do I. I fear who I leave behind, but you don’t have that luxury, do you? You have no one.”
“Best way to be,” he says, shrugging. “After Dex told me it was you who killed my boy, I knew coming here would be my last move. And you’re right, I don’t fear death. My time is over, but sure as shit, Iwilltake you with me.”
