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“That’s just it. I know you. You’re bluffing. I know it because I watched you. I knew the look you had in your eyes because it was one I had in mine not too long ago.” Mack sounded like he was headed down memory lane, and I didn’t want to hear about the carnage it took to make him so sick and twisted.
“Move on from it, Mack. I didn’t know you were together. It didn’t matter anyway. She had to die.” She had to die? Who was she?
“You made me kill her, Alzerro. You made me kill the woman I loved. I pleaded with you to let her live, and you still made me pull the trigger.” Mack was screaming, and I felt the gun at the back of my head again as he pushed it against my scalp hard. For a small moment, I allowed myself to feel sorry for him. A tiny shred of me understood his pain, but like I told Zerro, we all had a path to choose. He chose the wrong one.
“Love is weakness, Mack. You and I both know it,” Zerro spat, his words flung hard at Mack. A loud laugh filled the room as Mack pushed me across the concrete until I was kneeling before Zerro.
“If that’s true, then kill her. If she means nothing to you, kill her. An eye for an eye as you always said.” Mack quoted Zerro as if he had memorized the very saying. I looked up at the man before me, the dark shell of who he truly was on full display. I knew, if I didn’t do something fast, all hell would break lose.
Dark whiskey colored eyes connected with my own as his gun came into view. He wasn’t really going to kill me, was he? His eyes said he was sorry, but his body. His body said he wasn’t. Killing me was a duty that needed to be done. It was then I made my final choice. I was stronger than I ever had been. With precise precision, I slid the blade of the knife I had hidden in my boot earlier down my sleeve into my hand.
“You know, even with her dead that doesn’t change things Mack. You have to die as well. You betrayed me. You went behind my back and worked with John, who was my mother’s killer. You told the FBI about us.”
As I listened to what he was saying, I secured the blade in my hand. It was heavy, and if I landed it perfectly, it would kill him. One chance, that’s all I had. Devon lied when he said I didn’t have a second chance—he had given it to me. A small smile played across my lips as I waited for Mack to speak.
“You had everything I ever wanted, and you refused to pay respect to those who had helped you get where you were. I wanted my piece of the pie. I did what I could. Then this bitch got in the way and fucked everything up. You say love is weakness, but when I watched you look at her, I saw the same look I used to give Delilah in your eyes.”
The words leaving his mouth were both vile and full of anger. I hated Mack just as much as Zerro did, but right now, listening to those words, I felt for him. I knew what had happened between him and Delilah was tragic. I knew it turned him into a monster the same way the death of Zerro’s mother did for Zerro. The only difference was Zerro had me. I could save him, but there was no saving Mack. He was broken beyond repair.
You can only be broken for so long before it gets to you—before the hate and guilt you carry around eats away at you. You could care less about being alone for the rest of your life because nothing matters to you. That’s what happened to him, and I could feel it happening to me. Blood pumped through my veins rapidly, echoing in my ears. Everything around me became white noise. The only thing I could hear was my own shallow breathing. My hands felt like they were being weighed down by bricks as a thin layer of sweat formed on them.
This wasn’t fear. No, it was preparation for war. For death. Long gone was the fear of my own death. Instead, a deep ball of anxiety formed in my chest. I was anxious, but I was also ready. Ready to deliver the monster known as Mack back to his home. To a place where maybe he could find his own peace.
My teeth were clenched together as I readied myself for the final blow. The savage desire to kill was pushing me to madness. The need for blood was overwhelming any further thought as I turned to face Mack. I knew there was a gun pointed at the back of my head, and there was a high chance I could die. It didn’t matter though.
Everything happened in slow motion as I got my footing. I clenched my fist, my nails digging into the soft flesh as I formed a hard fist. With a precision I didn’t even know I had, my fist landed hard on his balls. A rush of air left his chest as he bent over, the creases of his face filling with rage.
Without even thinking, I had plunged the knife upwards at the same time he had tumbled over in pain. The gun going off and his voice were the only sounds ringing out in the warehouse. My heart was racing as the bullet missed me by mere inches. I had no time for fear to sink in. I knew there was no going back now. I heard Zerro scream NO, as if to tell me not to do it, but I couldn’t stop. I had lost my shit and nothing would tame the beast in me having finally been set free.
